Ways To Participate

Founders

Our target is to have 8-10 co-founders. These are members who help write the community’s by-laws and statutes and once we’re ready, they’re the first to be able to build their houses and/or design and run projects.

The rights and responsibilities of founders who complete the trial period include:

• payment of share, which will increase in value over time as improvements are made on the land
• opportunity to develop the initial agreements (by-laws and statutes) and participate in the decision about the legal structure (foundation, association, cooperative or ?)
• participation in the integral permaculture course described in these pages
• use of a parcel of land to build your home and the responsibility to begin building within a period determined by the group
• voice and vote in general assemblies and community council meetings
• use of common areas for recreation, consumption of produce, etc (as specified in the agreements)
• responsibility to comply with agreements regarding work hours and monthly (or weekly) fees
• use of common areas for productive projects (Eco-Businesses) with prior approval from the community council

Members

As with founders, members pay for a share in the community. They have the same rights and responsibilities as Founders except developing the initial agreements and deciding about the legal structure since these things will already be decided by the time we’re ready to admit members.

There is one distinction among members, which also applies to founders:

• Resident Members: live in the community (on the Finca or at Casa Ubuntu) permanently and have voice and vote in general assemblies and community council meetings.
• Collaborative Members: don’t live permanently in the Community but rather come once in a while and have voice but not voting rights at general assemblies and community councils.  However, if the member has built their home at the community and someone lives there who complies with all of the requirements, even though this person hasn’t invested money, he or she will have the rights of voice and vote at the community council meetings.  

Villagers

People who live in the Eco-village or at Casa Ubuntu but haven’t completed their initial share yet are villagers.  This category allows us to be more inclusive at the Eco-village since not everyone may want to be a Member and some people who do want to be members can’t pay the the initial share all at once. This way, people can become part of the community while working on paying their initial share. Essentially there are 3 types of Villagers, people who want to:

1. Remain Villagers and have no interest in becoming members at this time
2. Become Members and are paying their share over time
3. Become Members but lack the funds to pay their share and have key essential skills and will work for their share

During this early stage, we are counting on member shares to help build the community, and will only consider the 3rd option for people with essential skills and/or extremely high motivation to learn and work towards creating community. In this case, the time requirement for each project or task will be agreed in advance and hours will be tracked toward the Villager’s share.

While the initial share value hasn’t been completed, the Villager has the following rights and responsibilities:

• participation in the integral permaculture course described in these pages.
• voice and vote in community council meetings once the trial period is completed
• use of common areas for recreation, consumption of produce, etc (as specified in the agreements)
• responsibility to comply with agreements regarding work hours and monthly (or weekly) fees
• use of common areas for productive projects (Eco-Businesses) with prior approval from the community council

Once the initial share value is completed, along with the trial period, the Villager becomes and Member and gains use of a parcel of land to build their home and the responsibility to begin building within the period determined by the group.

Trial Period

Founders, Members and Villagers all participate in the mutual evaluation period. Rights and responsibilities during this period include:

• participation in the integral permaculture course described in these pages
• use of common areas for recreation, consumption of produce, etc (as specified in the agreements)
• responsibility to comply with agreements regarding work hours and monthly (or weekly) fees
• one-on-one support for your transition plan including business planning
• development of a transition plan (life design and other designs) showing a clear path forward
• use of common areas for a productive project (Eco-Businesses) with prior approval from the community council and well described in a design