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Geodemocracy Lesson 4 -Finances |
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Geodemocracy Lesson 4 -Finances |
The Geodesic Direct Democratic Network Lesson Four - Finances
As homework, each person who wishes to learn this should write a glossary of the new terms and titles, with theirmeanings, from this Lesson. If the terms are understood, the whole system is pretty much easily understood.
The financial setup of the Geonet will be non-profit and transparent.
That is, all finiances will be posted publically every day.
Nonprofit Law states that once money is donated to a nonprofit corporation, then it must remain in that organization. How it is spent is pretty open as long as it is spent for the purposes stated in the charter of that nonprofit organization. The Geonet will have a unique form of finanicial organization that parallels the unique structure.
Each individual, once they are in the Geonet as an offical member, has a separate Geonet account, which has certain restrictions on it. Their monthly donations, 5% of their income per I-Team they participate in, goes into a separate individual account for each I-Team, in that member's name. Access is permitted when five or more of the other members of their I-Team authorize it, through the Closing Meeting vote, and then it can go to the specific uses the member wished to finance, as long as it is not for personal use. This means that there will be an individual account for every member in an I-Team, and every member, since they link two I-Teams, will have two accounts.
How it is used, to the penny, is recorded in the General Archives Finanicial Section, which will list when it was authorized, when it was spent, what it was spent for, which I-Team authorized it, and exactly which member's account it came from.
When a Subject is proposed and accepted for something which will require the use of Geonet money, which will always be a Project, (See Lesson 6 -Projects) and six members vote to support that Project, then the amount of money each individual authorizes will be taken out of their I-Team account and put into the Project Account, and a financial note made of this; which I-Team, which members, how much money, date, and which Project, and the money put into the Project account. If a fee is charged by a bank or credit union for setting up the Project account, then that fee will be taken out of each member's account by percentage.
When a member votes to support a Project, they state how much money, or percent of their donation, will go to that Project until it is completed or until it is dropped. This information is part of the Subject and must be included in that Subject by the Closing Meeting when it will be voted on. This money is taken out automatically each month, and added to the Project budget. Once they have voted to support that project, they cannot effect that automatic withdrawal unless the I-Team votes to drop the Project or a member wanting not to support that Project finds someone to replace them in that responsibility. If a member changes their mind, and wishes to support a different Project, or simply not support the existing Project, they can drop out if some other member of the I-Team, who was not previously supporting that Project, takes it up, and agrees to donate the same amount or percentage, or more, to that Project. This requires this exchange being proposed as an Internal Subject, and approved by the member and five other members. If all the members in an I-Team are supporting a Project or refuse the exchange of responsibility, and the member who wants to change donations can find someone in his/her alternate I-Team, then that can also allow the transfer, as long as the exchange is agreed upon through an Internal Subject in BOTH I-Teams. If that is not possible in a member's alternate I-Team, then the member can put out a message seeking an exchange of responsiblity to anyone in the Geonet, and as long as both I-Teams, the I-Team of the member wishing the change, and the member taking up the change, approve through an Internal Subject and a 5 or more vote on that Subject, then it is permitted and the change will be posted in the General Archives.
All decisions effecting finances will be recorded in the General Archive by the Recorder of the I-Team, and if a Project is effected by those decisions, that Recorder will be responsible for contacting the General Manager of that Project and alerting him/her to the changes, even if that member is part of the same I-Team.
The Timer has the additional duty of monitoring a randomly selected I-Team other than the I-Teams that member is part of. This requires that Timer to read and study the finanicial records of the selected I-Team for irregularities or errors, and to contact the Interface and Peacekeeper of that I-Team if irregularities or errors are found, and if not remedied immediately, not just explained, follow the procedures for Alerts. (See Lesson 8 -Details of Specific Procedures)
If a member has a financial setback, and cannot pay into their I-Team account enough to cover the specific Project donation they have accepted, this member can notifiy the rest of the members of their I-Teams and the Project Manager, and ask that a remedy be found, both for the member and for the funding gap for a Project, through a Subject for that cycle. This has priority over other Internal Subjects.
All financial affairs of the Geonet must be independently verified by an audit by an outside financial organization once a year. The results has to be posted in the General Archives immediately upon completion. The Audit Project is a standing Project funded by a 1% non-voted internal fee on all Geonet member accounts. None of the employees of the Auditing company can be Geonet members. If the Audit Project account exceeds the cost of the Audit, then the remaining money is transfered to next years Audit Project not to exceed the cost of the immediately preceeding Audit plus 5%. Any money over that amount is transfered to the General Distribution.
General Distribution
When a member quits the Geonet, the money in their two I-Team accounts, plus any money generated by a Project, or sources outside the Geonet donates money to the organization, the money goes into General Distribution. The General Distribution distributes the money to member's accounts of those who cannot fulfill their Project funding responsibility, who cannot donate money into their I-Team accounts at all, or to a Project being supported at the I-Assembly Resolution, either dealing with an exterior problem or with an internal condition, such as access to the Geonet by poor members. If any money is left in the General Distribution account before the audit at the end of the fiscial year, that money goes into the Maintance Account for the General Archives.
Financial Support for the General Archives
The General Archives, although it is considered integrital to the Geonet, is also treated as a Standing Project. As with the Audit Project, the General Archives are supported by a 1% non-voted internal fee on all Geonet member accounts. (See Lesson 5 -General Archives)
Financial Support for Projects and Funds Generated by Income Generating Projects
This subject is discussed in Lesson 6 -Projects.
Soakers
When a person wants to be part of the Geonet, they start out as a Soaker. A Soaker 'soaks' up the procedures and structure of the geonet by becoming a 'shadow' member. They put in a set donation per I-Team and it goes into a bank account for each I-Team, they monitor the meetings of their sponsor, not participating in any way, and after a set period of time, they are accepted in and apply for a position of their own in randomly selected I-Teams. (See Lesson 7 -Growth)
Up to the time they actually join the Geonet, the money they donate goes into an account which they can withdraw at any time if they withdraw from the organization. Once they are accepted, however, that money is turned into their Geonet account and can no longer be withdrawn. It becomes a donation and is applied to the randomly selected I-Teams the new member is assigned to.
Geodemocracy Lesson 3 -Modes Geodemocracy Lesson 5 -General Archives