Permaculture

Click and Smile on Mother’s Day to Benefit FIC If you’re going to shop at Amazon on Mother’s Day or any other day, use AmazonSmile and select the Foundation for Intentional Community (FIC) to benefit from most of your purchases. Not familiar with AmazonSmile? You can tie your existing Amazon accoun…

Free Resources for Cooperation! For #GiveItAwayTuesday we are celebrating the spirit of generosity, gratefulness, and sharing, by giving it back! The 27th of November is the globally celebrated day of giving: #GivingTuesday. To join the fun FIC is going to pay it forward and give it away! Throu…

What is New Power? It is not just a change in technologies that is reshaping our world, our culture, and our participation in it. Our beliefs and expectations for what is possible, and what ought to be possible, is also changing. This is eclipsing the old lessons on the right way to create and s…

We’ve mentioned this before but this year the FIC is especially proud to be co-sponsoring the New Economy Coalition’s Common Bound Conference in St. Louis, June 22-24. There’s still time to register here. What is Common Bound? They’re over 700 people across the new economy movement who will come…

When I first heard about the concept of income-sharing communities, I was pretty skeptical. It had been hard enough for me stabilize my own finances after graduating from college during the recession. I wasn’t sure I’d be up for sharing finances with a spouse – never mind an entire community. But…

Food Solutions New England is offering an online 21-Day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge, in partnership with the Interaction Institute for Social Change. Participants will receive an e-mail prompt each day, with a challenge to “learn, read, talk, or take action.” According to its website: …

One of the most exciting things about building community in the age of the Internet and social media is that it’s easier than ever to get an inside look at the communities that interest us. While nothing can replace an in-person visit, a new web series called “intentional” comes as close you can get…

Curious about how you can apply permaculture principles in your community or ecovillage? There’s no better way than to visit a community in person and learn from hands-on workshops and immersion programs. Here are two very different programs – one an affordable “spring break” at a community in Wa…

This is a guest post by Lily Silver, who blogs at How to Get On, “a guide to Social Security Disability, Medicaid and Home Care for CFS/ME and those who are homebound.” She sent us this article about joining community while on disability, and we thought it would have some useful information for our …

When we hear the words “intentional community,” we may think of residential communities like back-to-the-land communes and urban housing co-ops. But you don’t have to live in the same house to have a shared vision and make an impact. A non-profit called Cool Block brings entire neighborhoods toge…

One of the challenges of living in a community with lots of new residents or guests is getting everyone oriented to the tasks and projects at hand. When I lived at Foster Village, a 10-person community in Portland, Oregon, we had a membership committee in charge of welcoming new residents, and a lia…

Lots of intentional communities are connected with the WWOOFing network (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms). It’s a great way for volunteers to gain experience living and working on an organic farm in exchange for room and board. But have you heard of the POOSH network, which connects peo…

For some high-profile communities, visibility is a good thing. The Dancing Rabbit ecovillage in Rutledge, Missouri, depends on workshops and other business endeavors to support itself. Many communities maintain a social media presence as a way to attract new members and promote co-operative living o…

Talking about class can be difficult – especially in intentional communities that include people from a variety of backgrounds. It can be a challenge to balance the needs of members from different classes: residents with stable jobs and incomes; property owners; activists who choose to live frugally…

Whether it’s eating local, supporting worker-owned businesses, or taking money out of Wall Street banks, the “localist” movement is on the rise. While the dominance of mega-corporations like Wal-Mart and Amazon may seem complete, small businesses make up half of the U.S. GDP and create over three ti…

One of the biggest hurdles an intentional community can face is figuring out how to make decisions. There are dozens of decision-making strategies to choose from, from consensus to sociocracy. But in today’s busy world, simply gathering around the table together as a community can be a challenge. A…

For a while, peer-to-peer lending platforms were going to be the next big thing. Instead of borrowing from big banks, we could borrow from each other, on platforms like Lending Club and Prosper. But pretty soon big banks starting getting involved, and the loans weren’t really so “peer-to-peer” af…

For many tiny house enthusiasts, building the house itself isn’t the hard part. There are lots of resources out there for designing and constructing a tiny house, as well as companies that will build the whole thing for you. More and more people are coming to see tiny homes as a viable living option…

Since 1993, the Warm Showers network has been connecting touring bicyclists with hosts willing to offer them a couch, shower, camping space, or other form of hospitality. Originally started as a listserv, it was developed into a full website in 2005, and currently has 86,000 active members and 36,00…