Sustainable Business Business models 7/8
It is also important to think through
what to do with our money, when
we've made it. Judy Wicks – community
entrepreneur and co-founder of the
Business Alliance for Local Living
Economies (BALLE) in the US – talks
about making a 'living return', where one
makes a modest financial return from
supporting and enabling the creation of
a more sustainable local economy and a
healthier community.
Wicks made the decision to take all her
money out of the stock market and put it
into Philadelphia's Reinvestment Fund –
through which she gets a straight financial
return of between 4.5 and 5.5 percent –
on the money she invests in providing
community benefits – for example, the
financing of wind turbines to produce
electricity for the community.
How we share our wealth is also an
important factor. We might want to
add a greater emphasis on collective
ownership models to our story, which
are experiencing a great resurgence in
interest, since the financial crisis.
Ownership drives everything; it
provides the power and authority to
make decisions in the long-term interest
of all stakeholders (including the planet);
Collective thinking and
ownership models can keep
money closer to home, thus
supporting the local economy
