print pageOrganizer FAQS
(Click on a question, or scroll down to see the answers.)
ANSWERS
How do I download email from my @commongoodbank.com address?
Whatever anyone sends to your commongoodbank.com email address will be forwarded to your regular email address. In most email programs, you can set the "From" address and the "Reply-To" address to anything you want. Set one or both to your commongoodbank.com address. We recommend using Gmail, since you will have to have a Google account anyway, for tracking your hours and expenses and for collaboration with other organizers.
top How do I set it up so my email is sent FROM my @commongoodbank.com address?
It depends on what email program you use. For example, if you use Microsoft Outlook Express, just search for "Microsoft Outlook Express change email address" or, if you want to send only some of your email from the new address, "Microsoft Outlook Express add email address". Actually the first link that comes up for the "change email address" search is worth reading even if you use a different program, because it explains the whole situation: click here.
top Will I be working on commission?
No. Inviting people to become Founding Members is a crucial part of your job, but you will be paid at an hourly rate rather than on a commission basis. Just like the director of any small nonprofit organization, you need to raise enough money to cover the project's expenses in your Community Division. If you do not raise enough money to cover expenses (including your compensation), then Common Good Finance cannot pay you.
Your primary job is to generate excitement in your community about this project, inviting people to join us as Founding Members. Make personal connections; the money will follow.
top When can I start getting paid? Do I have to complete the contract first?
You can send us an invoice as soon as you have raised your first donation. For example, let's say you have received one donation check for $100, after working 4 hours with $30 of expenses. Mail us the check and an invoice for $60 (4x$15+$30=$90, but limited to 60% of $100 that's $60). You can get paid later for the missing $10, if you raise more donations. AND, once you have gotten some investment commitments, you can get paid extra for those 4 hours that you already worked, as long as 60% of the donations covers it.
top What "reasonable" expenses will be reimbursed?
Anything that you think is reasonable is almost surely reimbursable. This includes, for example, the cost of phone service, internet usage, faxes, photocopies, materials, fuel, event fees, advertising and lunches with prospective donors and investors. Don't be extravagant, but spend what you need to, to do your job well.
top What will be my startup costs?
Your costs will vary, depending on your circumstances. Your (free) Welcome Package will contain personalized business cards, brochures, and other materials you need, to get started. However, you will probably have additional costs within a couple weeks.
If you (or someone in your organizing group) have your own color printer, you can save some costs on printing Membership Atreements. Email is free, but since personal contact is crucial, don't depend on email OR printed materials. Use your telephone, bicycle, feet and (if necessary) car. Your transportation costs may add up.
top Do I get credit for people who join online?
Yes. Anyone in your area who joins or donates after you start will be credited to you. Have people give you a check rather than donating online. That way you make sure they follow through and you can thank them.
top Do the Founding Member prospects have to be in my area?
No. You can recruit members from anywhere. However, cold calls (contacting people you don't know) are strongly discouraged and please DO NOT cold call anyone outside your area. On the flip side, people who know you or someone on your team are your most likely prospects. Network! It's all about who you know and who you know knows.
top What if I raise lots of money very quickly?
That would be wonderful. You can then spend more (paid) time on the other tasks.
top When do I get paid?
The proposed contract says that you will bill Common Good Finance every two weeks. That is negotiable. You can bill Common Good Finance (by email or USMail) for up to 60% of the donations you have raised so far.
top What if I want to work on the Common Good Bank project in some other way?
Great. Our proposed contracts are just that: proposals. Feel free to propose variations or even custom-design your own job. Whatever your skills and interests, if you want to use them to help make Common Good Bank a reality, there is a good chance we can put you to work.
top How will Community Divisions be structured?
Each Community Division will consist of a group of local depositors and will operate as much as possible as though it were an independent bank. Three Division Advisers will be elected by the depositors, to oversee the democratic process and to advise the overall bank's lending department on which loan requests from that community make sense for the community: (1) Is the request in keeping with the community's lending priorities? and (2) Are the borrowers trusted by the community?
Each community will cover its own costs. For example, compensation for local nonprofits to help people open accounts, compensation for Division Advisors, and installation costs for local ATMs or even local branches will be covered by the community's profits. Each community will also be responsible for maintaining the required minimum cash reserve and capital adequacy. Typically, this means that depositors in each community can deposit nine times as much as the stock they buy and the bank can lend out about the same amount (all but 10% of its assets).
Every community will contribute an equal percentage of its profits to pay the overall costs of the Common Good Bank system. This means that wealthy communities will probably pay more per depositor than low income communities.
top Is my Community Division a bank? or just a branch?
Since your Community Division will operate almost entirely as an independent bank, we sometimes call it a "virtual democratic community bank" or a "Common Good Bank community". Formally, it will be a virtual branch of a larger bank (called, for example, "Common Good Bank Corporation of Canada" or "Common Good Bank Network of Australia").
top How much money stays local?
Most of it. Since almost all of the operations of Common Good Bank will be localized, salaries and contractual compensation will mostly stay local. All of the money that a community creates has to be spent into circulation locally. As much as possible, local deposits will be invested locally. Local depositors decide how to apply the profits of the bank to advance the common good -- half locally and half to empower people elsewhere.
top What are the implications for a community currency system?
Any existing community currency system can be tremendously empowered and easily mainstreamed by a Common Good Bank Community Division. If the local depositors simply vote to accept the community currency at its dollar value, then the community currency becomes negotiable all over the world, just as dollars are negotiable everywhere thanks to the banking system. However, we strongly discourage you from talking to people about local currency in connection with Common Good Bank, unless they are already passionate about local currency. Our experience is that people get overwhelmed and confused by that part of the plan. A confused prospect is an unlikely prospect.
top How are depositors protected against inflation?
Insured deposits are protected from inflation to the extent that the Community Division invests in real things and businesses that are important to the local community. Deposits will be held, as much as possible under the law, as investments in the community, not as cash. Unlike most other banks, which make speculative investments in money markets and complicated financial "instruments", Common Good Bank will not gamble on such things. The community as a whole will fare better than other communities and this advantage can take the form of increased profits (which benefit everyone) or higher interest rates on deposits (which benefits the depositors).
More importantly, Common Good Bank gives individuals and communities the possibility of getting even greater protection, by buying stock rather than making deposits. If people work toward community self-reliance and sustainability and trust themselves as a community to make sound investment choices, then the local economy is protected and the value of their investments can remain stable and secure even while other economies fail.
top When will my Community Division open?
If your Community Division is ready, it will open within a few months after the bank opens.
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