Posted on Nov 17, 2015

by boodaville

This post is to say a huge thank you to one of my Boodaville Bonds investors who has reinvested the first repayment of €250. After consideration of what this could be used for the best option is to take the cash to the bank and pay down part of the loan I took out. (I didn’t get enough investors to cover the full amount needed!) By paying down the loan I am paying less interest to a financial system I don’t want to support and spending (slightly) more of it on moving forward with Boodaville. Here’s some more about why I believe in alternative finance:

As some of you may know I recently completed the online masters level MOOC “Money and Society” with IFLAS The Institute for Leadership and Sustainability. Jem Bendall, one of the professors on the course, criticises our money system and talks about alternatives in this TED video. Matt Slater, the other professor on the course is a nomad who helps and consults on setting up alternative currencies (as well as geeky stuff like coding software for running alternative currencies)

I was already committed to looking for alternatives to the system before the course because permaculture includes applying the basic ethics of caring for people and planet to different domains of our lives and Finances and economy is one of these domains. After completing the Money and Society course I am even more deeply committed to avoiding loans and speculative investments. I highly recommend taking the course! Some of the suggested ideas are alternative currencies, ethical investments, local markets and sharing when we have surplus. This is what I wrote when I launched the Boodaville Bonds  in 2014 :

The Boodaville Project is a socially, environmentally and economically responsible project that is educating people about sustainable living and leading by example. As problems with the current economic system are increasingly obvious I am hoping to reach the level of financing I need via an alternative to the traditional banking system, here are two statistics I would like to highlight :

– More than 97% of all money in the global economy is created by banks when they make loans, and most of this goes into speculation and not into the real economy. This benefits the rich and increases inequality. (positivemoney.org and Bernard Lietaer “The Future of Money”)

– The overall effect of interest payments is that 10% of the population get richer, while 80% get poorer. (Margrit Kennedy. “Money without interest and inflation” p.35)

“Boodaville Bonds” are an opportunity to invest in a great project and utilise a method of finance which is built on community, trust, and genuine social responsibility from both borrower and lender. The returns I offer are stated in the payment plan I created.

FAQs

What is The Boodaville Project?

Have a look here

Why should I trust you?

I have been dedicated to this project for 6 years, we are now an official Association and I’m at a point where I really need some finance to get to the next stage and be able to comfortably host guests, teachers and volunteers. The loan repayments are secured by the fact that I will sell 75% of the project, including land and buildings, when we become a Cooperative in 2018. You can see the development of the project during the last 6 years on the blog and can see my long-term dedication to the project. I am confident that the financial plan to sell the 75% share stated will be successful. If, however, there is a problem with this I can personally assure you that there will be enough money to cover the loan payments due in 2018.

Why don’t you borrow from an ethical bank?

I am looking to pay back the loans at a fixed date in the future. I am trying this approach first. If i need to, I will look into ethical banking options.

Why not use the Coopfunding initiative which is exactly what you need?

As an association we will look into this idea, but still have the problem of wanting to pay all the money back on the sale of the project later.