Cooperative Economics


Entrepreneurship and Long-Term Planning in an Income-Sharing Community: A Report from the Frontlines

Posted on October 15, 2019 by

The pace of running a competitive multi-million-dollar business like East Wind Nut Butters can clash with the often slow and seemingly disinterested pace of the community at large.


Village-Building Stumbles: A few of the things Earthaven Ecovillage has gotten wrong

Posted on October 1, 2019 by

Those of us privileged enough to find ourselves in an intentional community often imagine that our environment will be free of the horrors and evils of the world. But alas, we bring it all with us.


Your Monthly Freebie: Think Outside the Boss

Posted on June 8, 2019 by

This month’s Free Resource comes from Sustainable Economies Law Center, an organization whose mission is to “cultivates a new legal landscape that supports community resilience and grassroots economic empowerment.” Think… Read More


Your Monthly Freebie: Peer to Peer-A Commons Manifesto

Posted on May 13, 2019 by

Peer to Peer: The Commons Manifesto By Michel Bauwens, Vasilis Kostakis, Alex Pazaitis   Not since Marx identified the manufacturing plants of Manchester as the blueprint for the new capitalist society… Read More


What Can We Learn from the Amish?

Posted on April 23, 2019 by

Touch the soil, live simply, and be satisfied with “enough”: it’s worked for the Amish for almost 300 years and it can work for us as well.


How We Came to Inherit a Salmon Stream

Posted on March 30, 2019 by

The residents of Sahale Learning Center and EcoVillage welcome the salmon who swim from the Hood Canal up the Tahuya River each year to spawn.


Cross-Class Cooperation and Land Access

Posted on March 23, 2019 by
1 Comment

It is important to not only talk about the role class privilege plays in our movement, but also celebrate the ways that cross-class cooperation can be a form of much-needed solidarity.


The Dilemmas of Being a Benefactor: Creating a Community Land Trust

Posted on March 16, 2019 by
1 Comment

CommonSpace CLT fulfills its founder’s dream of using her inheritance to create an affordable, not-for-profit example of diverse community on protected land in perpetuity.


Your Monthly Freebie: Localization of Happiness

Posted on March 11, 2019 by

Localization: Essential Steps to an Economics of Happiness By Helena Norberg-Hodge Edited by Steven Gorelick and Kristen Steele This month’s free resource comes from our friends at Local Futures, who work to… Read More


Land Speaking through the People: The Great Work of Our Times

Posted on March 9, 2019 by

Through Community Land Trusts, we can reimagine and experience anew our relationship with the land as communities of place-based people.


4 Building Blocks of Community

Posted on February 25, 2019 by

Start a Village “If you don’t like the way things are, Start a Village!” This was the essential message that Stephen Brooks delivered at his enthusiastic TEDx talk at Black… Read More


Black Land Matters: An Interview with Leah Penniman of Soul Fire Farm

Posted on February 24, 2019 by

Headquartered on a community farm, a nonprofit, people-of-color-led organization works to dismantle racism in the food system by increasing farmland stewardship by people of color, promoting equity in food access, and training the next generation of activist farmers.


Your Monthly Freebie: Essence of Permaculture

Posted on January 23, 2019 by

Essence of Permaculture Did you know we are continually adding new free resources to our catalog of offerings? Toolkits, epubs, organizers’ handbooks, and workshop guides are just a few examples,… Read More


1,400 People Every Day!

Posted on January 14, 2019 by

Bringing Communities to the People! Every single day about 1,400 people visit the online Communities Directory. That is about 2 unique individuals every single minute! About 40,000 people per month —… Read More


Narcissism, Dependence, and Culture Change

Posted on January 14, 2019 by

Two aspects of the cultural transition we are working toward are little discussed but directly impact our daily relationships: narcissism and dependence dynamics. By unpacking them, we can turn the tide.


Planet Community – Episode 3 – Enright Ridge Urban Ecovillage

Posted on December 31, 2018 by

We have to transform our cities! Over 50% of the world’s population lives in urban areas, and it’s only increasing. Models for sustainable, equitable, urban community must be developed. In… Read More


Thanks for the Fun on #GiveItAwayTuesday!

Posted on November 28, 2018 by

What a fun day it was yesterday! From 8am to 8pm on Tuesday November 27, many of staff, board, and supporters of FIC hosted a marathon event we called #GiveItAwayTuesday.… Read More


Give It Away! — List of Free Resources for Cooperation

Posted on November 21, 2018 by

Free Resources for Cooperation! For #GiveItAwayTuesday we are celebrating the spirit of generosity, gratefulness, and sharing, by giving it back! The 27th of November is the globally celebrated day of… Read More


Planet Community – Episode 2 – Student Housing Cooperatives

Posted on November 19, 2018 by

What is it like to live in a Student Housing Cooperative? Quite different than a typical student dorm experience, a Student Housing Cooperative is more like “the University of Life!”… Read More


Join FIC for Giveaways on #GiveItAwayTuesday

Posted on November 19, 2018 by

Connect With FIC for a Day of Giving Back!   We are inspired to give back and show our love of community on this global day of giving – November… Read More


The Revolution will be Podcasted

Posted on November 5, 2018 by

Are you Listening? We’re searching for hope, we’re fighting for change, we’re learning new tactics and strategies, and we’re uniting to make a difference together. Activists, journalists, citizens, and revolutionaries… Read More


Perennial Lessons from Historical Communities

Posted on October 30, 2018 by
1 Comment

A modern-day communitarian “networks” with Fourierist communities of the 1840s by examining their lives together and noticing enduring themes, challenges, and solutions.


The Cohousing Research Network: A Community Approach to Communities Research

Posted on October 16, 2018 by

The collaborative research process in this “virtual intentional community” comes with challenges, but the personal and collective outcomes of collaboration prove worth the trouble.


Regenerative Victory Gardens

Posted on October 15, 2018 by

Stacking Benefits of Gardens When you plant a garden, you are doing more than practicing a resilient skill, and cultivating mouth watering beefsteak tomatoes. You are reducing food miles by… Read More


Liberation, Networks, and Community

Posted on September 21, 2018 by
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Movements and networks of liberation show us that community can be a tool either of oppression or of powerful organizing for liberation. It’s time for our movement to get solidly on the right side of history.


On the Potential for an IC Business Network

Posted on September 14, 2018 by
2 Comments

Research and data strongly suggest that a network of intentional community businesses could fill a real need for both customers and business owners.


After 10 years ic.org is Now Adsense Free!

Posted on September 10, 2018 by

    Running a a Non-profit Organization is hard Business! You want to deliver the most useful resources and interesting information you can. You eagerly share your programs, improve upon… Read More


Use New Power to Build a Movement

Posted on August 1, 2018 by

What is New Power? It is not just a change in technologies that is reshaping our world, our culture, and our participation in it. Our beliefs and expectations for what… Read More


The Virtue of Sharing

Posted on July 11, 2018 by

How Important is Sharing to the Future? This ‘Future Tense’ podcast ‘The Virtue of Sharing‘ covered the remarkable nature of sharing, and it’s critical importance to a thriving human culture,… Read More


Common Bound Is Coming!

Posted on June 8, 2018 by

We’ve mentioned this before but this year the FIC is especially proud to be co-sponsoring the New Economy Coalition’s Common Bound Conference in St. Louis, June 22-24. There’s still time… Read More