Gift Economy

[Gifting is when you give without expecting anything back- just for the joy of giving. And exchange is when you give A, in order to receive B. But of course, in gifting too, there is often a desire for balance, for receiving as well as giving. I guess the biggest difference is in the intention WHEN you give... Trying to figure this out for myself since it all gets so murkey so quickly- JS]

This is a pain in the butt in most cases in the real world, because even most people who have decided to operate in a gift economy way have many knee jerk reactions based on exchange assumptions and habits (it goes far beyond money).

The attitude required to pull it off might be called NonPossession. or detachment.

A simple gift economy practice is the FreeBox.

The http://dhamma.org/ VipassanaMeditation practice operates on a gifting basis. Anyone may take the course for free, it is a gift. After that (and only after that) you may make a donation - not to pay for what you have received, but so that it can be gifted to others. Labor (including that of the teachers, cooks, etc.) is also donated.

Restaurant that has no prices - http://www.soallmayeat.org/

Lewis Hyde's Gift Imagination and the Erotic Life of Property - http://www.amazon.com/Gift-Imagination-Erotic-Life-Pr/dp/0099273225/

ScienceFiction:

• rather gray, but Ursula K. Leguin's BookShelved:TheDispossessed
• DownAndOutInTheMagicKingdom
• A BookShelved:VernorVinge short story, "The Ungoverned"

See Wiki:GiftEconomy , Potlatch: , Friendly Favors (semi-formal tracking of favors), the OpenProjectToInvestigateMoneyAndEconomicSystems (code), The Bitchun Society (drawing on people's natural behavior in InstantMessaging?)

More than 20 relevant articles: http://futurepositive.synearth.net/stories/storyReader$223

http://slingshot.tao.ca/displaybi.php?0082010

JohnAbbe's first draft for a handout:

I believe that exchange of money, goods and services typically distorts human relationships in unhealthy ways.* Therefore, my preference is to do all of my work as a gift from me to whomever i choose to work with. I also invite and welcome gifts from others. I do not consider such gifts as payment for services rendered, but as enabling me to continue to offer my work to others as a gift.

I would be happy to hear whatever comes up for you around this. If this arrangement does not work for you, i would like to come to some understanding about it and together develop an arrangement that works for both of us.

Taxes

For tax purposes, i treat any gift as taxable income up to a reasonable fee for what i have done for the giver. That same amount then becomes a deductible expense for the giver. Any amount given beyond that is legally a gift, tax free for me and not deductible for the giver.

Therefore i keep a record of the time i spend helping others. Once i'm confident enough that they understand my work that i am willing to accept gifts from them, i will periodically send them an invitation to give toward my work, and a copy of my time records, so that they will be aware of the tax consequences.

* In particular:

When we do things for others in exchange for things they do for us (or money or anything else tangible or intangible), our natural urge to give is dampened. When we receive from others only if we do something for them, we lose sight of people's natural urge to give, and in our hearts and minds live in a world of scarcity rather than seeing the abundance that is truly there.

To learn more about this perspective:

BookShelved:PunishedByRewards , by Alfie Kohn

The Politics of Giving Therapy Away, by Eugene Gendlin