Empowering non-organizations (2): Pockets

Pockets for communities paying their way, can we think of transparent ways? (by guano on flick, cc)

It takes energy to stay organized, even as an individual. So each organization spends some of its energy just to stay organized; each organization has dual objective of reaching its objective and staying organized. Therefor, for some causes, the potential benefit of organizing, does not outweigh the transaction cost involved: these causes or opportunities do not get an organization together.

Now with the collapse of costs for I, C and T, and especially also with the tools getting more usable for non-geeks, transaction costs have come down. Organizations that formerly were impossible, are now feasible.

(Again, Clay Shirky worded it very nicely; he uses the term Coasean floor. The Coasean ceiling is when a firm grows too large, transaction costs get too high; it breaks up. Under the Coasean floor are the other end of impossible organizations, those that create too little value to pay any transaction cost. As the Coasean floor is dropping, some of these formerly impossible organization now rise above the floor.)

As soon as these “non-organizations” are up and above, when the people in the group realize they are a group, they begin to see new potentials. However, working on the potentials costs energy, and before they know it the transaction costs rises and makes the organization sink back under the Coasean floor; many non-organizations dissolve again or will forever hoover around the floor level.

Despite of that, some of these ultra-lights manage to grow legs for getting places, and soon after they need pockets to pay their way. Many of them struggle, as there is no model for their group.

How can different organization models contribute to collaborative interaction?

One step is to enable communities or other “non-organizations” simple collective money management. Move from a ultra-light to light: get pockets.

Pockets might have the following characteristics:

• online bank account in the name of a group

• international transfers simplified, not location bound

• “stashes” or otherwise rules: eg only spending on books and travel

• monopolies made impossible; agreed authority levels

• almost real-time report to wider community about what is happening to their money; visible and understandable

• rules to be agreed by quorum of members, account blockable by certain (even all?) members

• contribution rules can be set by community, eg gifts, fixed contributions, etc.

• One option should be not strict yes/no membership, but “participation based contributions” on a semi-voluntary basis:“Based on your involvement the past month, our “xyz Group” agreements (as collectively decided dd…) suggest that 50 Euro might be a suitable amount to contribute this month.”

• visuals! where does our money come from (who is (not) contributing?) and what do we spend it on?

• almost like a petty cash: based on “flows” of money, not collecting it

Risks could be made manageable by:

• never allow having more than a certain maximum amount, which is fairly low, e.g. 1000 euro. Compare to Just In Time stock management: In case of an event, when lots of money is needed, it is better to have very frequent direct debits (even daily) from contributors, instead of a large amount stored.

• Members at all time control their own contributions AND can block the collective account

Related blog posts are here:
John D Smith, Learning Alliances: “Pockets and Legs on Facebook Groups”
and mine just below: “Empowering Non-organizations: Legs and Pockets”, also published here.

Empowering non-organizations: Legs and Pockets

legs for getting places… (by scottobear, cc)

Web 2.0 tools have made it easier for people to form groups; ranging from temporary flocks of people with a similar interest to close-knit communities, increasingly part of extensive interconnected networks.

Thanks to Web2.0 people can connect and organize, without a manager or a managing structure to lead or frame this organization process. “The power of organizing without organizations” is how Clay Shirky calles it. Others have used the term “non-organizations” or “ultra-lights”. Many Internet mediated groups are non-organizations, in the sense that they do not have a traditional structure or legal entity like a foundation or a association, or a company.

An example is the group of dairy farmers in rural Portugal I am part of, convening around a blog and an email group, and meeting f2f a few times a year for an excursion or study day. There is real value for learning and socializing, there are some shared values, a shared identity. But it comes without the things that used to be part and parcel of more traditional organizations. There is no mailing address, no letterhead paper, no statutes or articles of association, no official “Committee” and no member administration.

When the dairy farmers network wanted to liaise with the traditional Farmers Union in Portugal, they were not accepted unless they would be a “real” association. The “ultra-light” can not be eligible for EU subsidies for training or extension, even though that is what it does.
When hiring a venue to convene, or a leaflet to print, one member has to personally take the financial responsibility up-front. When afterwards members chip in, they can not be given a receipt. The group can not own anything, not hire anybody.

A solution for the non-organizations might be to go the traditional way: formalize the group and rig an organizational structure along traditional lines, depending on the preferences: an association, a company or a charity. But this seems more complex than strictly needed, it would raise transaction costs, and more importantly: what would be lost in the process?
The lightness is a relief, it is felt that the lightness is conducive for learning, for attracting the right people for the right purpose. The agility, the single focus of a group to do its thing, and to stop being a group in case the energy ebbs is unique and refreshing.

This was the conclusion of the case study i did last year:
“Web 2.0 supported communities have the potential to support social organization for development, linking different actors to local development. The organizational models that we avail of at present do not match the new dispersed form of organization. To promote autonomy, sustainability and replicability of communities, further thinking is required.”

John D Smith and I have done some “further thinking”.

We have looked at existing communities, many of them “ultra-lights”, we have reminded each other to look and read with the question in mind:

“How can communities get legs and pockets”?

Legs for getting places, doing the thing it is they want to do;
pockets for being able to pay their way for as long as they want to.

You need legs before you can have pockets, but too large pockets might get in the way for good walking.

We have come across many communities that are -in whatever way- struggling with these questions: some for lack of pockets, others for getting their pockets filled and stopping walking to spend money or get more.

Trying to think of what would be needed to get legs and pockets, one thing might be collective money management tools. A tool to make international online banking “visible” to a larger community, in order for the community leaders to move money in an accountable way. It should be simple, but not too simple; communities probably want to differentiate several “stashes” of money. Read John’s blogpost about it here.

Waar blijft de tijd?

Hoe kan ik toch aan zo weinig toekomen, terwijl ik toch ook de hulp van een oppas heb? Wat heb ik vandaag gedaan:

• ontbeten en kinderen naar school geholpen
• nieuwe flessen gas besteld
• regels veetransport nageplozen op de site
• gebeld over veetransport met Isabel en veearts Zé Maria
• blogpost Kennisclub geschreven
• gas-bezorger te woord gestaan en gas afgerekend
• echtgenoot bijgestaan in bedrijfsgerelateerde stress
• vriendin die mogelijk steun behoeft geprobeerd te bellen
• Inga herhaaldelijk tevergeefs gebeld in verband met achterstallige uitbetaling van melkpremie van vorig jaar
• koffie gedronken achter de compu
• onze lakse jurist herhaaldelijk tevergeefs gebeld
• veearts ontvangen, bijgepraat en van koffie voorzien
• even kort geassisteerd bij lebmaagoperatie bij een koe
• blogpost aangepast zodat hij ook geschikt is voor “De Boerderij”
• collega boer die een stier komt brengen opgevangen, papierboel afgehandeld
• gelunched in het restaurantje hier in het dorp met veearts, collega boer en echtgenoot
• oppas begroet en smalltalk
• e-mails gelezen en een paar beantwoord, o.a. een onderhandeling over nieuwe opdracht
• jongste kinderen opgevangen van school
• middelste kind geknuffeld en getroost omdat ze wil dat het al morgen moederdag is en niet pas overmorgen
• samen met middelste kind per fiets het oudste kind opgehaald
• eventjes feeds gelezen
• de (print) post behandeld
• superluxe aarbei-shake geserveerd gekregen van de oppas -die het huishouden en veel van de kinderaandacht voor haar rekening neemt. Wat een luxe…

Vervolgens deze opsomming gemaakt…. en nu is het vijf uur. Eindelijk kan ik beginnen aan mijn werk. Maar nu is het nog hooguit een uurtje achter de computer, dan is het tussen 6 en 8 tijd voor kinderrituelen: oppas uitzwaaien, broodje, spelletje, opruimen, tandenpoetsen, voorlezen, bed. Nog wat opruimen, om half 9 kan ik nog even aan het werk. Wéér een dag voorbij, weer een dag “niks” gedaan….