permaculture

[Vint Lawrence <vlawrence@nets.com>]

Dear John,

John Irwin wrote:

>
> I do have one big question:
> When the board of the Credit Union is elected, will all board members be
> expected to go
> to regular meetings?
> How often?  Where?   Will it be possible to people from anywhere to become 
> board
> members & participate without
> going to Santa Fe (or the SW) 4 times a year? .... Both the expense & time 
> would
> eliminate many people from beyond the SW USA.   Perhaps the cyberworld will
> provice the
> answer..........

Currently the board is meeting every 2-3 weeks with committee meetings 
happening in the
interim. The work of organizing and operating the credit union is currently 
being done
by the board and non-board volunteers. At the moment, the idea of meeting 
only four
times a year seems like an impossible dream, and something I imagine all of 
the board
members would love to see happen!
We do not yet have a good idea of the demographics of our actual 
participating members,
however, I believe there should be representation of the interests of non-New 
Mexico
participants on the board, for obvious reasons.
This brings up the question of loans to members who are not in the "local 
area".

Our long term goal is to support the development of satellite loan committees 
in regions
where there are a significant number of Credit Union depositors. This will 
have to be
organized by a local group in that region and we will need to work out the 
relationship
and accountability of each such group to the "parent" (I use this word with 
some
hesitation) organization. Certainly, by that point, at least one member of 
such a
committee should be a board member. This is something for further thought and 
dialog...
at the moment, we are concentrating on the present and getting the fledgling 
off the
ground. Personally, I believe that one-to-one, face-to-face contact is 
important and
would argue strongly for a group gathering. I have been on boards that work 
through
e-mail exchanges and it tends to flood the mail box without getting 
accountable results.
Maybe the board could have regional meetings based upon where there are large 
pockets of
participants? Food for thought.

>     Also, a suggestion:   How about endorsing NATURAL CAPITALISM, by Paul
> Hawken &
> Hunter & Amory Lovins, which alludes to the financial aspects of a 
> sustainable
> culture.  New investors could receive that instead of a free toaster ;-)

Free toaster? Really ?: =()
At the moment, we have been distributing packets of seed from Seeds of Change 
(which
were not free to us) when we promote the PCU at local Farmers Markets. I must 
admit that
I haven't read Natural Capitalism (no time) yet, so I don't have an opinion 
on the
content, however, we would have to get Paul &Co. to donate the book for it to 
even be
possible. I'll ask him when we meet at Bioneers in October.

> And an offer.  As long as supplies last, if the Pc CU will send me a 
> monthly address
> list of those who request one, I will send a complimentary 1998 American 
> Permaculture
> Directory to anyone who invests $500 within the year 2000.

Thank you John. I'll forward this to the Marketting, Outreach, and operations 
folks for
follow-up with you.
This is the kind of support that will really make a difference for us. And 
while I am at
it, thank you for providing us with the list of PCgraduates when we did our 
original
survey three years ago. Any updates to that list would be much appreciated.

Any other offers out there from others?
We will gladly provide sign-up materials to anyone teaching courses or who is 
putting
energy and effort into promoting permaculture to the uninitiated! Contact 
perma@
pcuonline.org.

Hope this answers your questions!
Glad to hear from you,

>
>
> John Irwin
> American Permaculture Directory
> jwirwin@permaculture.net
> http://www.permaculture.net
>
> Vint Lawrence wrote:
>
> > mIEKAL aND wrote:
> >
> >      What about this makes it a "permaculture" credit union?  its not
> > really clear at yr website.  will you make loans to permaculture projects?
> >
> >      miekal
> >
> > miekal,
> > In answer to your question "What makes this a "permaculture" credit 
> > union?"
> >
> > 1. Ultimately, this will be determined by the members. The "field of
> > membership" is primarily for graduates of permaculture courses. It is
> > "our" credit union, and, as such, it is ultimately a democratically
> > controlled financial institution whose policies and practices will be
> > controlled by its members - i.e.- the permaculture community. As we grow
> > and develop, the members, on a "one-share-one-vote" basis will elect the
> > board of the credit union which then makes most policy decisions.
> > Non-board members are welcome to participate on the credit/loan
> > committee as well as other committees that oversee the operations of the 
> > CU.
> >
> > 2. The PCU has been started by a group of local permaculturists in Santa
> > Fe under the sponsorship of the Permaculture
> > Institute USA and we have endeavored to create, where possible, a
> > financial institution that is based on and reflects the
> > ethics and principles of permaculture. It is one of the "invisible
> > structures" that Bill Mollison discusses at some length in the
> > Designer's Manual Chapter 14 - "Strategies for an Alternative Nation".
> > We are somewhat curtailled in our first several years
> > of operation by the state and Federal regulators (whose primary purpose
> > is to insure that we manage the CU according to
> > sound financial practices and principles). We are doing this so that
> > these same organizations will provide "deposit insurance"
> > of each individual member up to $100,000 per account (like FDIC deposit
> > insurance, only for credit unions). We felt this
> > was a worthwhile compromise to safeguard the assets of our PC sisters and 
> > brothers.
> >
> > 3. Eventually we will be making loans to permaculture projects, solar
> > and alternative technology initiatives, small businesses,
> > PC improvement loans, homestead loans, etc. In order to do this, we need
> > members and their deposits first. Hopefully, our
> > first loans will go to energy efficient vehicles and as "signature
> > loans" to PCU members for their own projects (these are
> > funds that are borrowed against funds in a share account which the
> > member pledges as collateral.
> > Everyone is welcome to help in this effort by enrolling others in the
> > PCU. The quickest way to get in the loop is to go to
> > www.pcuonline.org or call the PCU office at 505-954-3479.
> >
> > 4. The PCU will also benefit the Permaculture community at-large through
> > the various services and benefits that can be
> > offered through the PCU. These include group health insurance, life
> > insurance, automobile insurance, etc. Several years ago,
> > Bill challenged us in several different venues by saying " You are an
> > elephant acting like you are a mouse!"
> > The number of people who are PC graduates, who are practicing
> > permaculture, and/or who believe in the ethics upon which
> > permaculture is based is truly astounding. Yet sadly, until now, we have
> > had no common voice in putting our financial
> > resources firmly in line with these principles and leveraging our size
> > to generate benefits for the PC community. It is our
> > sincere desire to remedy this situation via the PCU.
> >
> > Finally, we don't have all the answers as to how this will be
> > accomplished. It is a work in progress and (as noted above)
> > highly regulated at the moment. Our goal is to have 100% of the monies
> > deposited in the PCU loaned out to or invested in
> > projects and enterprises that absolutely reflect the ethis of
> > permaculture. We have a long way to go before this is a true
> > statement. It is up to the members of the PCU to make this happen by
> > their involvement, deposits, loan applications,
> > volunteer participation and general support and goodwill.
> >
> > I hope this answers your questions a bit more thoroughly. The website
> > has a page on Frequently Asked Questions which
> > may cover some of the more mundane aspects of Credit Union operations.
> >
> > Thanks again for your interest,
> >
> > Vint Lawrence
> > -Apache Creek Ranch Permaculture
> > -Founding Board Member of the Permaculture Credit Union
> >
> >
>
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