Funding the Commons Transition

Isn't Liberapay a good enough solution? It avoids reinventing the wheel, and it's working already.

Why does ‘maker of commons’ mean ‘making things for free’? Can’t be sustainable to do things for nothing and hope for donations ...

If you want to collect the funds before you release stuff into the commons there have been models for that, including Humble Bundles and crowdfunding sites like Goteo or Crowdsupply. Micropatronage sites like Liberapay address a different problem, commons that need a regular trickle of small contributions from many supporters, to fund something ongoing. This suits commons like free code software that require ongoing maintenance, as well as perpetual media like blogs and postcasts. Categorizing the different styles of commons funding, identifying which projects sit in which categories, and doing case studies of successes and failures to fund commons with them, are all things I had in mind for the research project I proposed in the "Money #1" thread.

Why does ‘maker of commons’ mean ‘making things for free’?

Because 20 years of experience with the internet has shown that you can't enforce artificial scarcity of digital goods, without creating unintended consequences much worse than a bit of permissionless copying (DRM crippleware, surveillance and persecution of netizens, media customers lose access to when the platforms they bought them from go bust etc etc).

Can’t be sustainable to do things for nothing and hope for donations ...

There are plenty of examples of micropatronage creating fulltime salaries for commons makers. The lead developer of Mastodon, for example, living entirely off donations to his Patreon account.

On the basis that an optimal approach to generating commons is the cooperative model, Platform 6 is an approach along these lines. Members make a modest financial contribution which keeps the lights on and gradually accumulates in a common pool resource which they collectively manage, in a similar way to SolidFund, as mentioned by @olisb . Platform 6 is seeking to extend the approach beyond money to include expertise and other resources that members might bring to the table, such that someone bringing a new project to the attention of the group can access a wide range of help, from seed funding to hands-on assistance, advice, potential co-founders, potential customers, etc. So it's a bit of an incubator/accelerator and treasure box for building the cooperative economy.

Now it's starting to make sense. I could have really done with what you describe two years ago. I still need it. Can you hurry up please. :relieved:

I did assume it existed in the form of Coop UK when I started. Let's just say I declined to renew my membership there, after coughing up an additional £200 for an upgrade package, for which I got one question answered, very badly. That still smarts.

It does confirm however, that there is a definite gap in the market.

Come to think about it Graham, what you describe is akin to a Federation of Small Business exclusively for coops. That organisation was of its time, but much like the whole capitalist thing, it's losing its way. I also recently cancelled my membership there, after maybe twenty years, because It failed to reflect any aspect of my post-capitalist ethos. It's definition of success continues to be more profit. No mention of purpose.

Maybe you could run an advert in their member's magazine offering a 'Convert your business to a workers coop consultancy'. You might be inundated.

@graham2 will you accept platform coop hybrids too?

"Platform 6 is seeking to extend the approach beyond money to include expertise and other resources... can access a wide range of help...it's a bit of an incubator/accelerator and treasure box for building the cooperative economy" -- I think this is the best way to go. Congrats!

My personal view is that we should seek to be as open as possible. Having read your posts on the Solidfund Loomio a while back I currently see no reason why Platform 6 would not be able to work with your project @jeffsuccess . Please bear in mind that what I've written in this thread is aspirational. As to whether Platform 6 is currently able to deliver against any of this is another matter entirely, but if you are willing to get involved and work with us, I would personally find that really helpful. We're all on a journey here - so let's walk together where we can.

@simon88 As I've just mentioned to Jeff, we're at the beginning of a process of co-creating Platform 6. We took the decision some while ago to do this work in the open rather than hide ourselves away until we had a 'product'. I believe that we need to be working with people like yourself and Jeff, so I'm pleased by your responses, and I very much hope that you will choose to get more involved.

Thanks @graham2! Just posted on Platform 6 to see if there's interest: https://www.loomio.org/d/tsjCD0rn/seed-fund-platformx-platform-coop-hybrid-

The Hive?