Because all of our activity, our Artistry, Business, and Citizenry, has an impact on the world in at least some way, be it emotional, educational, environmental, or otherwise, we each contribute to the Community in order to support the greater whole. This is where we have historically created charitable organizations and NPOs to clean up our messes, fill in the gaps, and promote the things we love that don’t fit as easily into the Market Economy. For those of who have a passion to see good done in the world and to do good ourselves, contributing to our community by helping the less fortunate, comforting the sick, educating the ignorant, and celebrating beauty is a very important part of our individual economic activity.
When I first started thinking about ABC2 Economics, the second “C” was “Charity”. I thought it would scare people so I changed it to “Community”. Of course, that often scares people too. Fortunately, it doesn’t always stop them from participating though.
According to GivingUSA, Americans gave roughly 481 billion dollars to charitable organizations in 2018 with only about 50% of Americans actually contributing. And 25.3% of Americans, about 62.8 million of them, volunteered 7.9 billion hours of service, the equivalent of 184 billion dollars, according to the Corporation for National Community Service. Although it’s not always easy, though we’re often strapped for time or money, Americans still give of themselves to support the greater community.
Consider this. Every time there is a catastrophe, such as an earthquake in Haiti or a hurricane in New Orleans, we rally our efforts, come together, organize charities such as benefit concerts, and transform tragedies into opportunities to unite as a people. With the breakout of the Coronavirus Pandemic, people shared their time and money to help one another. Even though we were all suffering through the anguish of the unknown as the economy was put on pause, many generously shared what they had and created community.
Quite often, there are certain endeavors that inspire a creative work that is used to raise funds. “We Are The World”, for instance, was a song produced by USA for Africa with the intention of addressing hunger and poverty. Forty-five of America’s most popular recording artists lent their voices to the song, which went on to sell over 20 million copies, raising over 63 million dollars for humanitarian causes.
While any song I write is probably not that likely to sell that many copies, what if I could distribute my art in a way in which every sale includes a portion that goes toward my Community to support humanitarian and other charitable causes? What if I could continually add people and endeavors to my Community portfolio and create a consistent stream of charity from all of the digital products I am able to distribute and roles I am able to play?
Personally, I was raised in the Christian religion and was taught to tithe. That meant that I gave 10% of my income to the church, whichever one I happened to be attending at the time. Since then, although I don’t give to religious organizations anymore, I’ve still tried to give 10% of what I make to assist in the feeding of the hungry, sheltering of the homeless, and comforting the suffering that Jesus called for.
If people used my methodology, and channelled 10% of their income toward charitable endeavors, just as they would for supporting their Citizenry, we could generate over 6 trillion dollars to pretty much alleviate poverty forever. Of course, if we were to realize what true community is, and empowered one another to put in more time of joyful service, we could probably end poverty that way too.
“The generosity of the Earth allows us to feed all mankind; we know enough about ecology to keep the Earth a healthy place; there is enough room on the Earth, and there are enough materials, so that everybody can have adequate shelter; we are quite competent enough to produce sufficient supplies of necessities so that no one need live in misery.” ― E.F. Schumacher, A Guide for the Perplexed
Using the concepts of ABC2 Economics as a foundation, I can see the ability for charitable organizations and individuals to sign up as a Community member as part of the web map. Just as with any other online profile, they can answer questionnaires that help to categorize them and make them available to receive funds from other Artists, Businesses, and Citizens that want to support them. Participants can also change the percentage of funding for various endeavors and remove support when assistance is no longer required.
Imagine how empowering it could be knowing that a portion of everything you do automatically goes toward addressing your values and helping to change the world as you would like to see it changed. Imagine a world in which the economy flows so well because people get to participate joyfully in life instead of being mired in servitude and drudgery due to selfishness and stinginess that they actually feel free to give consistently.
Already, this is a possibility through programs like Amazon Smile and eBay for Charity, where people can donate a portion of their purchase price to designated charities.. Yet though the opportunity has been developed, imagine how effective it will be when it is properly coordinated and people are more greatly empowered to automatically support their Community.