print pageI made about two dozen presentations all over the Pioneer Valley in December and January. Turnouts were small but VERY enthusiastic.
I had planned on saving the daylight hours for rest and making a living. I had expected that for each presentation I would simply show the video and answer questions. But it didn’t turn out that way.
Each audience contributed important questions and comments that led to improvements in the presentation. Small turnouts suggested that improvements were needed in the promotional materials as well. So I spent the daytimes reworking slides and experimenting with marketing.
The result is a much better presentation (which no longer even includes the video slideshow) and much more effective marketing plan. We have also been receiving requests for webinars and in-person presentations. Three important new organizations are very interested in partnering with us. About 200 people signed up as future depositors and several more are signing up online every day.
Tonight I will be participating in a webinar to learn how to give webinars!
But the most important result is a proposal for achieving our capital goals and signup goals by May 1. One very attractive component of the common good bank plan is that it will create jobs. People in communities all over the country are excited about this model. So I am proposing to hire 50 people — one in each of 50 communities — as consultants to start a common good bank community division in each of those communities.
Each community division organizer will be responsible for signing up 65 future depositors, a local nonprofit partner, 5 businesses to offer rebates and one business to act as a virtual ATM. They will also be responsible for raising about $4,000 in donations and finding one or more qualified investors to invest a total of $30,000. We can pay these division organizers about $15-$20 an hour for about a hundred hours of work. I have been doing this successfully in Western Massachusetts, so I can train them through a webinar and supply all the necessary materials and procedures.
Comments on this plan are welcome. I expect to nail down the details in about a week and put it out as an employment opportunity — through activist networks, selected news media and our 1000-person newsletter list.
One Comment
I am so grateful to have found this project and want to thank you for all your efforts. These last few weeks I have been crowing about starting up a local currency here in neighborhoods in Los Angeles. I live in Venice, and much to my dismay, there is NOT ONE credit union here. The idea of having a currency like Berkshares flew out the window, along with my ability to sleep, as soon as I realized that. Washington Mutual was THE “local business” bank here, and they catered to the lower income folks with their no fees products and ample tellers. We are in trouble now with Chase coming on board. SO tonight, I was trying to figure out how to start a credit union, lol! And here you are! I know this project will succeed, you have to get the idea out in unusual ways. I have a newsletter in addition to the website listed above. I’ll mention your efforts there. We need you all to be successful well before May, however. What ever I can do to help out let me know. I am pretty sure that I could get Venice, CA up and ready to go once you guys are set in Western Mass. There is lots of money here, as well as deep poverty and people slipping out of the middle class looking for a way to recapture those unearned dollars paid to those who did not labor for them. I feel you. This is a strong idea, and you will be successful. Keep me posted.