Advance Praise for Creating a Life Together
Before aspiring community builders hold their first meeting, confront their first realtor,
or drive their first nail, they must buy this essential book: it will improve their chances for
success immensely, and will certainly save them money, time, and heartbreak. In her friendly
but firm (and occasionally funny) way, Diana Christian proffers an astonishing wealthof practical information and sensible, field-tested advice.
— ERNEST CALLENBACH, AUTHOR, ECOTOPIA AND ECOTOPIA EMERGING
Wow! The newest, most comprehensive bible for builders of intentional
communities. Covers every aspect with vital information and dozens of examples of
how successful communities faced the challenges and created their shared lives
out of their visions. The cautionary tales of sadder experiences and how communities
fail, will help in avoiding the pitfalls. Not since I wrote the Foreword to Ingrid Komar's
Living the Dream (1983), which documented the Twin Oaks community,
have I seen a more useful and inspiring book on this topic.
— HAZEL HENDERSON, AUTHOR CREATING ALTERNATIVE FUTURES AND POLITICS OF THE SOLAR AGE.
A really valuable resource for anyone thinking about intentional community.
I wish I had it years ago.
— STARHAWK, AUTHOR OF WEBS OF POWER, THE SPIRAL DANCE, AND
THE FIFTH SACRED THING, AND LONG-TIME COMMUNITY MEMBER.
Every potential ecovillager should read it. This book will be an essential guideand manual for the many Permaculture graduates who live incommunities or design for them.
— BILL MOLLISON, COFOUNDER OF THE PERMACULTURE MOVEMENT, AND AUTHOR,PERMACULTURE: A DESIGNER'S MANUAL
Creating a new culture of living peacefully with each other and the planet is ournumber one need—and this is the right book at the right time. Creating a Life Together
will help community founders avoid fatal mistakes. I can't wait to tell people about it.
— HILDUR JACKSON, COFOUNDER, GLOBAL ECOVILLAGE NETWORK (GEN); CO-EDITOR,ECOVILLAGE LIVING: RESTORING THE EARTH AND HER PEOPLE

Creating a Life Together is a comprehensive, engaging, practical, well-organized, andthoroughly digestible labor of love. Hopefully scores of wannabe community founders
and seekers will discover it before they launch their quest for community, and avoid thesenseless and sometimes painful lessons that come from trying to reinvent the wheel. This
book is a gift to humanity—helping to move forward the elusive quest for community,
fueling a quantum leap towards a fulfilling, just, and sustainable future.
— GEOPH KOZENY, PRODUCER/EDITOR OF VIDEO DOCUMENTARY,“VISIONS OF UTOPIA: EXPERIMENTS IN SUSTAINABLE CULTURE”
While anyone can build a village, a subdivision, or a housing development,
the challenge is filling it with people who can get along, who can reach agreements,
and who can achieve far more together than they ever could alone. If youraspiring ecovillage or intentional community gets even this far — and thisawesome book will show you how — then maybe you have a realistic chanceof living sustainably and, by example, of changing the world. My appreciation
grows daily for this thorough, practical, and engaging guide.
— ALBERT BATES, DIRECTOR, ECOVILLAGE TRAINING CENTER, AND INTERNATIONAL
SECRETARY, ECOVILLAGE NETWORK OF THE AMERICAS.
Developing a successful community requires a special blend of vision andpracticality woven together with wisdom. Consider this book a marvelous mirror.
If the abundant, experience-based, practicality in this book delights you then you probably
have the wisdom to realize your vision.
— ROBERT GILMAN, FOUNDING EDITOR OF IN CONTEXT, A QUARTERLY OF HUMANE
SUSTAINABLE CULTURE, AND AUTHOR OF ECOVILLAGES AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIESSo many well intended communities fail because they don't even know the questions
to ask, let alone where to find answers. This book offers a wealth of detailed informationthat will help guide communities to finding what is right for their specific situation,and greatly increase their odds of their success.

— KATHRYN MCCAMANT, COHOUSING RESIDENT, ARCHITECT, AND PROJECT MANAGER,
AND AUTHOR OF COHOUSINGNEW SOCIETY PUBLISHERS

Cataloguing in Publication Data:
A catalog record for this publication is available from the National Library of Canada.
Copyright © 2003 by Diana Leafe Christtian.
All rights reserved.
Cover design by Diane McIntosh. Cover art by Sally A. Sellers, detail from "Family in B-flat" (1998) hand-dyed,
hand painted and commercial cottons 45" x 81." Illustrations by Jacob Stevens.
Printed in Canada by Friesens, Second Printing, July 2004.
New Society Publishers acknowledges the support of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing
Industry Development Program (BPIDP) for our publishing activities.
Paperback ISBN: 0-86571-471-1
Inquiries regarding requests to reprint all or part of Creating a Life Together should be addressed to New Society
Publishers at the address below.
To order directly from the publishers, please add $4.50 shipping to the price of the first copy, and $1.00 for each
additional copy (plus GST in Canada). Send check or money order to:
New Society Publishers
P.O. Box 189, Gabriola Island, BC V0R 1X0, Canada
1-800-567-6772

New Society Publishers’ mission is to publish books that contribute in fundamental ways to building an ecologically sustainable and just society, and to do so with the least possible impact on the environment, in a mannerthat models this vision. We are committed to doing this not just through education, but through action. We areacting on our commitment to the world’s remaining ancient forests by phasing out our paper supply from ancientforests worldwide. This book is one step towards ending global deforestation and climate change. It is printed on
acid-free paper that is 100% old growth forest-free (100% post-consumer recycled), processed chlorine free, andprinted with vegetable based, low VOC inks. For further information, or to browse our full list of books and purchase securely, visit our website at: www.newsociety.com
NEW SOCIETY PUBLISHERS

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Dedication

For my friend Al Rasche for helping make this book possible,and for my mother Rosetta Neff, for abiding loyalty, good humor,and every kind of support.

Table of Contents
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Foreword – By Patch Adams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xii
INTRODUCTION: CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv
The Successful Ten Percent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv
What Are Intentional Communities and Ecovillages? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvi
Cohousing Communities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii
Why Now? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii
What You’ll Learn Here . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xviii
Is this Information Really Necessary? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix
Is this Advice “Corporate”? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix
How to Use this Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xx
PART ONE: PLANTING THE SEEDS OF HEALTHY COMMUNITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
CHAPTER 1: THE SUCCESSFUL TEN PERCENT – AND WHY NINETY PERCENT FAIL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Lost Valley – How One Group Did It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
What Works, What Doesn’t Work? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
The Successful Ten Percent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Why Ninety Percent Fail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6“Structural Conflict” – And Six Ways to Reduce It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
What Will it Cost? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
How Long Does it Take? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
How Many People do You Need? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
CHAPTER 2: YOUR ROLE AS FOUNDER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
What Kind of Person Founds a Community? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
What Else You’ll Need . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
“If Only I Had Known!” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
CHAPTER 3: GETTING OFF TO A GOOD START . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Don’t Run Out and Buy Land – Yet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
When You Already Own the Property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Organizing Your Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Getting Real about Finances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Collecting Funds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
vi

Raising Money from Suppporters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Attracting and Integrating New Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Creating “Community Glue” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Pioneers, Settlers, and the Flow of Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
CHAPTER 4: COMMUNITY VISION – WHAT IT IS, WHY YOU NEED IT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Sound a Clear Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Elements of a Community’s Vision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Your Vision Documents and Vision Statements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Do it First . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
CHAPTER 5: CREATING VISION DOCUMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
More Than One Vision? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
A Sacred Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
”That’s Not Community!” – Hidden Expectations and Structural Conflict . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Exploring the Territory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Sharing from the Heart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Writing it Down . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
CHAPTER 6: POWER, DECISION-MAKING, AND GOVERNANCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Power – The Ability to Influence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Focused Power, Widespread Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
How Consensus Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
What You Need to Make Consensus Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
“Pseudoconsensus” and Structural Conflict . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Agreement Seeking – When You Don’t Want to use Full Consensus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Multi-winner Voting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Community Governance – Spreading Power Widely . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
More than One Form of Decision Making? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
What Decision-making Method Should You Use? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
PART TWO: SPROUTING NEW COMMUNITY: TECHNIQUES & TOOLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
CHAPTER 7: AGREEMENTS & POLICIES:“GOOD DOCUMENTS MAKE GOOD FRIENDS” . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Remembering Things Differently . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Giving Yourselves Every Chance of Success . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
vii

Your Community’s Agreements and Policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Abundant Dawn’s Agreements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
CHAPTER 8: MAKING IT REAL: ESTABLISHING YOUR LEGAL ENTITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Why You Need a Legal Entity – Before Buying Your Property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Using a Lawyer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Finding the Right Lawyer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
CHAPTER 9: THE GREAT LAND-BUYING ADVENTURE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Legal Barriers to Sustainable Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Shopping for Counties – Zoning Regulations, Building Codes, Sustainable Homesteads, and Jobs . . . . . 82
The Proactive Land Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Friendly Loans from Friends and Family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Onerous Owner-financing (Better than None at All) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Do-it-Yourself Refinancing with a “Shoe Box Bank” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
When One Person Buys the Property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Acquiring Fully Developed “Turn Key” Property – Confidence, Persistence, and Negotiation . . . . . . . . . . 92
If at First You Don’t Succeed ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
CHAPTER 10: FINDING THE RIGHT PROPERTY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Choosing Your Site Criteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
How Much Land Do You Want? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Raw Land – Lower Initial Cost, Years of Effort . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Developed Land – Electricity, Toilets, and Showers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Fully Developed Turn-key Property – Move Right In (With a Big Financial Bite) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Buying Property Like the Professionals Do . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Conducting the Search – On Your Own or with a Real Estate Agent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Investigating Likely Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Taking Property Off the Market While You do Further Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
CHAPTER 11: NEIGHBORS AND ZONING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
How Zoning Issues can Impact Community Plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Zoning Issues and Your Property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Gambling with Former Use Permits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Seeking a Zoning Exception . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Negotiating for What You Want . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Zoning Exceptions, Neighbors, and Public Hearings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
CHAPTER 12: FINANCING YOUR PROPERTY (LOANS YOU CAN LIVE WITH) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
About “Renting Money” – What You Should Know . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

viii

Private Financing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
When One Member Buys the Property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Protecting Your Sole Owner with a Triple Net Lease . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Owner Financing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Bank Financing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Drawing on the Cohousing Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
What about Grants and Donations? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Refinancing Your Property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
CHAPTER 13: DEVELOPING SUSTAINABLE HUMAN SETTLEMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Earthaven’s Development Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Listening to your Land . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Creating your Site Plan Yourselves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Avoiding “Urban Refugee” Syndrome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Creating Privacy in the Midst of Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Designing for Conviviality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
CHAPTER 14: INTERNAL COMMUNITY FINANCES (CAN WE AFFORD TO LIVE THERE?) . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Rural Communities — How Will your Members Make a Living? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
The Risks of Community Businesses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Keeping Member Assessments Affordable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Joining Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Housing Arrangements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Site Lease Fees and the Debt Load . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Labor Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Building Equity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Can People Afford to Join You? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
CHAPTER 15: LEGAL ENTITIES FOR OWNING PROPERTY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Checklist for Choosing a Legal Entity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
How You’ll Hold Title and Arrange Members’ Use Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Organizational Flexibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
How You’ll be Taxed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Overview: Corporations and Non-profit Corporations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Limited Liability Corporations (LLCs) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Homeowners Associations – Tax Advantages (and Disadvantages) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
Condominium Associations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
Housing Co-ops – Separate Ownership and Use Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Non-exempt Non-profit Corporations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

ix

CHAPTER 16: IF YOU’RE USING A TAX-EXEMPT NON-PROFIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Advantages of a 501(c)3 – Donations, Tax Breaks, Limited Liability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Disadvantages of a 501(c)3 – Onerous Requirements, Irrecoverable Assets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Land-owning Entities and 501(c)3 Corporations – The Best of Both Worlds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
How One Group Retained Control of its Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
Title-holding Corporations – Collecting Income from “Passive” Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
Private Land Trusts – Protecting the Land . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Community Land Trusts – An Irrevocable Decision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
For “Common Treasury” Communities – 501(d) Non-profit Corporations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
PART THREE: THRIVING IN COMMUNITY — ENRICHING THE SOIL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
CHAPTER 17: COMMUNICATION, PROCESS, AND DEALING WITH CONFLICT:THE HEART OF HEALTHY COMMUNITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
The “Rock Polisher” Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Nourishing Sustainable Relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
The Roots of Conflict: Emotionally-charged Needs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
High Woundedness, High Willingness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Seven Kinds of Community Conflict We Wish We’d Left Behind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Twenty-four Common Sources of Community Conflict . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
The Fine Art of Offering Feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Receiving Feedback – Listening for Kernels of Truth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Threshing Meetings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Creating Specific Conflict Resolution Agreements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Helping Each Other Stay Accountable to the Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
A Graduated Series of Consequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
CHAPTER 18: SELECTING PEOPLE TO JOIN YOU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
Select for Emotional Maturity — the “Narrow Door” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
But is it Community? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
Passive Victims, Outraged Victims . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
Membership Screening and the Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Dealing Well with Saying “No” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
How Can You Tell? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
Questions, References, “Long Engagements” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
APPENDIX 1: SAMPLE COMMUNITY VISION DOCUMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
APPENDIX 2: SAMPLE COMMUNITY AGREEMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
APPENDIX 3: SETTING UP AND MAINTAINING A 501(C)3 NON-PROFIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
RESOURCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
xAcknowledgments
AS SOMEONE WHO KNEW LITTLE of intentional
communities in 1992, I’m grateful to those devoted activists in the Fellowship for Intentional
Community who patiently educated me – Laird
Schaub, Geoph Kozeny, Caroline Estes, Jenny
Upton, Dan Questonberry, Tony Sirna, Harvey
Baker, Elph Morgan, Jillian Downey, Tree
Bressen, Betty Didcoct and Paul DeLapa.
I couldn’t have written this book without
being editor of Communities magazine for the last
decade, and have learned much from its staff,
columnists, contributors, and guest editors: Lance
Scott, Billie Miracle, Ellie Sommer, Velma Kahn,
Cecil Scheib, McCune Renwick-Porter, Jacob
Stevens, Tristan Masat, Bill Metcalf, Albert Bates,
Jan Bulman, Irwin Zucker, Douglas Stevenson,
Carolyn Shaffer, Steve Niezgoda, Joyce Foote,
Robert Foote, Deborah Altus, Tim Miller, Joe
Peterson, Lois Arkin, Hank Obermeyer, Jeff
Grossberg, Blair Voyvodic, Michael McIntyre,
Daniel Greenberg, Jeff Clearwater, Rob Sandelin,
Luc Reid, Larry Kaplowitz, Elana Kann, Bill
Flemming, and Patricia Greene.
I am deeply grateful to the Fellowship for
Intentional Community for generous permission
to excerpt information from ten years of articles
in Communities magazine, which helps illustratecommunity principles in every single chapter ofthis book. I appreciate the shared stories andinsights of community veterans Judie Anders,Dave Jacke, John Charamella, Patch Adams,
Brad Jarvis, Corinne McLaughlin, Gordon

Davidson, Stephen Gaskin, Michael Traugot,
Diamond Jamison, River Jamison, Susanna
McDougal, Stephan Brown, Barbara Conroy,
Don Lindemann, Katie McCamant, Chuck
Durrett — and especially Colorado compadres
Buzz Burrell, Denise Coté, Zev Paiss, Panther
Wilde, the late Mike Mariner, Allen Butcher,
Ben Lipman, David Lynch, John Cruickshank,
John and Betsey McKinney, Judith Yarrow, Rob
Jones, Jan Laser, Nancy Wood, and Jim Wetzel.
I am grateful to the people who helped set
me on the path towards learning, teaching, andwriting about communities: Dan Drasin,
Dorothy Ives, Gordon-Michael Scallion, Ernest“Chick” Callenbach, Jerome Ostentowki, Bill
Becker, Don Markle, and Hildur Jackson.
I’m especially obliged to the community
founders who generously shared their stories —Velma Kahn, Tony Sirna, Arjuna daSilva, Valerie
Naiman, Chuck Marsh, Peter Bane, Dianne Brause,
Kenneth Mahaffey, Hank Obermeyer, Luc Reid,
Dave Henson, and Adam Wolpert — heroes all.
Enormous thanks to the people who offeredexpert advice: Frances Forster, James Hamilton,
Bob Watzke, Zev Paiss, Chris ScottHanson, Jim
Leach, Dave Henson, Gregory Clark, Cindy
Maddox, Carolyn Goldschmidt, Steve Goldstein,
and Bill Goodman; and those who critiqued chapters: Tree Bressen, Geoph Kozeny, Velma Kahn,
Patricia Allison, Harvey Baker, and Paul DeLapa.
Very special thanks to Rick Tobin, Brecharr
Hemmaplardh, and Don Rose.
xi

Foreword
BY PATCH ADAMSI’M A COMMUNITY FOUNDER. I knew when I
entered medical school in 1967 that I would create an intentional community to offer low-cost
medical care. I knew health care delivery was in
big trouble, and as a nerd activist interested incybernetics, I wanted to create a model that
addressed all the problems of care delivery. In
order for health care delivery to be inexpensive, I
thought the staff should live in the community
and it would include farming and host of support
facilities. I know the medicine I wanted to practice would include helping stimulate patients’ living vital, independent lives. Concerned for thehealth of communities and society as much as ofindividuals and their families, I had read copious
utopian and dystopian literature.
I was sure I wanted to do this in an intentional community. I visited Twin Oaks in 1969and other communities as well, all of which all
fed my hunger to live this lifestyle, which I knew
would be good for both staff and patient. I knew
I would start a community when I graduated in
1971, and wrote up an eight-page paper with our
first mission statement.
The innocence of that document makes mesmile today. Like any good nerd, I tried to findany literature to help guide me on how to makemy community vision happen. Nothing. So I
spoke with fellow communards and dove rightin. I wonder what we would have done different-ly if we had run into this thorough, intelligent
book back then. Maybe looking at all we had to
do would have scared us away. We probably had
fewer meetings than any founded community inhistory. We also made every known mistake. Yet
for me, community living was a magical nine
years. At a certain point in our process we realized that in order to continue with our hospital
dream we would have to take most of the steps
this book lays out so well.
Only a few community members wanted tocontinue in our medical service mission. The rest
have all have all stayed together these 33 years asfamily, though no longer as an intentional community. In 1993, the incredible people who choseto continue to create our medical community
realized we needed to do things differently, andmade a commitment to the kinds of organizational structures this book suggests.
Very few communities would survive long
without the depth of structure you’ll find here.
Whether you use this wisdom or not — it still is
worth all the efforts to create and live in community. I’ve had no burnout or regrets. Community
has made everything in my life easier and has
allowed me to have huge dreams, inconceivable
without community. The skills I’ve learned, practical and human, seem infinite. My love forhumanity has thrived and expanded. Nothing
about community has been easy, but it all has
xii

FOREWORD xiii

been fun. This is the work for political activists
who want to live their solutions. If we are to survive as a species we will do so learning the ecstasyof community. We do have to get together.
Creating a Life Together shows what to pay
attention to in forming new communities andecovillages, and offers exercises to develop community intelligence. Do these exercises even if you
don’t agree with them; consider them training
wheels. Of course no book can be complete; youstill might make a million mistakes. I suggest
reading this book and then visiting ten communities to see how they did it.
I thought it would take four years to build ourfree 40-bed hospital in community. Now, in our
33rd year, we may finally break ground this year.
We’re ready. We’ve learned that the journey tocommunity is nurturing, and so will you. Goodluck!

There is hardly anything more appealing, yet apparently more elusive, for humankind at the end of the20th century than the prospect of living in harmony with nature and with each other.
— Robert and Diane Gilman, Ecovillages and Sustainable Communities

Do not be afraid to build castles in the sky.
That is where they belong.
But once the dreams are in place,Your job is to build the foundation under them.
— Henry David Thoreau

Introduction
Creating A Life Together“I

FOUND THE LAND!” Jack exclaimed overthe phone. As the originator of EarthDance
Farm, a small forming community in northern
Colorado, he had been searching for just theright community land for years, since long before
he and a circle of acquaintances had begun meeting weekly to create community. He was so sureit was the right land, he said, that he’d plunked
down $10,000 of his own savings as an option
fee to take it off the market for two months sothat we could decide.
I had joined the group several weeks earlier,and I knew nothing about intentional communities then. However, it had seemed in their meetings that something was missing.
“What’s the purpose of your community?” I
had finally asked.“What’s your vision for it?” No
one could really answer.
That Saturday we all drove out to the land tocheck it out.
And promptly fell apart. Confronted by
the reality of buying land, no one wanted tocommit. Frankly, there was nothing to commit
to. No common purpose or vision, no organizational structure, no budget, no agreements.
In fact we hadn’t made decisions in the groupat all, but had simply talked about how wonderful life in community would be. Although

Jack tried mightily to persuade us to go in withhim on the land, there were no takers, and hebarely got his money out before the option
deadline.
The Successful Ten Percent

I’ve since learned that EarthDance Farm’s experience is fairly common. Most aspiring ecovillages and community groups — probably 90
percent — never get off the ground; their envisioned communities never get built. They can’t
find the right land, don’t have enough money, or
get mired in conflict. Often they simply don’t
understand how much time, money, and organizational skill they’ll need to pull off a project of
this scope.
I wanted to know about the successful ten
percent, those groups that actually created theircommunities. What did they do right?
I’ve sought the answer to this question eversince, in my years as editor of Communities magazine, and by visiting dozens of communities andinterviewing scores of community founders. And
I’ve seen a definite pattern. Generally, founders
used the same kinds of skills, knowledge, andstep-by-step processes to create widely different
kinds of communities, from urban group households or rural ecovillages.
xv

xvi CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

Creating a Life Together is an overview of thatprocess, gleaned from some of the most innovative and successful community founders inNorth America. This is what they did, and what
you can do, to create your community dream.
What Are Intentional Communities andEcovillages?

A residential or land-based intentional community is a group of people who have chosen to livewith or near enough to each other to carry out
their shared lifestyle or common purpose together. Families living in a cohousing communities in
the city, students living in student housing cooperatives near universities, and sustainability advocates living in rural back-to-the-land homesteads
are all members of intentional communities.
Community is not just about living together,
but about the reasons for doing so. “A group ofpeople who have chosen to live together with acommon purpose, working cooperatively to create a lifestyle that reflects their shared core values,” is one way the non-profit Fellowship for
Intentional Community describes it.
What most communities have in common is
idealism: they’re founded on a vision of living abetter way, whether community members literally live together in shared group houses, or live
near each other as neighbors. A community’s
ideals usually arise from something its members
see as lacking or missing in the wider culture.
Ecovillages are intentional communities that
aspire to create a more humane and sustainable
way of life. One widely quoted definition (byRobert and Diane Gilman) defines ecovillages as“human-scale, full-featured settlements in whichhuman activities are harmlessly integrated into
the natural world in a way that is supportive of
healthy human development, and which can be
successfully continued into the indefinite future.”

An intentional community aspiring tobecome an ecovillage attempts to have a population small enough that everyone knows eachother and can influence the outcome of community decisions. It hopes to provide housing, work
opportunities, and social and spiritual opportunities on-site, creating as self-sufficient a community as possible. Typically, an ecovillage builds
ecologically sustainable housing, grows much of
its own organic food, recycles its waste products
harmlessly, and, as much as possible, generates its
own off-grid power.
SiriusEcovillage
near
Amherst,Massachusetts, grows a large percentage of its
organic food, generates a portion of its own offgrid power, and offers tours and classes on sustainable living. EcoVillage at Ithaca has built
the first two of its three planned ecologicallyoriented cohousing communities on 176 acres
near Ithaca, New York, and operates its own
organic Community Supported Agriculture
farm for members and neighbors. We’ll explore
two aspiring ecovillages in the following chapters: Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage in Missouri,
and Earthaven Ecovillage in North Carolina. I
use the term “communities” in this to mean
ecovillages as well as other forms of intentional
community.
More and more people are yearning for more“community” in their lives; you may be one ofthem. These are people who feel increasingly
isolated and alienated, and want something
more satisfying. This can mean seeking to create
community where they are, or it can mean seeking residential, land-based intentional community. It includes cohousing, shared group households, ecovillages, housing co-ops, environmental activist communities, Christian fellowshipcommunities, rural homesteading communities,
and so on.

INTRODUCTION xvii

Many peruse the hefty Communities Directory,
which lists over 600 communities and where they
are and how to join them. Others browse the web
for individual community websites, beginningwith such starting places as the Fellowship for
Intentional Community (www.ic.org); The
Cohousing Network, (www.cohousing.org);
Ecovillage Network of the Americas(www.ena.ecovillage.org); or the Northwest
Intentional
Communities
Association(www.ic.org/NICA).
Cohousing Communities

Cohousing is another increasingly popular formof contemporary intentional community.
Cohousing communities are small neighborhoods of usually 10 to 40 households which aremanaged by the residents themselves, and whichhave usually been developed and designed bythem as well (although increasingly cohousers
partner with outside developers). Cohousers
own their own relatively small housing units andshare ownership of the whole property and theirlarge community building (with kitchen, dining
room/meeting space, and usually a children’s
play area, laundry facilities, and guest rooms).
Cohousing residents conduct their community
business through consensus-based meetings, andenjoy optional shared meals together three orfour nights a week.
“Cohousers believe that it’s more readily possible to live lighter on the planet if they cooperate with their neighbors, and their lives are easier, more economical, more interesting, and morefun,” observes Chuck Durrett, one of two architects who introduced cohousing to North
America from Denmark in 1986. By 2002, 68
completed cohousing communities were up andrunning in North America, and approximately
200 more were in various stages of development.

The growing interest in intentional communities, whether ecovillages, cohousing, or otherkinds of communities, isn’t just wishful thinking.
By 2002 the yearning for community, and individual communities, has been favorably — andsometimes repeatedly — covered by the New
York Times, USA Today, The Boston Globe, NBC’s“Dateline,” ABC’s “Good Morning America,”
CNN, and National Public Radio.
Why Now?

I believe we’re experiencing a culture-wide, yet
deeply personal, phenomenon — as if some kindof “switch” has simultaneously flipped in the psyches of thousands of people. Aware that we’re living in an increasingly fragmented, shallow, venal,
costly, and downright dangerous society, andreeling from the presence of guns in the school
yard and rogues in high office, we’re longing for away of life that’s warmer, kinder, more wholesome, more affordable, more cooperative, andmore connected.
This is partly because we’re so unnaturally
disconnected. Post-World War II trends toward
nuclear families, single-family dwellings, urban
and suburban sprawl, and job-related mobility
have disconnected us from the web of humanconnections that nourished people in our grandparents’ day, as well as numbing us with simulations of human interaction on TV sitcoms
rather than living in a culture small-scale andstable enough that we’d have such interactions
ourselves.
The people interested in intentional communities aren’t extremists. They’re the people next
door. Many are in their 40s and 50s; they’veraised families, built careers, and picked up andmoved more times than they can count. They’retired of Madison Avenue’s idea of the American
Dream. They want to settle down, sink roots,

xviii CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

and live in the good company of friends. Others
are young people; fresh out of college, hyperaware of our precarious environmental situation,and disgusted with the consumerist mall ethic,
they say “No thanks.”
We’re also recognizing that living in community is literally good for us. Scientific researchshows that our health improves when we live ina web of connection with others. “Of all the
many influences on our health, interpersonal
relationships are not only a factor, but increasingly are being recognized as the most crucial factor,” physician Blair Vovoydic writes in
Communities magazine.“Being connected to otherpeople probably makes you physically healthierthan if you lived alone.” This appears to be especially true for older people, who tend to stayhealthier longer, recover from illness more quickly, and live longer than the elderly not living incommunity.
It’s also healthier for the planet. At a time
when — every day — we’re losing 200,000 acresof rainforest “lungs,” we’re spewing a million tonsof toxic waste into the atmosphere, and 45,000
people die of starvation every day, living simply,
cooperating, and sharing resources with others
may be the only way of life that makes any sense.
“Small, independent, self-sufficient communities have the greatest ability to survive the normal cycles of boom-and-bust which our economy and culture go through, and an even betterchance of surviving the major catastrophes
which may loom ahead as our oil supply dwindles,” writes Thom Hartmann in his book The
Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight.
What better place than intentional communities to downsize possessions, share ownershipof land and tools, grow healthy food, sharemeals, make decisions collaboratively, andtogether create the kind of culture that nourish-

es our children as they grow up, and ourselves as
we grow older? And what better place thanintentional communities to show the rest of theworld that even hyper-mobile North Americans
can choose to live this way?
What You’ll Learn Here

It’s becoming increasingly obvious to many of us
that intentional community living is one key tosurviving, even thriving, in these disintegratingtimes. But, like members of the EarthDance
Farm, few of us know where to start.
Creating a Life Together is an attempt to help
your ecovillage or intentional community get off
to a good start. It attempts to distill the hardexperience of the founders of dozens of successful communities formed since the early ’90s into
solid advice on getting started as a group, creating vision documents, decision-making and governance, agreements and policies, buying andfinancing land, communication and process, andselecting people to join you. It’s the information
I was looking for when I began this journey. It’s
simply what works, what doesn’t work, and how
not to reinvent the wheel.
And this information is not only for people
forming new communities — whether or not
you already own your land. It can also be valuable for those of you thinking about joining community one day — since you, too, will need toknow what works. And it’s also for those of you
already living in community, since you can only
benefit from knowing what others have done insimilar circumstances.
Because forming a rural community involves
more variables than other kinds of communities(for example, how members might make a living), I focus more on rural communities.
However, most of the steps and skills describedin these chapters apply to urban and suburban

INTRODUCTION xix

communities as well. This book also focuses oncommunities in which decisions are made by allcommunity members, and doesn’t examine
issues specific to ashrams, meditation centers, orother spiritual or therapeutic communities inwhich decisions are made by one leader or asmall group. Why you need a legal entity(Chapter 8), and what you should consider
before choosing a legal entity (in Chapter 15),
apply to forming communities and ecovillages
anywhere; however, information on specific legal
entities (in Chapters 15 and 16) apply only to
the United States.
Is This Information Really Necessary?

Many communities that formed in the 1970s and1980s, including large, well-established ones,
weren’t familiar with most of this information
when they started, and apparently didn’t need it.
Nonetheless, I urge you to learn these steps andskills. Why? First, because establishing an ecovillage or new community is not easy, then or now.
Getting a group of people to agree on a common
vision, make decisions collaboratively and fairly,
and combine their money with others to own
property together can bring up deep-seated emotional issues — often survival-level issues — thatcan knock a community off its foundations. I
want you to have all the help you can get.
Second, since the mid-1980s, the cost ofland and housing has skyrocketed relative tomost people’s assets and earning power. Zoning
regulations and building codes are considerably
more restrictive than they were in earlier
decades. And because of media coverage thathighlights any violent or extreme practices in agroup, the “cult” stereotype has become part ofthe public consciousness, and may affect how
potential neighbors feel about your group moving in next door.

Newly forming communities can flounderand sink for other reasons, too. Not being able toagree on location. Not having enough time to
devote to research or group process. Not having
enough access to capital. Not finding the rightland. Based on the hard lessons of the “successful
10 percent” (and the “unsuccessful 90 percent”),
today’s community founders must be considerably more organized, purposeful, and better capitalized than their counterparts of earlier years.
Is This Advice “Corporate”?

As you skim these pages you’ll see many figuresand percentages — “business and finance” information — and you’ll no find advice on the spiritual principles involved in forming a community.
Is this book just some representation of “the system” you may be trying to leave behind? Why isthere no mention of the spiritual aspects?
I’m presuming that your own spiritual
impulses and visions about community are
already well developed; that you know very well
why you want to live in an ecovillage or intentional community or create your own. As for all
the business and finance advice, consider it a setof tools designed to get you from your uniquepersonal impulses of spirit to the manifestationof that vision in physical form. And while I’m notpart of “the system,” I study the system in orderto learn how to use some of its more useful tools
to create alternatives to it. As an old adage from
India says,“It takes a thorn to remove a thorn.” At
the present time, anyway, it takes budgets andbusiness plans, and a rudimentary understandingof real estate and financing, to create alternatives
to a society in which these tools are necessary.
Consider the skills and steps in this book to be
the shovels and soil amendments you’ll need to
grow your own community, from the seeds ofyour vision into a flourishing organism.

xx CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

How to Use this Book

Most of the skills to learn and steps to take informing an ecovillage or intentional community
are not linear, but simultaneous. So although theinformation is presented in a step-by-step way,some tasks must be undertaken together. For
example, although you’ll need to create a legal
entity for owning land before you buy property
together, what kind of land you want as well how
you intend to organize ownership and decision
making, makes all the difference in which legal
structure(s) you choose in the first place.

I suggest first reading this book quickly, to get an
overview, and then a second time, slowly andthoroughly, then collect and read other resources
for more detailed information. I also suggest thateveryone in your group read this book, not justthose who are getting started and assuming leadership roles. The more of you who are informed— and hopefully disabused of common misconceptions about starting new ecovillages and communities — the more empowered and effective
you’ll be as a group.
So let’s get started.

Part One: Planting theSeeds of Healthy
CommunityChapter 1
The Successful Ten Percent —and Why Ninety Percent FailO

NE GRAY NORTHERN CALIFORNIA night inNovember 1988, six would-be community
founders piled into a small pickup truck andheaded for Oregon. Their vision at the time wasto create a Community Land Trust with housesin the Bay Area and rural land within commuting distance. They’d just learned of an 87-acreproperty with a stream and 25 buildings in rural
Oregon that had fallen to the IRS in the 1970s
for $1.7 million in unpaid taxes. The former siteof a Christian intentional community, the property had a large dining lodge and kitchen, 12
small rustic cabins, two dorms that could sleep
125, laundry and garden outbuildings, a large
woodshop, an office/classroom complex, and apartially finished residential fourplex. Back taxes
notwithstanding, it was what many community
founders dream of — a rural property withmany buildings — so off they went.
Ten hours later they clambered out of thecramped truck into the cold rain and surveyed
the scene. “It was extraordinarily depressing,”
recalls Dianne Brause. What had once beengroomed, beautiful lawn was now shoulder-highgrass. The once-beautiful vegetable garden grew
thistles eight feet high. Forty-five acres of for-

merly magnificent forest was an open field of
stumps and brambles, clear-cut seven years earlier by the Christian group to raise money to pay
their tax lawyers. Pushing through the wet wallsof grass, the visitors examined the first few buildings. Most, empty and neglected for almost sevenyears, had broken windows, rotting roofs, andsagging steps. The group creaked open doors tofind cold, dirty, foul-smelling rooms full ofdebris and mold. When the former owners realized the IRS would foreclose on their property,
they stripped the buildings of everything moveable: furniture, carpets, sinks, stoves, vent fans,
and fixtures. They had ripped the sprinklers outof the lawns and removed every light bulb. Now,
as the group picked their way through litter, broken glass, and dead birds, they found no runningwater — the pipes had frozen and broken theprevious year. Not only this, they said, but theproperty would probably now cost at least half amillion dollars; its zoning had reverted frommultiple occupancy to the county-wide regulation of “no more than five unrelated adults,” andthe place was probably still saddled with enormous IRS debt. Cold, soaked, and miserable, thegroup left. Obviously, the place was a bust.
2

THE SUCCESSFUL TEN PERCENT — AND WHY NINETY PERCENT FAIL 3

But not for two members on that fateful day.
Dianne Brause, a former conference centerteacher, saw beautiful land with gentle meadowsand some great trees left standing, excellent gardening potential, and all the right buildings — an
ideal community and retreat/conference center.
Kenneth Mahaffey, a businessman who bought,
renovated, and rented out old houses, saw an
excellent piece of real estate, an exciting land-purchase challenge, and the ideal site for a community. Dianne had experience and interest in community and good people skills; Kenneth had
expertise in real estate and finance. Both weremovers and shakers who made things happen.
Within six months they had closed on theproperty. Today it is Lost Valley Educational
Center, a thriving community of 22 adults andseven children, with clean, renovated buildings,
restored vegetable gardens, a reforestation project with sapling Douglas firs and hardwoods,
and a vibrant conference center business.
Lost Valley — How One Group Did It

Kenneth and Dianne’s first challenge was findingout who controlled the property and to whomthey should submit a bid. Was the IRS still incharge? Since it had been seven years since the
IRS takeover, was the huge tax lien about toexpire? After much confusion and delay, they
were finally able to send a bid via a local legal
firm representing the unknown owners, though
they were told they must not, under any circumstances, contact the IRS.
The property had been appraised at$557,000 a few years earlier, and before that,when it was still forested, at $750,000. The backproperty-tax bill turned out to be $50,000, butthey believed it could be reduced. Many otherparties had been interested in the property, andone had bid $250,000 a few months earlier, butwere no longer sure they could pay it. By guessing at their chances of success, the possible backtaxes outcome, the probable challenge to rezoning, and the property’s state of ruin, Kenneth
took a leap of faith and bid $80,000.
Over the next three months they heard
nothing. Their inquiries led nowhere and they
got conflicting stories about who really controlled the property. Finally Kenneth andDianne contacted the IRS directly, and eventually learned that the legal owners were now the
Seattle law firm that had fought the IRS on
behalf of the previous owners. They called the
Seattle lawyers, who said they knew nothing of
the bid. The next day, however, they called back,saying, “If you can raise $90,000 we can close inthree weeks.”With closing costs and lawyers’ fees, theproperty would cost about $100,000. Kenneth
raised the money from friends, creating threemonth bridge loans at 8-10 percent interest. He
stipulated in his sales offer that the IRS rescind
their $1.7 million lien on the property. The
seven-year period was up and the IRS had todecide whether to sue for the money or drop theclaim. Fortunately, they chose to drop it.
Kenneth and Diane incorporated Lost Valley
Center, Inc., a 501(c)3 non-profit educationalorganization. The property closed in April,
1989. Technically, Kenneth held the title, but the
new non-profit considered itself the proud
owner of 87 acres of grass, thistles, and rundown buildings. Although it still had a $50,000
back property-tax burden and uncertain futurezoning, they’d scored a half-million dollar property. In a few months Kenneth remortgaged oneof his real estate holdings and paid off the bridgeloans. Then he loaned the organization another$100,000 to create a fund to repair and renovate
the property.

4 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

Like many other community founders, they
faced a serious zoning challenge. The previous
owners had been allowed “multiple occupancy,”
but the county planning department decided thatthe property’s grandfather clause was invalid
because of the length of time between the previous use and current use of the property. So theproperty reverted to the county’s normal zoning
rules, meaning no more than five unrelated adults
could live on the land, despite the fact it was 87
acres with 25 buildings. While they eventually
did manage to get the multiple-occupancy zoning
reinstated, buying the property without knowing
this was quite a gamble. Usually, to be among “theten percent,” community founders need to resolve
zoning issues before buying the land.
Two months later, in June, Dianne, Kenneth,and five others interested in becoming community pioneers moved to the land and set to workwith a will.
The first month they cleared all the buildingsof piles of junk, rebuilt the water system,
restored the basic landscaping, and planted aquarter-acre vegetable garden. By August, they’d
set up the woodshop and the Lost Valley
Center’s business offices, and repaired the dorm
buildings, one of the fourplex residences, thedining hall, and five classrooms. They created abrochure for their conference and retreat center,and plastered local stores and bulletin boards
with flyers — following advice to be as active andpublic as possible about their intended conference center activities. They went out of their way
to meet their neighbors and join in neighborhood picnics and volleyball games, and invitedthe neighbors to their open houses. In
September, joined by a few more pioneering residents, they renovated some of the cabins, set up
their commercial kitchen, supplied their dorms
with mattresses, blankets, and linens, andbought used furniture for all facilities. In
October they hosted their first conference.
Another challenge was to show the county
why the back property taxes of $50,000, should be
reduced. Lost Valley pointed out that according tocounty law, since they and the previous owners
were both 501(c) non-profits, they shouldn’t bepenalized for the length of time lapsed between
the dissolution of the previous community andtheir own purchase of the land. The county
agreed, and in January 1990 reduced the backtaxes to about $10,000. The county also generously decided that the work of Lost Valley fell within
their own tax-exempt guidelines, and wouldn’t beliable for further property taxes as long as all activities on the property supported Lost Valley’s own
tax-exempt purposes.
Over the first four months of 1990, Lost
Valley residents and volunteers also planted moregardens and began a reforestation project, starting 1,000 trees in their seed orchard and 800 baby
Douglas fir and other trees in the clearcut. Theydeveloped a watershed restoration program withfederal agencies, designed Ancient Forest Tour
programs, and began agricultural research andeducational projects. They held their first residential permaculture design course and began abimonthly environmental education program.
They continued renovating — cleaning or replacing all their carpets, installing fire safety systems,
and renovating another cabin. They remodeled asmall building as a staff kitchen and youth hostel
and began hosting overnight guests.
Lost Valley was on its way.
What Works, What Doesn’t Work?

Since the early 1990s, I’ve been intensely curious
about what it takes for a newly forming community or ecovillage to succeed. So, first as publisher of a newsletter about forming communities

THE SUCCESSFUL TEN PERCENT — AND WHY NINETY PERCENT FAIL 5

and then as editor of Communities magazine, Iinterviewed dozens of people involved in theprocess of forming new communities and ecovillage projects as well as founders of establishedcommunities. I wanted to know what worked,
what didn’t work, and how not to reinvent thewheel.
I learned that no matter how inspired andvisionary the founders, only about one out of ten
new communities actually get built.* The other90 percent seemed to go nowhere, occasionallybecause of lack of money or not finding the rightland, but mostly because of conflict. And usually, conflict accompanied by heartbreak. And
sometimes, conflict, heartbreak — and lawsuits.
What was going on here?! These people
started out trying to create a way of life based on
ideals of friendship, good will, cooperation, andfair decision-making. What had these founders
not known?
The Successful Ten Percent

Lost Valley’s story illustrates the major steps offorming a new community or ecovillage —establishing a core group with a particular visionand purpose, choosing a legal structure, finding
and financing property, and moving in and renovating (or developing land). It also involves creating an internal community economy and refinancing any initial loans if necessary. (Since
ecovillages are a form of intentional community,
I’ll use the term “community” to mean ecovillages
as well as other forms of community).
Each of the communities we’ll look at has
undertaken a similar journey, and roughly in thesame order. Most of the seven founders of
Sowing Circle/Occidental Arts and Ecology
Center in northern California were an alreadyestablished group of friends and housemates
who in 1995 formed a partnership (later replaced

by a Limited Liability Company) to purchaseproperty, and a 501(c)3 non-profit to manage
their planned conference center business. They
conducted a thorough property search, finding
an 80-acre, million-dollar property with existing
community buildings and cabins. They bought it
for $850,000, paid for by a combination of owner
financing and loans from their families, and second and third mortgages from friends and colleagues. They moved in and renovated for eightmonths, started up their conference center business, and refinanced with a single private loan
five years later.
In 1998, dozens of web surfers from aroundthe country coalesced around an Internet call for
people to cofound an income-sharing community in rural New England. After planning the
Meadowdance community via e-mail and in person for a year, the forming community grouplocated 165 acres of nearly ideal land in rural
Vermont for $250,000. Six group members willing to move ahead formed a Limited Liability
Partnership and through members’ loans raised
most of the funds to buy and develop the property. They spent a year seeking a conditional use
permit from the county for their large multipurpose community building, but, after spending$20,000 on tests, permits and fees, they didn’t getit. So, they bought a house in town and started
up their software testing and typing/editing
businesses there. In 2002, after the businesses
had started to take off, they began looking forrural land again.
Each of these communities are among “theten percent” — the forming communities that
actually get up and running. We’ll learn more
about each of them in later chapters.
But what about the other 90 percent of forming communities — the ones that fail?

*The figure is somewhat higher for forming cohousing communities. Approximately 25 percent seem to actually get built, according to Cohousing
magazine editor Stella Tarnay.

6 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

Why Ninety Percent FailIn the early 1990s, a founder I’ll call Sharonbought land for a spiritual community I’ll callGracelight. At first it looked promising. Sharon
had received unprecedented and unusually rapid
zoning approval for a clustered-housing siteplan. She met regularly with a group of friends
and supporters who wanted to be part of thecommunity. But over the next 18 months, first
the original group and then a second group fell
apart, disappointed and bitter. Sharon struggledwith money issues, land-development issues,interpersonal issues. After two years she said she
was no longer attempting community, and in fact
loathed the idea of community and didn’t evenwant to hear the “C”-word.
What had this founder not known?
• How much money it would take to complete the land development process before
she could legally transfer title to each
incoming community member. Sharon
had no budget in advance, and no idea what
it would cost to complete county requirements for a site plan and roads, utilities, etc.
• How much each lot would eventuallycost, and that she shouldn’t have fostered hope in those who could neverafford to buy in. Sharon knew that somepeople in the group wouldn’t be able tobuy in, but counted on her sense that “itwill all work out somehow.”• That she’d need adequate legal documents and financial data to secure private financing. Sharon believed thattelling potential financial contributors
her spiritual vision for Gracelight was
sufficient. It didn’t occur to her to provide
a business plan, budget, or financial dis-

•

•

•

•

closure sheet, or to demonstrate to potential investors how and when they might
get their money back.
That she should make it clear to everyone at the outset that as well as having avision she was also serving as landdeveloper. Sharon didn’t think of herself
as a “developer,” and never used the term,in spite of the fact that she financed andwas responsible for the purchase anddevelopment of the land.
That she needed to tell people that she
fully intended to be reimbursed for her
land-purchase and development costs
and make a profit to compensate hertime and entrepreneurial risk. Sharon
didn’t think in terms like “entrepreneurial
risk,” even though she was taking one.
When group members in the first andsecond forming community groups finally brought up financial issues and asked
pointed questions, she was offended. And
group members were offended too, when
they learned Sharon was going to make aprofit. One can argue for or against making a profit on community land; the point
is, Sharon didn’t make her intentions
clear at the outset.
That she needed to tell people from the
beginning that, as the developer, shewould make all land-development decisions. Again, one can argue either way
about one person making decisions about
his or her own financial risks in forming acommunity — but Sharon should havemade these clear.
That a process was needed for who was in
the group and who wasn’t, and for whatkinds of decisions the group would makeTHE SUCCESSFUL TEN PERCENT — AND WHY NINETY PERCENT FAIL 7

and which Sharon alone would make.
• That consensus was the wrong decisionmaking option for a group with no common vision or purpose, with one
landowner and others with no financial
risk, and with no clear distinction
between those who were decision-making members of the group and those
who were not. In fact, the group wasn’t
practicing consensus at all, but rathersome vaguely conceived idea of it.
“Structural Conflict” — And Six Ways to
Reduce It
After years of interviewing founders like Sharonand hearing their stories of community break-up,
heartbreak, and even lawsuits, I began to see apattern. Most new-community failures seemed toresult from what I call “structural” conflict —problems that arise when founders don’t explicitly put certain processes in place or make certain
important decisions at the outset, creating one ormore omissions in their organizational structure.
These built-in structural problems seem to function like time bombs. Several weeks, months, oreven years into the community-forming process
the group erupts in major conflict that could havebeen largely prevented if they had handled theseissues early on. Naturally, this triggers a great dealof interpersonal conflict at the same time, making
the initial structural conflict much worse.
While interpersonal conflict is normal andexpected, I believe that much of the structural
conflict in failed communities could have been
prevented, or at least greatly reduced, if thefounders had paid attention to at least six crucial
elements in the beginning. Each of these issues,
if not addressed in the early stages of a forming
community, can generate structural conflict“time bombs” later on.

1. Identify your community vision and create
vision documents There’s probably no moredevastating source of structural conflict incommunity than various members having
different visions for why you’re there in thefirst place. This will erupt into all kinds ofarguments about what seem like ordinary
topics — how much money you spend on aparticular project, or how much or how often
you work on a task. It’s really a matter ofunderlying differences (perhaps not always
conscious) about what the community is for.
All your community members need to be on
the same page from the beginning, and must
know what your shared community vision is,and know you all support it. Your sharedvision should be thoroughly discussed,
agreed upon, and written down at the get-go.
(See Chapter 4.)
2. Choose a fair, participatory decision-making process appropriate for your group.
And if you choose consensus, get trainedin it. Unless you’re forming a spiritual, religious or therapeutic community with a spiritual leader who’ll make all decisions — andyou all agree to this in advance — yourmembers will resent any power imbalances.
Resentment over power issues can become
an enormous source of conflict in community. Decision-making is the most obvious
point of power, and the more it is sharedand participatory, the less this particularkind of conflict will come up. This means
everyone in the group has a voice in decisions that will affect their lives in community, with a decision-making method that isfair and even-handed. How it works — theprocedure for your decision-making
method — has to be well-understood byeveryone in the group.

8 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

A more specific source of community
conflict is using the consensus decision-making process without thoroughly understanding it. What often passes for consensus inmany groups is merely “pseudo-consensus”— which exhausts people, drains their energy and good will, generates a great deal ofresentment all by itself, and causes people todespise the process they call “consensus.” So
if your group plans to use consensus, you’ll
prevent a great deal of structural conflict bygetting trained in it first. (See Chapter 6.)
3. Make clear agreements — in writing. (Thisincludes choosing an appropriate legal entity for owning land together). People
remember things differently. Your agreements — from the most mundane to themost legally and financially significant —should absolutely be written down. Then iflater you all remember things differently you
can always look it up. The alternative —“we’re right but you folks are wrong (andmaybe you’re even trying to cheat us)” — canbreak up a community faster than you cansay, “You’ll be hearing from our lawyer.” (See
Chapter 7.)
4. Learn good communication and groupprocess skills. Make clear communication
and resolving conflicts a priority. Being able
to talk with one other about sensitive subjects and still feel connected is my definitionof good communication skills. This includes
methods for holding each other accountable
for agreements. I consider it a set-up forstructural conflict down the road if you don’t
address communication and group processskills and conflict resolution methods earlyon. Addressing these issues at the start willallow you to have procedures in place later onwhen things get tense — like practicing fire

drill procedures now, when there’s no fire.
(See Chapter 17 and Chapter 18.)
5. In choosing cofounders and new members,
select for emotional maturity. An oftenoverwhelming source of conflict is allowing
someone to enter your forming community
group, or later, to enter your community, who
is not aligned to your vision and values. Or
someone whose emotional pain — surfacing
weeks or months later as disruptive attitudes
or behaviors — can end up costing you
untold hours of meeting time and draining
your group of energy and well-being. A welldesigned process for selecting and integrating
new people into your group, and screeningout those who don’t resonate with your values, vision, or behavioral norms, can save
repeated rounds of stress and conflict in the
weeks and years ahead. (See Chapter 18.)
6. Learn the head skills and heart skills youneed to know. Forming a new community islike simultaneously trying to start a new business and begin a marriage — and is every bit
as serious as doing either. It requires many of
the same planning and financial skills aslaunching a successful business enterprise,
and the same capacities for trust, good will,
and honest, kind interpersonal communication as marrying your sweetheart. Foundersof successful new communities seem to know
this. Yet those who get mired in severe problems have usually leapt in without a clue. Like
Sharon, these well-meaning folks didn’t knowwhat they didn’t know. So the sixth major
way to reduce structural conflict is to take thetime to learn what you’ll need to know.
Community founders must cultivate bothheart skills and head skills.. This means learning
how to make fair, participatory group decisions;THE SUCCESSFUL TEN PERCENT — AND WHY NINETY PERCENT FAIL 9

how to speak from the heart; how to face conflict
when it arises and deal with it constructively; andhow to make cooperative decisions and craft fairagreements. It means learning how to create
budgets, timelines, and strategic plans; and how
to evaluate legal entities for land ownership or
business or educational activities. It means learning the real estate market in your desired area,
local zoning regulations, and, if needed, how tosecure loans with reasonable terms. It means
learning how to structure healthy and affordable
internal community finances. It means learning
about site planning and land development. Itmeans doing all this with a sense of connection
and shared adventure. Plunging into the landsearch process or trying to raise money without
first understanding these interrelated areas is asure invitation to trouble.
Community founders tend to be specialists,
but in fact they must be generalists. I’ve seen
founders with spiritual ideals and compelling
visions flounder and sink because they have noidea how to conduct a land search or negotiate abank loan. I’ve seen founders with plenty of technical or business savvy — folks able to build anifty composting toilet or craft a solid strategicplan — who didn’t know the first thing about
how to speak honestly and from the heart toanother human being. And I’ve seen sensitive
spiritual folks as well as type-A “get-the-jobdone” folks crash and burn the first time theyencountered any real conflict.
Not everyone in your forming group needs tohave all these skills or all this information —that’s one reason you’re a group! Nor must yourgroup possess all these skills and areas of expertise among yourselves when you begin. You canalways hire training for your group or expertisein whatever you need, whether it be a consensus
trainer, communication skills trainer, meeting

facilitator, lawyer, accountant, project manager/
developer, land-use planner, permaculture
designer, and so on.
Many well-established North American
communities never included most or all of thesesix structural ingredients at their origin, anddon’t see why they should have. “Hey, we’re here
now, aren’t we?” In the 1960s, ’70s, or early ’80s,
people usually just bought land and got started.
Some of these communities are still with us
today, and proud of it.
Nonetheless, for communities forming today,
I recommend addressing all six of these issues
early on, for all the reasons already noted.
What Will it Cost?

How much it will cost in total (and how much it
will cost each founder) is a question that can
only be estimated by creating a financial modeland plugging in the numbers. To do that, you’ll
need to start with certain assumptions. Will you
be rural, semi-rural, suburban, or urban? What
are land values in your desired area? Will you
renovate or develop your property? How manymembers will you have? Will you have community businesses? How will you structure yourinternal community finances to meet monthly
land payments and other expenses? If your numbers show that your plan is too expensive or otherwise unworkable, revise some of your assumptions and try again.
How much it costs communities that haveformed since the early 1990s (when it became
harder to do than in previous decades) varies
widely, depending on all the above factors, but
mostly on land values. For example, in 1996
seven founders of Abundant Dawn community
bought a beautiful 90-acre owner-financed parcel on a river with a farmhouse, cabin, and barnin rural southwestern Virginia for $130,000.

10 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

They paid $13,000 down, contributing slightly
more than $1,800 each.
At the other end of the spectrum, in 1994
seven founders of Sowing Circle/Occidental
Arts & Ecology Center bought an 80-acre,owner-financed fully-developed “turn-key” property in Sonoma County, California with rolling
hills, panoramic views, stands of oak and redwood, two 20-year-old organic gardens, and 16
community buildings and cabins. They paid
$850,000, with each member contributing about$20,000 to the $150,000 down payment.
Figure on several hundred thousand dollars
or more to buy and develop your land, depending on your desired area and the magnitude ofyour plans. The cost per person will depend on
how many founders and/or members split thecosts. If you use owner financing, private financing, or bank financing, multiply that amount several times over for the true land-purchase cost,
including all the principal and interest payments
you’ll be making over the years. (See Chapters 9,
10, 11, 12, and 14.)
How Long Does it Take?

It also takes enormous amounts of time to pull
off a project of this magnitude. Even if you meetweekly, you’ll still need people to work on various
committees that work and/or meet between
scheduled meetings — gathering information,
calling officials, crunching the numbers, drafting
proposals, and so on — for at least a year, or even
two years or longer.
The founders of Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage
in Missouri first explored their ideas and organized their initial group in 1993, began their landsearch in 1995, and bought land in 1996. They
worked steadily to develop it and raise their population for the next six years, and they continue
to do so. The founders of Earthaven Ecovillage

in North Carolina began with an original groupin 1990, searched for land for four years, reorganized their group and bought land in 1994, andrefinanced and began developing in 1995. They
have spent the past seven years developing it andincreasing their membership, and they also continue to do so.
Generally, the larger your group and/or thesmaller your assets, the longer it’ll take. And thefewer your numbers and the greater your assets,
the faster it will happen. For example, thefounder of Mariposa Grove, an urban community in Oakland, California, began looking forproperty in 1998, bought it in cash in 1999, andspent the next three years renovating it andattracting members. The two founders of Lost
Valley Educational Center found their property
in 1988, bought it (also paying cash) in 1989, andrenovated it and got it ready to host workshop
participants by 1990. They’ve spent the past 12
years continuing to develop the physical infrastructure and build the community.
So this is really a trick question. While it cantake from a year to several years to find and buy
property, develop it, and establish your membership and financial base, there’s really no end
point. Like a marriage or a business, growing acommunity is never really “done.”
How Many People do You Need?

Forming community groups usually start out
with one or two or a few people with an idea,
grow larger (fluctuating in size as people attend
a few meetings for awhile and get more involved
or lose interest and leave), and shrink to a muchsmaller number when it’s time to commit money
to buy a particular piece of property.
See Figure 1 (on page 11) for some examples
of how many people are involved in the communities we’ll examine in this book.

THE SUCCESSFUL TEN PERCENT — AND WHY NINETY PERCENT FAIL 11

TABLE 1: HOW MANY PEOPLE DO YOU NEED?

Community

Total Envisioned# of Members

Members at Early
Meetings

Members at
Property
Purchase

Members in
2002

Lost Valley
Rural (OR)87 acres
Founded 1988-89

20+

7 - 12

2

23

Earthaven
Rural (NC)
320 acresFounded 1990-94

150

15 - 20

12 - 21

57

Sowing Circle/
Occidental Arts &Ecology Center
Semi-rural (CA)80 acres
Founded 1991-94

10

5 - 12

7

11

Dancing Rabbit
Rural (MO)280 acresFounded 1993-96

500 - 1000

20 - 30

6

16

Abundant Dawn
Rural (VA)
90 acres
Founded 1994-96

40 - 60

12

7

9

Mariposa Grove
Urban (CA)Founded 1998-99

12 - 130

1

9

Meadowdance
Rural (VT)Founded 1998-00

50 - 75

30 - 40 online
20 in-person

6912 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHERSPIRITUAL COMMUNITIES: TROUBLE IN PARADISE
Newly forming spiritual communities seem to experience more structural conflict than most groups; probably because spiritual community founders sometimes
tend towards a soft-focus, whole-picture orientation— what’s popularly called “right-brained” thinking. This
often frustrates and even repels other potential
cofounders who may use more logical or systematic“left-brained” thinking. Like Sharon, founders of spiritual communities are sometimes accused of deceiving
others about money and power issues, when in fact
they simply hadn’t focused on clear, explicit communication about finances and decision-making, and didn’t
realize such clarity was necessary. These founders often

dismiss the primarily “left-brained” potential
cofounders who could help them, considering themmerely “bean counters,” when the latter simply want tounderstand the financial, legal, and decision-making
arrangements before they leap in wholeheartedly.
If you operate more in right-brained mode, I urge
you to ally yourself with more left-brained compadres
who can help ground your community ideals in workable business and legal strategies. And if you’re a hardcore left-brainer, I urge you to hook up with more holistically oriented colleagues who will help you keep yourheart open and help you remember why you want tobring forth this wonderful vision in the first place.

It doesn’t just take information and skills,
money, time, and people to form a community,
but also a sense of connection, sometimes called“community glue” — born of group experiences
like preparing and eating meals together, work
parties, weekend trips, and long, intimate conversations. Gathering and weaving the thread ofskills, information, money, time, people, andexperiences is complex, and often overwhelming— what cohousing activist Zev Paiss calls “thelongest, most expensive personal-growth workshop you’ll ever take.”

Next we’ll take a look at the kind of person
who pulls it off — that unsung hero, the community founder.

WE SET OUT TO CHANGE OUR WORLD…
by Roberta Wilson
As fate would have it, Winslow Cohousing on
Bainbridge Island near Seattle, formed in 1988, ended
up being the first owner-developed cohousing community in the U.S. We certainly didn’t have much
experience to go on. Only one of us had lived in an
intentional community, and only a few had evenvisited any intentional communities. None of us had

seen cohousing in Denmark, and of course there were
no models of it close to home. What we had was
McCamant and Durrett’s Cohousing book and anincredible amount of energy.
As with all communities, we made some wise
choices and some poor ones. We met every weekend for over two years, with many of us meeting inTHE SUCCESSFUL TEN PERCENT — AND WHY NINETY PERCENT FAIL 13

committees during the week. This vigorous schedule
allowed us to buy land, get through the construction
process, and move into our 30 duplexes and flats bySpring 1992, but it cost us potential members who
couldn’t devote such time to development. Findingloans for what looked to financial institutions likesome kind of middle-income commune was difficultand may have cost one credit union representative hisjob. The stress resulting from engaging some of ourown members to work for us hurt the group and hurtsome of these members as well. Our original group
was deeply bonded by the sheer effort of the project.
Yet, after move-in we retreated to our individual
homes to recuperate. While our idealism had carried
us through the forming stages, we weren’t quite prepared for the reality of living cooperatively — so manyof us were used to having our own way in the world.
We also had the inevitable turnover. We had problems with new residents who either had their own
heroic notions, or who soared and then dove as thehoneymoon phase ended. We had kids who couldn’t
get along, a dog that bit, divorces and deaths, births
and celebrations. For the most part, our surrounding
neighbors were friendly. We figured out a work system, each serving on clusters — Administration,
Process and Communication, Grounds, and Common
Facilities. We figured out a meal system, with dinners
five nights a week. We figured out how to work withconsensus. We learned to keep good track of our
finances, and we continued to work towards emotional literacy. We still struggle with issues such as
member participation and how to make capital
improvements, yet our meetings are now civil, efficient, and more emotionally honest. Folks have foundtheir own level after the first years of feeling overwhelmed. Some of them have been disappointed

with the lack of emotional intimacy, while others,
especially teens, have felt uncomfortable living in a
fishbowl.
At times, most of us have probably asked ourselves, “What am I doing here?” — a question, I
believe, that arises from a complex calculation oftime and energy spent and one’s tolerance for conflict. Sometimes I’ve asked myself, after a difficult
confrontation, why I should put so much of my life
energy into something that seems, at the time, to giveback little. Yet I’m sure that at other times each of us
has surely declared: “I can’t imagine living anywhereelse!” — a response to the very personal exchanges
that make living in community so rewarding. I can callmy neighbor and ask her to turn off the coffee pot
that I forgot. Children come to visit and play with mydog. A neighbor pauses from her chores a moment
and tells me about her life. In the forest, we scatterthe ashes of a member who died; in our orchard, webury the family dog. A neighbor’s sister comes to stayand offers massages. The children are delivered toschool by adults who share the duty. Our community feels safe.
The idealism, dreams, and devotion, while still
here, have given ground to the practical and the realexperience of living in community — the good, thebad, and the ugly. Community is seeping into ourcells, I believe, so that even the challenges become
just part of who we each are. Cooperative culture isgaining ground over our individual upbringing in competition; slowly, we are giving up the need for
absolute control. We set out to change our world, andnow community is changing us.

Excerpted with permission from Communities
Magazine, Spring 2000.

Chapter 2
Your Role as FounderV

ALERIE NAIMAN WAS A WOMAN with a
mission.
In 1991, as she and a group of people interested in forming community in the mountains ofwestern North Carolina began their land search,
she sold her local business so she could devote
full time to the project. To better understand the
local real estate market and real estate financing,she studied for and got real estate sales and brokers’ licenses, and took a job with a local realty
company, which allowed the group to learn
about any new properties as soon as they cameon the market.
She also contacted communitarians nationwide, asking which legal entities they’d chosen forgroup land ownership, and why, and she learned
as much as she could about the various legal entities communities could use to own property
together. She studied Community Land Trustsby making calls to the School of Living in
Pennsylvania, and by visiting the Institute forCommunity Economics in Ohio, organizations
that help groups set up Community Land Trusts.
She eventually didn’t recommend this specificform of land ownership to the group, and they
later created a Homeowner’s Association to own
property and a 501(c)3 non-profit to carry out its
educational mission.

In 1993, the group found 320 acres of ownerfinanced land that fit most of their criteria. Afterthe group spent over a year in confusion and conflict about the community’s ultimate vision, andwhether or not to buy this particular property,
Valerie drew up and submitted a contract on theland herself, with a loophole in case she needed
to get out of it. She hosted a “founders meeting”
of tea and fundraising, inviting group members
who shared the same community vision, and aninterest in this particular property, as well asother local people interested in forming an intentional community. By the end of the afternoon
they had raised the $100,000 down payment.
Over the next few months the group continued adding members and raising funds to begin
developing the property, and bought it inDecember 1994.
The following year, Valerie visited the E. F.
Schumacher Society in Massachusetts to learn
how the group could create a small, private “shoebox bank” to raise funds. The group adopted thisidea, created the EarthShares fund, and over the
next few years raised enough money to pay off
the owner-financers.
Other founders of “successful ten percent”
communities have traveled a similar path. Recent
college graduates Tony Sirna and Cecil Scheib
14

YOUR ROLE AS FOUNDER 15

were environmental activists with degrees incomputer science and civil engineering respectively, before founding Dancing Rabbit in
Missouri. They educated themselves well in realestate, zoning regulations, financing possibilities,
and non-profit legal structures to buy their landand create the financial and legal structures that
support their ecovillage dream.
In order to establish the Sowing Circle community and its non-profit educational organization, Occidental Arts and Ecology Center,cofounder Dave Henson left his environmental
activist job and spent eight months as the group’s
full-time point person. He researched possible
property sites and sources of financing anddonations, negotiated with the owner of theirchosen site, and drafted and instituted various
financial and legal plans through which to carryout their purpose.
And Luc Reid, a software engineer andcofounder of Meadowdance community in
Vermont, was an almost full-time on-line andoff-line student of every aspect of community
development he could find, learning as much as
he could about what had and had not worked
well in other recently formed communities.
Contrast these folks with Sharon andGracelight community. Well-meaning and motivated, Sharon nevertheless hadn’t a clue that sheneeded to educate herself in new fields anddevelop new skills to pull off a task of this magnitude. Community founders must anticipate
challenges not faced by community founders ofearlier times. These include the fact that “ideal”
property isn’t ideal if zoning regulations andbuilding codes prevent you from developing it
the way you want to. If your group wants ruralland, a lack of decent-paying local jobs will affectyour community’s attractiveness to future members. Difficulty attracting members will affectyour ability to pay back any land purchase anddevelopment loans, so your group must consider your site relative to available jobs before
buying land. And the initial impression yourgroup makes on potential neighbors willaffect whether they will support your getting
any needed conditional use permits or zoning
variances.
What Kind of Person Founds a
Community?

Certain recognizable characteristics stand out insuccessful community founders, or at least
among “burning souls” — a cohousing term forvision-driven founders who work zealously to
manifest their dreams.
Dianne Brause and Kenneth Mahaffey of
Lost Valley are clearly burning souls. So are
Valerie Naiman of Earthaven, Tony Sirna andCecil Scheib of Dancing Rabbit, Dave Hensonof Sowing Circle/OAEC, Luc Reid of
Meadowdance, and other founders you’ll meet inthese pages.
Founders need to be visionaries — people
who can imagine, visualize, or feel somethingthat doesn’t exist yet. Most of the group seeing
the Lost Valley property for the first time saw adreary wreck; Kenneth and Dianne saw a thriving community and well-appointed, successful
conference center.
Founders must be leaders — people who caninspire others to believe a particular vision ispossible and who motivate them to take action
and make that vision come true. The people whojoined Dianne and Kenneth at Lost Valley
wouldn’t have jumped into that uncertain venture, or worked so fiercely over the first year,
without Dianne’s and Kenneth’s burning belief
that Lost Valley would soon host successful
workshops and conferences.

16 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

Founders of “the ten percent” are often successful entrepreneurs, or have at least one experienced entrepreneur in their group. Technicallyan entrepreneur is someone with the ability toorganize and manage a business, assuming therisk for the sake of the profit, but I’m referring
mainly to the aspect of instinctive business savvy— someone with an inner “radar” about what
will work financially. Entrepreneurs take risks,
based as much on intuition as on experience.
They take the initiative. They’re focused, taskoriented, on-point. They know how to create
budgets and strategic plans. Kenneth Mahaffey
was a successful real estate investor before
cofounding Lost Valley; he took an enormous
risk buying property that might require paying$50,000 of back taxes and might not have thenecessary use permit restored. Valerie Naiman
had been a successful movie costume designer
and owner of a retail costume shop; she took ahuge risk by selling her business and investingtime and money to pursue legal structures andreal estate for an untested, non-mainstream project, then investing substantial sums in
Earthaven’s down payment and EarthSharesfund. Not all people with this ability use it tomake money. Dave Henson, who has entrepreneurial savvy in spades, was a fairly well-known
and effective environmental activist before
cofounding the Sowing Circle/OAEC project.
And lastly, founders must be physicalbuilders — people who know how to alter theirproperty to help create their vision, from renovating a building to digging ponds, building cabins, or erecting solar panels. Kenneth Mahaffeyand Dianne Brause and the first members threw
themselves into cleaning and renovating the Lost
Valley property, as did Dave Henson and his fellow cofounders at Sowing Circle/OAEC. As
soon as they’d purchased their properties, Valerie

Naiman and the cofounders of Earthaven, andTony Sirna and Cecil Schaub and thecofounders of Dancing Rabbit, immediatelybegan building roads, setting up camping areas,and creating the first rudimentary shelters on
their undeveloped parcels of land.
Vision, leadership, entrepreneurial skill, andwillingness to physically build must be present inyour group, but not necessarily all in the same
person. As founders you must certainly havevision — without which nothing will happen.
You’ll need leadership to inspire yourselves andthose who’ll join you to support that vision.
You’ll need one or more entrepreneurs who
know what will work financially, and who arewilling to take a risk — and thus inspire the restof you to take a risk. And you’ll need to get physical on the land to turn your vision into reality.
Given these “ingredients,” here’s my recipe forgrowing an intentional community:
1. Imagine, visualize, or feel something that
doesn’t exist yet.
2. Inspire yourselves and those that join you tobelieve your particular vision is possible andyou can make it happen.
3. Use entrepreneurial skills to do all this within your estimated budget and time frame(revising either as necessary).
4. Use labor, tools, and energy to create thephysical expression of your vision on yourproperty.
What Else You’ll NeedYour group will also need patience, faith, goodcommunication skills, tenacity, and the willingness to acknowledge each other.
• Have patience. Forming an effective
working group, learning good decision-

YOUR ROLE AS FOUNDER 17

making and group process skills,
researching your options, acquiring and if
necessary developing property simply
takes time — from one to several years,
depending on the scale of your plans, howmany are in your group, how well capitalized you are, and other factors.
Regardless of how everyone in yourgroup would like things to progress more
quickly, they probably won’t. You’ll alsoneed to consider the timetables of others
involved, including lawyers, zoning officials, and lenders. Elana Kann and Bill
Fleming, project managers for Westwood
Cohousing in Asheville, North Carolina,
warn that founders must understand andaccept the difference between what is andwhat is not in their control. Elana andBill observe that probably 95 percent of
the major variables involved in a forming
community are not in the founders’ control — land value and availability, banks’lending policies, and city or county zoning regulations. To make expectations
more realistic and reduce anxiety, someexperienced community founders recommend taking your most optimistic timing
estimate at the beginning of your projectand doubling it.
• Faith. Trust that it’s meant to be, thatyou’re being guided by a higher power.
Dianne Brause would have been overwhelmed by fear and a sense of responsibility in what she and Kenneth and theothers were attempting to pull off, but
was repeatedly saved by her willingness totrust that it was meant to be. “After somany synchronistic events that didn’t fit
the scientific odds, I chose to act as if
some higher force was really in charge,

that the project was really a kind of
sacred trust that we were privileged totake on,” she recalls. “This belief allowed
me to trust that things were actually
being taken care of.” Other founders haverelayed similar stories of trust andcourage in the face of what seemed likeoverwhelming odds against their project.
• Good communication skills. Your groupwill no doubt find strength in your members’ diversity, yet that can also be a challenge. You’ll need to learn how to hear
and accept perspectives quite different
from your own. Besides obvious differences of gender, age, economic circumstances, or spiritual or religious orientation, you may differ widely in your communication styles and in your needs forsafety, self expression, recognition, andconnection. Some will express themselves
intensely, and often. Some will share how
they feel; others will consider bringing up
feelings irrelevant or annoying. Some will
want to gather data, consider options,and plan extensively, while others will
want to dispense with talking and “get on
with it.” In fact, the kinds of people
attracted to forming community are typically explorers, doers, risk-takers, andentrepreneurs — and as such, likely to be
impatient with the nuances of skilledgroup process or consensus decision
making.
• Tenacity. You’ll need determination andstamina. The ability to hold to a visionand persevere has made all the difference
between groups that built their communities and those that felt too discouraged
to continue. Sometimes it will seem likethe process is going well and moving for-

18 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

ward; other times it’ll feel like you’re
stopped at every turn. Keep your eyes on
the goal, lean into the wind, and keep
traveling.
• Willingness to acknowledge others.
You’ll need to thank and acknowledge
each other many times for ideas, proposals, legwork, research, patience, livingroom meeting space, snacks, tea, andchildcare. There’s no faster way to slow
down progress than burnout, which usually results from too many long hours ofcontributing to a common cause without
recognition or acknowledgment. You’re
all essentially volunteers — gifting thegroup with your time and life energy tofulfill your vision. You’re going to need tofeed each other with the basic nourishment that keeps volunteers going — thesimple courtesy of heartfelt thanks.
“If Only I Had Known!”“Why would anyone want to go through all this?”exclaimed Patricia Greene, after she’d given herheart and soul to forming a new community that
disbanded after the first year.
Why don’t they just join one?” ask somelong-time activists in the communities movement. “So many communities have alreadydone all the start-up work, why do that all overagain?” Most community activists have met
scores of shiny-eyed idealists sharing
grandiose-sounding plans for community who
clearly have no idea how much hard, humbling
work is involved.
And it’s true — growing a new community is
at least as difficult as it is rewarding. I’ve heard

more than one founder say: “If I’d had any idea
how hard this would be I never would have doneit!” After a pause, however, they usually add witha smile, “Thank God I didn’t know, though,because here we are.”“Be careful what you tell your readers about
forming community,” warns a friend who lived
for years at a permaculture-based community in
New England. “Don’t be so realistic about theprocess that you scare them off.” He told me if I
really wanted to help potential community
founders achieve their goals, maybe I should say
relatively little, so I don’t discourage anyone
who’d otherwise just plunge in and figure it out
as they went along, as most community founders
do. Whatever your level of interest in forming a
new community, it’s my hope that after reading
this book you’ll either say, “Great, I’m inspired.
Let’s get started,” or,“Whew, I’m glad I found that
out. I’ll join one instead!”
I know a fine couple whom any community
would covet as members. He’s a carpenter, she’s awriter. Both are lively, intelligent, spirituallyinspired individuals who have decades of previous community experience between them. But
no community they’ve visited has seemed quite
right, in its location, its financial arrangements,
or in its qualities of spiritual and intellectual“juice.” I don’t think this couple is too picky.
They know just what they want and they haven’t
found it yet. I think they’re simply community
founders at heart. And you may be too.



So let’s move on. Next chapter — getting yourgroup off to a good start.

YOUR ROLE AS FOUNDER 19

SUNDAYS AT DUMAWISH“We’re Creating Something More Than
Mere Housing Here”
by Virginia Lore
It is Sunday, which means that we will spend three tofour hours today with our cohousing partners, talking
about pavers and concrete mosaics, our new waiting
list policy and how to save the birch trees on the west
end of the property. About 40 of us will crowd into
Kurt and Kara’s living room, and, using colored cards,
will make decisions in nine minutes that would havetaken Kevin and me two days to debate. Small children will wander up from the childcare area downstairs for whispered consultations with their parents.
They will be sent back down when the conversation
gets too intense. Sometimes I’ll go down with them.
The intensity almost always gives me a headache.
There is plenty to be intense about. We’re six
months away from move-in, and the walls are being
framed. We’re one household away from full membership. Since Kevin and I joined this summer, we’ve seen
five households join and one household withdraw. Our
affiliate membership process is rigorous, and unit selection is based on the date of affiliate membership. These
decisions have not been made without introspection,
earnest discussion (mediation in two cases), and tears.
There are times when I would rather be anywhere
than in another cohousing meeting. Today, for example. If I were less committed, I’d be home on the
couch, eating popcorn and watching The Big Chill. So
why will I go to the meeting instead?
I will go partly because I’ve skipped the last two
weeks. Most of us have to take an occasional breakfrom the fervor of the construction process. I have noqualms about trusting the community to make decisions, which will ultimately be best for the sum of us.
I will go partly because I want to see people. I

miss the folks I don’t see on the development committee. I want to see how much Eleanor has grown in
the last two weeks, to hug Mem, and to find out how
Bruce and Karen are enjoying the group. I look forward
to Ethel’s earthy laugh, Kurt’s jokes, and to watchingfrom across the room as Meg puts a quilt together.
Mostly, however, I will go out of faith. Cohousing
is now both my religion and my politics. I continue to
ask myself “Is this best for the group?” before putting
up my green “Yes” card in response to a proposal,
because I sense we are creating something larger thanmere housing here.
If there is a cathedral for this new church of ours,
it is the land. We have watched as the land wascleared and the grading completed. We have seen theretaining wall built — the earth pinned into place bygrouting and rebar, held by shotcrete. We havewatched from the street above the site the installationof the footings, the pouring of foundations. We havewatched the units at the far end go up first — we’ve
witnessed the snaky white neoprene tubing laid forthe radiant floor heating, and come back to the meetings to tell each other, “They’ve started framing!”
This is what keeps me going to the meetings: in six
months we will be neighbors, part of something
we’ve all built together. If our process makes us moreloving, unselfish and useful to each other, that is only
to be expected. In this community, we will not only
have potlucks and hold babies, but we will practicegentleness, honesty, love and compassion in a tribal
setting. We’ll have a place to eat, work, and makemusic among folks we have learned to trust, and it is
this we will offer to the world around us.
It is as if we are both watching a miracle happen
and creating it at the same time. Could there be any
better way to spend a Sunday?
Excerpted with permission from
Communities magazine, Spring 2000.

Chapter 3
Getting Off to a Good StartYOUR GROUP HAS GATHERED FOR your firstof communities, vision statements, lists of values
and goals, outlines of community processes, andcommunity histories. By browsing community
websites you’ll get a wonderful sense of the rich andvaried possibilities for community organization.
Visiting communities is another excellent
way to empower your community dreams withreal-life reality checks. I also suggest talking withas many founders as you can, of both communities that are thriving, as well as those that are
struggling or didn’t work out. My hope is thatyou’ll begin your community journey with agreat deal of information and increasingly realistic expectations.
While the following chapters describe steps
community founders can take, don’t assume
these steps are linear. The process of growing acommunity is more organic — simultaneously
ongoing and step by step. See Table 2 for an ideaof what this can mean.
Cohousing communities have a slightly different process from other communities. Some
additional key steps can include partnering witha developer, raising development financing, getting a construction loan, and securing individual
mortgages. (See Chapter 12.) This is an increasingly popular model of intentional community
in which people develop, build, and manage their

meeting to talk about forming a new community. Where do you start?
I suggest starting with a general overview ofthe basic steps involved in growing an intentional community. You could begin by asking everyone in your in your group to skim through thisbook, then read it more thoroughly later on, andthen read some of the recommended resources
for more in-depth information.
There is also a wealth of information to befound on community websites. You’ll find photos

VISITING ESTABLISHED COMMUNITIESVisiting communities can bring a sense of reality to theproject — and hone your sense of what you want, anddon’t want, in your community. I suggest contacting any
communities you’d like to visit ahead of time and asking
whether they welcome visitors. Ask if you can offer several hours’ labor when you visit them, as communities
always need extra labor for work projects, and yourbeing willing to work will make them more likely to inviteyou. Bring old clothes, work gloves. and food to share.
You’ll learn much and will probably have a great time. Be
sure to send a thank-you note afterwards.

20

GETTING OFF TO A GOOD START 21

TABLE 2: THE COMMUNITY-GROWING PROCESS

Develop good communication skills ———-> ongoing -————————————————————>
Learn to deal well with conflict ————> ongoing ——————————————————————>(Chapters 17-18)

Research communities: Learn
as much as you
can about how
founders formed
them ———>(All chapters)

Create yourvisiondocuments———>(Chapter 4-5)

Decisionmaking
method: choose(and learn how
to use them)————->(chapter 6)

Research thereal estatemarket in yourdesired area——————>(Chapters 9-10)

Choose a location: create site
criteria———->(Chapter 9-10)
Choose & set
up your legal
entity. ———>
(Chap’s 8, 15-16)

Researchzoning issues inyour desired
area: possible
costs to get
exceptions if
needed ——->
(Chapter 11)

Learn yourfinancing
options: figureout your group’s
borrowing
power ———->(Chapter 12)

Conduct yourproperty
search:choose yourproperty ——>(Chapters 9-10)

Finance andbuy yourproperty—————>(Chapter 12)

Develop or
renovate yourproperty as
needed——————>(Chapter 13)

Organize yourinternal
community
finances (andreorganize asneeded)—————>(Chapter 14)——————>

Organize yourgroup ———>
(Chapter 3)

Create community agreements & documents —————> ongoing ———————————————>(Chapter 7)

Choose new people to join you ——————-> ongoing ———————————————————>(Chapter 19)*Remember, most of the above steps are not linear, but can overlap.

own neighborhoods. They live in smaller-thannormal housing units and share ownership ofcommunity areas, usually including a common
green, a garden space, and a large common building with a kitchen and dining room, children’s

play area, laundry facilities, and guest rooms.
Members optionally share dinners together several evenings a week, and usually make decisions
by consensus.

22 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

Don’t Run Out and Buy Land — Yet

Many people interested in starting a community
assume the first thing you should do is buy land.
Even though a beautiful piece of property can be
tempting, buying your property first is generally
not a good idea — and can be a huge risk for conflict later because all the necessary structures
haven’t been put in place. I advise against it
unless you’ve taken the following steps:
1. One person or a small group already has thenecessary funds to buy it, and can cover its
mortgage payments for a year or so.

2. The person or small group has set up an
appropriate legal entity for property ownership, or sets it up soon after.
3. The documents of the legal entity (or othercommunity documents) spell out the relationship of each future member’s financial
contribution toward ownership and decision-making rights, whether people will haveequity in the property, and other financial
issues.
4. The individual or small group buying theproperty have agreed on the vision for thecommunity and have created its vision

MANY WAYS TO FORM COMMUNITY
Property and Housing• Buy or rent several houses on the same block andshare backyards; turn one into a community building.
• Buy or rent a large house and turn some of its rooms
into common areas.
• Rent apartments in an apartment building; turn one
apartment into shared common community space.
• Buy an apartment building (or buy several housing
units in a planned community, condominium, or housing co-op) and do the same.
• Buy land with an existing house or houses (or an
office building, retail store, factory building, warehouse, theater, church, or motel) and turn it into housing and common areas.
• Buy a former conference center or camp and do thesame.
• Buy raw land and start from scratch.
Ownership• The community can own the whole property andlease housing facilities or homesites to members.
• Members can hold title to their individual housing
units or lots and houses, and share ownership of common land and community buildings.

Degree of Closeness• Community members can be closely involved ineach other’s lives — sharing living space or kitchens,
living in close proximity, sharing equipment and tools,or having a car co-op.
• Members can be less involved — living in separate
housing units or in separate houses (in clustered housing, in more widely spaced but still clustered housing,or on separate lots), or sharing fewer resources incommon.
Degree of Financial Interdependence• Community members can work for community businesses (and/or outside businesses), share incomes,
and share a common treasury.
• They can have a hybrid economy — working forcommunity businesses and sharing profits for food,housing, medical insurance and other necessities, but
keeping any outside earnings or assets separate.
• They can have fully independent incomes, and sharesome or many community expenses.

GETTING OFF TO A GOOD START 23

documents, and anyone joining subsequently must necessarily agree to thisvision. Or these will be created by the initial buyers and the people joining themsoon after — but none of the new people will
put their money in until the vision is fully
agreed upon and written down, and everyone knows what it is they’re agreeing tojoin.
Why all these safeguards should be in place
will become clear as you read on.
When You Already Own the Property

Many aspiring community founders are people
who’d like to turn their family-owned land into
an intentional community, or groups of friends
who have just purchased land together and ask,
“Now what?”
If your group has already purchased land,
every chapter in this book is still relevant to yoursituation, except perhaps Chapter 10 on finding
the right property and Chapter 12 on financing
it. Definitely read “Legal Barriers to Sustainable
Development” and “Shopping for Counties —Zoning Regulations, Building Codes,
Sustainable Homesteads, and Jobs” in Chapter 9,
as well as Chapter 11 on zoning — you still may
have these issues to deal with.
Frankly, property owners who want to turntheir already-owned land into the site for an
intentional community often have the greatest
challenge, even though it may seem as if they
have already overcome the largest hurdle. Whenone or more people are the owner-landlords andthe rest are tenants, or when a land-based business is also involved and one or more people are
the owner-employers and the rest employees,
there’s an imbalance of power. The owners haveenormous power over everyone else, who can beevicted or fired at any time. And the owners haveprivileges the others probably do not, such as, forexample, the right to all financial knowledge concerning the property or business, and the right toenter or lock others out of any building on theproperty.
The owners often have a genuine desire toexperience a sense of community in the group, as
well as a strong desire to retain control over all
aspects of property use and any activities which
could affect property value — since, after all they
bear sole financial risk for it. But these twodesires are essentially incompatible. You can’t
simultaneously have “community” and total control over the whole property. This situation often
resembles a “feudal lord and serfs” situation.
People move there believing the place is a community, yet have no financial/legal risk or responsibility and no real decision-making power, evenwhen the landlord/employers may have set upsome kind of “consensus” process (which they
can of course override anytime). Not to mention
that the tenants/employees may consciously or
unconsciously resent the owners for having all
the power. Or that the owners may truly believe
they don’t want power over anyone — but are
unwilling to relinquish it until or unless others
shoulder their load of the financial, legal, maintenance, and other responsibilities. Or that however benign the owners, the others may project
all kinds of parental/authority-figure issues onto
them, further clouding the issue. Such inadvertent “fiefdoms” tend to repel competent, solvent,and informed community seekers, yet attract
people with few skills and limited funds who are,perhaps unconsciously, seeking a generous “parent” to take care of them. The owners end up
functioning like a substitute mom or dad —whether or not they welcome the role — with apassel of community “children” to look after.

24 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHERThis isn’t community — no matter how badly
everyone wants it!
A situation like this can work, however, when
there are agreements about how people can buy
in to property ownership and how the size of
their financial contribution (equal shares?
unequal shares?) relates to decision-making
rights. There must also be a legal entity for owning the property together, which ideally outlines
these agreements in its bylaws or operating
agreements. (See Chapter 9.) The group mustalso find a way to legally protect the owner fromthe ongoing financial and legal responsibilities
such as mortgage payments, property taxes,
insurance, and maintenance costs, and legallyshare these responsibilities, such as through a
Triple Net Lease document. (See Chapter 12.)What if some or all potential community
members cannot afford the entire buy-in fee atonce, but can make a down payment and mortgage payments over time? One solution would be
for the owner to become the owner-financer —the “bank” — and set up promissory notes witheach person. (See Chapter 12.)What if the property is worth so muchmoney, say, several million dollars, that theowner cannot find enough (or any) other potential community members who, even with ownerfinancing, can afford to buy in and equally shareproperty ownership? One solution could be to
subdivide a smaller portion of the property andmake it available to shared group ownership.
Another possibility is individual member ownership of separate lots (or a cohousing-typearrangement with individually owned housing
units and shared common property). A clause incommunity membership documents could outline members’ rights and responsibilities about
using and enjoying the adjoining larger property.
The owner would still own and control the

expensive property, and could be one member
among many in shared ownership of the subdivided property.
What if the owner wants to preserve theproperty in perpetuity as wilderness, or farmland, or community, for example, and doesn’t
mind taking a financial loss in terms of the rightto sell it one day at full market value? The owner
can place a conservation easement on the property or create a land trust or community land
trust before seeking like-minded fellow members. (See Chapter 16.)
If you’re a property owner seeking to create
community on your land, please take these issues
into account. Be willing to release total control
and find ways for people to become fully participating, responsibility-sharing fellow community
members. And if you cannot or don’t want torelease full control but still want live in close
proximity with others, please do so and enjoy it— but don’t advertise it as “community”!
Organizing Your Group

Following are some start-up suggestions and recommendations from other founders:
Decide how often you’ll meet, and where. It
helps to schedule meetings on the same day atregular intervals, for example, every Sunday from1:30 to 5:00. You might begin by meeting
monthly or every other week, but when you
begin exploring financial and legal options andstart your land search, you’ll most likely need tomeet weekly, with smaller committees working
on various tasks between meetings.
At the same time, you’ll need to be flexible inyour expectations about meeting participation.
Weekly meetings can become tiresome, especially for parents of small children. Some groups
have found ways to make participation easier for

GETTING OFF TO A GOOD START 25

people, by arranging for childcare during meetings, sending meeting agendas out ahead of time,or using e-mail or phone surveys to gather input
and ideas. Since some people will have considerably more time to devote to the project than others, some groups have created an internal “timebank” system of credits for hours spent in meetings, committee work, and research tasks. The
general idea is that each member “owes” the community a certain number of credits over a periodof several years. This way people who can’t offer
much project time in the present have the opportunity to make up for it later.
Choose a decision-making method; decide how
you’ll run meetings. If you chose consensus as
your decision-making method, get trained in it
as a group, or you could end up operating fromwidely divergent assumptions about how it’sdone, or crippling your meetings with “pseudoconsensus.” (See Chapter 6.)
You’ll also need to decide how meetings will
be run. Most groups learn, after time, to allow
newcomers and visitors to offer ideas and opinions, but to limit decision-making rights to groupmembers. Some suggestions and information
about conducting meetings are offered below.
• Facilitation. Having a facilitator can makeall the difference in how productively andsmoothly your meetings run. You canarrange for one or more group members
to be trained in facilitation, or you canhave all members take a facilitation workshop, and rotate the role in your group.
You could also exchange meeting facilitation with other communities or withforming-community groups in your area.
• Agendas. Having meeting agendas createdahead of time and sent out to everyone inyour group before meetings makes a huge

difference in how well your meetings
function. Agenda planners schedule each
item for discussion in a particular meeting, and note expected amounts of discussion time for each. People won’t beable to attend every meeting, and knowing what topics will be decided or discussed ahead of time allows them toattend particular meetings, based on theirown priorities.
• Evaluation. Allow time at the end of themeeting for evaluation, listing on a large
piece of easel paper what you did well andwhat could have been better. Doing thisregularly will help your group improve
communication and meeting skills.
• Minutes. Decide who will take notes orminutes, what you’ll include in them, how
they’ll be distributed, and by whom.
Encourage people in your group who aregood at taking minutes to do it regularly.
Distribute the completed minutes toeveryone by e-mail and/or postal mail.
Decide on some general principles for yourcommunity. As a preliminary step, and as preparation for your later visioning process, ask yourselves what are the general principles uponwhich you’ll base your community. Define yourbottom lines in terms of:• Potential location and relationship to theland (urban or rural, small gardens orlarge farming operation, and so on).
• Preferred distances from cities, major
airports, educational resource centerssuch as colleges or universities, wilderness
or recreation areas, and other places
important to your group.
• Lifestyle issues (whether you’ll have dietpreferences, or will be oriented to single

26 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHERSOWING CIRCLE’S GENERAL PRINCIPLES
Here’s what Sowing Circle founders agreed on andwrote down as their principles:
1. We’ll support an educational center.
2. We’ll be non-dogmatic and diverse.
3. We’re not attached to any one lifestyle, diet, or
spiritual purpose.
4. We’ll consider each person in a couple relationshipas a single, individual member.
5. We’ll each make equal financial contributions andhave equal shares of ownership.
6. We’ll each have equal decision-making rights andeach contribute equal amounts of labor.
7. We’ll share expenses and reduce our level ofconsumption.

•

•

•

•

people, families with children, or multiple
generations; pet issues; sexual orientationand gender issues; drug-use issues).
Preferred financial set up (whether
everyone will contribute the same or different amounts, or contributions will betied to decision-making rights; or which
expenses the community might share).
Spiritual issues (whether you’ll have apreferred spiritual orientation or practice,
be spiritually eclectic, or secular).
Political issues (whether you’ll be
activists, or will support politically active
members).
Educational issues (whether you’ll offer
classes, or will be a model and demonstrate site, and so on).

Create a preliminary financial model. As noted
in Chapter 1, you’ll need to create a rough financial model to get a general idea of the amount ofmoney to raise. Read Chapters 9 through 16 to

get a sense of the steps involved. Then consider
your probable type of location (urban, suburban,
semi-rural, or rural), your preferred area and current property values there, and whether you’llseek raw land, developed property, or a fully
developed turn-key property, in order to estimate likely down payment and mortgage costs.
Also estimate the costs of attracting more members (if applicable), creating your legal entity,
searching for likely properties and investigating
the best ones, and any property development or
renovation. Divide these by your estimated final
number of members for a rough estimate of how
much the project may cost each member household. If you don’t have information for some ofthese variables, take your best guess. Compare
this information with your group’s probableassets and borrowing power (see “Getting Real
About Finances”). As noted earlier, if the numbers are too high, revise your assumptions (forexample about your desired location or numberof members), and try again.
Work out a preliminary timeline. Ask yourselves the length of time in which you’d ideallylike to accomplish everything necessary to moveto community and set up your physical infrastructure. Creating a preliminary timeline basedon this estimate will provide a baseline for comparing your expectations to the reality as it
unfolds. You will most likely need to revise it
many times as you progress through the steps.
Timelines, like budgets and flow charts, areplanning tools to help you anticipate what might
be needed at various points, and to give yourselves a series of small goals to help you achieve
larger milestones. Timelines can also be helpful
by serving as a kind of visualization tool. It’s theprocess of planning — not necessarily any given
plan — that’s important.

GETTING OFF TO A GOOD START 27

Create a decision log. A record of decisions is aninvaluable reference. Update it frequently, post a
copy on the wall before meetings, make copies
available for members to take with them. Give a
copy to each new member who joins the group.
When a group doesn’t create a decision log,
people tend to continually revisit the decisions
that have already been made, which wastes timeand drains the group’s energy. Stand by yourdecisions and resist the temptation to revise previous decisions because new group members
may want something else. It’s fine to revisit adecision when there is a good reason to do so,but don’t do it frivolously. (See Appendix 2 for
Buffalo Creek’s decision log.)
Agree on criteria for group membership. Whatqualifies someone to become a decision-making
member of your group? Are there a minimum
number of functions or meetings newcomers
must attend before having decision-making
rights? (See Chapter 18.) Many groups find thata small, non-refundable financial investment($100 or so), and/or a smaller dues fee of perhaps$10 a month tends to generate group commitment and helps separate out the mildly curious.
Identify your vision and create your vision documents. The light that will guide all your efforts,
this will be one of your first major tasks as agroup. (See Chapters 4 and 5.)
Keep accurate financial records. In the beginning you’ll probably have minor expenses such as
refreshments, copying, and postage costs. As you
become more committed, expenses might
include consensus facilitation training, expenses
associated with visiting communities or attending communities conferences, and so on. While
more significant expenses will arise later, you’ll

need to decide at the outset how to keep financial records, taking into account how much duesor financial contributions will be, and whether
any part of these are refundable, and so on.
Begin writing community policies and agreements. At some point you’ll need to draft agreements and policies, with regard to financial
expectations, communication processes, behavioral norms, and other issues. Some of these
you’ll need now as a forming-community group;
others later, as shared owners of your property.
(See Chapter 7.)
Help each other stay accountable. Before long
you’ll need to draft documents and budgets, visit
properties, and research financing options, zoning
regulations, and other matters. You’ll probably
assign yourselves tasks and completion dates, asmany of these tasks will need to be completed bya particular date so the group can take the next
step. Yet, because unexpected work or family commitments or the inability to manage time wisely,
people often don’t do what they say they will, withnegative consequences for the group. You’ll needrelatively painless, guilt-free ways to help you stayaccountable to each other, such as task reviews,
task wall charts, buddy systems, and other means.
Sowing Circle founders agreed that one person
would call each person to ask if he or she hadcompleted their tasks. It was set up as an official
tracking system, not a criticism, so no one would
feel singled out. (See Chapter 17.)
Establish guidelines for group process. Thismeans making decisions cooperatively, communicating honestly, and holding each other accountable for responsibilities. It means giving feedback
and asking for change without making each otherwrong, and facing and resolving conflict.

28 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

While many groups don’t deal with theseissues until they’re forced to, I believe learningthese skills early in your group life is one of themost significant aspects of creating a healthy
community. Some groups set aside a separate
meeting once a month where members can
openly express their frustrations or concernsand seek to resolve them. Some amount of conflict is normal and expected. It’s important tocreate a conflict resolution plan and practice it
before you have any significant conflict, like hav-

ing a fire drill before you have a real fire. (See
Chapters 17 and 18.)
Identify goals, record and celebrate yourprogress. Groups, like individuals, feel energizedand successful when they see themselves progressing steadily toward their goals. To help
focus your efforts, you can write down each ofyour goals on a timeline chart (for example, creating your visioning documents, getting consensus training, creating your site criteria). Post the“MAGICAL THINKING” AND THE ANTI-BUSINESS ATTITUDE
Bill Fleming, a cohousing founder, cautions community groups against using “magical thinking,” a term for abelief common to four-year olds in which simply
imagining something means it will happen. “Mommy, I
can fly to the moon!”Community founders engage in magical thinking
when they disdain facts and research gathered byother members on, say, legal options or environmental issues, and consider the research results to be mere
opinions, no more valid than anyone else’s. Magicalthinking is in play when people distrust the process ofcounting or measuring anything to predict likely outcomes (acres, square feet, years, dollars, amounts ofprincipal and interest) in favor of intuitive guesses andinner guidance, or by dismissing tools such as budgets and business plans as being “oppressive” or“restricting our creative flow.”This is related to the pervasive anti-business feeling which is common in communities — distrust or
outright fear of financial planning, borrowing money,
interest on loans, contracts and written agreements,
corporations and other legal entities, and the like. I
can understand it. In my younger years I was against

anything remotely related to business, multinational
corporations, or the government. Like many othercountercultural folk, I was also intimidated by tools
and processes used by the mainstream, didn’t understand how they worked, and turned them into symbols of everything I rejected.
But over time I learned not to mistake the tool forthe motivation. I learned “business” is not the samething as deceitful business practices, money is not thesame thing as domination and the lust for power, legal
structures are not the same as corporate greed.
Every community formed since the early 1990s
that I know of, has been motivated by a spiritual
impulse and/or by environmental and social justiceconcerns. Their founders learned to understand anduse tools also used by mainstream culture — creating
legal entities, buying property, borrowing money,
paying interest — in order to create viable alternatives
to mainstream culture. They use these tools to help
create the kind of world where people shareresources, make decisions cooperatively, and are
mindful of their relationships with the Earth, their plant
and animal relations, and each other.
I urge you to do the same.

GETTING OFF TO A GOOD START 29

chart on the wall before meetings, estimating thedate by which you’d like to accomplish each goal.
Highlight or circle each goal as you achieve it.
Revise the timeline often, since it probably won’t
be accurate for long, but always show youralready-achieved goals. Celebrate when you
reach certain milestones; honor and acknowledge
what you’ve done. Creating community is a huge
undertaking, yet here you are doing it, step bymeasurable step.
Getting Real about Finances

One of the most common pitfalls for formingcommunity groups is unrealistic expectations
about how much it will cost. To become familiar
with the kinds of expenses associated with buying and developing community property, read
Chapters 9 through12 on locating, buying, andfinancing community land (and keep in mind
that these prices will most likely be higher now).
You can get an overview of property prices in thearea you’re considering by looking in the realestate sections of the papers or calling a few realty companies there.
How much can you contribute? At some point
you’ll then need to discuss your individual financial situations openly, including whatever income
or assets you each could make available to theproject. People are reluctant to share their personal financial information for many reasons —normally it’s no one else’s business, and it violatesa cultural taboo. Wealthier people are often
reluctant to discuss their finances for fear of
making themselves vulnerable to reactions ranging from resentment to outright violence, while
those with fewer assets wish to avoid pity or evendismissal by others.
Here’s an exercise you can use to begin thediscussion while preserving everyone’s financial

privacy. Write the following on a sheet of easel
paper and hang it where everyone can see it:
A: Down Payment/Development. Amount
you could pay as an equal financial contribution for the down payment and property
development.
B: Monthly Member Assessments. Amount
you could pay on an ongoing basis as monthly member assessment fee for property payments (principal and interest on any loan(s)for property acquisition; property taxes,
insurance, repair and maintenance fund).
C: Potential Private Loans. (If applicable)
Amount you could make available to thegroup as a private loan for property purchaseand development.
Hand out identical pieces of paper and ask
each person to write down an amount for A, B,
and if applicable to them, C, without identifying
themselves. Collect the papers, add up eachamount, and write these totals on the easel
paper. Without anyone’s feeling embarrassed,
you can get a general sense of what your group
can afford at this point.
If you’re like most groups, you’ll probably
need to borrow money for property acquisition,
thus your other financial baseline is your group’s
total borrowing power. Two exercises in“Assessing Your Potential Borrowing Power” (seeChapter 10) can help you figure this out easily.
At some point, members will need to stop
being anonymous and let the group know how
much each may be able to contribute to thedown payment and other land-purchase expenses, and everyone’s potential borrowing power. I
suggest having general discussions first, then

30 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

schedule a discussion at a subsequent meeting
where you’ll tell how much you could contribute,so everyone will have a chance to think about it
ahead of time.
No doubt a few group members will have far
greater assets than most others, and some will
have far less. More affluent members will be able
to contribute more money than others, either as
the project’s required contribution, or as a private
loan (and sometimes, though it’s rare, as an outright donation to the project). Keep in mind thatyour group will have several choices with regard
to handling contributions to the property purchase and development. Some examples include:• You can each pay equal contributions,and tie those contributions to equal property ownership rights and responsibilities
and decision-making rights, as Sowing
Circle/OAEC founders did.
• The community could pay for its property purchase and development with loaned
funds, with no requirement for a buy-infee, and all members could pay monthly
fees that reimburse the loan(s), as
Dancing Rabbit did.
• You could gather equal contributions
from founders that guaranteed the rightto build on a plot of land, as Earthavenfounders did.
• One member could buy the property, andessentially loan this amount to the othergroup members, who would pay themember back over time.
• One member could buy the property andthe community could refinance as a housing co-op, with the founder being reimbursed all funds except his or her co-op
share, as Mariposa Grove plans to do.

When someone can’t afford it. When a member
can’t afford the buy-in fee, some groups reluctantly decide that they won’t be able to join thecommunity. Other groups figure out ways tomake it financially possible for everyone to join.
For example:• The community could loan the personpart of the money for the required down
payment from its development fund, as
Sowing Circle/OAEC did. The personthen reimburses the development fundover time. Alternatively, another groupmember, or several members, could loan
the person part of the required contribution.
• The community could buy the property
with equal contributions from mostfounders, but allow some founders to pay
half down and the rest in monthly payments with interest, as Earthaven did.
• The community could buy the property
with equal contributions from mostfounders, but allow some founders to pay
with the equivalent of so many years’labor for the community at some agreedupon hourly wage, through a labor contract, as Earthaven did with some early
members.
• The person doesn’t contribute to the landpurchase, but pays the community amonthly rental fee to live in communityowned housing. The community would
need clear agreements about whether theproperty-use and decision-making rights
are different for founders who are tenants. Alternatively, the tenant-members
could save money over time to pay the
buy-in fee.

GETTING OFF TO A GOOD START 31• The person could rent a room or a rental
unit, or share housing with another community member. Again, doing this would
require clear agreements about any distinctions in property use and decisionmaking rights.
• If the amount of financial contribution istied to the size and cost of the housing
unit, the community could create studiosized housing units for founders withfewer assets, as some cohousing communities have done.
• In “lot model” cohousing communities, inwhich each member buys a lot and builds
their own dwelling, the community could
allow the member to use the kitchen andshower facilities of its common house, andbuild a small sleeping hut on his or her
site, while saving enough money is tobuild a house, as Sharingwood Cohousing
in Washington did.
There are most likely many other ways tohelp founders without enough funds for the
buy-in fee. Sometimes the process of accommodating people in this situation can backfire, so it’s
critical to put any alternative arrangements inwriting in advance, to protect both the community in general and the specific members
involved. (See Chapter 18 for Pueblo Encantata’s
experience with one such arrangement.)
Collecting Funds

While your expenses will be minor at first, once
you’re about to create a legal entity and begin
your land search, you’ll need several thousand
dollars from each committed member for costs
associated with forming a legal entity and theland-search process. When you find a likely
property, expenses can include an option fee totake the property off the market and, if needed,
costs associated with researching its feasibility
for your group and/or getting an exception tozoning regulations. Community groups create
different methods for collecting funds; for example, collecting a small monthly amount andassessing yourselves larger lump sums at key
points along the way.
If you hire a member of your group to devote
full or part-time to the project for a time, that’s
another expense. (Or you could do as one groupdid, and give the person a deep discount on buyin costs and/or the first choice of homesite orliving space.)
Raising Money from Supporters

You might also raise funds from others.
Earthaven cofounder Valerie Naiman suggests
having a document showing your community’s

YOUR COMMUNITY NAME
One of the most rewarding aspects of creating a newcommunity is choosing a name. It will not only inspire
your group and invoke your vision, but will reflect yourvalues and aspirations to potential cofounders, lenders,zoning officials, and neighbors. Positive-affirmation andnature-affiliated names such as “Abundant Dawn,”“Earthaven,” and “Meadowdance” seem to work well. I
don’t recommend pretentious, flowery, or overly idealistic names, since (perhaps because their founders were
never grounded in business, legal, and financial realities?) communities with such names often tend to end
up as part of the “ninety percent.” Even if a community
with a pretentious name gets off the ground, being
called “Harmony Bliss Spirit” can prove downrightembarrassing during the inevitable periods when people feel disillusioned or find themselves embroiled inconflict.

32 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

mission and purpose, values, and goals to show
to friends, family, and others who might want tosupport your community project. You couldorganize fundraising events such as benefit parties, with donated live music or catering, or benefit auctions with donated auction items, as well
as offering supporters the opportunity to give
low-interest loans. Along with membershipdues, gifts and friendly loans from supporters
can total several thousand dollars.
Attracting and Integrating New
Members

At some point you may decide you’d like otherpeople to join your group. You might want tosimply tell friends and acquaintances what you’re
doing and invite them to a meeting, or you could
cast a wider net and draw from the public.
If you decide to draw from the public, target
your promotion to people with values and interests compatible with your future community. If
you’re planning an ecologically sustainable community with organic gardens, for example, mailpress releases to local environmental organizations and post flyers at health food stores, farmers’ markets, and organic-food restaurants.
Use aspects of your vision statement andyour mission in your flyers or brochures. For
example,“We’re seeking to form a community of____(kinds of people)___, to buy ___(numberof acres)___ in ___(county/counties)___ inorder to ____(purpose of community)______.
If it’s a longer brochure, include a few paragraphs
summarizing the key aspects of the values andgoals of your community. Use this in any press
releases you may send out as well.
One of the best ways to attract like-mindedpeople is a community website. I suggest creating
one as soon as your group feels committed
enough. The purpose of your flyers, brochures,press releases, and classified ads should be towhet people’s appetites and send them straight toyour website, where they’ll learn much more
about your interests, values, and plans. This iswhere you reveal as much of yourselves as possible. Use your vision statement and other vision
documents (“This is what we’re about”), yourdecision log (“This is what we’ve done so far, andwhat we ask new people to agree to”), and your“How to Join Us” document (“These are the steps
and requirements for joining our group”). Make
sure you clearly describe the financial requirements for participating, once you’ve decided onthem. You can include photos of yourselves looking like a friendly and engaging bunch of folks,
perhaps a “Frequently Asked Questions” document, relevant agreements or policies, and photosof your intended property once you’ve found it.
Be sure to make it simple to request information
through the website, and designate a member ofyour group to handle these inquiries.
You’ll want the information on your website
to draw only the people who resonate with yourgroup’s particular values and vision. If you don’t
use a website, you can use brochures and packets
of printed materials to accomplish the same
goals.“It’s more important to reach the right people than simply a lot of people,” notes
Meadowdance cofounder Luc Reid.
You could follow up any inquiries by sendingout a thank-you letter and a questionnaire forinquirers to fill out and return.
A next step could be for interested people tovisit your group. Have a regular procedure of
welcoming visitors at the beginning of meetings,
and introduce everyone around the circle. If theyshow an interest in becoming members, givethem a copy of your vision documents and your“How to Join Us” document (even though they
may have already seen these on your website), a

GETTING OFF TO A GOOD START 33

current version of your decision log, and otherrelevant materials. Explain your process forwhen and how new members can participate inmeetings and when they’ll have full decisionmaking rights. (Some communities require newmembers to take a consensus workshop before
becoming full members. ) Community consultant Rob Sandelin suggests assigning new members a “buddy” who will be available by phone toanswer any questions about your process andyour progress so far.
Creating “Community Glue”

Forming a community is not really about yourproperty-purchase and development goals, but
about generating a sense of community — akind of group well-being in which you’ve connected with each other emotionally and knoweach other deeply.
Rudolf Steiner said that shared physicalactivities — when people move the body andvocal chords — bonds people at such deep levels
that their connection tends to last. This certainly
confirms most groups’ experience of what makes
people feel connected and committed to eachother — working together in shared labor, eating
together, telling each other their life’s experiences,
speaking from the heart about personal or interpersonal issues, singing, dancing, doing rituals,
and celebrating birthdays and holidays.
Most groups have weekly or monthly
potlucks, often associated with business meetings, which certainly contributes to community
glue, as well as making decisions together andpersonal sharing, such as check-ins and wisdom
circles. (These are explored more fully in
Chapter 17.)
One of the best ways for a group to experiencea sense of community is to rent a rustic lodge
with kitchen facilities for the weekend, with activ-

ities that might include preparing food and eating
meals together, hiking and swimming, playing
volleyball or other sports, making music andsinging, and telling stories around the campfire.
Storytelling is an excellent way to create intimacy on deeper levels, especially if the topics are
self-revealing and personal. One way groups cando this is to tell their life stories, focusing especially on life-changing events or those that affected them deeply. Another is to ask each person toshare for 20 minutes or so about the attitudes intheir family of origin on such normally taboo
subjects as religion, money, or social class. Suchsessions can not only lead to a much closer senseof connection, but can also help people understand how each group member might approachsuch community issues as sharing common
property or handling community finances.
If the group is small enough, or if there’s
enough time, each person can tell stories in turn.

BREAKING BREAD TOGETHER
In some communities individual households havekitchens and eat meals at home, with shared meals one
or more times a week. Other communities have central
kitchen and dining facilities where members share threemeals a day. How many shared meals are necessary to
make a difference in community glue?
“Count up the number of days in a week that a groupshares meals, and you’ll have a reasonably good barometer for measuring the closeness of that community,”
observes community activist Geoph Kozeny. “When thefrequency gets up to four meals a week or so, somehow
the social glue gets stronger.”
Almost every community described in this book
begins common meals by standing in a circle and holding hands and either taking a moment of silence, offering
a prayer, or singing a song.

34 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

If time is more limited, people can put theirnames in a hat and draw out as many names as
there is time for, with future meetings planned soeveryone will get a chance. Shyer members canchoose not to speak, but will still enjoy listening
to other people’s stories. The group can use akitchen timer to help each other keep to theiragreed times. Storytelling evenings are so enjoyable they can be repeated many times.
Pioneers, Settlers, and the Flow ofMembers

Two kinds of people are usually attracted toforming communities — pioneers and settlers.
Pioneers take risks and leap into the unknown.
They start the group, do the research, find theland. Settlers wait and see if the pioneer groupcan pull it off. They come in later, when more is
known about the project, and when there’s something more visible to join. Settlers need the pioneers to break trail for them. Pioneers need thesettlers to join when it’s time to raise money andmake the project happen. Pioneers are like entrepreneurs. Settlers are like wait-and-see investors.
Forming community groups need both.
In most groups, relatively few people meetingin the early months will actually end up moving
into the community (although it’s possible atight group of friends will go the whole distance.
“The group you start with won’t be the group
you’ll end up with,” says Sowing Circle
cofounder Adam Wolpert. “Even some of yourkey founding group members may not be there
when you buy your property.”
People usually leave when you reach certain
milestones:• When you identify your community
vision and write your vision documents,

some people could realize it’s not forthem and leave. However, new people will
join, attracted by your group and yourcommunity vision.
• When you agree on criteria for yourproperty more members could exit —that’s not really the kind of land theywanted. But new people will join — it’s
exactly the kind of land they wanted.
• When you agree on financial criteria foryour community, you could have anotherexodus — some can’t afford it. But more
will come, and your financial criteria will
let them know whether they can afford it.
• When you decide to purchase a particular property there may be a stampede forthe door. Some back off because it’s not
the right property after all. Others flee
because it’s a supreme reality check. Now
that they’re staring community full in theface — gulp! They realize they’re notready for it; it’s too huge a commitment,
too great a lifestyle change.
However, after this point, many more people
may join the group — because they like you,they like your vision, they can afford it — andthey like your beautiful property! This is often
the time when settlers, watching from the sidelines, get active again, and bring their checkbooks.

You’re on your way. Next, your first significant
step towards community — identifying yourcommunity vision.

Chapter 4
Community Vision — What It Is,
Why You Need ItI

T WAS CRISIS TIME at a community I’ll call
Willow Bend. This small community in therural Midwest launched itself in the earlynineties with no vision or vision statement. Thatmeans they had no shared expression of their
desired future, no “why we’re here” agreementthat aligned community members and inspiredthem to work toward their shared aspirations.
Then the bottom fell out of the market for
the wooden children’s toys they manufactured as
their primary community business. Overnight
they lost almost half of their annual incomebase. Under severe financial strain, the members
held long meetings to figure out what to do.
Unfortunately different Willow Benders had
widely different ideas about their purpose forbeing a community.
“We’re here to show people a low-consumption lifestyle that works financially,” says Tom.
“We’ve got to recoup our losses somehow.”“No way!” exclaims Kathleen.“We’re just here
to enjoy ourselves and not have to work for theman. We’ll just eat beans for awhile.”“How can you say that?,” asks Andy, incredulous.“We’re supposed to radicalize people! We’resupposed to show that you don’t have to compete

so much and can share things equally and all getalong!”
Except they weren’t getting along, and werecompeting mightily themselves, for the underlying basis of Willow Bend’s reality. With no common vision, they had nothing to return to — nocommon touchstone of values, purpose, or aspirations about why their community life mattered, how it fit into the larger world. Because
they use consensus decision making, no majority
of Willow Benders with the same vision could
determine the vision for the whole group. On thesurface it looks like they were arguing aboutmoney. But they were actually expressing theinherent structural conflict of not all standing on
the same ground. And unlike folks in formingcommunity groups, people with different visions
can’t simply go their separate ways and start different communities. Willow Bend was theirhome, and no one could ask anyone else to leave
because of their “wrong” vision. As the conflictgrew intense several people saw no way out andleft the community. Now Willow Bend had twocrises — not enough money and not enoughpeople to carry out the tasks of their other community businesses.
35

36 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

I hope this (true) story illustrates why it’s soimportant to establish why we’re here as a basis
for creating community — and why everyone in
the community needs to be on the same page.
Kat Kinkade, cofounder of Twin Oaks community in Virginia, describes a similar circumstance. Once some friends of hers were appalled
by what they read in the vision documents of aparticular community. But when they met someone from that community whom they liked very
much, they decided to visit, and found everyone
there to be friendly, warm, and charming.
Figuring that actions speak louder than words
they decided to ignore the community’s declaredvision and values and join anyway.
But as Kat’s friends lived there over themonths, they found themselves increasingly atodds with the community’s founders. While
everyone was warm and courteous at first, thenewcomers’ values and goals weren’t compatible
with the community’s, and soon they wereembroiled in serious conflict over the direction
the community. Eventually the dissension anddistrust grew so bitter that Kat’s friends left thecommunity — and so did several other members, disillusioned by the bad blood generated bypower struggles over vision and values.
“This left the group weak, angry, andexhausted,” says Kat. “It was a community
tragedy, and not an uncommon one.” I’ve heard
this same story more than once about othercommunities.
So the first major task members of a forming
community group is to clarify and write down
their vision, and make sure they all agree on it.
Some well-known, long-lived, apparently
successful communities don’t have and never had
a common vision, or at least, never wrote anything down. This can work — but in my opinion
it doesn’t work well for long. Not having a com-

mon vision can blow a community apart when amajor challenge or crisis occurs. Or it can slowly
erode everyone’s vitality and well-being over theyears as each conflict arising from different
visions adds to the accumulation of resentment.
“A common vision is neither necessary nor
sufficient for starting a new community, since
many have gotten by without one, and some that
had one failed,” observes community activist Tree
Bressen. “But a common vision greatly increases
the probability of success. If your group is goingto all the trouble to start a community, can you
afford not to give yourselves the best possible
chance?”Sound a Clear Note

A vision doesn’t start out as necessarily “visual,”
and although written down, it’s much more thana collection of words. It begins as a quality ofenergy that grabs you and doesn’t let go. It’s likea beam of energy leading your group from where
you are to where you want to go.
Your vision must be articulated in a way that
others can understand easily. It must be simple,
clear, and authentic. As Sirius cofounders
Corrine McLaughlin and Gordon Davidson say,it must “sound a clear note on inner levels,” so it
will attract others who resonate with that note.
“It’s like a tuning fork against which you
measure your resonance,” says Adam Wolpert,
cofounder of Sowing Circle/Occidental Arts &Ecology Center. “It shows how well you’re doingin the theory-practice gap. It helps you aim
high.”
Once it’s written down, a well-crafted vision:• Describes the shared future you want tocreate.
• Reveals and announces your group’s corevalues.

COMMUNITY VISION — WHAT IT IS, WHY YOU NEED IT 37• Expresses something each of you canidentify with.
• Helps unify your effort.
• Gives you a reference point to return toduring confusion or disagreement.
• Keeps your group inspired.
• Draws out the commitment of the people
in your group.
“By describing what we want to have happen,” says Adam Wolpert, “it’s like an insurance
policy for the future, for what we don’t want tohave happen.”
Elements of a Community’s Vision

The terms “mission,” “purpose,” “values,” “goals,”“objectives,”“aspirations,”“interests,” and “strategy”
are often associated with a community’s vision.
These words mean different things to different
communities, as you’ll see in the sample vision
documents. Here’s how I use these terms.
Vision. This is the shared future you want to create, your shared image of what’s possible, the thingthat motivates your actions to create community.
It’s often expressed as the “who,” the “what” andthe “why” of your endeavor. Ideally it’s described in
the present tense, as if it were happening now.
Mission, Purpose. Your group’s mission or purpose expresses your vision in concrete, physicalterms. It’s what you’ll be physically doing as well
as experiencing as you manifest your shared
image of what’s possible. To understand the difference between “vision” and “mission,” consider
a community with the vision: “A world where
everyone has adequate, healthy shelter.” Its mission, to express this vision physically, could be:“To build a model demonstration village using

low-cost natural building materials, and throughoutreach programs teach our building methods,
particularly in Third-world countries.”
Values. Your group’s vision arises out of its
shared values, the characteristics and processes
you deem worthy. Values are expressed by how
you behave now, and how you intend to behave,on a daily basis, as you live in community. In theabove example, the community might hold values of sustainability, fairness, kindness, generosity, service, accessibility, thrift, and conservationof resources.
Interests. This includes experiences, states ofbeing, or physical things people may be interested in relative to your future community. Interests
usually arise from values and can be expressed asgoals. Many of you may be interested in composting, perhaps because you value sustainability, and express that as a goal to build compost foryour future community garden.
Goals, Objectives. Goals or objectives are milestones you commit yourselves to accomplish, but
short-term, often in a few months or a year. Your
community’s goals are measurable: you know
when you’ve accomplished them. In the above
example, the group might want to finish building
their model village in three years, and in the following year begin their outreach program tocountries in Central America.
Aspirations. These are strong desires or ambitions for inspired, elevated goals, arising fromvalues. Your community may have a goal to construct a meeting hall for 100 people in two years,
and, because you value beauty and sacred space,your aspiration is to build a meeting hall thatwill be beautiful, calming, and uplifting.

38 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

Strategy. Your strategy affirms a series of goals ina particular time-frame. If your vision expresses
the “who,” “what,” and “why” of your community, your strategy encompasses the “how,” “where,”and “when.” It usually involves budgets and cashflow projections and time lines. Altering yourvision will completely change the future you’recreating, but altering your strategy only changes
how you end up getting there. In the above
example, the group’s strategy for achieving theirgoals might be to raise $500,000 and share lowcost building methods in the first two years byoffering public workshops and seeking grants
from private donors and public foundations.
As we’ll see in the next chapter, a community’s vision arises in part from the resonance of its
individual members’ combined values, interests,
aspirations, and goals.
Nature’s Spirit, an aspiring spiritual community in South Carolina, expressed the difference
between their vision (their dream), mission(their physical activities), and goals (their specific, measurable actions) this way:
Vision: A world that values the diversity of all lifeand provides for its sustainability by living in harmony with nature and spirit.
Mission: To create a community in which we work
to expand our consciousness by living in the question: How does one live sustainably in harmony
with nature and spirit? This will enable us to be ofservice, share our experiences, and link with similar local and global efforts.
Goals:• Procure and care for a commons — a land
trust that will ecologically support a small
village of 50+ people.

•

Build a self-sustaining infrastructure to support our basic needs.

•

Create homes, gathering places and guest
facilities using sustainable building methods and energy sources.

•

Maintain an organic stewardship of the landthat will provide for our own and others’
food needs while giving back to the Earth.

•Create and nurture a spiritual center as thecore of our community.

•

Create an interdependent social system.

•

Initiate necessary enterprises to assure economic viability with minimal dependence
on institutional structures and the market
system.

•Establish educational, leadership, internship, and exchange programs that will
enable us to be of service to others, communicate and share our experiences, andlink with similar local and global efforts.

Your Vision Documents and Vision
Statement

Some communities have formal vision documentsthat describe in inspirational terms the shared
future they hope to create together. Other groups
may have various documents that give a sense of
their vision, often conveyed through a vision statement, possibly a brief description of their purposeor mission, inspirational or factual paragraphs
about their community and what they hope for it,
and sometimes lists of shared values and goals.
These can appear in internal agreements andcovenants or formal documents associated withthe legal entity through which the community
owns land (corporate bylaws, partnership agreements, or operating agreements), and in promo-COMMUNITY VISION — WHAT IT IS, WHY YOU NEED IT 39

tional literature such as website text, brochures,and information packets for prospective members.
Your community’s vision is not the samething as its vision statement, although a visionstatement serves some of the same functions.
The vision statement is your vision articulated— a condensed version in a few sentences. “It’slike a notice posted at the gate to all who would
like to enter,” says Stephen Brown, cofounder ofthe former Shenoa Retreat and ConferenceCenter in California. “It says, in effect, ‘This iswhat we are about; this is what we hope toaccomplish; this is what guides us’.”
Shenoa Retreat and Learning Center: We havejoined together to create a center for renewal,
education, and service, dedicated to the positivetransformation of our world.

•
•
•
•
•
•
•

•
•

Harmony Village Cohousing: We are creating acooperative neighborhood of diverse individuals
sharing human resources within an ecologically
responsible community setting.
Meadowdance Community: We are an egalitarian, child-centered community that welcomes
human diversity, ecological sensibility, mutual
learning, and joy.
Earthaven Ecovillage (from “ReMembership
Covenant”): (We are) an evolving village-scalecommunity dedicated to caring for people andthe Earth by learning, practicing and demonstrating the skills for creating holistic sustainableculture, in recognition and celebration of theOneness of all life.
A well-crafted vision statement:• Offers a clear, concise, compelling expression of your group’s vision and mission(and sometimes, its goals).
Is short, ideally about 20-40 words.
Embodies the same quality of energy as
your vision.
Helps focus your group’s energy like a lens.
Offers a shorthand reminder of why
you’re forming community.
Helps awaken your vision as a energeticpresence.
Is easily memorized, and ideally each of
you can recite it.
Communicates your group’s core purpose
to others quickly: “This is what we’re
about.”
Allows your group to be specific about
what it is — and is not.
Is what potential new members want tosee first.

And, like your community vision itself, thevision statement:• Is something every member can identify
with.
• Helps unify your effort.
• Keeps your group inspired.
• Reveals and announces your core values.
• Gives you a reference point to return toduring confusion or disagreement.
Like the examples above, your vision statement should be fairly clear and unambiguous.
There seems to be a high correlation between
clear, specific, and grounded vision statements
and communities that actually get built — andbetween flowery, vague, or downright pretentious vision statements and communities thatnever get off the ground.

40 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER(Note: Some of the communities from which
I excerpted sample vision statements, pg. 39, use
the terms “vision statement” and “mission statement” differently than I’ve just described. But
you’ll get the gist.)
Do It First

Identify and articulate your vision first, before
buying property together. If not, you could end
up like one eco-spiritual community in the

Northeast. Six years after moving to their land,
and after finishing a major building project, they
began having differences about what their next
steps should be. They couldn’t understand why
their conflict was so intense. Why were they so
at odds with each other? What was wrong withthose other people? Finally the group called in agroup process consultant who asked each member to fill out a questionnaire about what theyvalued and aspired to in their community. The

EXCERPT FROM VISION DOCUMENTS, DANCING RABBIT ECOVILLAGE
Our Mission: To create a society, the size of a small
town or village, made up of individuals and communities of various sizes and social structures, whichallows and encourages its members to live sustainably. (“Sustainably” means in such a manner that,within the defined area, no resources are consumed
faster than their natural replenishment, and theenclosed system can continue indefinitely without
degradation of its internal resource base or the standard of living of the people and the rest of theecosystem within it, and without contributing to thenon-sustainability of ecosystems outside.)
We encourage this sustainable society to grow tohave the size and recognition necessary to have an
influence on the global community by example,
education, and research.
While Dancing Rabbit is still a small community inthe pioneering stage, we call ourselves an ecovillage
because our vision is of something much more thanwhat we currently are.

We intend to grow to be a small locally selfreliant town of 500 to 1000 residents, committed toradical environmental sustainability. We will behoused in a variety of living arrangements, eat a variety of foods, and work on varied projects. It will bea society flexible enough to include egalitarian communities, cohousing, and individual households. But
while we may have different approaches to someissues, the common desire for environmental sustainability will underlie all key decisions at Dancing
Rabbit.
Although Dancing Rabbit will strive for self-sufficiency and economic independence, we will not
be sequestered from mainstream America. Rather,outreach and education are integral to our goals. We
will vigorously promote ourselves as a viable example of sustainable living and spread our ideas anddiscoveries through visitor programs, academic andother publications, speaking engagements, and thelike.
(See Appendix 1 for more sample vision documents.)

COMMUNITY VISION — WHAT IT IS, WHY YOU NEED IT 41

questionnaire revealed that community members
lived in either one of two subtle but different paradigms of reality, expressed by the following two
vision statements:
1. We are an educational organization andmodel demonstration site based on ecological principles. We live as a residential community in order to facilitate our work hostingclasses and workshops.
2. We are a community of supportive friends
valuing an ecologically sound, sustainable
lifestyle, and to help others, we offer classes
and workshops in these topics.
Some community members believed thefirst was the community’s reason for being, others believed the second — and until that time
no one knew the other reality existed. It was a stunning revelation. Different people had different
visions, which they incorrectly assumed everyone shared. Although by this time people werearguing most of the time, their core problem
wasn’t interpersonal conflict. Their problem
was structural — built into the system. Theirs
was definitely a “time-bomb” kind of conflict,with members unable to see it’s not that “John’sbeing unreasonable” or “Sue’s irresponsible
again,” but that John and Sue were each operating from a different assumption about why thecommunity was there in the first place. And
what should they do with such structural conflict? Which people should stay in the community and which had the “wrong” vision andshould move out?
Having a clear, grounded, inspired vision andvision statement does not in itself ensure a com-munity’s success. I knew two forming communities with beautiful vision statements that broke
up. One halted because its members were young
parents with too many responsibilities to spend
the time that creating a community requires. The
other was geographically challenged — its members were aligned in vision, but members hadstrong loyalties to two different locations. Someforming community groups with well-aligned
visions have broken up for other reasons, such as
losing their chosen property to a competingbuyer with more money. And some new communities with great visions that have already moved
to their property and begun building, have sometimes been brought down by conflicts withneighbors, zoning regulations that restricted
their expansion, or the departure of too manymembers. Although it doesn’t solve everything, atleast an inspired common vision gives a challenged community a central core to rally around
during challenges like these, and encourages themto have the heart to persevere.
Other structural-conflict issues can break up
communities as well — coming to grief over
how decisions should be made, or what theiragreements were, or through exhausting interpersonal conflict. Nevertheless, and I can’temphasize this strongly enough — for the best
chance of success, make creating your vision andvision statement the first thing you do.

How do you do this? We’ll explore that next.

Chapter 5Creating Vision Documents

T

HE PROCESS OF COMMUNITY visioning canmakes suggestions for improvement, andsends it back to the small group for revision.
The back-and-forth process between the task
force and whole group can occur as manytimes as needed until it’s done. The larger orthe more diverse your group, the longer thisprocess may take.

be exciting and challenging. It involves
deeply held values, strong interests, and highaspirations. It brings up both known and hidden
expectations and assumptions.
The members of your group may hold many
shared values and some differing values, and similar as well as wildly different ideas and expectations. Some of these may be realistic, others not.
Your task is to unearth, sift, and refine theseideas and expectations until you come up with agrounded yet inspiring description of yourshared community future.
This generally involves two steps:

Some groups finish within a few weeks ormonths, but only if they’re relatively small, theirmembers know each other well, or they’re fairly
homogeneous in interests and values. But if yourgroup is large, your members diverse, or yourplans ambitious, it can take more than a year.
The six cofounders of Shenoa Retreat andConference Center spent a year and a half identifying and crafting their vision documents. The
15 to 20 members of Earthaven’s original groupspent two years.
Some community veterans say it’s better if thegroup is relatively small, for example between
three to five people, or at least no more than ten.
Visioning with a smaller number of people helps
reduce the likelihood that the group will try tocontort itself this way and that in order to include
the diverse visions often found in a larger group.
“It’s far better to start with a very small
group, even two or three people who have a

1. Exploring the territory. You explore yourdreams, hopes, and expectations for community in a series of visioning sessions, writing
down highlights of what you learn, ideally onlarge sheets of easel paper. The sessions can
include wide-ranging discussions, deep personal sharing, and visioning exercises. It’s
best if these sessions are long — half-day,
day-long, or weekend meetings.
2. Writing it down. A smaller task force orcommittee uses this material to draft a preliminary vision description and vision statement. The whole group critiques the work,
42

CREATING VISION DOCUMENTS 43

strong agreement about the purpose of the community, and allow it to unfold organically fromthat strong and firm nucleus or seed, than it is tostart with 20 people who have no clear agreement or purpose, and then try to discover one,”advise Robert and Dianne Gilman in their bookEcovillages and Sustainable Communities.
However, regardless of the size of your group,
everyone needs to contribute to the vision. It
doesn’t work if especially influential people articulate the vision and everyone else just goes alongwith it. When people don’t “vote” for the vision at
the outset by helping create it, they end up “voting” for it later, through their behavior. Thosealigned with the vision will vote “Yes” by behaving consistently with it; those who were neverreally aligned may vote “No” on the vision bybalking at or unconsciously sabotaging certain
processes or tasks later. If everyone in the group
participates in the visioning process and buys into
it at the beginning, the community functions as amore harmonious, cohesive whole later on.
More Than One Vision?

You may not be able to resolve vision differences
easily. Let’s say you discover that most people inyour group want a rural self-reliant homestead atleast an hour’s drive from the city, but others
want a country place that’s no more than 30 minutes from their city jobs. Among both the houraway and job-commuter groups, some definitely
want open, honest feedback but others wantnone of that “touchy-feely stuff.” Some of thefor-process as well as anti-process people want ahomeschooling co-op; others don’t. With diversity like this, you’re probably not destined to end
up in the same community. But your visioning
process wouldn’t be wasted. It could help bringclarity to what each of you does and does notwant in a community — a helpful first step.

A scenario like this could have several outcomes:
1. The vision of the original group members
remains constant and the people who resonate with it remain involved. Those who
don’t, leave the group.
2. Some people leave your group, disappointed
that more people didn’t share their vision.
New people join your group, attracted by thevision articulated by the largest number ofremaining group members, or by the mostinfluential members.
3. Your group disbands. Too many people
wanted too many different things.
4. Your group splits into two or more smallergroups.
What’s typical? Smaller groups of long-timefriends, especially those who have alreadyworked together on visionary, spiritually oriented, or activist projects tend to align to a common
vision. Larger groups, especially those whose
participants don’t know each other well (such as
people responding to public announcements
about forming a community), tend to experiencehigh attrition and/or splinter into smallergroups. This is fine. One or more of the smallergroups may go on to form a community.
If a group is small and based primarily on
deep connections or shared friendships, mostmembers will tend to stay in the group and alter
any expression of community vision to fit everyone’s interests and desires. The founders of
Sowing Circle/OAEC in northern California
were long-time friends and environmental
activists, some of whom had been housemateson and off for 15 years. They wanted a community that would operate an educational centerand demonstration site based on ecological principles. One artist member supported this vision,

44 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

yet wanted to continue painting and teaching
painting. So the when the community established its non-profit center, they included artsand called it the Occidental Arts and Ecology
Center, offering workshops on landscape painting along with those on organic gardening andpermaculture design.
This kind of coalescing of interests usuallyworks best if a founding group is fairly small.
Most of the seven founders of Abundant Dawn
community in rural Virginia had previously lived
in large income-sharing communes. Some wanted an income-sharing community; others wanted independent finances. Since friendship andconnection was their major draw, they formed
smaller subcommunity “pods” within Abundant
Dawn. Founders favoring income-sharing
became the Tekiah pod, those favoring independent incomes became the Dayspring Circle
pod, and they all still got to live in community
together.
However, if a forming community is notbased on existing friendships but on an idea that
it would be nice to live in community, then theoriginal founders will probably hold to their particular visions and others will drop out, especially if the initial forming group is large, or if its
members were attracted through flyers or otherpublic means. Such a group tends to have multiple values, aspirations, and expectations, making
the visioning process more complex. Some communities, particularly cohousing communities,
begin with this challenge.
When your group is diverse, do you adopt avision that will cause some people to stay andothers to leave, or do you try to mold the vision
to meet everyone’s different values and interests?
Don’t try to create a one-size-fits-all vision.
“All too often there’s the temptation to accommodate or shape the vision to suit the needs ofeach person, either because the group needs torecruit new members or because they have a misguided sense of wanting to take care of everyone
or be ‘all things to all people,’” says Stephen
Brown.“To be successful, a forming community,
like a business, needs to hold a relatively narrowfocus and sharply defined objectives. If the community tries to do too much, by attempting tomeet the needs of all who come along, it will
spread itself too thin and either not get off theground or run out of steam fairly early on. The
vision therefore also defines what the project
does not intend to accomplish. If your vision is
too broad or comprehensive, and tries to please
all of the people all of the time, it will fall of its
own awkward expansiveness, trying to be in too
many places at once.”
How do you handle it if, after weeks ormonths of visioning sessions, you discover you
are really two potential communities? What if
many people leave, or the group splits in two?
This can feel chaotic and disorienting — andnewly bonded group members or long-timefriends can feel loss knowing their friends won’t
be joining them in the same community future.
If this happens it’s perfectly OK; it’s part of theprocess.
“A key challenge for the group at this time isto help everyone discover his or her own vision,
and, in so doing, allow everyone to see which
visions are sufficiently aligned to serve as thebasis for the group vision and which visions needto find expression elsewhere,” observe Diane andRobert Gilman in Eco-Villages and Sustainable
Communities. “It is important to avoid the expectation that every initial member of the groupshould continue with the group, since for somethat could mean either suppressing their own
vision or attempting to force a vision on others
that the others do not truly share. Honor each

CREATING VISION DOCUMENTS 45

person’s contribution and don’t be afraid to sortout who will and who won’t continue with thegroup.”
Finding out that you have multiple directions
and diverse ideas, and that you may in fact be
two different potential communities is not a signof failure but a step along the way. Even with thebest of intentions, if your group discovers thatyou’re not all on the same page, you can still wish
each other well and form two communities.
(And you don’t have to lose each other as
friends.)
A Sacred TimeYour visioning process is one of the single mostimportant tasks you’ll undertake as a forming
community. This is where you’ll speak form theheart about what really matters to you. It’s asacred time. Your voices may become suddenly
soft, or tight with emotion. You may get tears inyour eyes. You’ll be unearthing — birthing —something here. Listen for that deep sense of
purpose, that group entity that wants to be born.
And listen equally, for what seems “off,” or unrealistic, or something only personal growth ortherapy could provide. This is the time to ask
yourselves: “Are these expectations realistic? Do
they make sense?”
Visioning seems to involve both the process
of exploring and that of revealing, much like
Michelangelo finding the sculpture hidden within the marble. Something new emerges, sparked
by the potent brew of individual values, ideals,
aspirations, and expectations.
If you haven’t done so already, it’s important
to decide now who is and is not a committed,
decision-making member of your group. You
may have some less committed members, people
who attend meetings only occasionally or who
have only recently joined, or people who feel

more tentative about the idea of community or
about your group specifically. You may want toconsider asking these people not to participate in
the visioning process. Or, you might want toinclude them in the processes but (with everyone’s knowledge and consent ahead of time) giveless weight to their interests and suggestions
than you do those of the more committed members. This can be a difficult issue to bring up for
discussion, as some people believe “it’s not community” if you consider excluding or limiting
anyone’s participation. But consider it practically.
If six of you meet regularly and have similarinterests, and a seventh person comes occasionally, or is present for some but not all of your meetings, or has substantially different ideas aboutcommunity than the rest of you, should that person’s values and desires be part of your sharedcommunity future? Maybe they should, andmaybe not, but I believe you’ll be better off discussing and deciding this with everyone involved
ahead of time.

“That’s Not Community!” — Hidden
Expectations and Structural Conflict
Most people drawn to community have expectations or assumptions about what “community”
means. They believe they know why they wantto live in community, and what they’ll expect tofind there. Some expectations or assumptions
focus on activities — we’ll share some resources,
we’ll share some meals, we’ll cooperate on decisions. Others arise from painful experiencesfrom the past and focus on emotional states the
person hopes to feel in community — connection, inclusion, acceptance. Past emotional pain
can motivate people toward community because
at some level they believe community will provide what’s missing from their lives. “Missing”
factors that propel people toward community

46 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

can include affection, acceptance, inclusion, andemotional safety. This can involve conscious loss
and known expectations — “It’s going to be likea warm and loving family” — as well as unfelt
pain and unconscious expectations (“…and I will
be totally loved and accepted, finally!”).
Hidden expectations about community usually aren’t realistic. They often take on a golden, nostalgic quality, like looking back on a paradise lost.
Here’s what one member of a forming community wrote about her personal vision of community:
Like a warm embrace, a gathering of friends,
laughter on sunny days, caring and offering
support in times of need, like coming home.
Warm, homey, spiritually rooted, peaceful, joyous, celebratory, connected, close, respectful,emotionally honest, trusting. Home!
There is absolutely nothing wrong with thisvision. It’s probably what we all want. The question is — can we expect community to provide it?
“The fantasy of creating an ‘ideal’ community tends to transform a simple discussion into amagical blend of fact and fiction,” writes Zev
Paiss in Cohousing magazine. “Visions of community are fertile grounds for the expression andgrowth of long-suppressed dreams. And theopportunity to express these feelings can have anurgent quality in the early discussion stages.”
Suppressed pain and hidden expectations orassumptions about community can be a prime
source of structural conflict “time bombs” that
erupt weeks, months, or years later. This happens for two reasons.
First, living in community cannot erase
buried emotional pain. When people find thatafter living in community they’re still yearning forsomething valuable and elusive (although they
may not know what it is), they tend to feel angryand disappointed. Not knowing the source of
their discomfort, they tend to blame the community, or other members, for it.
Second, hidden expectations about community differ widely from one group member toanother. This comes up when we each think
we’re behaving in good community fashion but
someone else is aghast at how our behavior“betrays” community ideals. Someone will
express frustration, even outrage, when we’ve justbreached an invisible rule in that person’s own
personal paradigm. “How can you say that?
That’s not community!” Or, “How could you dosuch a thing? That’s not community!”
The community visioning process can offer
your group an excellent opportunity to flush
hidden expectations to the surface and examine
them rationally.
“Don’t go into all this psychology stuff,”
advised one experienced community friend. “Itsounds like therapy talk. Community isn’t about
psychology. It’s about neighbors learning a highlevel of functioning together so they can makedecisions and get the work done.”
I disagree. Community does involve psychology stuff — which, in my opinion, is why roughly 90 percent of new communities fail. Forming
a community is deeply psychological. Emotional
pain and hidden expectations exert a powerfulpull on people, and community founders are no
exception. Put a group of people in a community visioning session, and you have dozens of different needs and expectations, known andunknown, ricocheting invisibly around the room.
I bring this up so your group can use thevisioning process to identify, if possible, any hidden expectations and bring them in to the lightof day. Knowing what everyone wants (and reallywants), will help your group see where you may
be on the same page and where you may not be.

CREATING VISION DOCUMENTS 47

And the best time to examine this is now, in yourvisioning meetings, before you go out and buy
land together. You don’t want to find wildly differing pain-driven expectations later, when
everyone’s financial investment, homes, and community self-image are on the line. The more time
you spend on this issue now, the less you’ll spend
later. The exercises below can help your groupwith the visioning process. See Exercise 7 forhelp with accessing hidden expectations.
Exploring the Territory

The following exercises are offered to help trigger insights and stimulate the process of sharing,
discussing, unearthing, and revealing the components of your community vision. They’re offered
as a smorgasbord of options: you may beinspired to choose some or all of them, modify
them, use exercises from other sources, or makeup your own.
As mentioned earlier, this may take several
half-day or day-long sessions over several weeks.
I suggest meeting in a cozy room with enoughtea, snacks, pillows, and childcare to be comfortable and relaxed for many hours. Choose a facilitator, or arrange for an outside facilitator. To
remind you of your goal, make the following
poster on a large sheet of easel paper and hang it
where everyone can see it.

The group will need lined paper for each person (legal pads work well), pens or pencils, padsof extra-large (4” x 6”) yellow sticky notes, both
red and green paper stick-on dots, sheets of easel
paper and blue masking tape (it doesn’t pull
paint off walls), and large sheets of easel paper
covering roughly a 4’ x 8’ area of wall space, or alarge whiteboard.
Exercise #1: Individual Values, Group
Values

The first exercise is designed to help people
become more aware of what they may want toexperience in community living.
Depending on the size of the group, it cantake from one long day and evening, to a weekend (or two different day-long sessions). The
exercise works in a large home or facility where
people can go off by themselves and concentrate.
The exercise begins by writing five different
two- or three-page recollections of experiences inwhich you felt especially fulfilled in a community-like setting or a shared group activity. Thesesettings can include:••••

OUR COMMUNITY VISION•

Shared future we want to create•

Reveals & announces our core values•

Each of us can identify with it•

Helps unify our effort•

Reference point we can return to•

Keeps us all inspired

•
•
•
•

your family
summer camp, as a child or as a campcounselorhiking or camping trips with friends
a college dorm, fraternity or sorority, or
student co-op
a shared group household or intentional
community
an activist or service project, a shared
work taska therapy group, 12-step group, ritualgroup, or men’s or women’s groupa theatrical or musical presentation

48 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

a team sports activity or shared athletic
event• your workplace• the military•

You’re looking for times when you felt profoundly happy with other people, as if you wereblessed to be there, as if you had “come home” —when you not only enjoyed the experience, but
felt connected and bonded with the other people
present.
If you can only think of positive times that
weren’t all that profound, that’s fine. Just write
about some experiences you enjoyed with others.
If you can’t think of five different times, that’s
OK too. Just write as many as you can.
While writing these stories focus mostly on
what you felt and thought during these experiences, rather than going into detail about what
happened.
This is focused work that requires concentration. Some people can do it anywhere; others
will need privacy and quiet. Make sure people
get the quiet they need. If some people finish
before others, ask them to go elsewhere if theywant to talk with others so they won’t disturb
those still working. Writing five little stories cantake several hours. Take breaks as needed, andwhen everyone has finished, take a break.
Each person will end up with an overview ofactivities they especially like to do and states ofbeing they especially like to feel in a communitylike setting.
Next, form into groups of three. One person
at a time reads their stories and the other two listen, taking notes if they like, and reflect back tothe speaker what the stories tell them about that
person’s values, beliefs, and aspirations. The first
person writes these insights down, adding any
more that come up.

After everyone has had a turn, each person
selects five or six of the values, beliefs, or aspirations that are most personally significant, andwrites the essence of each in a phrase or short
sentence (not in a single word) on large yellow
sticky notes.
Each person reads out their phrases andhands them to the facilitator, who sticks them on
the wall of easel paper or a large whiteboard. The
group can ask clarifying questions but doesn’t
otherwise comment on the statements, or agree
or disagree with them.
After everyone has finished, the whole group,
or a few people from the group, clusters the
sticky notes into whatever natural categories
they seem to fall into. These may include “interpersonal relations,” “shared meals,” “governanceand decision-making,” “celebration,” “sharedwork,” “children,” “ecological values,” “spiritualvalues,” and so on.
The facilitator gives each person half thenumber of stick-on red dots as there are people
doing the exercise (e.g., three dots if you are six
people; five if you are ten, etc.). Each person
places a red dot next to the clusters that are mostimportant to him or her personally in a futurecommunity.
Now the facilitator gives each person thesame number of green stick-on dots as there arepeople in the room (in other words, twice thenumber of red dots). Within the clusters, each
person places a green dot next to the individualphrases that are most important to him or her
personally.
Sit back and look at where the dots are. Thisis an indication of what’s most important to you
as individuals and as a group, and how aligned ordivergent your values and interests may be.
Talk about what you see. Do most of you
share the same values and interests?

CREATING VISION DOCUMENTS 49(To keep this work for the writing-it-downphase of your visioning process, ask someone tocopy the clusters, phrases, and red and green dot
indicators onto one or more sheets of easel paper
you can hang in the room.)
Exercise #2: Individual Values, Group
ValuesHere is a shorter and simpler exercise designed toget at the same kind of information, although it’s
far less rich and revealing than the first exercise.
Pass out five or six extra-large yellow sticky
notes to each person. Everyone answers the questions, “What values do you hold personally forcommunity?” and “What values do you think weshare in common?” on the sticky notes, with one
answer per note. It works best if this is done
silently. At the end of five minutes, everyone
places their sticky notes on the wall of easel
paper or a large whiteboard. As in the above
exercise, the whole group or a few people cluster
the sticky notes into categories of similar values.
Don’t be concerned if people don’t just write
values, but also write interests or ideals. The
exercise will still give you an idea of how aligned
you may be, individually and as a group.
Hand out the same proportions of red andgreen sticky dots as in the above exercise, and ask
each person to put red dots on the clusters andgreen dots on the individual sticky notes that
express the values they hold most dearly.
As in the above exercise, sit back and look atwhere the dots are. (And to keep this work forthe future, ask someone to copy it down on one
or more sheets of easel paper you can hang up.)
Exercise #3: BrainstormingThis exercise is similar to the first two.
Brainstorming offers a quick overview of yourwhole group’s many interests, values, and ideals.

In this process you each call out words or phrases that embody what you’re seeking in community. The facilitator and a second person write thewords and phrases down on the large yellow
sticky notes, which they stick onto the wall spacecovered with easel paper or a whiteboard. As you
call out your words and phrases, don’t hold back.
Say anything and everything that comes tomind. Don’t criticize or comment on anyone
else’s offerings — this is a time to let ideas pop
up like popcorn, without censoring.
Cluster the post-its into categories, and place
your red and green stick-on dots, as above.
Look at the clusters and dots, and talk about
what this shows you about yourselves. (And havesomeone copy it onto one or more easel papers
you can hang up, as above.)Brainstorming is like a snapshot of yourgroup at a given point in time. If you do thisexercise in the early stages of the visioning
process you’ll get a quick overview of what thegroup generally wants at that time. If you do it
again towards the end of the visioning sessions,
you may get different results.
Exercise #4: Non-neogtiables

Each of you lists on a piece of paper those things,
situations, and systems that must be or must not
be present before you will seriously consider
going forward with the community. Then everyone reads their lists and a scribe writes them ona large sheet of easel paper for everyone to see.
This exercise will show you places where various
individuals in the group may seem incompatible,
but don’t worry; this is just a beginning step.
“The exercise is amazingly revealing, because it
forces us to examine what is really important tous,” says cohousing consultant Zev Paiss. I recommend doing this exercise at least twice, oncein the middle of your visioning sessions and50 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

again at the end (which may be weeks later),because what people consider “non-negotiables”
can change so much over the course of visioning
work.
“Despite the apparent solidity of the term
‘non-negotiable,’” notes Zev, “as we learn about
our personal priorities and experience working
with others to develop a collective vision, those
items most important to us inevitably change.”
Exercise #5: Where do we Draw the Line?

Process consultant Rob Sandelin uses this exercise to help groups disagreeing over different
choices or strategies. It shows that a group canagree on a common value, but not agree on thelengths to which each person would go toexpress that value.
Let’s say everyone in your group assumes
you’re all on the same page about what you meanby “ecological living.” But some of you want thecommunity to grow most of its own organic foodand everyone eat vegetarian, and others wanteach household to make its own decisions about
this, and offer a choice of omnivore or vegetarian
food at common meals.
On a large sheet of easel paper that everyone can see, create a list, and, in increasingorder of effort, time, or “strictness,” outline thedifferent actions people can take to express thevalue or principle you’re discussing. Items at
the top of a list on “ecological values,” for example, might include: “Buy organic produce,”“Recycle trash,” and “Compost kitchen scraps.”
Farther down you’d find actions that take more
effort or commitment, such as: “Eat vegetarian;” or “Flush the toilet rarely.” The bottom,
listing the most “radical” actions, might say“Use only off-grid power,” “Build only withrecycled lumber,” and “Don’t use a car unless
you’re car-pooling.”

When your list is complete, give everyone as
many red dots each as the number of items on
the list, and ask each person to put dots by theactions they are personally willing to actually doin their daily lives (not actions that they simply
support theoretically). Some will have dots left
over, since probably everyone won’t be willing todo everything on the list.
This exercise presumes that people aren’t simply “for” or “against” various values but differ inthe matter of degree, which show up in what they
are willing to actually do. It can help your groupsee, immediately and visually, where you fall as
individuals in terms of specific actions you will or
will not take regarding seemingly shared values.
Doing this process with a variety of these sharedvalues — “honesty,” “love of nature,” “spirituality,”and so on — can help you see whether most ofyou, in fact, are aligned in vision, and if any of you
differ radically. (Better to find this out now.)
Exercise #6: The Public/Private Scale

This exercise is used by Rob Sandelin to help
groups get a sense of how strongly their members
feel about a sensitive issue that some members
may not want to speak about openly. Let’s say
you’re discussing an aspect of your future community life that seems to bring up discomfort andapprehension, but no one is coming out and saying what’s bothering them. If you suspect thatsome people do or don’t want something but don’t
want to say so publicly, you can use this exercise.
On a sheet of easel pad paper, write a horizontal line numbered from one to nine, with thenumbers one, five, and nine larger than the others. Below is an example of what your paper will
look like:_____________________________
1

2

Opposed to it

3

4

5
So-so

6

7

8

9

Advocate it

CREATING VISION DOCUMENTS 51

Give everyone a blank slip of paper and ask
them to write the number that corresponds totheir level of support for the principle, activity, or
situation you’ve been talking about. A nine means
you wholeheartedly support it; a one means you’re
adamantly opposed to it; a five means you could
go either way. The other numbers are graduationsof support or lack of support for the subject.
Collect the slips of paper and make check marks
at every number the people have written. You may
have one mark at 9, three marks at 3, and three at2, for example. Now you’ll have an immediate andvisual way to see how the group as a whole reallyfeels about the subject. It can be a real eye-opener. You may find that only one or two people
strongly support something, and most others
don’t care or actively oppose it. Depending on
what your scale tells you, there may be no need to
discuss the subject further. Without having toembarrass anyone publicly, you now have a realistic indicator of the spread of opinion in yourgroup about a particular value or ideal.
“This technique is a quick and powerful way
for an individual to see where they fit in with therest of the group,” says Rob. “If the scale shows
everybody is at the 7-9 range and I am the only
person that is at a 2, that is very valuable to me
to know. Conversely, it is very helpful for thegroup to know that one of its members is notaligned with everybody else.”
Exercise #7: Hidden Expectations

This exercise, derived from art therapy, operates
on the principal that you can bypass your thinking process and access your unconscious mind. It
involves answering questions, but this time,answer them as fast as you can with your pen or
pencil in your non-dominant hand. (If you’reright-handed, use your left hand; if you’re lefthanded, use your right.)

Writing as fast as possible with the nondominant hand is what makes the exercise work.
Your writing (or printing, if that’s what comesout) will tend to be large and scrawling, evenprimitive. It may reveal expectations about community that you know very well, as well as expectations that may be important to you but about
which you may be barely aware. You may havestrong feelings as you write.
Prepare the questions in advance, in questionnaire form, with a copy for each person.
Leave at least half a page of blank space for eachanswer. It should take about eight double-sided
pages.
The exercise takes about 20-30 minutes, andseems to work best when everyone in the room
does it at the same time. The exercise doesn’tnecessarily trigger deep insights in everyone, andit doesn’t do it every single time. But it can offer
a powerful source of insight for some.
You don’t have to share your answers withanyone, so be as candid and uninhibited as you
like. Don’t think when you’re writing. Just write as
fast as you can and let your non-dominant handdo the work.
1. What do you want more than anything? For
yourself.
2. What do you want more than anything? For
the world.
3. What do you want more than anything? For
your children.
4. What do other people do that hurts you?
5. What do you fear?
6. What makes you mad?
7. What makes you cry?
8. If you could go back in your childhood andchange your mother (or primary female caretaker), what would you change?
9. If you could go back in your childhood and52 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

change your father (or primary male caretaker), what would you change?
10. What didn’t you get as a child?
11. If you could make something in your childhood better, what would it be?
12. If you could make something in your childhood go away, what would it be?
13. What do you need to feel safe?
14. What do you need to feel loved?
15. What do you need to feel happy?
16. What kind of community do you want?
When everyone is finished, take a break.
When you return, gather in groups of three andinvite anyone who wishes to share what theylearned to do so within the small groups.
Speaking is optional. Some people will speak,some won’t; hearing some people describe theirinsights can motivate others to share their own.
When each small group is finished, return toyour whole group, and again invite people toshare what they’ve learned. Don’t write anything
down at this point, but just listen, and then talkabout any expectations — known or hidden —that anyone may want to talk about. This process
can be very revealing, and it can also help you feelcloser and more bonded as a group.
The point of this exercise, however, is notnecessarily for you to share any conscious andhidden expectations with the group, but simply
to uncover them. It’s an opportunity to look themin the face, so to speak, and ask whether or notthey are realistic, or if they serve you. If you discover that you expect companionship and playfulness in community, for example, which might
be a fairly conscious expectation arising fromgrowing up in group of active brothers and sisters, that’s fine. This seems like an expectationthat serves you: being more aware of this expectation can motivate you to consciously create

congenial, playful aspects of your community’ssocial life.
However, discovering that you might havehidden expectations that in community you’ll
always be included and never be left out, or thatyou’ll always be fully accepted and never criticized, or that you’ll always be totally emotionallysafe and never experience conflict — watch out.
Expectations like these can be time bombs. You
can take the space now to defuse them by naming them, sharing them (if you wish), examining
them more closely, asking yourself if they seemrealistic, and becoming willing to laugh about
them and let go of them.
If everyone in your group is doing this, it canhave a profound effect on your shared vision forcommunity, which can be considerably more
realistic and grounded than it might otherwise
have been. Congratulations!
Sharing from the HeartYou can certainly combine elements from thesevarious exercises and make up your own. You canrepeat “Non-negotiables” and “Brainstorming” asmany times as you like, to see how the group’s
ideas are shifting or coalescing. You can bring in“Public/Private Scale” and “Where Do We Draw
the Line?” anytime to get a sense of how everyonein the group feels about something, not just themost outspoken ones. The whole idea is to stimulate awareness of what you each really want, andget a sense of your group’s shared or differing
components of vision. Ideally, the ideas from previous discussions and exercises will be captured
on large sheets of easel paper on the walls.
Really get into this with each other, as you
share what you aspire to, deeply yearn for,expect, hope, and fear about living in community. These conversations can be tense, they can be
deep. And they’re often funny. It’s a good time for

CREATING VISION DOCUMENTS 53

a sense of humor, as you might find out that thetwo most inspired “burning souls” in your group
have opposite hidden expectations. Consider
these revelations to be part of the process.
At this stage you’re not creating strategy —how you’ll get there — but simply working at
identifying and visualizing the various aspects ofyour shared future. Have a note-taker write
down the main points of your discussions, typethem up, and save them for the more comprehensive writing process to come.
You may discover aspects of your futurecommunity that some of you want and some ofyou are indifferent about or don’t want. You cannegotiate, trying to meet everyone’s interests
while not limiting anyone’s opportunities. If that
isn’t possible, you can see if some people are willing to let go of some part of their personaldesires so the group may gain alignment on awider part of the vision. You may want our community to raise horses because you love them; forexample, and I may want us to raise fields ofwheat because I secretly fear famine. Can eitherof us let go of these personal desires so we can alllive in our rural, self-reliant homestead? You may
want us to operate a coffeehouse in our storefront space because you love the arts and intellectual pursuits; I may want us to run a soup
kitchen because I yearn to serve the homeless.
Can either of us let go of this so we can all create
our vibrant urban community?
With differences like these, it’s a time fordeep and heartfelt sharing, of asking ourselves“Is this realistic?” “Will this work for me?” “Willthis work for all of us?”“What’s really importantto each of us?” “What can I live without; what’s
not negotiable?” There is no real rule — you willneed to navigate this unfolding territory as you
think best.

Writing it Down

To help with the writing process, I suggest making the following posters on large sheets of easel
paper (see below), and hanging them up as
reminders of you what you’re aiming for.
OUR VISION DOCUMENTS•

Can include Vision, Mission, sometimes
Goals

•

Vision: Shared future we want to create•

Mission: What we’ll be doing to create it•

Goals: Shorter-term milestones we commit to•

Vision Statement: Vision articulated briefly

DECISION-MAKING AND THE
VISIONING PROCESS
Many experienced communitarians believe that consensus is the appropriate process for deciding an issue as
critical as the visioning process. “The consensus processitself fosters an attitude that can help forge a bond andbuild trust in your group,” observes consensus facilitator
Betty Didcoct. “When the input of everyone is honored,
who knows what might surface — a strong single visionthat draws everyone, or multiple visions that suggest thepresence of more than one potential forming community.”
Other community activists, such as Rob Sandelin, suggest not using consensus for your visioning process. For
consensus to work well your group must have a common
purpose, and when you’re still in the visioning process, it
doesn’t have it yet. A group needs a method, he says,
such as, say, 75 percent voting, in which some people
can diverge radically from others about what they want in
the community without bringing the whole process to acrashing halt. I personally agree with this view, although
there are groups out there who employed consensus fortheir visioning process and it worked just fine.

54 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHERASSESSING YOUR VISION DOCUMENTS
You may want to test your vision documents and visionstatement against the following criteria:

OUR VISION STATEMENT•

Expresses vision and mission/purpose•

Clear, concise, compelling•

Ideally short, 20-40 words

For you as an individual:•

Ideally memorized

1. Do you feel good when you read the written expression of your vision?
2. Is it meaningful for you? If not, how would it need to
be changed to make it meaningful?
3. Does it resonate with your personal sense of identity?
Do you feel as if you can “own” it?
4. Does it inspire you?

•

Helps awaken vision•

It’s what others see firstFor your group:
1. Is your vision document simple, clean, and authentic?
2. Does it reveal and announce your group’s core values?
3. Does it focus on the “who,” “what,” and “why” of yourproject?
4. Is it fairly concrete and grounded (not vague or flowery)?
5. After you read it, can you remember it? Do you “see” it?
6. Does it express your purpose?
7. Does it inspire your group?
8. Does it generate excitement?
9. Does it show what your community will be like whenyour vision is achieved?
10. Does it express passion, conviction, and commitment?
11. Is it possible in the current zoning, building-code,and lending environment?
Your Vision Statement:
1
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

Is it clear, concise, and compelling?
Does it express your vision and purpose?
Does it also reveal and announce your core values?
Is it fairly short? Can you memorize it?
Can you identify with it?
Does it inspire you?
Do others “get it” right away?
Does it seem reasonable? Is it unrealistic? Is it too
ambitious?

One way to do this is for everyone to go home
and write their own idea of what the community’svision statement would be. At the next meeting
read each person’s version, then get into groups ofthree and merge them. Then select a committeeof three or four people to write a rough draft ofvision documents and/or a vision statement
based on the groups’ merged statements. Include
in this writing group, if possible, a visionary
thinker, a systems thinker, and someone skilledwith words. It works best having a small group
write something to present to the group because
it’s much easier to respond to something alreadywritten than it is for everyone to sit around andtry to write the whole thing as a group. At thenext meeting, the group reviews the first draft,
decides what it likes and doesn’t, makes suggestions and refinements, and sends the amended
draft back to the small group for more work. This
round robin word-crafting process can occur as
many times as needed until the full group pronounces the vision documents complete.



Next — power imbalances in communities,
and how your decision making and other selfgovernance methods can spread power equally
among members.

Chapter 6
Power, Decision-making, and GovernanceM

OST INTENTIONAL COMMUNITIES, otherthan those led by a single spiritual teacher
or leader, intend that power be shared equally
among members. But certain members may still
have considerably more power than others.
Much of the conflict in a core group or community occurs over issues of unequal distribution of
power.
Sometimes the power imbalance is caused by
one or more people dominating meetings andcommittees. These folks might have a dominating communication style — interrupting, talking
loudly, “talking over” others, or speaking withsuch intensity and certainty that no one can
oppose them. This means they end up having a
lot of the power in the group.
Or maybe they have fine communication
skills but unintentionally dominate meetingsand committees because they have more information about issues than others do. These people arrive with a briefcase, clipboard, pocket calculator, and a sheaf of documents about how it’sdone. Who could disagree?
Still others are fine communicators and don’tknow any more than anyone else, but they’ve got
such energy and force in their personality thatpeople instinctively look to them for leadership.
Without meaning to, they’ve got a lot of powerin the group. Some appreciate them; others
resent them.
Sometimes the power imbalance involves
someone being more influential than others
because of his or her role in the community. In
some communities one person, often a founder,
seems to have considerably more influence overdecisions than others, even if the community
uses democratic decision-making. The powerperson might have established the original vision
for the community, put up all or most of themoney, and/or lived there the longest. Other
community members habitually defer to his or
her opinion, even if the group officially believes
everyone has equal say.
Power — The Ability to Influence

People who have power and privilege in a group
usually aren’t aware of it. They usually exercise it
innocently and don’t notice that it’s not reciprocal.
Joel Kramer and Diana Alstad in The Guru
Papers define “power” as the ability of a person orsystem to influence other persons or systems —and it’s neither good nor bad. They distinguishbetween plain and simple “power” and “theauthoritarian use of power.” (Italics mine.) Whenpeople have authoritarian power, they enforce orperpetuate their power by punishing or ignoring55

56 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

those who disagree with them. This distinction
helped me see that the authoritarian use of
power is something most of us want to avoid, yet“power” — our ability to influence each other —is not only not negative, but something which, if
we encourage it equally in our group, can benefit
all of us.
I see decision making as the main powerpoint in a community — who makes decisions
and how they make them. Power imbalances canbe greatly reduced by using a fair, participatory
decision-making method that spreads power
equally and offers checks and balances against
power abuses. (Everyone’s having good communication skills certainly helps too.) Not having afair, participatory decision-making method early

SOWING CIRCLE’S REASONS FORCHOOSING CONSENSUS
Sowing Circle/OAEC founders chose consensus for fivereasons. which they describe in one of their community
documents:
Consensus creates and strengthens a spirit of trust, cooperation, and respect among the Partners (members):•

By incorporating the clearest thinking of all
Partners, consensus increases the likelihood ofnew, better, and more creative decisions.

•Because all have participated in its formation,
everyone has a stake in implementing decisions.

•

Consensus significantly lessens the possibility thata minority will feel that an unacceptable decision
has been imposed on them.

•Consensus safeguards against ego/adversary attitudes, uninformed decision-making, “rubber
stamping” of decisions, coercion, self-interested
positions, mistrust, and half-hearted agreements.

in your group will almost certainly generate conflict over power imbalances at some point. I consider this another kind of structural conflict,because putting this kind of decision-making
method in place at the beginning is a “structure”
which can help protect against it.
(Of course, simply having a fair decision
making method doesn’t address power imbalances triggered by dominating, intimidating, ormanipulative behaviors outside of meetings, taking unilateral actions that affect the community
without first checking with others, or breaking
community agreements. These issues will be
addressed in Chapters 17 and 18.)
Focused Power, Widespread PowerIf a community chooses a single person or acommittee to make certain decisions, they’ve got
focused power — which is good for decisions
which must be made quickly or which require
special expertise.
With majority-rule voting, power is theoretically spread widely, and everyone has it.
However, in controversial issues, where the vote
may be split 51-49 percent, half the group has all
the power, the other half has none.
Consensus decision-making is a group decision-making process in which all present must
agree before action is taken. It’s based on the
belief that everyone has a piece of the truth. The
intention is that each person in a meeting isgiven the time and space to speak their truth, andis listened to with respect. If done correctly, thismethod can help to spread power throughout
the whole group, and is the method chosen mostoften by contemporary community founders.
How Consensus Works

While there are many styles of consensus, ingeneral it works like this: Members don’t vote Yes

POWER, DECISION-MAKING, AND GOVERNANCE 57

or No on motions. Rather, proposals are introduced, discussed, and eventually decided upon.
Proposals don’t necessarily remain as they wereintroduced, but are improved or modified tomeet people’s concerns as necessary. When it’stime to decide, people either give consent to the
proposal, stand aside from it, or block it.
Giving consent doesn’t necessarily mean loving
every aspect of the final version of the proposal,
but being able to live with it and being willing tosupport it.
Standing aside is an act of what’s sometimes
called “principled non-participation,” in which
someone can’t personally support the proposal,
but doesn’t want to stop the rest of the groupfrom adopting it. People who stand aside are
noted in the minutes, and, depending on thegroup’s agreements, may not have to help implement it (but they are still subject to it).
Blocking the proposal stops it from being
adopted, at least for the time being. It is not used
for personal reasons, or because someone doesn’tlike how the decision may affect them personally. “Blocking is a serious matter,” writes consensus teacher Bea Briggs, “to be done only when
one truly believes that the pending proposal, if
adopted, would violate the morals, ethics, orsafety of the whole group.” Caroline Estes,
another well-known consensus teacher, often
says that people who understand consensus well
will only block a proposal three or four times intheir lifetime — and in 50 years of consensus
practice, she’s never blocked once. (Caroline further notes that people who often want to block agroup’s proposals are probably operating on adifferent set of values than other members andmay be in the wrong group.)
A proposal is passed when everyone in themeeting gives consent, even if one or more people stand aside. It is not passed if at least one per-son blocks it. (Some groups don’t proceed if
more than one person stands aside, believingthat the group doesn’t have enough unity to go
forward with the proposal.)
When a group uses consensus to make adecision, they can only change that decision byreaching another consensus. It may take longer
to make decisions using consensus than it does
when using majority-rule voting, especially at
first. However, implementing a proposal once it’sagreed upon usually takes far less time. Majorityrule voting, in which up to half the people can be
unhappy with a decision, often generates footdragging and other forms of unconscious sabotage when it comes to implementing the proposal. With consensus, a decision often takes longer
to decide, but far less time to implement since
everyone’s behind it.
A consensus meeting is not “run” by a chairperson, but served by agenda planners and afacilitator. For each meeting, the agenda planners
create an agenda which will help the groupaddress relevant topics in a certain order andwithin certain time frames for a well-paced,
effective meeting. The facilitator’s job is to consider the needs of the group as a whole, create an
atmosphere of trust and safety, help those whowant to do so to participate in the discussion(and not let anyone dominate), help the group
stick to its agenda contract, keep the groupfocused and on task, and assess how well thegroup is agreeing, before testing for consensus.
Consensus is essentially a conservative
approach to decision making — if everyone inyour group cannot support the proposal, you
don’t adopt the proposal, or you change the proposal. While in the consensus process theoretically one person can stop a group from moving forward on a proposal, this is a rare event in a welltrained group. People objecting to a proposal

58 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

voice their concerns openly from the beginning,
and the group attempts to modify and refine theproposal to meet these concerns. If, after muchdiscussion, there isn’t much support for themodified proposal, the facilitator doesn’t call fora decision, but lays aside the proposal for a
future meeting, or calls for a committee to suggest new solutions at a later meeting.
Consensus generates an entirely different
dynamic among meeting participants thanmajority-rule voting. With the latter, competingfactions usually try to win converts to their position by criticizing the other position and creating an “us versus them” atmosphere. But consensus creates an incentive for supporters of a proposal to seek out those who disagree with themand really try to understand their objections —and to reform the proposal to incorporate theother members’ concerns. Conflicts and differences can arise using consensus as often as they
do when using other forms of decision making,but in consensus conflicts are seen as a catalyst to
creating more innovative solutions and crafting
an agreement out of all the different concernsthat people raise. So consensus is not compromise, which weakens everyone’s interests, but acreative meta-solution, which, ideally, strengthens everyone’s interests.
Because the consensus facilitator draws out
the ideas and concerns of each member anddoesn’t let the more articulate or energetic members dominate, consensus empowers a group as agroup. Majority-rule voting usually rewards themost aggressive members but disempowers thegroup as a whole.
Done well, consensus can transform meetings from overlong, frustrating, draining sessions that go nowhere and elicit people’s worst
behaviors, to spirited, stimulating events where
everyone’s ideas are valued and the group comesup with surprisingly creative and workable
solutions.
In a well-trained group with good facilitation, using consensus can elevate the consciousness of a group. It’s not just a decision-making
technique, but a philosophy of inclusion, drawing out the ideas, insights, and wisdom of everyone’s “piece of the truth.”
But it’s not a panacea and it won’t work inevery situation. To get the full power and impactof this process, certain elements must be present.
What You Need to Make Consensus
Work

Willingness to learn the process. Consensus
needs to be taught thoroughly, and its basic principles periodically reviewed. I can’t emphasize
strongly enough the need for training: the more
people in your group who understand consensus, the better it will work. Training often takes
place in one or more weekends or multi-day
workshops, with plenty of opportunity to practice. Fortunately there’s a wealth of consensus
trainers who can help, and articles and books to
get you started.
(See resources for more information on consensus
trainers, see www.CreatingALifeTogether.org).
Common purpose. Without a shared vision andcommon purpose to focus and unify your efforts,
your group can bounce around endlessly
between confusion, frustration, and grim battles
for control. In the times when you find yourselves yelling at each other or your momentum
halted by apathy or despair, you need a common
touchstone to return to. You need to remember
where you’re going and why you’re going there —one of the reasons you spend so much time andenergy creating your community vision.

POWER, DECISION-MAKING, AND GOVERNANCE 59

Willingness to share power. For many, consensus
requires a kind of paradigm shift — from animpatient “I know best” attitude to a simple
acceptance of and respect for other human beings.
Folks who are used to being in charge — alphamales and females, articulate dynamos, and people
who usually think they know better than others— can have an especially hard time with consensus at first. If your group is top-heavy with such
folks you might want to think twice about using
this method, and ask if they are willing to give up
such roles and innate assumptions. And related
to this:Willingness to let go of personal attachmentsin the best interests of the group. If your mainconcern is what the decision will be and whether
it’ll be the one you want, it’s unlikely you’re practicing deep listening, holistic thinking, and letting go of your preconceived ideas, say consensus
trainers Betty Didcoct and Paul DeLapa.
Trusting in the process, and trusting each other.
This means believing that by continuing to shareideas and concerns about a proposal with eachother, you will come up with a much better solution than any one of you could have thought ofalone. It’s believing that there is a solution, andthat together you’ll reach it. It’s assuming thateveryone is doing his or her best to listen to one
another’s point of view. It takes willingness just to
sit patiently through the ongoing discussion, eventhough you don’t yet know how it will turn out or
how the issue will get solved.
Humility.“I have come to believe that one of thefoundations of successful consensus process is
personal humility,” says consensus facilitator Rob
Sandelin. “When you can consider that yourbeliefs about a community issue may be wrong,then you are ready to fully engage in consensus.
For example, I may not like the boy my daughteris dating and think he isn’t a good companion forher, but I realize I might be wrong, that I might
have misjudged him, and that the situation issafe enough that I can give my permission for her
to date him knowing she will learn from theexperience. Consensus is often about giving permission to go ahead, even if you are concerned
about the outcome. You give permission in orderto have experiences to learn from.”
Equal access to power. Consensus requires alevel playing field. It doesn’t work well when one
person in a group is the employer, who could
theoretically fire or demote the others; or when
one member is the land owner, who could theoretically sell the land or evict the others.
Physical participation, and the right people
present. In consensus no one decides by proxy.
(although in well-trained groups, the interests ofabsent members are taken into account).
Participation requires that people be there
because agreements are built on what comes outof the discussion. And good decisions require
good information to start with. Group members
who might implement a decision, or have information or perspectives relative to a topic, need toattend the meeting.
The right topics. Not all topics require that thewhole group be present to decide. Some things
can be decided by area managers or committees,
based on the whole group’s input.
Well-crafted agendas. When a few designatedpeople plan an agenda ahead of time, and when
the whole group reviews, revises, and approves itat the beginning of a meeting, the group has just

60 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

made a contract with itself for how they’ll spend
time in that meeting. Making such a contractand sticking to it goes a long way towards having
effective, satisfying, upbeat meetings. Having noagenda, or an agenda controlled only by certain
people, or a poorly crafted agenda, can diminish
the group’s trust and subject them to confused,dragging, time-wasting meetings.
Skilled facilitation. The facilitator is not thegroup’s leader or chairperson, but its servant,charged with the job of helping the group makethe best decisions possible. The facilitator isempowered to help the group keep its process
and agenda contract with itself, move forward inits discussion and decision-making tasks, andintervene when necessary. The facilitator doesn’t
participate in the discussion. (In many communities several members learn facilitation so they
can rotate the role. Some communities tradefacilitation with other nearby communities, soeveryone can take part in the discussion.) The
facilitator is neutral about the topics being discussed, and treats everyone equally, showing nofavorites. He or she helps spread the power
throughout the group by asking,“Have we heard
from everyone?” “Does anyone have anything toadd?” The facilitator seeks solutions, asking,“Arethere any other ideas?” The facilitator helps thegroup focus on where it is in the discussion bysummarizing what’s been said so far, by drawing
out and clarifying decisions, and by asking, “Are
we ready to move on?” With a skilled facilitator,
community meetings which used to be irritating
or unproductive can move more swiftly, whichmeans its members tend to remain alert andenergized, enjoy themselves, and get more done.
I used to think consensus wouldn’t work in agroup with an aggressive member who’d steamroller over others; or an angry, suspicious person

who might block a decision out of sheer contrariness. But I’ve learned that a good facilitator,
like a kind of aikido master, can redirect theoverly verbal, draw out shy folks, diffuse aggressive behavior, stop cross-talk, and repeatedly
bring a group back to its task of making gooddecisions. “A good facilitator can save you up to
50 percent of the group’s time,” notes Bea Briggs.
“A poor one can easily cost the group as much.”
Enough time. Making good decisions takes
time, especially when people are first learning
new procedures. Arrange enough time in yourmeetings so that you won’t feel rushed; as yourgroup builds trust and experience together, you’ll
get more efficient at making decisions with thismethod.
“Pseudoconsensus” and Structural
Conflict“Many groups aren’t trained in how to use consensus,” says Caroline Estes. “When I get calledin to help, it’s usually because the group doesn’t
understand the process.”
When a group thinks it knows how to use
consensus, but doesn’t, it’s a set-up for structural
conflict. They proceed in ignorance, sowing seedsof frustration and resentment that can fester foryears to come. Many political activists in the
1960s and ’70s assumed they were using consensus, but were often just guessing at it. This iswhat I call “pseudoconsensus,” and it’s widespreadin communities. Here are some of its forms:• Big League Complex. The main problem inmany forming community groups, says
Caroline Estes, is when people are used tohaving their own way, or they believe theyknow better than others. I call this the “BigLeague Complex.” It seems particularly

POWER, DECISION-MAKING, AND GOVERNANCE 61

prevalent when the group has a high percentage of business executives or people
in the helping professions, as is the casewith many cohousing communities.
“Participants in a consensus group must
be willing to give up hierarchical roles andprivileges and to function as equals,”
writes Bea Briggs. “The contributions ofexperts, professionals, and elders are, ofcourse, welcome, but they must not beallowed to silence the voices of the othermembers.”• Decision by endurance. Another pseudoconsensus notion is the belief that people
need to stay in the room until they makea decision, no matter how long it takes(even if that means until four in themorning, as many ’60s-era politicalactivists well recall.) If people believe theymust keep talking about something forhours and hours until they all agree, their
meeting is not well-facilitated and/or
their agenda wasn’t well planned. A goodfacilitator keeps to the agenda’s plannedschedule and suggests unconcluded items
be tabled for future meetings and/or
sends items to committee.
• Everyone decides everything. Some groups
flounder in frustration and burnout
because they believe everyone in thegroup must be involved in every decision,no matter how small. Not true. The
whole group is usually needed for deciding major policy issues; smaller issues canoften be decided by committees, operating with general guidelines from or oversight by the whole group.
• “I block, I block!” Pseudoconsensus seems
especially prevalent in cohousing com-munities, whose members often seem tomisunderstand blocking. I’ve heard of
cohousing core groups in which people
sometimes blocked proposals because, forexample, someone wanted this kind offront door and no other, saying,“I’m sorry
but that just doesn’t work for me.” This is
not consensus; it’s self-indulgence. Then
there was the forming cohousing groupwhere a member living in another state,reading about a particular proposal on
the agenda of the next meeting, sent wordthat he disagreed with the proposal andwas blocking in advance, so there’d be noneed to discuss it. This poor fellow didn’t
have a clue that you don’t do this withconsensus — but the group hadn’t a clueeither, since they let him do it! A trainedgroup knows blocking is used only whensomeone’s “piece of the truth” shows themsomething important the rest of thegroup hasn’t seen. One uses this privilege
after a time of earnest, objective, soulsearching. Not understanding the blocking privilege is what can make pseudoconsensus dangerous. A whole group canbe held hostage to such tyranny. (C.T.
Butler’s Formal Consensus process has afurther safeguard, which some consensus
facilitators call the “principled objection”— a block can only stand if it is consistent with the group’s stated purpose. If
the group believes it’s not consistent with
their purpose, the block is not valid.)
Consensus is like a chain saw. It can chop a lotof wood, but it can also chop your leg! The point— you have to be trained to use consensus, or its
improper use can hurt you. Not getting trained inconsensus is another form of structural conflict.

62 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHERRob Sandelin says, “If even one person in yourgroup doesn’t fully understand consensus —don’t use it.”Agreement-Seeking — When You Don’t
Want to use Full Consensus

Agreement-seeking methods fall in between
majority-rule voting and consensus and can
include elements of both.
Super-majority voting. As in consensus, people
try to build agreement for a proposal and modify the proposal as needed, but they vote for oragainst it. The proposal must receive many more“Yes” votes than a simple majority to pass.
Depending on what the group has decided inadvance, the required majority can be anywherefrom 55 to, say, 95 percent.
Voting fallback. The group attempts to come toconsensus once, or twice, and if they don’t reachconsensus, they fall back to a percentage of voting the group has previously decided on, anywhere from majority-rule (51 percent) to, say, a
95 percent vote.
Consensus-minus-one or consensus-minus-two.
In consensus-minus-one, a proposal still passes
even if someone blocks it (it takes two to block
the proposal for it not to pass). In consensusminus-two, a proposal still passes even if two people block (it takes three people to block the proposal for it not to pass). Consensus trainer
Lysbeth Borie believes these terms are misnomers,
since neither is actually “consensus,” and suggests
these methods might be more accurately termed
agreement-minus-one or unity-minus-one.
The sunset clause. In consensus, once a decision
is made, it requires a consensus of the whole tochange it. With a sunset clause, the group agrees
on a proposal for a certain period of time; say amonth, six months, a year, etc., at which time thedecision is automatically discontinued and thesituation reverts to what it was before. The decision can be continued (or continued and modified) only by a consensus of the whole.
A sunset clause is a way for people who aren’t
fully supportive of a proposal to allow the wholegroup to try it for a while without requiring theagreement of the whole group to rescind or modify it later if it doesn’t work out.
Consensus teacher Tree Bressen points outthat in order for sunset clauses to work well, thegroup must have a well-functioning agenda list
and tracking mechanism for decisions so that theitem will be brought up again later. Otherwise
those group members who went along with thedecision reluctantly may not be so willing thenext time someone proposes a sunset clause.
Multi-winner Voting

Another decision-making method that spreads
power equally in a group involves finding a way
for the greatest number of members to get themost of what they want. Multi-winner voting isa system adopted from European parliamentaryelections in which each person gets a certain
number of votes to spread across a range ofchoices.
Sharingwood Cohousing in Washington
State uses multi-winner voting as a proportional spending method for its annual discretionary
funding allocation. Once a year Sharingwood
members hold a “budget party” to decide what
projects they’ll fund the following year. They
dress up in fancy clothes for wine and cheese in
their Common House. Each member receives
an envelope of play money as they enter, which
represents his or her real power in the decision

POWER, DECISION-MAKING, AND GOVERNANCE 63

making. This is the amount of money in the discretionary budget fund for the following year,
divided by the number of community members— “voters” — who attend the budget party.
Various members or committees sponsor
projects they’d like to see funded the following
year, and set up displays in the room, which theguests visit during the evening. A “New Retaining
Wall” display, for example, might have a shortsample rock wall and a member-advocate of the
project who explains the benefits of the project.
Party guests spend various amounts of theirplay money on one or more of the proposed projects they like best. As soon as a project gets wholly funded its sponsors ring a bell and announce it— “The retaining wall is funded!” — to everyone’s cheers. Since more projects are proposed forthe next year than Sharingwood has money for,not all projects get enough play-money funding.
At the end of the budget party sponsors of theleast-funded projects donate their contributions
to the almost-funded projects. This way thegreatest number of people fund the greatest number of their favorite projects.
Community Governance — Spreading
Power Widely

In communities, as well as in core groups, everyone needn’t decide everything — it’s too
unwieldy. So how does a group manage decisions
so that power is balanced and everyone has input
into decisions, yet meetings don’t take too long,and people aren’t driven crazy with details? The“ten percent” communities profiled in this book
all govern themselves with whole-group-meetings and a series of smaller committees.
Let’s consider the method used by Earthaven
Ecovillage in North Carolina. Full group meetings, called Council, are held over two days, one
weekend a month. In Council, significant andwide-ranging community and policy issues are
decided upon. Day-to-day work is accomplishedby smaller committees overseeing finance, physical infrastructure, membership issues, and so on.
Committees are set up by the Council, andreport to it. The committees decide on issues
and distribute a record of their minutes and all
decisions to members by email and by postingthem in the kitchen and Council Hall. After
posting, the community has three weeks inwhich to offer concerns regarding a decision. In
that event, the proposal goes back to the discussion stage for further refinement and revision,
which is also posted for three weeks for everyone’s OK. If a committee decision is not challenged in the three-week period, it stands. Thisway, every community member who reads thecommittee minutes can keep track of each committee’s activity, and oversee all community decisions. Additionally, committees may bring proposals about more significant issues to Council
for discussion and decision by the group.
More than One Form of Decision
Making?

As we’ve seen, although consensus often takes
longer than other methods, its decisions are usually implemented faster. However, because forming-community groups must sometimes decidethings quickly, particularly when a land-purchase
may be involved, some community veterans recommend having an alternate, faster process inplace.
And some groups might have more than one
decision-making method, using different methods for different kinds of decisions. If some community members own the property and others
are tenants, for example, the group might use
consensus for most decisions, and a supermajority method solely for decisions affecting

64 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

property value; or have a decision-making body(that uses consensus) comprised only of property owners who make decisions affecting property value. (However, doing so will probably bringup power issues, unless all members understand
who makes which decisions, and agree to thiswhen they enter the community.) It’s important
to be flexible, and know when it’s appropriate to
be inclusive and when to be more directive indecision-making. You must agree in advance on
which method you’re using before starting ameeting.

STYLES OF CONSENSUS
Quaker style. Consensus was developed by Quakers
in seventeenth century England as an extension of
their beliefs in equality, nonviolence, and everyday
accessibility to divine guidance. In Quaker meetings
people sit silently, seek a place of inner tranquility andguidance, and don’t offer their opinions unless they
believe they’re divinely inspired to do so.
Native American style. Certain Native American
tribes have traditionally made decisions in the context
of being moved by Spirit before speaking, respectfully listening to one another, and giving particularweight to the voice of community elders.
“Community” style. Derived from these traditions
and by the contemporary communities movement,
what I call “community” style considers emotions thatcome up in meetings as potentially relevant input for
decisions. If someone is angry or tearful in a meeting,for example, a community-style facilitator would use
the person’s upset as an opportunity to find out what“pieces of truth” about a proposal or a group dynamic those feelings may contain.
Consensus by individual guidance.Developed byvarious community activists in the early ’80s (including
Betty Didcoct, and members of Sirius community),
this method involves meditating and seeking spiritual
guidance before beginning the meeting, so that any
decisions may be informed by intuition and spiritual
guidance. It’s very similar to the practices of Quakers

and Native Americans, but without a specifically religious or cultural context.
Formal Consensus. Facilitator C.T. Butler developed this as a step-by-step (hence “formal”) process
to address the typical problems of consensus as usedby members of political activist groups. The first step,
once a proposal is made, is to ask only clarifying
questions. In the next step, people state only objections and concerns, which are written on a large easel
pad and grouped according to topic. In the third
step these groups of concerns are addressed, one ata time, with discussion and suggestions for refining or
modifying the proposal. The last step is calling forconsensus. The steps can occur sequentially in one
meeting, but for more complex or controversial topics are usually spread across several different meetings. Proposals can be blocked only when the groupagrees that the person’s reasons for the block arebased in the group’s vision and values, called the“principled objection.” If not, the block is consideredinvalid and the proposal passes anyway. This step
prevents a group from being covertly disrupted bysomeone not aligned with the group’s vision and values, as is often found in non-profit organizations andcohousing communities He finds that this way oftreating blocking allows non-profits and cohousers toinclude these people without being held hostage totheir ability to block the group from moving towards
its intended purpose.

POWER, DECISION-MAKING, AND GOVERNANCE 65

Other community activists caution against
using a so-called “fallback” decision-making
method in addition to consensus, for two reasons. First, if someone blocks a proposal, thepeople who want the proposal to pass can just sit
back and say, “No matter, we’ll just switch to 75
percent voting now and pass it anyway.” The
group won’t try to keep re-crafting and honing
the proposal to meet that one person’s concerns.
In consensus, the idea is that when concerns
about a proposal are met, it makes a better decision.
A “fallback” method is likely to result in lowerquality decisions. (And as consensus trainer
Patricia Allison points out, willingness to stop
the consensus process and simply vote because
someone has blocking concerns means theygroup’s not really using consensus.) Second,
many facilitators point out that consensus is notjust a method but a philosophy of inclusion.
When individuals are less able to influence thegroup’s decisions because it has switched to afaster method, they see it as breaking down thetrust and cohesion of the group. If there’s pressure on the group to decide something quickly,
people won’t feel the time or space to get in touchwith and express their concerns. They could feelpressured into deciding something they don’t
really want, and end up leaving the group as aresult.
I believe this issue hinges on whether you
want to start a new community primarily tobuild its physical infrastructure and see who’lljoin you over time, or to create a place where youcan enjoy connection and friendship with yourexisting group. If your reason is mostly to create
a community and live with whomever resonateswith its vision, you may want to use a faster decision-making method than consensus (such as
super-majority voting), in these circumstances,regardless of the current members you may lose.

If your reason is to create a community withyour current group of friends, you may want amore inclusive method like consensus thatbuilds support and connection, regardless of thegreat land deals you might have to pass up.
What Decision-making Method Should
You Use?

If you want to spread power widely, help bondthe group more deeply, and evoke the shared wisdom of the group for decisions, consider using
consensus or an agreement-seeking method (orboth). For spreading resources across a range ofchoices, try multi-winner voting.
And for accomplishing many tasks without
taking the whole group’s time, consider setting
up systems like Earthaven’s Council and committee structure.
If you’ve chosen consensus, here are someways to get trained in it:• Read Bea Briggs’ Introduction to Consensus
for an excellent overview of the processitself, and especially how to facilitate aconsensus meeting. I suggest studying it,
section by section, as a group.
• Study the Formal Consensus process in
C.T. Butler’s book, On Consensus andConflict. I recommend Formal Consensus
for inexperienced groups, as I think its
step-by-step process is easier to learn andeasier for beginners to facilitate.
• Visit other community groups or political activist groups, and as a guest, observe
their consensus process.
• Hire a consensus trainer to come out andtrain your group.
• Offer support to any group members
who want to learn facilitation (including
financial help for additional training), so66 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

you’ll end up with a team of people who
can rotate the job of facilitating yourmeetings.
Some core groups and communities go all
out to understand and practice consensus well,and their meetings show it. Sharingwood
cohousing gives whatever approval and financial
support necessary for the ongoing training of its
process team. Members of Earthaven’s coregroup arranged trainings by both Caroline Estes
and C.T. Butler.



In Part Two we’ll look at some of the technical tips and tools for growing a community —from making agreements and setting up legal
entities to finding, financing, and developing
your community property — and how you’llraise enough money internally to pay propertyloans and operating expenses.

Part Two:
Sprouting New Community:

Techniques & Tools

Chapter 7
Agreements & Policies: “Good Documents
Make Good Friends”“You’ll be hearing from our lawyers!” said
Steve and Sandy, faces grim, as they left
the porch and strode to their car. Stunned,
Darren and Maria stood in their doorway andwatched the couple disappear down the longgravel road. Steve and Sandy had left a community I’ll call Cottonwood Springs a few days earlier, saying they no longer wanted to be part of it.
They’d just returned to demand their $22,000
membership and site-lease fees back.
“But, but … you know we’ve spent all themoney,” Darren replied, not believing his ears.
“On the balloon payment, the new roof, thepump repair.”
The lawyers showed up the next day with thepapers for a lawsuit. Steve and Sandy wanted not
only the return of their $22,000 for membershipand site-lease fees, but $15,000 more for legal
fees and damages, and $4,200 for “back wages” —a retroactive $10 for every hour they had worked
in the new community since they’d joined twomonths before.
This was a nightmare for Darren and Maria.
After meeting for three years with other community-interested folks, they had found their ideal
land, an owner-financed 83-acre ranch in rural

Montana, but no one else in the group was quite
ready to make the jump yet. Gambling on the
power of their vision, the couple put most of
their life’s savings into the down payment andmoved to the ranch, bringing their home-based
pottery business with them.
For two years they hosted a series of visitors,
but no one became a member.
“That’s why we didn’t finish our bylaws,” says
Maria, “since we didn’t want to make unilateraldecisions about the community without knowing the wishes of any future members. We wanted everyone to create it together.”
Steve and Sandy were the first visitors whoreally seemed “right.” They loved the land andthe vision of a self-reliant homesteading community, and had great skills — he was abuilder, she was a gardener. They had enoughmoney for membership and site-lease fees, andwere even able to move to the property and livein their RV. Best of all, they’d arrived in timeto avert a looming financial crisis, since thefirst $13,000 balloon payment for the property was due in a few weeks. The newcomers
seemed like the answer to Darren and Maria’s
prayers.
68

AGREEMENTS & POLICIES: “GOOD DOCUMENTS MAKE GOOD FRIENDS” 69

The first month everyone was elated.
Enjoying each other’s company, they put in longhours of hard, rewarding work reroofing thebarn that would become their kitchen/dining
room, replacing the well-pump, and upgrading
the irrigation system.
“It was fine with us that we hadn’t worked on
the bylaws any further,” recalls Maria, “because
we were working so hard to finish the roof andirrigation system while the weather was still
good. We knew we’d get to it later.”
The second month Sandy began to point out
aspects of Cottonwood Spring’s site plan thatshe didn’t like. Could she and Steve put theirhouse over there, rather than where the plan
indicated houses should be? Could they build
their house with standard construction materials
rather than the more labor-intensive alternative
materials Darren and Maria wanted for community homes?
Sandy and Maria began to get on each other’s
nerves. Maria wanted Sandy to stop trying tochange Cottonwood Springs into something it
wasn’t. She hadn’t counted on new people wanting this much change. Sandy was frustrated, feeling unable to co-create the kind of community
she and Steve had envisioned. Maria assumed
that initial power struggles were normal, giventhat community living brings up people’s issues.
Also, as a long-time veteran of group process
issues, Maria saw conflict not as a problem but
as an opportunity to ultimately get more connected, once the conflict was resolved throughdeep personal sharing and coming to common
agreement. But such ideas were foreign to Sandy,
who took the increasing tension as a sign thatthings weren’t working out. Relations between
the founders and newcomers deteriorated until
Darren and Maria proposed they have a serious
process meeting. But this was too weird for Steveand Sandy, who thought, “That’s not community!” They felt that they had no choice but toleave.
And that’s when the newcomers found outthat there was no provision for departing members to get their money back.
All Darren and Maria had shown them were
written descriptions of their ideas and visions,and a half-finished set of bylaws, “which,” Maria
recalls, “they said they agreed with.” But with nosigned contracts or legal documents, there were
no agreements about what either party could or
could not do. The newcomers were under no obligation to stick with the founder’s visions andplans; the founders were under no obligation to
pay anyone anything. Everyone was unhappy; but
for a scrap of signed paper, there hangs the tale.
They settled out of court. By refinancing theproperty (made possible by the balloon payment
and recent property improvements), Darren andMaria returned Steve and Sandy’s $22,000 membership and site fees, but no additional claims.
Although the founders didn’t lose their property,
they lost a great deal — a new friendship, theexcitement of creating a real community at last,
and a good deal of their own energy and heart
for community. Steve and Sandy got their money
back, but not their injured pride or dignity, andcertainly not their community dreams.
Disgusted and embittered, they never wanted tosee another intentional community again.
Remembering Things Differently

True stories just like this one happen all too
often.
Some forming communities have made verbal agreements — but … what was it we said
again? I may remember that, according to ourwork-equity agreement, if we were to disband
our community and sell the property. I’d be70 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

compensated in actual earned wages, in real dollar amounts. But you may remember agreeingthat I’d be compensated only as a percentage ofthe sale price. This would never become a problem — unless we decide to disband and sell our
property. Why wouldn’t normally savvy folks
like us write it all down?
Heartbreaking though it is — because it’s sosimple to prevent — many forming communities flounder or sink because its founders don’t
write down their agreements at the outset.
Months or years later, when they try to conjure
up what they thought they agreed on, they
remember things differently. Unfortunately, evenpeople with the greatest goodwill can recall aconversation or an agreement in such divergent
ways that each may wonder if the other is trying
to cheat or abuse or manipulate them. This is
one of the most common and most devastating
structural-conflict time bombs.
Why do so many would-be communitarians
not put agreements in writing? Why does thiskind of structural conflict happen so often?
I believe many idealistic, visionary people
think the only reason to sign an agreement orcontract would be to prevent someone else fromcheating them. And who wants to suggest that
their community colleagues might do that?! It’s
too embarrassing to bring up; it’s not polite; it’sin poor taste. “If I suggested we write this down
and sign it, what kind of rude person might they
think I am?”
Then there’s the anguish of people who’d likethe world to be a better place — want to help it
become a better place — and can’t bring themselves to agree to such documents because onsome level, wouldn’t that just be inducing distrustand suspicion? Couldn’t we keep distrust andpotential cheating away from us by simply notever thinking about it?

Well-meaning folks such as these can keep
their scruples if they keep in mind these threetendencies of the recollection process:1. Jack remembers vividly what he meant —what he believed and mentally pictured
vividly — but not what he actually said.
(People often don’t say what they mean: notin an attempt to deceive, but because of poor
communication skills. ) Not knowing what
Jack meant, Jill recalls only his actual words.
But that’s not what he remembers at all.
2. Jill is sure she remembers what Jack said —but she didn’t actually pay close attention to
his words at the time. Rather, she was unconsciously so focused on what she herself
believed about the subject, that she thought
Jack had said what she believed. But it’s notwhat he said at all. He remembers what hesaid — but not what Jill was thinking while hesaid it!
3. Jack says something and, seeing Jill nodding inagreement, he assumes that the communication that he intended in his mind was the communication that was received in her mind. But
it wasn’t. Jill interpreted what she heard him
say as something else entirely. Once again,
they’re not remembering the same thing.
Giving Yourselves Every Chance of
Success

Communication can get so fouled up, and sofast — it makes no sense not to just check it out
by having a group member write down what
everyone thinks they’re agreeing to and thenread it back, or have everyone read it. Now is thetime to say, “Wait a minute; this isn’t what wejust said,” rather than dredging up remembereddifferences months or years later, when people’s
life savings or their major life decisions may beat stake.

AGREEMENTS & POLICIES: “GOOD DOCUMENTS MAKE GOOD FRIENDS” 71

Obviously, you’ll improve how well everyone
remembers an agreement if you not only write it
down, but also ask everyone to sign it. While notappropriate for every kind of agreement or written document, pretending you’re the Ben
Franklins and John Hancocks of your own
Declarations can be rewarding, especially if documents are signed ceremonially. Of course, it’salso a good idea to keep your agreements in asafe place (or in two different safe places), andrefer to them as needed.
“But just having written documents, or having
them with our signatures, doesn’t guarantee anything,” you might say. “Anyone can break thoseagreements anytime. What’s a piece of paper?”Formal written contracts between people,
and documents for legal structures such as
bylaws are only binding when someone not abiding by them is taken to court and forced to comply on pain of fines or jail. And while this is certainly not something you’ll want to see happen,
this potential consequence does serve as a kindof deterrent.
A more powerful deterrent is social pressure.
Legal documents and formal contracts as well asother kinds of written agreements, such as meeting minutes, decision logs, behavioral norms, andso on, can easily be breached, but not without
everyone in the community knowing they werebreached and by whom. Social pressure and thepossibility of group displeasure can be a strong
motivator for keeping agreements, even amongpeople who believe that they wouldn’t need suchpressure to keep agreements. Social pressure
works most of the time, and it’s certainly better
than what happened to the folks at Cottonwood
Springs.
“Good documents make good friends,” notes
Vinnie McKenny, founder of Elixir Farm, a successful herb farm and small intentional commu-

nity in Missouri. Vinnie knows whereof she
speaks. She not only has created a successful
business and several non-profit projects with various friends, but also has a strong background in
the administration side of philanthropic giving
and has worked with significant donors. Vinnie
knows how the world works, in my opinion, andknows the value of making everything agreed
upon between even the best of friends crystal
clear and unambiguous — and written down.
Your Community’s Agreements andPolicies

You’ll have agreements, often called “policies” or“guidelines,” both in the forming-community
stage and later, when you’re living on your property. The forming-stage documents could
include vision documents and policies about
your group’s membership and decision-making
processes, communication norms, finances, andthe land-search process. These are often recorded in meeting minutes, decision logs, covenants,
and informal contracts.
As you establish a legal entity, purchaseproperty, and move to the community, you’ll
probably make additional agreements for the following kinds of community issues:• Community labor and one-time or periodic fees owed.
• Land-use and ecological guidelines.
• How ongoing or periodic community
expenses will be paid; what happens in
the event of cost overruns.
• Policies for dogs and other pets, children,
noise, tool use, conserving water or electric power, or the use of drugs , alcohol,
tobacco, or firearms.
• The processes by which new members
join the community.

72 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER• New members’ expected financial contributions and labor requirements.
• The processes by which members may
leave the community, including how, or if,they will be reimbursed any of theirmembership fees or other expenses.
• Behavioral norms, including how thecommunity will handle people violating
those norms, and the consequences fordoing so.
• Grounds for, and the process of, asking
someone to leave the community.
Some of these agreements will be recorded in
the formal documents associated with the legal
entity you’ll form to purchase land together, or to
conduct any non-profit activities or operate acommunity-owned business. These can include
Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws (corporations), Partnership Agreements (partnerships),
or operating agreements (Limited Liability
Companies), for example, depending on which
legal structure(s) you choose. (These will be
examined more closely in Chapters 15 and 16.)
Other agreements may be recorded in documents such as leases, promissory notes, realestate deeds, and contracts, and still others may
be in simple policies your group drafts, approves,and implements.
Many forming communities are so overwhelmed with organizational or construction
tasks in their early years — or simply don’t anticipate what they might need — that they create
certain policies and agreements only when a crisis reveals the need for them.
That’s what happened to the Community
Alternatives Society in Vancouver. While they
had agreements about financial and labor
requirements, and guidelines about how they’duse and maintain their common facilities, they

had no policy about people’s behavior, since they
all seemed to behave reasonably well. The normal conflicts were handled by their communication processes, and their differences of opinion
were addressed in consensus meetings. But after
living together in relative harmony for 11 years,
they discovered that a member had done something so unacceptable it forced the issue. They
realized they needed rules about behavior, andmore importantly, an agreement about what to
do if anyone breached them. The group came up
with one of the wisest and most humane community behavioral policies I’ve seen, with not
only a clear description of members’ rights andresponsibilities, but also a graduated series ofconsequences when someone violated them.
Other communities anticipate the kinds ofagreements they’ll need over time and begin creating them early on, as did the founders ofAbundant Dawn community in Virginia (most ofwhom had previously lived in other communities).
They began working on their policies and agreements in 1994, three years before they found andmoved to their land. Some of these were a collection of different agreements they made over time,that they later compiled as a policy on a given subject. In other cases they just sat down and createda policy step by step. As of this writing, eight years
later, some agreements are completed; others areapproved by the whole group but need more work;
still others are in draft form and not yet approved.
They’ve saved the actual writing of some formal
contracts and leases until they’ve agreed on thepolicies which those contracts will contain.
Their agreements, some of which are listed
below, illustrate the kinds of issues most forming
communities address sooner or later, dependingon their living arrangements and the degree ofshared resources. These are the kinds of issues
your group will need to consider. I suggest you

AGREEMENTS & POLICIES: “GOOD DOCUMENTS MAKE GOOD FRIENDS” 73

use Abundant Dawn’s list to stimulate your own
thinking on which agreements your group wants
to make, and when.
Creating agreements like these is serious
business and requires a lot of time and care.
(Abundant Dawn’s founders estimate that the
number of person-hours they’ve spent creating
their agreements, both in committees and community meetings, to be in the thousands.) Somepeople might consider the number and complexity of Abundant Dawn’s agreements excessive,
but I think it’s smart. This is a community
founded by experienced communitarians — andit’s one of the ten percent.
Abundant Dawn’s Agreements

Vision Statement. The who, what, and why ofAbundant Dawn community.
Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws. Part ofAbundant Dawn’s documents as a non-exempt
non-profit.
Membership Policy. Rights and responsibilities
for different kinds of membership, commitments, sabbaticals, part-time members, howmembership ends.
Community Structure Overview. Sections oncommunity legal structure, community culture,decision-making and governance, pod structure,
forming pods, pod joining fee. (A “pod” is asmaller subcommunity within Abundant
Dawn.) This document addresses balancing
members’ desire for freedom with their desire
not to be negatively impacted by the choices
made by their neighbors (with regard to noise,
nudity, etc.).
Food Policy. Description of bulk food purchaseand distribution, use of the community garden,
and how food resources are shared.
Conflict Resolution Document. More of anevolving plan than a policy, this document
describes methods for resolving conflicts,
including but not limited to full-group process
meetings.
Financial Policy. The Financial Overview
encompasses all agreements about money,
including all community income sources andexpenses, members’ financial obligations, what
the community does and doesn’t pay for, andwhat happens in a financial emergency. The
Formula Agreement describes their formula for
determining the monthly fees owed by each podor subcommunity within Abundant Dawn,
based on the pod’s current number of people andcars, and each pod member’s annual income.
Visitor Policy. Guidelines for how to host visitors seeking a community to join.
On-Land Business Policy. How members own
and operate businesses in the community,
including financial relationships, community
control, non-members as co-owners or employees, permission, and contracts.
Land Planning. Overall site plan for community land.
Environmental Guidelines for Building.
Description of the various sustainability factors
to consider in building a home.
Forestry Policy. Guidelines for use and care offorest, including when and how trees can be cut,
how firewood can be gathered, etc.

74 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHERPet Policy. How many dogs and cats each pod
may have, and how to minimize the animals’
impact (especially the impact of outdoor catsand dogs) on both the wildlife that was alreadythere, as well as on other community members.
Expulsion Policy. What may be an expellable
offense, and how a member would be asked toleave, financial resolution, etc.
End of Abundant Dawn Community as We
Know It. If the group could not continue as acommunity, this agreement shows how theywould dissolve the legal entity, sell their property to a land trust or become a land trust, continue to live in the homes they’ve built, and disburse
any assets. This was an extremely difficult agreement to create, and few communities ever think
about this in advance. (But it’s good planning.)

One of your group’s most significant set ofagreements will be those embedded in the documents of the legal entity through which you’ll
own property together. We’ll look at those next.

YOUR PET POLICY
Once you move to your property your community willdefinitely need a pet policy, since pets, especiallydogs, create some of the thorniest conflicts faced bycommunities. In the early 1980s, for example, a groupof city dwellers moved to the rural Midwest to begin
their new spiritual community. While they had noagreements at all, (believing that spiritual folks likethemselves didn’t need any), they forgot that dogs nolonger contained in yards naturally become that baneof communities—a hunting pack. Their now-liberated
dogs exuberantly followed their instincts and killed anumber of small mammals, including kittens and catsbelonging to other members. The community erupted
in gut-wrenching conflict. Some members were furious over the loss of their pets and feared the dogs
might kill other cats or even attack their children. The
dog owners were furious and defensive, since theirown beloved family dog couldn’t be guilty — it wasother members’ dogs. It got so ugly that some fathers
threatened to shoot the dogs on sight. Stunned by the
uproar, the community finally decided they mightneed rules after all, and agreed that all community
dogs would be fenced.

Dog packs, dogs barking, dog droppings, dogs withfleas, dogs digging up gardens, and dogs scaring off
wildlife are some of the issues that arise over man’s
best friend in community. Cats too, can be an issue incommunities, as some experts estimate that one catkills roughly 100 small animals and birds over thecourse of a year. And yet, sometimes communities
want dogs to deter deer who eat gardens, or cats toeliminate the rodents that get into food supplies. So
while Fido and Fluffy may indeed be welcome, theyneed to be managed. Some communities have agreements that dogs and cats must wear small neck bells
to warn wildlife of their approach, or that dogs befenced and leashed.
Recognizing that pets could be important members of the family, Earthaven’s founders allowed people to keep their dogs when they moved to the land(although no more than five or six total on the property), but not get new pets when their pets died.
Abundant Dawn crafted a unique plan that regulates
the number of dogs and cats per neighborhood,based on neighborhood population. (See “Pet Policy,
Abundant Dawn.” Appendix 2, pg. 235.)Chapter 8
Making It Real: Establishing Your Legal Entity“N

O — I DON’T WANT US TO have any
legal entities or form a corporation!
Corporations and lawyers are what’s wrong withthis country!” So declared a cofounder of a startup community I was once involved with. She waswilling to create community agreements andpolicies, but not a legal corporation. While I
knew our group needed a legal entity to own
property together, I certainly saw her point.
Corporations are entities which under the law aretreated as if they had the rights of actual people,
but allow the real people who run them to incurdebts, violate the environment, or harm otherswith no consequence to them personally. And
when most people think “corporation,” they thinkbig, multinational corporations. Armed with millions of dollars and fleets of lawyers, large corporations can deny, evade, and delay prosecution forenvironmental and other crimes for which anindividual person would be swiftly thrown in jail.
No wonder many of the people most interested
in creating a more cooperative, alternative culture
are averse to “corporations” and “legal entities.”
Yet form them we must, if we are to protect
ourselves from potentially ruinous lawsuits,
exorbitant taxes, or sudden responsibility forpaying debts we didn’t agree to. Legal entities arethemselves neutral. (And only some legal entities

are literally corporations.) It’s when people use
these structures to harm others and avoid
responsibility that they become objectionable.
We can use these structures to create a more sustainable, cooperative way of life and, by demonstration, influence our culture for the better.
Why You Need a Legal Entity — Before
Buying Your Property

Why does your community need to form a legal
entity? First, you’ll need one to purchase yourproperty, and to own it together over the years.
(Technically you can purchase property as agroup with no legal entity, but your default choices — Tenancy in Common and Joint Tenancy —are not recommended. See Chapter 15.) Second,
you’ll need a legal entity (which could be a separate one) to own and manage any communityowned businesses or to manage any non-profit
activities — especially if you want to receive taxdeductible donations for those activities.
Consider the consequences if you don’t havea legal entity. Serious, potentially communitykilling conflicts can arise regarding:• property rights and responsibilities ofmembers• vulnerability to creditors and lawsuits75

76 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

with regard to members’ personal assets• financial compensation for departing
members• issues about who-all holds title to property and what happens if the group disbands and sells its assets
Not to mention that without choosing a particular entity you might end up paying exorbitant, unnecessary taxes. Not having a legal entity
for your community is definitely a structuralconflict time bomb that could someday blow
your group apart.

WHY FORM A LEGAL ENTITY?
1. Having a legal entity will make the process of buying
land easier. A seller or lending institution will take alegal entity with tens of thousands in the bank and abrief credit history more seriously than a collection ofindividuals trying to buy property together.
2. Any agreements the group makes as part of the documents of its legal entity (such as operating agreements or bylaws), will be compatible with state law,and thus legally enforceable. If a member violates
one of these agreements, the other members will
have the force of law behind them to induce theerrant member to comply.
3. Some legal entities are more compatible than others
for the various ways you can own property together,such as: (a) everyone owns the property in common;(b) each household own its own individual plot; or(c) each household owns its own individual plot andeveryone together owns the rest of the property incommon.
4. Since the IRS and the state will tax your community
according to whichever legal entity you have chosen,
you might as well pick one that saves the most taxes
relative to your community’s particular circumstances.

Thus the criteria for choosing your community’s legal entity for property ownership usuallydepends on how well it can (1) protect yourmembers from potential lawsuits or other financial liability, (2) prevent unnecessary taxation,(3) allow your community to hold title to landand structure land use and decision-making
rights the way you like, (4) allow your community to accomplish its purpose, and (5) reflect yourvalues. (See Chapter 15.)
Some communities have different legal entities for each kind of activity; others conduct various activities under one legal structure. And
since no legal entities are designed specifically for
intentional communities (except 501(d) nonprofits created for the Shakers) we must borrowfrom the various legal structures designed for
operating businesses, pooling money for investments, or holding land in common, and shapethese structures to fit our community’s particular needs.
“Wait a minute, our community won’t be like
that,” you might say. “We’re going to create something beautiful and noble — not some business.”Ah, but your financial dealings need to be conducted in a businesslike way. After all, you’ll probably be dealing with hundreds of thousands ofdollars and you’ll need clear, fair agreements. And,
when you get right down to it, your community isa business, since it involves your putting thismoney together and agreeing how you’ll spend it,
how you’ll raise more of it when needed, and how
you’ll deal fairly with any surplus or deficit.
Using a Lawyer

Yes, you should definitely have a real estatelawyer when you buy your property, and a lawyer
with tax-law experience to help you set up thelegal entity with which you’ll own your property.
Wait until you’ve learned as much as possible

MAKING IT REAL: ESTABLISHING YOUR LEGAL ENTITY 77

about your community’s most likely legal
options before you hire one, though. For one
thing, you will be empowered, because information is power. You will also avoid paying a lawyer
to spend several expensive sessions demystifying
the realm of business legalities before even
beginning to draw up a document. You will not
feel like supplicants or amateurs. You won’t be
overwhelmed or intimidated.
I also recommend hiring an experienced tax
accountant or CPA. The point, after all, is tochoose a legal entity which not only reflects yourvalues, but also saves you the most tax money.
Tax accountants and CPAs often know more
about the nuances of these financial issues thanlawyers.
Few lawyers or accountants know anything
about intentional communities — another reason for learning as much as you can about possible legal entities and picking several likely ones
before you see the lawyer. At an hourly fee that
could be several hundred dollars, you don’t wantto have to pay the lawyer or accountant to educate him or her as to what an intentional community is before naively asking for a suggested
legal structure. You’ll want to have written aclear, concise definition of your planned intentional community, along with several possible
legal options for accomplishing, it before you
walk in the door.
Most lawyers don’t know an extensive
amount about the entire range of business andinvestment entities, but tend to specialize, andwill likely steer you towards the entities theyknow most about. This can work to your disadvantage, as your community can end up wearing
the wrong legal structure like an ill-fitting shoe.
Know which structures seem the best match
before you seek legal help, then pick specialists inthe structures you want.

But before any of this, your whole community needs to be absolutely aligned and clear on
what it is you’re trying to do.
“Remember,” says Dave Henson, of Sowing
Circle/OAEC, “your lawyer (or your CPA)
works for you. Their advice on organizationalquestions is only as good as your community’sclarity about your economic and organizational
goals.”
Once you and the lawyer (or you and yourtax accountant) have picked a legal entity, you
can save far more in lawyer’s fees if you draft yourstart-up and operating documents yourselves,and have the lawyer or tax advisor review themfor any specific provisions applicable to yourstate or province. Lay people can draft their own
legal documents, with the right help. Nolo Press,a publisher of self-help legal books, offers stepby-step books and software on how to form yourown partnerships, LLCs, corporations (for certain states), and non-profit corporations in theUS, and Self-Counsel Press does the same in
Canada. Nolo Press, and Community
Associations Institute (CAI), an organization
educating and representing homeowners andcondominium associations in the US, will bothsoon publish books on how to create your own
community associations.
Beware, however. At least one lawyer told methat doing it this way can cost a community
group more money, but only if people change
their minds several times and request multiple
revisions, which increases the lawyer’s billable
hours.
If you’re applying for non-profit tax status,
you might want your lawyer or tax advisor toreview your federal (and if applicable, state) tax
exemption application form too. Arrange it sothat your lawyer will answer your specific questions and review — not rewrite — the forms

78 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

you have prepared. (You can file your applications with the state yourselves as well.)
Why not just do everything yourselves andskip the legal fees? An experienced lawyer canspot potential problems and suggest solutions.
He or she might be familiar with other, similarcases, and will make sure that any problems that
befell one group won’t happen to you. A goodlawyer is well worth the money, but if your groupis as informed as possible at the outset, you’ll
need far less of his or her time.
I suggest using Chapters 15 and 16 as an
overview of the range of legal entities commonlyused by intentional communities. Your group
can then follow up with in-depth exploration of
the legal entities that appeal most. You can dothis with specific books and software, certain
service organizations, and a consultation with alocal tax accountant. (See author’s website forresources.) Once you know more, choose two or
more legal structure(s) for owning land thatseem most likely for your group. Then choose alawyer to help you make your final choice. To
save more money, draft your documents yourselves and have your lawyer review them.
How many people in your group should
become familiar with legal issues? Can one person do it? Theoretically, yes. Dave Henson did
the legal legwork for Sowing Circle/OAEC, as
did Velma Kahn for Abundant Dawn. Yet Davesuggests that you don’t leave it up to a single individual, but form a small committee. After doing
the basic research, he says, the committee shouldpresent to the whole group the best options forthe community’s legal entities. Encourage extensive discussion. If there are still questions or concerns, let the committee go back and do more
research and report back to the group.
Whichever legal entity (or entities) you end
up choosing, I recommend that all community

members — not just those experienced in business and finance — be as informed as possible
about these matters. Community-wide knowledge and understanding helps the group function more intelligently and, more importantly,
helps equalize power relationships within thecommunity. It can prevent the common dilemmaof power being concentrated in thebusiness/finance intelligentsia, with all theattendant resentment and potential conflict that
this can engender.
Finding the Right Lawyer

You’ll want someone experienced, yet openminded and flexible enough to understand what
you’re trying to do. Your lawyer must be willing
and able to help you shape the legal entity, wherever possible, to fit your community’s values andneeds. The best choice would be a lawyer you
personally know and trust, who is experienced in
tax and real estate law, particularly as it relates tothe legal structures you’re exploring. This may be
a tall order! The next best choice would be to findintentional communities in your area that areusing one or more of the legal structures you’re
considering, and ask if they’d recommend thelawyer(s) they used. In your wider community,
you could ask the same of business people who
are using the legal structures you’re considering.
If you’re using a local legal referral service, I
recommend using only those run by the local bar
association or a local non-profit association,rather than private, commercial referral services.
And use only those that refer lawyers experienced in this kind of law who offer a free or discounted consultation as part of the referral program. Avoid those that simply refer lawyers on astrictly rotating basis. And what about low-cost
law clinics? They usually bill for services at ahigher rate than their initial consultation rate,

MAKING IT REAL: ESTABLISHING YOUR LEGAL ENTITY 79

their staff turnover is usually high, and theirexperience with the legal and tax issues of theentities you’re exploring may be low. I suggest
using a low-cost clinic only for general information, and use a more specialized lawyer for youractual legal work.
When choosing a lawyer, it’s best to contact
several lawyers, interview them and get references, and after choosing one, create a writtenagreement about all fees and contracted services.
Sometimes the right choice will be obvious.
When she explored potential legal entities for
Abundant Dawn, Velma Kahn spent several
days in a law library researching case law relevant
to her forming community’s tax issues. She finally found a case that seemed to set the right precedent, and called several tax attorneys to feel themout. But none seemed to understand what she
wanted, or get it that a non-lawyer like herself
could have discovered something new.

Except one. “What’s the case number?” heasked, interested.“I’d like to look that up myself.
“Ah,” she said.“We’ve found our lawyer.”
As mentioned earlier, you should set up yourlegal entity before buying property. However, it
will be easier to visualize and compare various
kinds of legal entities if we use examples of communities you’ve become familiar with. So let’s
first meet those communities and learn how theybought, financed, and developed their land.
(Later, we’ll examine the legal entities they used
to accomplish this.)For many founders this next step is the “juiciest”
part of starting a new community — the greatland-buying adventure.

Chapter 9
The Great Land-Buying AdventureI

1995, WHEN THE SIX cofounders ofDancing Rabbit set out to find property for
their ecovillage, they ran into the typical challenges core groups often face at this point. (Inthis book, the words “property” and “land” areused interchangeably to mean the property yourcommunity will buy, whether it’s raw land, developed or partially developed property, or a houseor apartment building.)
Dancing Rabbit had begun in 1993, when adozen friends and environmental activists at
Stanford University in California decided to create an ecovillage to learn about, demonstrate, andteach others what they called “radical environmental sustainability.” They envisioned a small,
locally self-reliant settlement of 500 to 1000,with subcommunities of smaller income-sharing
groups, cohousing communities, and individual
households.
Many of the activists lived in a student housing co-op at Stanford, and had already had ataste of shared living and consensus decisionmaking. Fueled by community living experienceand environmental goals, they launched Dancing
Rabbit as an incorporated association. Throughmonthly potlucks, a newsletter, and an e-mailbulletin board, they eventually became a groupof nearly 20 at their monthly potlucks, and of
about 100 on their e-mail network, primarily innorthern California’s university towns of Palo
Alto, Berkeley, and Davis. By 1995, when manyof the group had graduated from Stanford, six ofthem moved into a shared household in Berkeley
and began researching what it takes to create an
ecovillage.
One of their group, Cecil Scheib, had graduated earlier and had spent the last year or so traveling around the county to learn more about
intentional communities, visit possible communities to join, and gather information about natural building and possible regions for their ecovillage. Another Dancing Rabbit activist did thesame, focusing mostly on desirable areas innorthern California.
The first hard realities the Dancing Rabbit
founders encountered were county zoning regulations, building codes, and health department regulations that didn’t allow sustainable developments.

N

Legal Barriers to Sustainable
Development

They learned, for example, that just owningproperty doesn’t mean you can do whatever you
want with it.
80THE GREAT LAND-BUYING ADVENTURE 81

In many cities, towns and counties, zoning
regulations regarding population density prohibit building more than a certain number ofdwellings per acre or clustering houses together
and leaving much of the property open space,requiring instead that each house sits on its own
same-sized lot. In the Southwest and parts of theGreat Plains, where rain is scarce and the level ofsnow melt or underwater aquifers determines
density, zoning regulations often permit no morethan one house per 35 acres. Areas on the West
Coast with no summer rainfall often allow no
more than one house per five acres, while many
townships in the Northeast allow no more than
one house per 50 feet of road frontage. (The issue
in the Northeast isn’t water, but money. A township’s revenues come largely from property taxes,
and budgets for municipal services are usuallyestimated as one household per lot. While allowing higher density on one lot wouldn’t break thebudget, if such density allowed many property
owners to increase their populations, it could
overwhelm the township’s school, fire, police, orother services.) To increase population density
on a property or to cluster houses usuallyrequires petitioning the city council or county
board of supervisors for a zoning variance or special use permit, which generally means holding apublic hearing with potential neighbors. As
many forming cohousing groups have learned,
neighbors’ opinions can make or break a project.
Most towns and cities — and an increasing
number of rural counties — have adopted the
Uniform Building Code (or the Southern
Building Code), or have their own local buildingcode which mandates which construction methods and materials can be used. This is an attempt
to protect local governments from lawsuitsbrought by people injured because of faulty construction or to prevent homes from deteriorating

too quickly, which could adversely affect banks
and other local lending institutions with mortgages on those homes. Thus, time-tested naturalbuilding techniques such as rubble-trench foundations or load-bearing strawbale or cob construction, straw-clay infill, earth-based floors,living roofs, or earth-plastered walls, are often
illegal because few engineering specifications areavailable for the load-bearing capacities, durability, or moisture-repelling aspects of these techniques. Most counties that allow this kind of
construction do so by default because they aresparsely populated; either they have little or nozoning, or they lack sufficient property tax revenue to pay inspectors to monitor or enforce
building codes. And while increasing numbers ofcounties have been allowing natural building
methods under “experimental” permits (usuallyrequiring an engineer’s sign-off, protecting local
government from liability), not many counties
allowed these when Dancing Rabbit’s founders
were conducting their search. As of this writing,it’s still often difficult to impossible to get suchbuildings approved.
Although it makes no logical sense, roof
water catchments are disallowed in many regionsin the West, since any rain that falls over a given
locale legally “belongs” to the water table beneathit, and shouldn’t be messed with by interfering
humans, even though such rainfall may only run
through people’s sinks or vegetable gardens
before joining the ground water below.
In most counties, graywater recycling or constructed wetlands are either illegal or, at the very
least, illegal as the sole source of waste waterdrain-off. A county health department may
allow these methods but still insist on a septictank and leach field, regardless that these areconsidered unnecessary by graywater experts.
Composting toilets are also rarely allowed by

82 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

county health departments. Sometimes counties
will allow only certain makes and models ofcomposting toilet, such as those with electric
fans, and often, only with the full additional
back-up of a septic system and leach field — also
considered superfluous by microbiologists familiar with the composting toilet process.
The Dancing Rabbit folks also learned thatcounties with colleges or universities often per-

WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT IT?
I believe culture and laws will inevitably change. The
more often that local and state elected officials, planners,
and zoning and building officials are exposed to successful, sustainable intentional communities, the sooner
they’ll realize such communities help them meet theirregion’s locally mandated environmental goals. I believe
they will increasingly allow and even advocate special
use permits, zoning variances, and more liberal zoning
laws and building codes. In the meantime, we can educate officials. We can meet with and get to know local
elected officials, planners, building department andhealth officials. We can tell them what we know, show
them studies, give them facts and anecdotes and information. We can solicit their advice, and make them partners in our visions for more cooperative sustainable
places to live and work.
Sociologist Paul Ray, who researched values in our
population and co-authored the book Cultural Creatives,
estimates that one-fourth of the US population, 50 million
people, have alternative, sustainable values and support
such practices. How many of these bankers, planners,
and government officials might just be people like ourselves disguised in a suit? How many of them yearn tohelp create green, sustainable culture too, and simply
need our citizen support to justify doing what they want
to do anyway?

mit no more than four or five unrelated adults
per house — an attempt to protect homeowners’
property values from dropping in case rowdy college students move in next door. Even thoughmost communities won’t be like “animal house,”
rules like this can still greatly restrict a group’s
ability to form community in such counties.
(Chapter 11 will examine ways communities
have dealt with these challenges.)
Shopping for Counties — Zoning
Regulations, Building Codes, Sustainable
Homesteads, and Jobs

At first, Dancing Rabbit’s founders were drawn
to northern California’s beautiful Mendocino
and Humboldt counties. But no counties in
California, except relatively unpopulated counties on the eastern, desert side of the Sierra
Nevadas, allowed the kind of population density
they sought, not to mention clustered housing,strawbale buildings, composting toilets, and constructed wetlands. This was true of most areas in
the country, especially those near progressive
university towns or urban areas where community members could most likely find jobs. The
only exceptions seemed to be various rural areas
with low populations in the Midwest andSoutheast. But although two members worked
as software designers and could essentiallytelecommute from anywhere in the county, notevery community member could do that. How
could they attract new members if they weren’t
in an area with locally available jobs?
This was their second hard reality — thetrade-off between living sustainably and the ability to make a living. Rural counties in which sustainable building might be possible (because thepopulation was so low they didn’t have zoning
limitations, traditional building codes, or certain
health regulations), offered few potential jobs.

THE GREAT LAND-BUYING ADVENTURE 83

And in more environmentally-aware areas, suchas counties near university towns or cosmopolitan cities on either coast, where potential jobs
were more available (and where you’d think sustainable building would be valued), the higher
population put greater pressure on county officials to adopt laws about density, housing construction, and sanitation issues, making building
sustainable homesteads there impossible. In fact,
the more “progressive” the area, from Eugene to
Boulder to Ann Arbor, the higher the population and the more likely local regulations madeone-house/one-lot, stick-frame construction
with flush toilets and a leach field the only kindof development possible.
For a while the group contemplated settlingin the same area as Ecovillage at Ithaca, in New
York state, a project of three planned cohousing
communities with energy-efficient, passive solar
homes and an affiliated Community Supported
Agriculture farm. One of the first built-fromscratch ecovillage projects in the country,
Ecovillage at Ithaca was a tempting model, and it
was near a progressive university town with possible jobs. But back in 1995, composting toilets
and strawbale homes were out of the question inthat location as well.
The third hard reality the Dancing Rabbit
founders ran into was trying to find a physicallyinspiring location with access to alternative culture that wasn’t exorbitantly expensive. Living in
northern California, they’d become accustomed
to seaside cliffs and crashing surf, redwood
groves and snow-capped mountains. The farther
north they drove, the more ruggedly wild andbeautiful the land became. And every college
town they stopped in offered familiar culture,from health food stores and vegan restaurants tocoffeehouse bookstores. Yet the more beautiful
the land and the closer its proximity to a desir-able town, the more expensive it was, not tomention the fact that the towns were alreadythronged with more over-educated folks thanthere were available jobs.
By now the Midwest was sounding pretty
good in terms of land affordability and zoning,and building code freedom. But Mennonite families, and aging soy, corn, or cattle farmers didn’t
seem like they might offer a familiar and stimulating culture. And the Midwest certainly offered
no seaside cliffs or mountain vistas.
After a year of researching land costs andzoning regulations, and impatient to get started,
the six Dancing Rabbit founders took off acrossthe country to find rural counties with affordable
land prices and few regulations. They looked at
the area around Carbondale, Illinois, which
offered a beautiful setting and an appealing urban
area, but they found land there to be relatively
expensive. They checked out the area aroundKnoxville, Tennessee, which was attractive in its
own way but didn’t draw them. They also visited
a county in northeast Missouri with relatively
low land prices, which was also the home of
Sandhill Farm, a long-established intentional
community whose members had offered to help.
Camped at Sandhill Farm and wondering
what to do next, the six founders had long, passionate meetings voicing every opinion — fromthose who wanted mountains to those willing totake the flats; from those committed to modelingevery aspect of sustainable living to those beginning to wonder whether such a project were evenpossible.
They realized it boiled down to three choices.
They could, if they found a way to afford it, buy
a small parcel of land in a beautiful, inspiring setting such as Northern California, and, as many
communities had done before them, break all
kinds of zoning, building, and health department

84 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

regulations in order to create the sustainablesystems they wanted, while remaining so small
and low-key that no one would notice.
Or they could work within the system, forming their community in a progressive area like
Ithaca, New York, which was regulated by standard zoning and other regulations, and workover the years to change those regulations bypersistently trying to educate local officials.
Third, they could form a community in aplace so unpopulated that zoning and building
codes hadn’t arrived yet, and build exactly thekind of model demonstration site they had inmind; to live just as they wanted, somehow finding enough local jobs to get by. (They also wondered, if they chose this option, how rural to be.
If they were too far off the beaten path would
people want to join them? Would they be too far
away for anyone to even visit them?) Burningwith a desire to “push the envelope” of environmental activism, and unwilling to either compromise their principles or break laws and remain
too safely invisible to accomplish their mission,and realizing that they were willing to live deepin the country, they chose the third option. They
planted themselves right in the heart of theMidwest.
The Proactive Land Search

The Rabbits rented a double-wide mobile homenear Sandhill Farm. Two members continued
telecommuting to Silicon Valley, and two got
part-time clerical jobs at the Fellowship for
Intentional Community’s headquarters at
Sandhill Farm.
Continuing the meetings they’d begun inBerkeley, they drafted documents and decided
policies, and kept in touch with the wider groupof Dancing Rabbit members via e-mail and theirwebsite. They created a 501(c)3 non-profit

research and educational organization for
Dancing Rabbit. To own the land as aCommunity Land Trust, they created a 501(c)2
title-holding non-profit, with themselves comprising one third of the Trustees and the othertwo-thirds drawn from Dancing Rabbit members elsewhere. They created a lease document
for land-based residents.
But finding land was their highest priority.
They got a plat map from the county, copied
down the owners of almost every farm parcel
within a three-mile radius of Sandhill, andlooked up their telephone numbers in the phone
book. They called elderly farmers, farmers’ widows, and retired cattlemen, asking if they knewof any land for sale, and once into the conversation, finding out if the landowners might be willing to sell a portion of their own property.
After six months of calling and driving
around to look, they ended up with several
options. The most promising was a 280-acre parcel of tall-grass prairie with a meandering stream
and five ponds. The stream and its branches werelower in elevation than the fields, and the slopingbanks were dotted with oaks, black walnut, hickory, and maple. The property also had a short
dirt road, a one-story barn with two open sides,
a maintenance shed, and a few corrugated metal
grain silos. Of the property’s 280 acres, 200 had
been soybean fields, and were part of the
Department of Agriculture’s Conservation
Reserve Program (CRP). The CRP program
paid property owners (in this case) $60 an acre
not to farm certain acres so the land could recover from a hundred years of topsoil erosion. The
landowner was absentee, and the asking price
was $190,000. The group could establish gardens, build passive solar homes, and grow grain
in some of the fields not in the CRP program,and slowly restore the prairie ecology of the rest.

THE GREAT LAND-BUYING ADVENTURE 85

They decided to go for it. This would be thesite of Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage. The only
remaining hurdle was to finance it.
Friendly Loans from Friends and Family

They had the land appraised for $500 an acre, sothey made an offer of $140,000 to the absentee
owner. He countered, and they negotiated forawhile. Income from the CRP program had artificially inflated the price; however, payments on
200 acres represented a potential annual incomeof $12,000 a year. Spread out over the next
decade, this income would make the price more
like $350 an acre — considerably less than theappraised value. So, they decided to offer $678
an acre ($190,000), and the owner accepted.
With two members’ high-paying jobs in thecomputer industry, the group could get a bankloan to buy the property, but only for $150,000.
They wanted lower interest rates and friendlier
terms than a bank could offer, to protect themselves from repossession in the event of cashflow problems. They also wanted to raise moremoney than the $190,000 purchase price, sothey’d have the funds to begin developing roads,
utilities, and buildings.
The Rabbits got the first of their three
low-interest private mortgages from a longtime member in California — $90,000, to be
repaid over 15 years at 5 percent interest, withno payments for the first three years. The second mortgage was $50,000 from one founder’sparents, also to be repaid over 15 years at 5
percent interest. Their third mortgage was$50,000 for 10 years from the Federation of
Egalitarian Communities’ (FEC) health insurance fund, at 8.5 percent interest. (When thegroup had first arrived in Missouri they
formed Skyhouse, an income-sharing subcommunity of Dancing Rabbit, which joinedFEC.) These loans totaled $190,000. Theirmonthly mortgage payments would be $1,017
a month for the first three years, and $1,730 amonth thereafter.
For their land development fund, they combined Dancing Rabbit’s treasury, which had
accumulated $2,000 in members’ dues, and afounder’s no-interest, 15-year loan of $33,000,
to be paid back only after the first three loans
were paid off. Thus, the Dancing Rabbit
founders raised $225,000; enough to pay$190,000 cash for the land and establish a$35,000 development fund to begin building
infrastructure. They bought the land throughtheir 501(c)2 title-holding non-profit, andplaced the property in the Dancing Rabbit
Community Land Trust.
They didn’t want their primary loans to be
first, second, and third mortgages, but wanted
their lenders to be repaid concurrently, with prorated amounts already determined in case it ever
became necessary to sell the property to pay backthe loans. So they placed three simultaneousliens on the deed, with their $90,000 lender
owed 9/19ths of the proceeds of any future saleand their two $50,000 lenders owed 5/19ths
each. The member who made the $33,000 loan
didn’t have any percentage of pay-back recordedon the deed. (Although the property was in a
Community Land Trust, it wasn’t paid for yet.
The trustees of a land trust property with anencumbered title like this can still sell the property to pay off the debt, if necessary.)
The six founders rented a mobile home
across the road from their new property, andbecause it had a kitchen and bathroom, designated it the temporary community building.
Their first tasks were to create a campground, acomposting toilet, and outdoor showers, andturn their two-sided barn into an outdoor

86 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

kitchen. They invited other Dancing Rabbit
members, friends, and supporters to visit andhelp them start their organic garden and build
their first strawbale cabins.
The Rabbits’ experience illustrates many
issues community founders must deal with when
they look for and finance land. Most groups whowant sustainable development must make thesame kinds of difficult trade-offs when choosing
their location. They often also learn to approach
property owners directly, including owners ofland not currently for sale. And, with the exception of cohousing communities, most choose notto get loans from banks or other mainstream
lending sources, but seek them instead fromfamily, friends, or organizations aligned with
their values.

Onerous Owner-financing (Better thanNone at All)In 1990 in Asheville, North Carolina, people
began meeting to discuss their common vision ofa sustainable ecovillage and begin their landsearch. To create as self-reliant a village as possible, they assumed they’d need at least 150 residents to provide the range of skills and services
required to feed and house themselves and createan active village economy and culture. These
goals determined their site criteria — at least 100
acres within 45 minutes of Asheville, with adiverse landscape, abundant water (originating in
its own watershed), areas suitable for agriculture,and enough south-facing slopes for at least 40 to
60 home sites and other community buildings.
Ideally, the property would be partially or mostly

TABLE 3: DANCING RABBIT’S LAND PURCHASE AND DEVELOPMENT FINANCING

Loan Source

AmountFriend & Supporter$90,000

Terms

Percent of Lien on the Deed15 years to pay;
5% interest; no payments
for the first three years

9/19ths

A founder’s Parents$50,000

15 years, 5% interest

5/19ths

FEC$50,000

10 years, 8.5 % interest

5/19ths

D.R. Treasury$2,000——

Another founder$33,000

TOTAL$225,000

15 years; no interest;
to be paid back after first
three loans are paid off—

THE GREAT LAND-BUYING ADVENTURE 87

cleared land with buildings and utilities, andowner-financed.
Over the next four years the group’s land-search team visited hundreds of properties,
shooting video footage of the most promisingones and bringing the whole group out to see

FINDING LAND, LOSING MEMBERS
It’s not at all uncommon for a forming community tolose members just as it’s about to buy land.
Sometimes the exodus occurs because it’s just not
the right piece of property for some, or the right location. One of the most enthusiastic members ofDancing Rabbit’s original founding group, for example, had her heart set on forming an ecovillage in
California. Try though she might to get used to theMidwest, she found she couldn’t bear to live in sucha place: a flat expanse, few trees, and neighbors who
were pleasant enough but mostly focused on rural
farming matters. She tried several times to make itwork, and eventually realized that Dancing Rabbit
might be her tribe, although their new home wasn’t
hers. While she decided not to move to Missouri, shewill always have a second home there, and like many
people in the Dancing Rabbit network, has foundother ways to contribute to and enjoy the community’s progress. Another founding member with many of
the same concerns traveled back and forth between
California and Missouri for several years, trying to reconcile the vision and values and people she loved
with a location that didn’t draw her. The pull of loveand friendship eventually won, and now, committed
to life at Dancing Rabbit, she is one of the many pioneers helping it grow and thrive.
The stress of trying to place an option on, investigate, and finance expensive property can also force
interpersonal conflict to a head. Sowing Circle/OAEC
had begun as about a dozen people, but when it wastime to put up money, the group dropped to seven.
And just as they were about to nail down the lastdetails of buying the former Farallones Institute prop-

erty, two couples in the group broke up, and one person in each partnership left the group, and then at thelast minute another couple joined them. Besides
being devastating personally, this kind of last-minuteturnover can be nerve-wracking financially — wrenching people back and forth between different amountsof money they must contribute towards the down
payment.
In North Carolina a group met regularly to plan thecommunity that eventually became Earthaven. Aftersearching for property for four years, when somemembers wanted to buy a particular property andothers did not, some persistent personality conflicts
and an essential difference in vision were forced tothe surface. The conflict was so strong that it broke up
the group. Earthaven came into being because four
original members, along with some new people interested in forming a community created a hybrid group
to purchase the property.
Sometimes people leave because the reality ofbuying land makes the prospect of living in community all too real. They realize they can’t afford it after all,or it may not be the right time in their lives to spendthat much money, or they discover they’re not really
ready to change their lives that much.
If this happens in your group, it doesn’t mean theend of your community dream. You may need to buy
the property as a smaller group; however, others may
come along to join you before the purchase. And certainly people will join you after the purchase — there’s
nothing like a group with a beautiful vision and an
appealing property to inspire new people to leap into
the adventure with you.

88 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

them. They eventually narrowed their search toan area southeast of Asheville, near the town ofBlack Mountain. As mentioned earlier, one of
the founders, Valerie Naiman, got real estate
sales and broker’s licenses in order to learn more
about real financing and local land values, andtook a job with a real estate agent in Black
Mountain so the group would know about properties as soon as they came on the market.
In 1993, they found a mountain property of
three converging stream valleys 45 minutes
southeast of Asheville. It had abundant water —two major streams, many smaller streams, and 16
springs — and a quarter of the land was arable.
Its slopes and bottom lands were covered in a relatively new forest of pines, locust, poplar, oak,maple, beech, and hemlock. A gravel road and an
ancient hunting cabin were its only human-madefeatures. The owners believed it was 368 acres,
although they hadn’t surveyed it and weren’t certain of this. They were asking $1,200 an acre, or$441,600 for 368 acres, with ten percent down.
They were willing to owner-finance.
The group originally rejected the property
because its uncleared forest represented considerably more work to develop than the mostlycleared land they’d envisioned. It also had poor
soil, depleted during decades of unsustainable
farming through the 1930s. While the landsearch continued, however, a few members of thegroup returned to reconsider the site. The property seemed to call them back.
“The land was attractive for a number of reasons,” recalls cofounder Chuck Marsh. It sharedcommon boundaries with two older intentional
communities, Full Circle and Rosy Branch,whose members were supportive of the project.
While the entrance to the property was in the
more populated county that surrounded
Asheville, thus offering good telephone, police,

and ambulance service and well-funded schools,
most of the property lay within a considerably
more rural county. “That meant we would be
subject to less stringent building and development ordinances,” recalls Chuck, “and the tax
rates would be lower than they would be if wewere 100 yards farther north. Our development
costs would be significantly lower and we’d havegreater flexibility in meeting our ecologicalgoals.”As happens with many forming community
groups at this point, the pressure to make a decision about a particular property, and the need formembers to come up with significant funds tobuy it, forced the issue on long-standing personality conflicts and basic differences in community vision. Some wanted to live in a simple community with friends; others wanted to create amodel ecovillage with an educational mission.
The group couldn’t resolve these differences, andover the next year fell apart in conflict and disappointment.
Valerie broke the impasse by making an offer
on the land herself in September 1994, offering$100,000 down, with a clause in the contract
allowing her to exit the deal if she couldn’t getother people to join in the purchase.
She invited the group members who favoredthe ecovillage vision, and many new people interested in community, to a “founders meeting” at
her house. She handed pledge cards to each
guest, explaining that each person or household
who pledged $10,000 towards the down payment
would get a roughly quarter-acre home or business site in the new community. Those pledging
first would get first choice of sites, those pledging
second would get second choice, and so on.
That afternoon 11 people, four from the firstgroup and the rest new people, made seven$10,000 pledges for home sites and one for a

THE GREAT LAND-BUYING ADVENTURE 89

business site. A twelfth person pledged $20,000
for both a home and business site, and they had
their $100,000.
Now that they’d agreed on property andfinancing, the heat was on. The hybrid group of
12 cofounders settled on the name “Earthaven”
and began meeting weekly. Between September
and December of 1994, they drafted agreements,
membership procedures, and bylaws, and incorporated as a non-profit Homeowners
Association. Even though they had the money
for the down payment they continued raisingmoney. They increased the site fees to $11,000
and let it be known that site fees would be$12,000 the following year. Through word of
mouth, they found friends and other interested
people to pledge for additional sites. Some contributed the full amount; others put half andagreed to pay $150 a month at 10 percent interest. By December 11, more people had joined
them, and the 21 cofounders had raised a total of$150,000.
They decided to keep $22,000 aside for initial development costs, and so offered the owners$128,000 down, with seven payments towards
the unpaid balance over the next seven years, at
8.75 percent interest. The owners stipulated thatthey would release the property to the groupincrementally, upon payment of each of theannual payments. The down payment would
guarantee Earthaven ownership of 80 acres, but
only 40 of them would be available for the group
to develop.
But the total number of acres wasn’t clear. If
the Earthaven group was willing to pay for a postpurchase survey to determine the actual amountof acreage, the owners were willing to reduce theprice commensurably, but no more than 40 acresless than the original asking price (or $48,000),
no matter what the survey might show. Thus, if
the Earthaven founders wanted this property,
they had to agree to buy at least 328 acres, nomatter how much smaller the property might
actually be. (The later survey showed it was nineacres smaller — or 320 acres — so at $1,200 anacre they ended up paying an extra $10,800 as thecost of doing business.) The owners also stipulated that, after the down payment, Earthavencouldn’t pay off much more than $100,000 a year
without incurring a ten percent penalty.
These weren’t great terms, but at least thesale was owner-financed. Earthaven closed thedeal in December of 1994. The property, or partof it anyway, was theirs.

TABLE 4: EARTHAVEN’S OWNER-FINANCING

Actual No. Acres &Final Purchase Price

Total Money Raised

Down Payment & Terms

Amount ofDevelopment Fund

320 acres, $396,577$150,000$128,000 down; 7 annual
payments of principal &interest, at 8.75%.
Releasing 40 acres witheach payment$22,000

90 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

Do-it-Yourself Refinancing with a “Shoe
Box Bank”

The founders knew they would need to raise
more than $72,000 the next year for the firstannual principal and interest payment, so theydecided to refinance as soon as possible. As we’veseen earlier, Valerie learned about small-scale,
self-financing methods from the E. F.
Schumacher Society in Massachusetts and proposed that the group create a private “shoe box
bank.” This they did, calling it the EarthSharesfund, and asking people to transfer money from
CDs and savings accounts into it, and encouraging those with other assets to turn them into
cash to invest in the project. They offered 8.5
percent interest, a slightly higher rate than many
people were receiving in their banks and CDs at
the time. Contributors would be paid back inannual payments over the next seven years withmoney from the membership fees and site lease
fees of incoming Earthaven members. The firstyear, 1995, would be an interest-only payment to
the EarthShares fund.
As a “shoe box bank,” the EarthShares fund
was a seven-year private loan agreement between
community members and their own Earthaven
Association, allowing them to raise enoughmoney to pay off the sellers as soon as possible
and gain control of their own property, so they
could develop more than just the first 40 acres.
By December 1995, when the first principal
and interest payment would have been due, 18
Earthaven people had transferred money to the
EarthShares fund, raising a total of $232,000.
They used a promissory note as the legal
instrument for the EarthShares fund, with thesignatures of all 18 investors as the Lenders, andthe Earthaven Association as the Borrower. The
EarthShares fund then placed a lien on the property deed. This meant that no future creditors

could force the sale of the property to collect any
outstanding debts unless the EarthSharesinvestors themselves, as the first creditors in line,
agreed to it, which of course they wouldn’t. This
created a layer of legal protection around theproperty.
The $232,000 in the EarthShares fund wasmore than enough to pay off the rest of the principal and most of the interest for 1995 still owed
to the owner-financers. But because of theowner-financers’ stipulated ten percent penalty
for early pay-off, Earthaven paid them off overfour years instead.
By 1997, four Earthaven members invested$61,000 more in the EarthShares fund, and withthese funds, as well as with income from sitelease fees from new members, they were able topay off the owner-financers that year. Because of
acreage adjustments from the survey, they ended
up paying $396,577 to the former owners, alongwith $28,423 in interest, making their total purchase price $425,000. Of this, $128,000 camefrom funds raised during their founder’s meetingand in the last months of 1994, $24,000 camefrom membership and site-holding fees, and$293,000 from the EarthShares fund.
Establishing the EarthShares fund had benefited the community in three ways. First, community members themselves became thefinancers of the project. If for some reason they
couldn’t make an annual payment one year, there
would be no danger of foreclosure. Second, they
reduced their annual interest from 8.75 to 8.5
percent, saving several thousand dollars. And
third, once they had paid off the former owners,
Earthaven members owned the property outright and were free to develop all of it.
Although their land was now financiallysecure, the community was not out of debt, since
the Earthaven Association still owed principal

THE GREAT LAND-BUYING ADVENTURE 91

and interest payments to EarthShares investors.
Given the principal and interest payments
required to pay off the EarthShares fund, they
will end up paying several hundred thousand
dollars more than $425,000 for their property.
As we’ve seen with Lost Valley and Dancing
Rabbit, it’s not uncommon for some founders tohave considerably more money or more access tomoney than others. Sometimes it’s only this factthat allows the group to buy property at all.
When One Person Buys the Property

In early 1998, social justice activist Hank
Obermeyer began looking for likely properties in
Oakland, California to create an intentional
community focusing on activism and the arts,
with some kind of limited equity for owners. He
wanted property with at least two houses andseveral housing units in a tree-lined neighborhood not far from public transportation, preferably in north Oakland.
In November of that year, he and somefriends found three two-story houses with eight

units on a double lot in a neighborhood in north
Oakland with these features. The asking price
was $505,000, a fairly reasonable price for the
Bay Area at the time.
Hank’s offer of $485,000 was accepted, but
only if he paid it in 30 days. Hank had to liquidate many other investments to raise the$485,000 plus an estimated $100,000 for repairs
and renovations. But 30 days wasn’t enough timeto accomplish this, so he got short-term personal loans, which he paid off over eight months.
Hank and the first people who planned tolive long-term in the community, now named
Mariposa Grove, began what ultimately becamea three-year renovation project. They repaired asagging foundation and replaced wood that had
dry rot and termites in one house, and redid
much of the wiring and plumbing in another.
They tore out walls and rearranged living spaces,
eventually creating six two- and three-bedroom
apartments and a large apartment to serve as acommunity common area, containing a kitchen,dining area, large living room, and guest room.

TABLE 5: HOW EARTHAVEN PAID OFF THEIR OWNER-FINANCERS

Year(month)Money
Raised in1994 forPayments

Total
Invested in
Earthsharesfor payments

Money
Owed
OwnerFinancers

Principal
Payments to
OwnerFinancers

Interest
Payments to
OwnerFinancers

Remaining
Balance
Owed toOwnerFinancers

1994
1995
1996
1997 (May)1997 (June)
1997 (July)
Totals$150,000---0-----0-----0-----0-----0--$150,000---0--$232,000---0--$61,000---0-----0--$293,000$396,577$268,577$162,876$63,205$13,003$7,757--------$128,000$105,701$99,671$50,202$5,246$7,757$396,577---0--$22,299$359$5,765---0-----0--$28,423$268,577$162,876$63,205$13,003$7,757---0--$425,000

92 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

Other planned common areas include officespace, laundry facilities, and possibly art andmusic rooms. They dug up a concrete parking lot
and planted a vegetable garden and fruit trees.
The property is in a mixed AfricanAmerican and white neighborhood, and fromthe beginning Hank wanted Mariposa Grove tooffer affordable housing and be socio-economically and racially diverse. So as soon as apartments were ready he rented the first one to afriend, and they chose the third tenant, and thethree chose the fourth tenant, and so on, until
they had eight members (while expecting 12-13
eventually). They do in fact represent a diverse
group — people who attended Ivy League
schools, people who never went to college, andpeople who came from working-class backgrounds. Most are white; one is AfricanAmerican.
At first, when the project had just a few
short-term members, it was really a one-man
show. But Hank didn’t make any important
decisions or begin any major construction projects until other long-term members became
involved. Although everyone made consensus
decisions together about long-range matters,
Hank carried out their decisions, mostly
because he knew how, and because ultimately he
was financially and legally responsible for everything. But the increasing load of responsibilities
grew so heavy that he finally burned out inexhaustion. He told the group he couldn’t continue doing this work by himself. Others would
have to share the load. At that point leadershipshifted from Hank to the group as a whole, andeveryone began serving on one or more committees — finance, construction, governance, newmember outreach, and so on — sharing more
equitably the responsibilities of establishing a
new community.

“A crisis like this is pretty common in new communities,” he says,“when leadership shifts from thefounder (or founders) to everyone involved.”
As of this writing, Mariposa Grove is in theprocess of researching the legal and financial
requirements to become a limited equity housing
co-op under California law. If they choose thisform of limited equity housing, it means Hank
will sell the property to the housing co-op for
approximately $750,000 (the $485,000 purchaseprice plus what will be more than $250,000 inrenovation costs, plus six percent interest). Whilehe could sell for twice that amount since the market value has more than doubled since he bought
the property, it would no longer be affordable
housing. By the time the group buys the property, the accrued six percent interest will compensate Hank to some degree for his efforts and hisbusiness risk, yet keep the units affordable.
In a limited equity housing co-op, each member owns shares in the co-op and is a member of
its board of directors, and has the right to live
there through a proprietary lease with the co-op.
If Mariposa Grove chooses this form of ownership, each shareholder, including Hank, will pay
a down payment and monthly occupancy fees tothe co-op, which will pay the mortgage payment
to the bank, and any maintenance or other costs.
In Chapter 1 we saw how Lost Valley’sfounders acquired fully developed “turn-key”
property for intentional community. Here’s how
Sowing Circle/OAEC faced similar challenges.
Acquiring Fully Developed “Turn-Key”
Property — Confidence, Persistence,and Negotiation

In the mid-1980s, a group of around 25 social justice and environmental activists and artists in the
San Francisco Bay Area met regularly to celebrate

THE GREAT LAND-BUYING ADVENTURE 93

Summer Solstice and New Year’s together inbeautiful rural settings. Many of them had lived
together at various times in urban group households. They enjoyed these experiments in community so much that in the late 1980s and early
90s a dozen of them began to periodically look forproperty near the Bay Area to form an intentional community and activist and arts center.
By 1991, about a dozen members of thegroup got more serious about creating what
would eventually become Sowing Circle community and Occidental Arts and Ecology
Center. They acquired the General Plans andcounty maps for several counties around San
Francisco that interested them. Like Dancing

Rabbit’s founders, they used the maps and county tax records to contact the owners of likely
properties, even if the properties weren’t for sale.
They narrowed their search down to two counties and mailed a form letter to every real estateagent in those counties.
They chose a couple of real estate agents inthese two counties from among the responses totheir letters, and visited more properties.
In 1993 they learned that an 80-acre parcel
fitting their description had just come on themarket near the town of Occidental in Sonoma
County. The site of the former Farallones
Institute, it had been a living/teaching center
whose staff had researched and taught classes on

SOWING CIRCLE’S FORM LETTER TO REAL ESTATE AGENTS
Dear Realtor,
Greetings. We are a group of couples and individuals
looking for rural or semi-rural land, with or without
structures, in Sonoma and southern Mendocino
counties.
We’re looking for property large enough for andzoned for multiple homes, barns, and other outbuildings. We would ideally like land that could accommodate our building a small retreat center there.
What we’re looking for:• Between 20 and 300 acres

Ideal:•

Old church camps, summer camps, ruralschools, or retreat centers zoned for multiple
dwellings and multiple use•

A large parcel of undeveloped land or several
contiguous parcels zoned for multiple
dwellings (i.e., sub-dividable, perc-tested forseveral homes, etc. )•An already-developed property with manyolder structures needing a lot of work.

•

Zoned to build four or more homes on theproperty, plus outbuildings

Pluses:•Year-round river or creek and/or a pond•

Within one to three hours’ drive of San
Francisco•Mix of forested land and open areas; hilltops
and valley or canyon•Less than $500,000 (we’d consider paying
more if the property were already a welldeveloped retreat center with homes).

•

At least two acres of arable land•

Privacy.

94 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHERTABLE 6: SOWING CIRCLE/OAEC’S LAND PURCHASE AND DEVELOPMENT FINANCING

Number ofMembers and their
Contributions

Total Money
RaisedPlan #1: 10 people
each contribute$20,000$200,000$50,000 down;
6.7% interest; interest-only payments
for first 5 years$800,000 OwnerFinanced First
Mortgage$150,000$100,000$50,000 down;
6.7% interest; interest-only payments
for first 5 years$800,000 OwnerFinanced First
Mortgage$50,000$205,000$150,000 down;
6.7% interest; interest-only payments
for first 5 years$700,000 OwnerFinanced First
Mortgage$55,000

Plan #2:
7 people raise$100,000
Last-MinutePlan #3:• 7 people eachcontribute $20,0000• $40,000 2nd
Mortgage (5% interest); interest only
payments 1st fiveyears
• $25,000 3rd
Mortgage (sameterms)

Down payment
and Terms$850,000
Purchase Price
Amount of
Owner-Financed
First Mortgage

passive solar design, appropriate technology, andorganic gardening. When the Farallones
Institute folded in 1990, a private environmental
foundation acquired the property and used its
organic gardens for a seed-saving project to preserve heirloom vegetables, fruits, and flowers.
When the group drove out to Occidental totake a look, they found rolling hills, meadows,
sweeping views, stands of oak, redwood groves, aswimming pond, and, on the north and south

Amount ofDevelopment
Fundsides of a small hill, two of the most beautiful
and prolific gardens they’d ever seen. Around the
top of the hill were 16 redwood buildings,
including a kitchen/dining building, an officecomplex, a workshop, classroom space, five small
vault-roofed passive solar cabins, and anotherhalf-dozen intern cabins. The property had a use
permit for up to 26 residents full time, with up to
50 people allowed to live on the site for workshops 60 days of the year. The foundation thatTHE GREAT LAND-BUYING ADVENTURE 95

owned the land was not necessarily looking forthe highest bidder, but for a buyer with a similar
vision and values to theirs. They were asking amillion-plus for the property, and were willing toowner-finance for five years. They offered a$200,000 discount for a buyer who would continue their seed-saving work.
It was a community founder’s dream.
It was clearly the ideal property for thisgroup, and they saw themselves as ideal stewards
for the property, no matter that it had a milliondollar price tag and none of them had much in
the way of financial assets.
But now the pressure was on. The groupbegan meeting 15 hours a week, working on
three major tasks. One was organizing their
future community life — who would do whichtasks, who would live where, and so on. Anotherwas public relations — countering the potential
hostility of local residents towards whomevermight buy the old Farallones Institute property.
They knew county residents would want toknow who it was that presumed to buy this very
special property, and what they intended to dowith it. So representatives of the group met withneighbors and other county residents andexplained, in person and through local reporters,
how they intended to continue the seed-saving
project and initiate similar projects to those of
the Farallones Institute, through workshops andclasses in organic gardening, permaculture
design, and other aspects of sustainable living.
The third major project was the legal and financial aspects of acquiring the property.
They realized that this third project would
take full-time work. So Dave Henson, a memberof the group with extensive experience fundraising for non-profits, and who had gone to law
school (although he was not a lawyer), quit his
environmental activist job to devote himself full-time for eight months to the project. The group
thanked him by giving him the best cabin. (Theyconsidered pooling funds to pay him a salary if
the land purchase were to take any longer thaneight months.)
The first task in acquiring the property was
to find out if it was as ideal as it seemed, so
Dave looked into the usual issues of property
suitability: whether there was enough waterand septic system capacity for the amount ofpeak use they envisioned; if the soil would perctest well enough for any additional septic systems; what potential hazards might be upwind
or upstream of the property; how any future
developments planned for the area might affecttheir use and enjoyment of the property; andthe amount of repairs or renovations the buildings might need.
Most of these questions were answered totheir satisfaction, but they discovered that
almost all the roofs needed repair and that mostof the septic systems and some of the foundations needed replacing. They figured out itwould take approximately $150,000 to makethese and other needed repairs, remodel andenlarge the cabins, and build new accommodations for workshop participants and interns.
Given the amount of work the property needed,
they decided to offer $850,000 — a full
$150,000 lower than the asking price of over a
million, even after the first $200,000 was discounted for buyers who’d continue the seed-saving project.
If at First You Don’t Succeed …

For the many months leading up to the purchase, a dozen group members attended meetings, but when the time came to choose to be in
the community or out, only seven people
stepped forward to commit to the purchase.

96 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

They sought three more cofounders, thinking
that if ten members could raise $20,000 each,they’d have $200,000. With this amount they’d
pay $50,000 down, request an owner-financed
mortgage of $800,000, and use $150,000 for
development. But they didn’t find three more
people with $20,000.
They next decided that the seven of themwould raise $100,000, pay $50,000 down,
request an owner-financed mortgage of$800,000, and use just $50,000 for development, which would stretch out their planned
renovations over a longer period. This was theoffer they submitted in May 1994. They
described how the intended Occidental Arts
and Ecology Center was aligned with the foundation’s own vision for the property’s best use,
and agreed to continue the heirloom seed project. A business plan outlined how they’d raisethe down payment and make interest and principal payments. They proposed terms quitefavorable to themselves — 6.7 percent interest(at a time when banks were charging 8 percent)and relatively small interest-only payments forthe first five years — in exchange for signing acontract with the owner-financers that wouldbind the group to doing repairs and improvements to the buildings and infrastructure,
thereby improving the value of the property
over the first year of occupancy. They backed
this up by describing how they would repair
each building, a timetable for the improvements, and another business plan showing how
much money they’d use for that purpose andwhere they’d get it.
“This is an important point for forming
communities to keep in mind,” advises Dave.
“Many owner-financers are reluctant to sell togroups who say they can meet the down payment and mortgage payments, but whom might

be so financially strapped in the future thatthey’d default on payments and the owner would
have to repossess the property. If the property
hadn’t been properly maintained, the owner
could get back property that might then be
worth less what it had sold for because its buildings were rundown or falling apart. But if potential buyers can demonstrate that they will maintain and even improve the property, and can document the source of their funds for doing so andhow they will accomplish the upgrades, thelandowner may not only be willing to sell tothem, but also willing to reduce the down payment, the interest rate, and/or the amount ofmonthly payment. If a group with this arrangement defaulted and the original landownerrepossessed and got the property back,” Davesays, “it would be worth considerably more thanwhen the owner first sold it, over and above any
increase in land values.”
The foundation accepted their offer andterms.
Because they were too overwhelmed byfinancial stress at this point to establish a more
complex legal entity to buy the property, they
drew up a simple partnership, called the “Sowing
Circle.”They later learned that the foundation had
received over 200 other offers, some of themoffering more cash than they had. But their offer
was most likely chosen, they believe, because theirintended use was probably the most aligned withthe foundation’s goals for the property, and they
had presented the most coherent financial modelof how they’d pay for the property and what theywould do with it. It also helped that Dave andothers in this group had credibility and good reputations nationally as environmental activists.
But at the 11th hour they had serious setbacks. Two of the couples broke up, and as a

THE GREAT LAND-BUYING ADVENTURE 97

result, two members left the group, leaving justfive people to raise the money. Fortunately a newcouple joined a few weeks before closing, bringing their number back to seven.
But that wasn’t the worst. Several days before
closing the sale, and after they’d all quit their jobs
and given notices on their apartments, as they
were all relaxing and celebrating at a friend’s
cabin in the country, they got a phone call.
“The deal’s off,” the foundation director said,“unless you pay $150,000 down. We can’t go with
$50,000 down, and we can’t offer you any extra
time to raise it. We’ll need it at closing, five days
from now.” The group was stunned. They later
learned that the foundation’s New York lawyers
were horrified to learn that this million dollar
property was about to go for just $50,000 down,
and put pressure on the foundation director tosomehow stop the sale. The group assumed the
additional $100,000 down was intended to be adeal-breaker, a demand they couldn’t possibly
meet on such short notice so the foundation
could get out of the sale.
Half packed, no longer employed, and about
to lose their homes to incoming tenants, thepartners decided all they could do was try toraise the additional $100,000. They created large
fold-out brochures with color-photocopied photos of the property and descriptions of theiragreements and goals. Some of them flew hometo their parents, and, using the brochures to help
explain what they hoped to do, asked to borrow
enough money to come up with $20,000 each.
Meanwhile, Dave and some of the others called
several close friends and family members to ask
for loans. In a few days they had each secured$20,000 for seven down payments totaling$140,000, and had arranged for two friendly
loans: a $40,000 second mortgage and a $25,000
third mortgage, each at 5 percent interest withinterest-only payments for the first five years.
This $65,000 in additional mortgages, plus the$140,000, gave the group $150,000 for the down
payment and $55,000 in reserve for repairs, renovations, and new construction. When one of
the seven couldn’t come up with the whole$20,000, the group dipped into the $55,000
development fund to give her a temporary loanof $5,000.
Five days after the phone call the founders
were able to hand the director of the foundationa certified check for $150,000. The oldFarallones Institute property was theirs.
For the first eight months after their August
1994 move-in, six of the partners worked day
and night repairing roofs, upgrading utilities,
renovating the cabins, and building two yurt
dormitories and a new bathhouse. The seventh
person, who had just begun a new job in the area,
brought home enough pay to keep them in foodand other necessities during the renovation. By
March 1995 they’d completed enough to launch
the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center. (They
had arranged to operate OAEC first through thenon-profit Tides Foundation, planning to create
their own 501(c)3 non-profit two years later.)
They created a series of programs, promoted
them locally, and held their first OAEC workshop that summer.
As you can see, the challenges and benefits ofbuying a fully developed “turn-key” property arequite different to those of buying raw land.
While the founders of communities like Sowing
Circle/OAEC and Lost Valley must usually
jump through more hoops to investigate andfinance such properties than those who buy raw
land, after about eight months of hard work
both Lost Valley and Sowing Circle/OAEC had
comfortable living quarters for members and98 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

offered their first workshops on sustainable living. Primitive facilities didn’t stop either
Dancing Rabbit or Earthaven from creatinginternship programs and offering similar workshops soon after land-purchase, but it will be along time before either has facilities like those of
Lost Valley or Sowing Circle/OAEC.
Lost Valley and Sowing Circle/OAEC canalso show us what founders seeking turn-key
properties can encounter. Both core groups foundproperties that had previously been used foralmost identical non-profit purposes to theirown. Both properties had not been lived in for
two or three years, and both, especially Lost
Valley’s, required extensive repair and renovation.

Both sets of founders acquired their property by making offers far lower than the asking
price. Sowing Circle/OAEC’s offer was helpedby the fact that their intended use of the property was similar to the owner’s wishes, and their
documentation of how they’d raise the money tofinance the purchase was so thorough. Lost
Valley was helped enormously by the fact that
one founder could afford to offer two $100,000
land-purchase and development loans.

In Chapter 10 we’ll look at the step-by-stepprocess of finding community property.

Chapter 10
Finding the Right Property

I

N THE LAST CHAPTER WE SAW various communities buy raw land, developed land withbuildings and utilities, and fully developed“turn-key” properties. Each of these communities found property with pretty much everything
they wanted, perhaps with the exception ofEarthaven, whose hybrid founders’ group didn’t
choose the developed land with open space envisioned by the original founders. There’s much we
can learn from these and other groups aboutfinding the right property — realistically determining site criteria; how the land-search process
works; and the importance of researching properties ahead of time.

5. How much and what kind of financing isavailable for your land purchase?
How Much Land Do You Want?

The amount of land you’re looking for will probably depend on the purpose of your community,
how many total members you plan to have, thepopulation density allowed by local zoning regulations, and, in the West, the amount of available
water.
Of course, everything can change once you
begin the land search. The amount of land or
the cost of available properties you find might
induce you to change your plans. Sowing
Circle/OAEC originally planned to spend no
more than $500,000, but paid nearly twice that
because they found fully-developed property.
An increase or decrease in the size and/or thecost of property could make you decide toincrease or decrease your planned number ofhouseholds. Many cohousing communities, forexample, have increased their number of units
by ten or more because they underestimated thecost of land (or the cost of development or construction), so to keep their homes affordable,
they spread the cost over a larger number ofpeople.

Choosing Your Site Criteria

One of the keys to getting what you want is tohave clear, realistic expectations from the beginning about your chosen location and any limitations on property available there. Here are fivebasic questions to ask yourselves.
1. Which region or city would your group liketo live in, and why?
2. How much land are you looking for?
3. Do you want raw or developed land?
4. How much do you want to pay for property?
On development and construction?
99

100 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

Raw Land — Lower Initial Cost, Years ofEffortDancing Rabbit and Earthaven bought essentially raw land, though each had one road andone or more outbuildings, and both faced thesame set of advantages and disadvantages.
Advantages of Buying Raw Land
• Within the limits of local zoning regulations and building codes, with raw land
you can design your site to express your

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION
Location is a critical factor for many reasons. For example,
do zoning regulations there allow the kinds of activities
you envision (farming, market gardening, light industry,
animal husbandry?), or the degree of density you plan
(apartment living, single-family dwellings on separatelots)? If not, how likely would it be, and what might it
cost, to get a zoning variance?
Unless you’re bringing already successful community
businesses to the land, or most or all of you will telecommute, does the area offer potential jobs? What are wages
and salaries like there? Consider commute times to jobs,
gasoline and other transportation expenses, and whether the
distance to jobs resonates with your community’s values.
Consider your needs for proximity to towns or cities,
an airport, and health care facilities. If you’ll have community-owned or individually owned businesses, what
about local markets for your products or services oraccess to trucking or other delivery services or a post
office; if some of you will telecommute, what about
access to phone lines and the quality of local phoneservice? What about access to farmers markets, CSA
farms, food co-ops, or health food stores? What aboutproximity to schools, high schools, continuing education
facilities, and recreational opportunities; or to art, music,
and culture?

community’s values or sustainability
goals. For example, like Dancing Rabbit
and Earthaven you could cluster yourbuildings and design your site to enhancecommunity interaction; use permaculture
design to create mutually reinforcing
shelter, energy, water, and vegetable gardens; or build passive solar homes. Raw
land means you won’t have to try tocounter the effects of a poorly designed
site or bring poorly designed or shoddily
constructed buildings up to speed.
• You can infuse your group’s particularenergy and “vibes” into the site andexpress your own aesthetic taste, insteadof working with a site that’s already “set”
in its energy and aesthetics.
• You’ll pay less initially. If your group has
limited funds and enough time to develop infrastructure as you can afford it, rawland may be ideal. While you’ll needmuch more money than the land cost to
turn the property into a place where all of
you can live, at least you’ll have a start(and a place to show interested potential
new members).
Disadvantages of Buying Raw Land

• Developing the property — roads, offgrid power or bringing in power lines,
wells or piped water, septic tanks andleach fields or sewer hook-ups, and building homes and community buildings fromscratch, takes much more money (twice as
much? three times?) than if you’d bought
fully developed property with all the samefacilities, because everything costs more
now than when properties were developed
even just a few years ago.

FINDING THE RIGHT PROPERTY 101• Development and construction usuallymeans full-time work for several people— paid professionals or community
members. If you plan to do it yourselves,
can several of you afford to take leaves ofabsence from (or quit) your jobs for six
months to a year? Does your development fund include money for labor?
• Developing and building on the property
can take far more time (three times
longer?) than you anticipated. You may
have to wait a year, or several years to simply live in community. If your community has an educational, service or otherpurpose, it may take years to actually startfulfilling that purpose.
Earthaven’s founders, for example, bought
land in December 1994. By the end of the next
year they’d cleared an area and built an opensided pavilion for workshops and meetings, andthree small huts for interns, none with electricity or running water. By the third year they had
cleared more land and built a second road, akitchen-dining room with solar electricity andrunning water, a composting toilet, and morehuts for interns. By the fourth year they had
built more roads, more huts, and increased theiramount of off-grid power, but only interns and a
few members lived on the land. By the sixth year
they’d built more roads and a community building that was usable but not finished. More members had moved to the property, living in huts
and temporary shelters. By the end of 2002, fully
seven years after land-purchase, while several
permanent homes were under construction, only
one was finished. It’ll be years before Earthaven’s
founders live in the thriving village of 150 theyenvisioned in the early 1990s.

• The development and construction phasecan be exhausting and can lead toburnout, conflict, relationship break-ups,
and even loss of members. Consider thestatistics regarding couples breaking up
while building a new house — and multiply it!
Developed Land — Electricity, Toilets,
and Showers

Abundant Dawn in Virginia, Zendik Arts
Community in North Carolina, New View
cohousing in Massachusetts, and Higher
Ground cohousing in Oregon all bought old
farms. Eden Ranch in Colorado bought a former“flying ranch” and airport runway (turning anairplane hangar into their community building).
A community I’ll call Pueblo Encantada (seeChapter 18) acquired the former servants quarters and surrounding acreage of a former estate.
Urban cohousing communities have done it
too — Doyle Street in the California Bay Areabought an urban warehouse; Monterey
Cohousing in Minneapolis purchased a Georgianmansion; Old Oakland Cohousing chose a historic downtown market building; Southside Parkin Sacramento and Temescal in Oakland bought
Victorian homes; Terra Firma in Ottawa
acquired six 19th-century row houses; andTrillium Hollow in Portland got an upscale executive’s home built in the 1980s. There are as many
ways to buy and remodel community buildings as
there are existing buildings out there.
Abundant Dawn’s founders considered
undeveloped land at first, but later were aghastthat they thought they might form a communitythat way. “We thought we were going to buy
property without buildings?” recalls Velma Kahn
of Abundant Dawn. “Without showers and aflush toilet? What were we thinking?”102 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

I’ve been involved in two small-group development projects on about ten acres each: one
starting with raw land and the other with anexisting house and utilities. In the first instancewe paid $10,000 for a pipeline to the local water
co-op and thousands more to bring in electricity and build a road. We spent the first sevenmonths dealing with permits, inspectors, roads,
utilities, and hooking up an ancient single-widemobile home, which four of us then crowded
into for three years (with me sleeping in a tent)
while we very slowly built our house. In the second instance we moved right in, and by about 18
months had dug a second well, installed a solar
system, enlarged the garden, and built two storage buildings and a second, four-bedroom
house.
Advantages of Buying Developed Land

• With buildings, running water, and electricity you’ll have a “base-camp” on theproperty. One or more people or households can live there as early caretakers.
People can have a place to eat and sleep asthey build their homes. A house (orgarage, or barn) can be turned into a community building with a common kitchen,bathroom, meeting room, and laundry
facilities for everyone.
• You can save money in the long run, since
the property will probably cost less than
if you built the same improvements fromscratch.
• Because you will probably add morebuildings, you have many of the sameadvantages as buying raw land — you candesign some of your site and buildings
with your group’s energy, values, and aesthetics.

Disadvantages of Buying Developed Land

• You have to raise more money initially.
• Because you’ll mostly like do additional
construction, you’ll have many of thesame disadvantages as buying raw land
— expense, time, and potential burnout.
Fully Developed Turn-key Property —Move Right In (With a Big Financial Bite)

Let’s say that you set out to buy fully developedturn-key property which will already have mostof the infrastructure you’ll need for an intentional community.
You could look for old YMCA camps,
church camps, Boy or Girl Scout camps, conference centers, schools, or church complexes.
“Often you can get a good deal on properties likethese,” says Dave Henson of Sowing
Circle/OAEC. “Especially if the property isdevalued because the buildings are funky orsmall, or the property consists of one or more
small or odd-sized lots, or if there’s no view.”
Many forming communities have bought
and remodeled properties like these. As we’veseen, Sowing Circle/OAEC bought and renovated a live-in teaching center, and Lost Valley
did the same with property that had once been alarge intentional community. Shenoa Retreat
and Conference Center in Mendocino County,
California bought a former children’s camp.
Hank Obermeyer bought eight apartments inthree existing buildings for Mariposa Grove.
Advantages of Buying a Turn-key Property• It will cost you less in total expenditures
than if you developed the property fromscratch.
• After whatever degree of repairs or
remodeling may be necessary, you canFINDING THE RIGHT PROPERTY 103

move right in and begin your lives incommunity; if you have an educational,
service, or other mission, you can begin it
right away.
Disadvantages of Buying a Turn-key
Property• You can create a cash-flow problem foryour first few years of operation, as it will
cost far more at the outset.
• In some instances, the cost of renovating
damaged buildings and remodelingwould be so prohibitive it would becheaper to build from scratch, unless, like
Lost Valley’s founders, you bought property with huge potential for a fraction of
its current market value.
• You may inherit a site which is poorly
designed for social interaction and community glue; for example, the buildings are too
spread out, or are not facing each other, or
are not contributing to any kind of central
commons. It can be poorly designed forsustainability; for instance, the flattest andmost arable land is used for buildings or
parking lots, the gardens are far from theliving areas, or the homes are on top of aridge instead of part-way down the slope.
• You may inherit poorly designed buildings with energy-hog appliances, low to
no solar access (built on a north slope), or
thin to no insulation with poor heatretention in winter and too much solar
gain in the summer. Lost Valley, forexample, bought property with a counterintuitively planned septic system, whichbroke down every time it rained, anduninsulated steep-roofed wooden cabins
in a forest which, though storybook

charming, grew mold and mildew in thewet season.
• If the property hasn’t been lived in forawhile you can find termites, rodent
infestation, frozen or otherwise damaged
water pipes, leaking roofs, or water-damaged interiors.
• You must live with someone else’s infusion of energy and “vibes,” or aesthetic
taste.
• You can get yourselves in debt to the hilt,
dividing enormous mortgage payments
among too few people, and being eaten
alive by interest payments while barely
chipping away at the principal. This cancause you become so desperate for relief
that you consider new community members not for shared vision and values, butwith a financial gleam in your eye, assessing how much their monthly payments
could lift the financial burden you’veburied yourselves under.
Buying Property like the Professionals Do

As you’ve already seen, no matter what kind of
property you seek, the process of finding landand shopping for financing can be a full-time job
for someone. It’s a good idea to elect one or twoof your members to do this, since commercial
developers — your competition — spend fulltime seeking properties just like those you’relooking for. The property that would make agreat site for a community would also make agreat site for a subdivision, from a developer’s
point of view. So if you can afford it, do as
Dancing Rabbit, Earthaven, and Sowing
Circle/OAEC did and arrange for one or moremembers to make this work their sole occupation for awhile.

104 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

Commercial developers and real estate professionals use the following tools and strategies
to get the best value for their money; there’s
absolutely no reason you can’t use the same ones.
• Find out how much money your groupcan borrow. Whether you’ll be seeking
owner financing, private loans, or a mortgage from a local bank or lending institution, knowing your borrowing power
ahead of time can help you determine yourprice range, and whether you’ll want to add
more people to your group to raise moremoney (and more borrowing power).

RAW LAND AND “PAPER LOTS”
Why do some parcels of raw land cost three or four times
more that other parcels of similar size? The price of undeveloped property is affected not only by its size, but by
how it could potentially be developed.
First, if it’s in an area the city or county has zoned forintensive development it will be worth more than if itwere in an area zoned for more restrictive development.
Second, if the owner has already secured approval for
subdivision and development — with approvals forstreets, utilities, or other infrastructure, and an approved“tentative map” showing the boundaries of the new lots
to be created — while the land physically looks thesame, it’s now in the “paper lots” stage and worth considerably more to potential developers because thetime-consuming and expensive process of getting theseapprovals has been completed.
If your group finds desirable land like this but you
don’t want to subdivide or develop it as it’s currently
approved, keep looking. There’s no point paying two or
three times the price for approvals that won’t benefit
your future development.

• Master current property values and “themarket” in your chosen area, so you’ll
recognize a high price and a low pricewhen you see one — whether or not you
plan to work with a real estate agent tofind property.
• Armed with this knowledge begin the
search — and consider all properties thatmeet your criteria, whether or not they’recurrently on the market.
Assessing Your Potential Borrowing Power

Experienced real estate brokers recommend getting preliminary information from local banks
and lending institutions about how much you
can borrow before conducting your search (eventhough you may not borrow from these sources).
To do this, each group member or householdadds up four sets of figures:
1. Total monthly income
2. Total assets
3. Total amount of debt owed
4. Total monthly payments for these debts
With this information in hand, make introductory information-gathering visits to the senior officers of banks and lending institutions inyour chosen area. Ask for information on rates,
loan alternatives, and if they would consider
loaning money to a group like yours (since not alllenders make all types of loans). Be sure to refer
to yourselves as “a group of families” or a “groupof households” — not as a “community” or an“ecovillage.” There’s no point conjuring up imagesof “hippie commie cult” in the minds of the(probably conservative) bankers.
Here are two do-it-yourself methods formaking rough estimates of your potential borrowing power.

FINDING THE RIGHT PROPERTY 105

Add up the total annual gross income ofeveryone in the group who might cosign on aloan, then double this amount. This is roughly
how much a bank would loan you. One percentof that amount would be the approximate
amount of your monthly mortgage payment.
Let’s say you’re a group of six people, and everyone’s total gross annual income adds up to$250,000. Using this formula, you could (roughly) borrow $500,000 as a group. Your monthly
mortgage payment would be roughly $5,000, or$833 a month each.
Let’s say you found desirable property withan asking price of $460,000. Knowing in advancethat you have this amount of borrowing power,
and if you had at least $45,000 in cash already,you could offer $445,000, with 10 percent($44,500) down, seek a $400,000 mortgage, andset aside $100,000 of the loan for repairs, renovation, and new construction.
The second method is based on monthly
income. Add up everyone’s total monthly grossincome. Twenty-nine percent of this amountrepresents the maximum monthly land payment
you’d be able to maintain (including principal,
interest, property tax, and insurance). Now add
up everyone’s total monthly debt payments.
Most commercial lenders consider ten percent of
your monthly gross income to be the maximum
you should be paying out to maintain otherdebts. If your monthly debt payments add up to
more than ten percent of your total monthly
income, the amount you’d have available formonthly land payments would be reduced proportionately. For example, if your group’s grossmonthly income is $20,000, that allows for a land
payment of $5800 per month, and $2000 forother debts. If your group’s other debts amountto, for example, $2500, then your land payment
amount will drop accordingly, to $5300.

It’s a good idea at this point, before starting
the search, to find out the credit rating of eachgroup member that may be co-signing on a loan,
or otherwise contributing to monthly land payments. You can do this by getting credit reports
on each member and reviewing them as a group.
If one of you has bad credit, you might ask that
person to bring his or her credit into good standing now, before your group begins trying toobtain a loan.
Method A: Working with Real Estate
AgentsWhen it comes to finding land for new communities, there are three possible routes to take. You
could work with one or more real estate agents,
you could work on your own, or you could workon your own with help from an agent some of
the time.
Let’s look at how realty companies work.
Real estate agents enter into contracts withproperty owners for three to twelve months tofind a buyer (called “listing” a property). The realestate agent markets the property with For Sale
signs, ads in the newspaper and local real estatepublications, a description in the local Multiple
Listing Service, and by driving potential buyers
out to visit the property. If the property sells during the contract period, the agent who listed theproperty gets the amount of commission agreed
upon with the buyer, usually four to ten percentof the final sales price. The commission is paid tothe agent whether the agent actually sells theproperty, or the owner sells it directly to buyers
who just happened by, such as your group.
Therefore, if you approach a property ownerdirectly whose property is currently under contract with an agent (or, in most cases, was undercontract within the previous six months to ayear), the agent’s commission will still be a factor

106 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

in any sales price you and the seller may agree on.
Of course, you can still negotiate with both ofthem about the commission.
Let’s say your group decides to work with one
or more real estate agents because they know themarket and available properties far better thanyou do, and you don’t have the time or energy to
devote to mastering the local market as is suggested below. The first thing you should know isthat, since agents list properties for the property
owners, they are contractually obligated to gethighest price and the most favorable terms forthe sellers, rather than the lowest price and mostfavorable terms for the potential buyers.
One option, however, is to sign a “buyer’s
agent” contract with one agent for one to threemonths or longer. This means the agent now
works for you, not the seller, and will try to findyou property at the lowest price and best terms,
for either a flat fee or a percentage of the final
sales price, depending on what you and the agent
negotiate. Look at the contract to see whether it
contains a clause which says the fee goes to theagent even if you find and buy property on yourown after the contract expires. If so, you may
want to strike that clause. All clauses and fees inany contract with a real estate agent are negotiable. Experienced real estate buyers (and many
community founders), strongly recommend paying a real estate attorney to look over any contracts before signing.
While some agents will work with yourgroup as buyer’s agents without any proof ofyour ability to buy property, other agents will notunless they, or a local lending institution, havepre-qualified you financially, and your group has
a preliminary commitment for a mortgage froma lender. The agent may also want to first see thenet-worth statements and credit reports of eachindividual in the group before working with you.

The kind of service you get from a realestate agent and the fee you pay for it candepend on what you and the agent agree uponahead of time. You might agree on a full service
package in which the agent takes you out on
half-day or full-day property tours, or on a simpler service, in which the agent gives you relevant printouts from their Multiple Listing
Service database and a map, and sends you on
your way.
You’ll need to find the right agent for yourgroup, and one who specializes in the kind of
property you’re seeking. If you’re looking for arural location, start with agents who specialize infarm and ranch properties; if it’s an urban location you’re after, look for agents who specialize incommercial or multi-family properties.
You may want to do as Sowing Circle/
OAEC did, and write a form letter to all theagents affiliated with the local Board of Realtors
or Multiple Listing Service, as well as any otherlocal agents listed in the phone book. Dave
Henson of Sowing Circle recommends adding
in bold letters at the bottom of the letter:“Please
do not contact us unless you have property thatfits this description.” Sowing Circle/OAEC didn’t do this, and got calls about three-bedroom
homes in suburbia. He also suggests that you
introduce yourselves as “a group of families” or “agroup of families and individuals,” rather than as
an “intentional community” or an “ecovillage.”You
don’t want to confuse, prejudice, or scare them.
(See Chapter 9, “Sowing Circle’s Letter to Real
Estate Agents.”)
Whether you shop for an agent by sending
letters or by visiting many realty offices, when
you find one you like and trust, and who resonates with your values, tell the agent enough ofwhat you want and why you want it, so he or she
can truly help you.

FINDING THE RIGHT PROPERTY 107

Mastering the Local Real Estate Market on
Your Own

Bob Watzke, a real estate dealer and developer in
Milwaukee who has long been involved in intentional communities, encourages community
founders to do it on their own; however, following his advice below can also empower yourgroup and make you more savvy property buyers
if you are working with real estate agents. He
advises thoroughly learning property values inyour desired area so you’ll recognize a good deal
when you see one, and acquiring and studying
the following kinds of local marketing data.
1. Market value reports on recent sales in thearea. Prepared by a realty company, a market
value report demonstrates that the asking
price of the particular property the realty
company has listed for sale is in line withlocal market values, through a comparison of
the prices and features of other similar properties recently sold in the area.
2. Comparable sales books. Compiled by the
local Multiple Listing Service, these books
itemize properties in similar or “comparable”
categories, showing their prices and features.
(Because market value reports and comparable sales books are prepared by real estateagents, you may need to pay a realty company for them, unless you’re working with anagent who provides them.)
3. Record of all realty properties recently sold.
This information is usually available in theoffice of the County Registrar of Deeds.
4. Databases of recently sold properties andtheir sales prices, and current properties forsale and their asking prices. Compiled andowned by local real estate appraisers for theirown use, these can be made available for a
price.

WORKING WITH A REAL ESTATE LAWYER“Real estate lawyers can be invaluable — use them!” says
experienced real estate dealer Bob Watzke. Your attorney
can prepare and review your sales offer and any subsequent contracts prior to submittal, advise you on negotiations, prepare loan and deed documents, order title
work from a title company, and advise you at the closing.
“Pay your lawyer 30 to 50 percent in advance and he or
she will give you even better service,” Bob adds. “But follow up with him or her frequently, since ‘squeaky wheels’
still get the best service.”
In some states, closings are handled by a lawyer who
represents both buyer and seller in place of a title company, and the closing is held in their office. In otherstates, attorneys can act as brokers.
Bob suggests keeping your attorney in the background unless the seller has one too. “Ask your attorney
to review everything you’re supposed to sign before you
sign it, not after,” he cautions. If you find yourself in aposition where you must sign a contract by a certain timeand your attorney hasn’t seen it, Bob suggests you insist
on inserting the clause: “This contract is subject to my/ourattorney’s review and written approval within forty-eight(48) hours after acceptance or this contract shall become
null and void, at the buyer’s option.”

5. Comparable Sales Study. This is a description, including sale price, of all the properties
similar to the kind you’re seeking that havebeen sold in the recent past (usually the last
six months) in your chosen area. This is prepared especially for your group by a professional real estate appraiser, for a fee.
(Appraisers are real estate evaluation experts
who determine the current market value of
properties by comparing the features andfinal sale price of other similar properties
sold in the same area.) A comparable sales
study will probably cost more than the usual

108 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

kind of appraisal (which determines the current market value of a specific property), but
if you can afford it, this analysis will offer
valuable insight into current property values
in the area.
Most counties and municipalities have a zoning map of the county or municipality whichshows how each area is zoned (meaning whatkinds of development can take place withinthose areas), whether such zoning might bechanged, and how to go about doing so. You canalso look up tax maps, which show the boundaries of every property in the county or city.
Through the tax numbers of each property, you
can also get the names and contact informationfor each property owner.
Study your marketing data. By examining the
tax records and zoning designations for various
areas, and by driving around and looking at properties, you’ll learn promising areas to consider
within your chosen location. You’ll also get an
idea of the average cost per acre or per square footin these areas, and which factors in these areas
may be most significant in determining price —for example, the size of the property, location andzoning, views, access to water, type of soil, trees,and proximity to major roads. You’ll learn which
are the most desirable properties for your purposes, how they’re zoned, and who owns them.
By continuing to add information to your comparable sales study, Bob says, you will eventually
come to know more than the local professionals
themselves about what’s going on in the area during
the time of your search. (You’ll also have back-up
material to support your proposal to lenders,appraisers, and sellers when you make an offer.)“A well-informed negotiator — knowing
whether any given piece of property is priced too
high, too low, or at the going market rate — cansave you thousands, even tens of thousands ofdollars when you buy at the low end of the value
range,” Bob says. “Not to mention that you cansave more when you are informed enough tonegotiate your price and an owner-financed loan
under your terms.”
Conducting the Search — On Your Own
or with a Real Estate Agent

Besides the obvious places to look for properties
such as local newspapers, free real estate publications, “For Sale” signs, and any local for-sale-byowner organizations, be sure to do what developers and real estate agents do —scour every road inyour desired location by car. Correlate the mapwith addresses you see on mailboxes. Get out of
the car, climb on top of it if need be, or bring a ladder to stand on so you can see better or get a senseof a property’s view. Ask neighbors about various
properties that seem interesting. “Do you know
how large it is?” “Does it go all the way to thatfence over there?”“Do you know who owns it?”At city hall or the county courthouse, checkon various properties; find out when they lastsold, and how much they sold for. This is timeconsuming work, but it does give you expertiseon property in that area, and puts you on a nearequal footing with developers, who know theland as well or better.
Like Dancing Rabbit and Sowing
Circle/OAEC, you might write letters or callowners of properties that interest you, or theowners of properties next door to those thatinterest you, if you can’t find the current owner.
You might say something like,“May I speak withyou? You have a beautiful farm/homestead/pieceof property here. We’re seeking something likethis for our group of families to farm/groworganic vegetables/build passive-solar houses (orwhatever it is you’d like to do). Do you know of

FINDING THE RIGHT PROPERTY 109

any other farms/homesteads/properties like thisin the (whatever general area you’re looking in),where the owners might consider selling to agroup like us?” This kind of approach can open
the door for property owners to invite you in,show you around, and possibly consider sellingto you themselves. But maybe not. While you’llmeet some nice people this way, and learn a lot
more about the county, also be prepared to experience some cool or angry dismissals. Don’t bediscouraged; just keep going.
Like Dancing Rabbit, you may find property
with an absentee owner. “Say, do you know who
takes care of that property over there?” you mightask some neighbors. Or, “Do you happen to
know how I might be able to contact the owner?”Once you’ve found a few likely properties,
it’s time to start researching them a bit morethoroughly.
Investigating Likely Properties

With or without the help of real estate agents,
let’s say you’ve found several likely properties
that meet most of your criteria. Just because aproperty looks good doesn’t mean it will be suitable over the long run, so you must do further
research, primarily involving water issues (if it’srural land), potential dangers to the land fromnatural causes or other people’s plans, zoning
and land-use issues, neighbor issues, and financing options for that particular property.
For properties you’re seriously considering,
make sure you get an Owner’s DisclosureStatement (now required by many states), or asimilar list, showing any problems with appliances, wiring systems, structural aspects, environmental factors, or legal issues that could
affect the property.
Most experienced real estate buyers do a preliminary feasibility study like this on every prop-

erty that fits their criteria, narrow them down to
the most promising properties, and pick one that
seems like the best choice, given the information
they uncover. I suggest you do the same. Hereare some issues to look into in order to narrow
your search. Gathering this information can also
help you negotiate a price with the seller.
Zoning. What activities, and what population
density, are allowed on this property by local
zoning regulations? What is the likelihood ofgetting a zoning variance, special use permit, orother kind of exception, and what might it cost?
This is such a significant issue we take it up morethoroughly in Chapter 11.
Water. If it’s rural property, is there enoughwater for your purposes? What are county regulations regarding the amount of available water
relative to the number of houses you plan to haveand the number of people who will live there?
Are any springs, streams, or ponds year-round?
What’s their water quality? Have weather patterns been changing in the area? Have creeks
been drying up? Have wells been running dry?
You could talk to neighbors in the area and local
well drillers, or pay a local well driller or a dowser to assess in a general way where they thinkground water would most likely be, in case you’ll
need to dig any future wells. Does your development fund have money for drilling wells andinstalling pumps? Are roof water catchmentsallowed in this area? Does the county healthdepartment have rules about it? What would it
cost to bring in piped water?
Roads. If it’s rural property and you’ll need tobuild your own roads, are there likely places forroads, or does it have too many steep slopes? Whatwould be the likely costs for building gravel roads

110 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHERZONING AND THE GENERAL PLAN
Contrary to popular belief about individual property
rights, county, town, and city governments have broad
legal powers to regulate the use of all land within theirboundaries in order to protect local residents frompotential health and safety impacts of new developments. Local governments regulate land use primarily
through a General Plan and through zoning regulations.
A General Plan is a document which creates animage of what the local area will be like in the foreseeable future. It describes policies and goals, and designates what land uses, population densities, andpublic facilities will be permitted or encouraged ineach area.
Zoning regulations enforce the General Plan’s landuse policies and goals by dividing the county ormunicipality into various use districts, such as rural,rural-residential, residential, commercial, industrial,
and agricultural. Zoning primarily regulates density(the number of residents allowed per acre), building
mass, setback from property boundaries, and parking.
Subdivision ordinances of the state, county, or city
are a separate set of codes from the normal zoning
regulations. Property owners wanting to subdivide
property into smaller parcels and sell some or all ofthem must meet the conditions of the subdivision
ordinances, which usually require specific setbacks,(which must be redone every five to seven years),or much more expensive asphalt roads?
Utilities. If it’s rural property, do telephone lines
or power come that far? If not, what would it
cost to bring them to your property? Whatwould it cost to dig a well? How much power
would you need to operate a pump? Is the site
appropriate for generating your own power
through micro-hydro, wind, or sun (or somecombination)? If it’s semi-rural or suburban

building size and dimension restrictions, density, andspecific kinds of improvements such as roads, utilities,
and so on.
Many local governments offer various levels andtypes of exceptions or changes to zoning regulations.
These include rezoning, zoning variances, conditionaluse permits or special use permits, non-conforming
use permits, and other kinds of exceptions. These
must be specially applied for and approved by planning departments, city councils, planning commissions or county boards of supervisors. Exceptions are
granted if the new development meets certain special
requirements, helps the county or municipality meetthe goals of its General Plan, or offers certain benefits
to the area such as additional parking, preserved open
space, a protected wildlife corridor, and so on.
Sometimes exceptions to zoning regulations are
granted directly by local officials, but they usually
involve a public hearing, where potential neighbors to
the proposed development are invited to express
their support for or concerns about it. Since the officials making the decision are elected, the neighbors,as potential voters, have a great deal of clout. They canmake or break a community’s proposed development
project and affect whether or not the founders will
pursue buying a particular parcel.

property, what would be the cost to hook up to
power, gas, and sewer lines? Having utilities
readily available to a site or having to extend lines
to your property or create them yourselves canmake an enormous difference in the amount ofmoney you must put aside for land development.
Septic systems. If it’s rural property, what arecounty health department requirements about
septic systems and the amount of people living on
the land (usually based on your expected number

FINDING THE RIGHT PROPERTY 111

of bedrooms)? How well does any current septic
system work? Does the soil perc well enough for
additional leach fields if you’ll need them? You
could pay a soils consultant to walk the property
and give a visual assessment of likely percability,
and likely places for leach fields, and estimatedcosts. Or you could pay for perc testing before
buying the property to find this out.
State of existing buildings. Most professional
inspections take place during the closing period.
However, if you’re seriously considering a property with buildings, you can always arrange foran earlier inspection, to find out if there are any
potential repair costs that would be so prohibitive as to lower your offer, or change your mind
about the property entirely. What would it costto repair or replace any foundations, roofs, orwood damaged by termites or dry rot? Does any
plumbing need to be replaced? Do any buildings
need rewiring? Are there problems with radon?
(And while we’re at it, do dowsers find any problems with geopathic zones? Can they be mitigated? And, going further out on a limb, is the place
haunted? And if so, can you get it cleansed?)
Building codes. What kinds of building construction is allowed in this county or city? Could
you build the kinds of buildings you want on theproperty? (See Chapter 13.)
Possible future problems. What might be any
potential dangers in the area? Have there been
floods? Where would flood waters flow on thisproperty, and what might be damaged? Wouldfloodwaters flow where you’d ideally like to build?
Are there fire hazards, such as dry brush downhill and downwind from structures? Are there
any ponds that would be dangerous for smallchildren? Any marshy areas or ponds that breed

mosquitoes? What has the property been used
for in the past? Have hazardous waste materials
been dumped there? Should it be tested for environmental contaminants? What would be thecost? Does the property have sensitive wetlands,
or is it home to an endangered species that must
be protected at the buyer’s expense? Is the property downwind or downstream from cattle ranches, pig farms, or poultry operations with manurepolluting the watershed, or from manufacturing
plants or commercial agriculture fields with toxic
outputs? What future development is planned
for the area, or for next door? If it’s rural property in a western, open-range state, how much
would you need to spend to fence your neighbors’
livestock out? (And if it’s property in a wilderness
area traditionally used by hunters, will you continue to let them hunt on your property? If you
don’t want hunting, is there any safe way to prevent it? Could you afford to fence hunters out?)
Possible legal issues. Must any legal hurdles becleared before the property can be purchased? For
example, is it owned in trust by a family, where allmembers must agree to sell it? Is it owned by anon-profit with internal agreements that it can
only be sold to another non-profit? Is it part of alarger development project whose owners are
placing design or other constraints on whomever
develops it? Will any of this require negotiation
with lawyers, and if so, what will it cost?
Neighbors. What would your neighbors be like?
Are they progressive, “alternative,” politically or
religiously conservative? Would they welcome agroup of families or households moving next door?
If they heard the term “intentional community,”
would they feel apprehensive? Would they assume“hippie commie cult?” What is their lifestyle? Arethey into loud parties, drinking, or drugs, and if it’s112 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

a rural area, noisy trucks, barking dogs, hunting, or
shotguns? What structures or activities can you
see and hear from your property, and what structures or activities of yours would they be able tosee and hear from theirs? (See Chapter 11.)Amount of offer. What’s a realistic offer to makeon this property? Once they’ve found a promising property, some groups pay for an appraisal ofthat property to get a realistic sense of its current
market value. If you’ve done your homework,with all the marketing data you’ve collected thismay not be necessary.
Financing. If you’re not paying the full sale pricewith the group’s assets, can you arrange private
financing, owner-financing, or bank financing
for this property? (See Chapter 12 for more on
financing.)
Taking Property Off the Market WhileYou Do Further Research

After researching the most promising properties
and comparing the results, experienced realestate buyers pick one that seems to be the best
choice. The prospective buyer takes the property
off the market in one of two ways; either by making an “offer to purchase” with contingencies inthe sales contract allowing one to three months(or more) to conduct a more detailed feasibility
study, or by offering to purchase the property
using an “option to purchase.”
If the prospective buyer chooses an “offer topurchase” and during the contingency time discovers that the property doesn’t satisfy the contingencies, the contract can be voided and the saledoesn’t go through. The prospective buyer loses
no money, and tries again with the next mostpromising property, if it’s still on the market.

Making an Offer with Contingencies

Let’s say your group chooses a likely property andyou decide to make an offer with contingencies.
How much to offer depends on what you learned
from your research of current local property values, how desirable this property is to you, thecondition of the property, your guess as to needs
and circumstances of the seller, and how muchmoney you have to spend on this property to do
any repairs, renovations, or further development.
Your offer proposes your sales price, amountof down payment and other financing terms, thedate of closing, and all terms of the contract andcontingencies of the sale. It may be accompanied
by a check for a certain amount of “earnest
money,” usually a nominal amount that is negotiated between you and the seller, usually ranging
from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars.
“Never give more than you are willing to walkaway from and write off,” advises Bob Watzke.
The contract states that your group will buy theproperty dependant on your finding out and/or
accomplishing certain things during the contingency period. This permits you, the buyer, to makesure the property is appropriate for your needs.
The seller may accept or reject your group’s
offer or make a counter offer. You can agree tobuy the property at this new price, or make a second offer. After you and the buyer have negotiated the price and terms, you sign a sales contract,which (unless the seller doesn’t agree) takes theproperty off the market for the agreed-upon contingency period.
Although contingencies are specific to aparticular buyer and a specific property, a typical printed sales contract form (depending on
the state) offers check boxes for many of the following items. Whichever items the buyer
checks off (or writes into the contract) must be

FINDING THE RIGHT PROPERTY 113

accomplished or learned to the buyer’s satisfaction in order for the deal to go through:1. The buyer’s ability to secure financing.
2. A property inspection, if called for by thebuyer, who pays for it.
3. A boundary survey, which, if the seller
doesn’t already have, the buyer pays for.
4. Determining any easements, liens or unpaid
taxes that exsist, usually taken care of by thetitle company or real estate lawyer.
5. Tests for radon and hazardous wastes, if
called for by the buyer, who pays for it.
6. The status of any mineral leases previously
placed on the land, which the seller must divulge,
as these constitute an encumbrance on the title(a limitation of rights to use the property).
7. Additional pieces of information or concerns
which the buyer must know and be satisfied
about in order to buy the property. For example, if you’re subdividing the property into
smaller, separate units that members will
own individually, one of these write-in contingencies should be having your subdivision
map approved by local planning officials. If
this involves having a request for a zoning
variance approved, that must be a written
contingency as well.
Assuming all your contingencies are met, the salecloses. (If contingencies are met but you change
your minds about buying the property and refuse
to close, you may either forfeit the earnest money
and/or face additional claims for damages.)
Offering an Option

Let’s say you plan a large community with manymembers living on a large or otherwise expensive
property, and so much money is at stake you’d
like a longer time to research it. Or let’s say you’ll
need a special use permit or zoning variance tobuild what you want on a particular property,

and/or you plan to subdivide your land so thatmembers will have deeds to their own lots, andyou need more time to learn whether you can get
the use permit or the variance or if your proposed plat map will be accepted. Either because
so much money is potentially at stake, or it’s notcertain that you’ll get the use permit or the variance, you may decide to take the property off themarket for a longer period so you can researchthese issues by making an offer in the form of an“option to purchase.” This means you pay anegotiated amount of option money for the
exclusive right to purchase the property at anagreed-upon price during an agreed-upon periodof time, such as six months to a year or more.
This gives you additional time to conduct yourfeasibility study. If your group decides the property won’t work for your purposes, you forfeit theoption money. If you decide to buy it, or “exercise
the option,” the option money may or may not beapplied to the purchase price, depending on
what you or the seller negotiated.
The money you pay to learn whether a property is right for you — the option fee and any
costs for permits, fees, and professional surveys
or reports — is high risk. If you don’t buy thatparticular property you won’t recover it. You’ll
need to consider these funds part of the cost of
conducting a property search and be willing towalk away from the fee if necessary.
You, your attorney, or a real estate broker
may draft an option. There are standard printed
forms for them too.



Two of the most crucial challenges for community founders are resolving any zoning issues andsecuring financing. We’ll examine these in
Chapters 11 and 12.

 Chapter 11
Neighbors and ZoningI

N 1998, DOZENS OF PEOPLE from around theof maple trees for making maple syrup, lovely
meadows, and a hill with south-facing slopes,
and best of all, a jaw-dropping view.
They had intended to have about 20 groupmembers before they bought property, but at
this point only eight were willing to commit, sothey forged ahead with a much smaller group,
spending the next year in the land-purchaseprocess.
The asking price was $250,000. They raised$130,000 from their own contributions (in$5,000 and $10,000 increments, with one family
putting in the lion’s share), and knew they’d needto get a bank loan as well, using their combined
borrowing power. With the loan and their cash,
they would make a down payment, bring in utilities, build their community building, buy
mobile homes as temporary housing, and start
their software testing business, keeping enoughcash in reserve to make mortgage payments until
their business took off.
They created a Limited Liability Partnershipto own the property, and put down a $10,000
option to take it off the market for a year. They
spent another $10,000 researching the property,
getting surveys and various soil, water, and othertests, and acquiring a state septic system permit

county began meeting on the Internet in
response to Luc Reid’s call for cofounders of an
income-sharing community in rural New
England. After figuring out a way to do theFormal Consensus process online, and meeting
every few months to get to know each other andmake more significant decisions in person, thegroup deputized two of their members to findproperty in Vermont. They wanted at least 125
acres near a town with attractive culture and ahealthy economy. The property needed goodsouthern exposure for passive solar buildings,
accessibility to roads and utilities, possibly
enough water for micro-hydro power, woods toramble in, and areas where they could keep livestock, do some organic farming, and operatecommunity businesses. They decided to calltheir community “Meadowdance.”

How Zoning Issues can Impact
Community Plans

In 1999, the Meadowdance group found 165
acres of raw land with almost everything theywanted, just outside a progressive college town in
Vermont. The property had woods, an old apple
orchard and plenty of berry bushes, a large stand114

NEIGHBORS AND ZONING 115

and an Act 250 permit (a Vermont requirementthat addresses a new development’s potential
economic, ecological, and social impacts). Their
next step was to apply for a conditional use permit for a Planned Residential Development(PRD).
They had also spent some time designing
their large three-story community building —which they considered central to their functioning as an income-sharing community — withapartments, office and other business space,recreational space, a large kitchen and dining
room for community meals, and rooms for learning, the arts, and music.
And, since Meadowdance wasn’t hiding theirplans, when a local newspaper approached themto do a series of articles, they agreed. They later
wished they hadn’t though, since each of thethree articles contained serious inaccuracies, andrepeatedly referred to the group as a “commune.”At their first public hearing some neighbors
didn’t want them to get a conditional use permit,
saying that the group’s large community building
would negatively impact their view. One of theplanning commissioners also objected to thebuilding’s high profile on the hill. Concerns werealso expressed about the amount of traffic that
their project might generate. So over the next
few months group members visited with andheard the concerns and ideas of as many potential neighbors as possible, and shared their vision
for Meadowdance. They redesigned their community building to have a lower profile and sit
lower down on the slope, and showed theirredesigned plan to neighbors and the planningdepartment, as well as giving specific assurancesof their anticipated impact on local traffic. By thetime of the second public hearing they had garnered so much public support that the chairmanof the planning department commission

declared his enthusiasm for the project, andprominent local citizens stood up to speak infavor of it.
But another member of the planning commission now raised objections to the building’s
multiple functions. “To approve the conditionaluse permit,” Luc says,“she required us to hack up
our community building into three separatebuildings, and accept stringent limitations onwhat could go on in any given building.” The
group was stunned; these requirements were
unusual. Traditionally, the planning commission
could either grant a conditional use permit ornot, but they didn’t actually have jurisdiction
about what activities might take place in its
buildings.
Over the next few weeks the Meadowdancegroup considered their options. By this timethey really liked the location and had fallen inlove with this particular property. They had
conducted an enormous amount of research onit, invested $20,000 in the option and permitting
process, and figured out how they could swing
the purchase and create temporary housing forthemselves.
It came down to having three choices. First,
they could agree to the restrictions, and chop up
their community building. Not only would thiscost significantly more, it would disrupt the flowof social and economic connections and community “glue,” which, because they understood therelationship between architecture and humaninteraction, they had painstakingly designed into
the building. Second, they could appeal, andwould probably win, given that this commissioner offered the only opposition, and she didn’t
have a substantial case. Third, they could justwalk away from the property.
After much discussion, they decided on thethird option.“We didn’t want to fight the town,”

116 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

said Luc. While the commissioner was alone inher objection, the other commissioners weren’t
particularly outraged by it, and seemed to accept
her new conditions. It was as if the town,
through one if its officials, had said “No.” Even if
the founders could win an appeal, they didn’t
want to begin their community life on such anegative basis. So they walked away, leaving theirinvestment of money and time, and their heartfelt connection to the property.
As an interim measure they bought a large
house in another Vermont town, moved in, andkicked off their community businesses there.
(“We later realized how hard it would have been
to develop the property and start new community businesses,” says Luc.) At this writing, several years later, Meadowdance has found andbought an even better property, and are willingto try again.
Zoning Issues and Your Property

The General Plan and zoning regulations of acounty or municipality are aimed at regulating
new development, and most intentional communities fall into that category. Therefore, the same
regulations designed to limit the excesses of largecommercial developers also limit what community founders can do. Zoning regulations cancover building size and impact on the landscape,as we’ve seen with Meadowdance, but most affectcommunities in terms of density and house clustering. And while increasing numbers of counties and municipalities now allow clustereddevelopment, the total number of houses usually must not exceed density requirements. If a
core group of 20, for example, wanted to buy 200
acres in an area that allowed clustered development but was zoned for one house per 40 acres,
the group could cluster no more than five houses on the property. Building more would require

getting a zoning variance, a conditional use permit, or some other kind of zoning exception.
Density is usually the central zoning challenge for community founders, since the greater
the number of members they can spread theircosts between, the more likely they’ll be able toafford to buy their property and develop theircommunity. (Communities founded in the
1970s and ’80s didn’t jump through these hoops
because many more counties had few or no zoning regulations then. Ma and Pa counterculture
could just buy an old farm and move in.)As mentioned earlier, in the progressive areas
where you’d think it would be easier to buy land
for a community, it’s often worse. Many city
planners in environmentally aware areas such as
Boulder or Amherst are already advocates of sustainable development, and would love to see
more clustered development with open space,shared housing, passive solar design, pedestrian
pathways, and so on. Appalled by the urban
sprawl and acres of parking lots, environmentally oriented citizens in such areas often elect officials who promise to enact and enforce stringent“no growth” or “slow growth” policies. While
such policies effectively restrict commercial
developers from churning out more housing subdivisions or strip malls, the same policies also
stop community founders from creating the verykinds of sustainable developments local planners
and officials would most like to see.
One practical way to deal with zoning regulations is to do as Dancing Rabbit did and shop
for counties that have little to no zoning andbypass the issue altogether. But, as we’ve seen,
this can decrease the likelihood of members’
finding local jobs, setting up the new challenge of
how members in such a low-population area
might make a living. Another way is to buy property that’s already zoned for your planned use

NEIGHBORS AND ZONING 117

WHAT IGNORING ZONING CAN COST YOU
In the 1990s a group of seven founders planning a spiritual community I’ll call Ponderosa Village bought 210
acres in the high desert of Colorado. They tried to getapproval for higher density than five houses, since their
particular parcel had enough water for 15 houses. Afterbeing refused, the founders considered subdividing
their property into six 35-acre triangular parcels that all
met in the center like the slices of a pie, then buildinga large house on each parcel around the center where
the parcels met. They would use one as a common
house, and, after the building inspectors went home,they’d remodel five of the houses into triplexes. Whilethey toyed with this idea for awhile, they didn’t end up
doing it, since they really didn’t want to break the law.
They eventually disbanded as a forming-community
group and subdivided the parcel into six rectangularlots which they sold to others.
What happens when a property owner violates zoning regulations or building codes? Nothing —unlesstheir violations are visible from the road, or if a neighborturns them in. Counties and municipalities don’t have theand density. While some cohousing groups andurban communities like Mariposa Grove havedone this, it’s not a likely scenario for your community if you’re seeking rural or semi-rural land,since you’re probably planning a higher density
than such properties are normally zoned for. It’s
more than likely your group will be dealing with
non-ideal zoning. Some things to keep in mind:
1. Often the goals and policies of a General Plan
don’t match the current zoning map. Newly
enacted zoning regulations may not be distributed, understood, or implemented yet, or
local officials may not agree on them.

manpower to scour every back road and drive onto
every property to enforce zoning and building code
compliance. But they’re duty-bound to respond to aneighbor’s complaint, since the person lodging thecomplaint is most likely a voter and public officials must
respond if they want to be re-elected. If Ponderosa
Village had gone ahead with their idea they would havebeen vulnerable to any neighbor over the years blowing
the whistle on the secret triplexes in each house.
A well-known story in the communities movement
concerns Morningstar Ranch, a famous commune
north of San Francisco in the 1970s, where a hundredor so residents lived in tents, tipis, and tar-paper
shanties. Their over-the-top density and substandard
housing worked for awhile, but after a neighbor complained the county gave notice that the buildings must
be dismantled and the excessive population must
disperse. When Morningstar Ranch refused, early one
morning county workers rumbled out to the property
in bulldozers, and as everyone watched, smashedinto rubble every one of their illegal homes.

Experienced real estate investors advise buyers
not to believe anything they read in a General
Plan or see on a zoning map, but get an official
opinion about a property’s zoning from local
planning or elected officials before buying theproperty. Keep in mind too, that different
public officials can interpret their documents
differently, and in all sincerity may tell you
completely different things. To protect yourselves later, get their opinions in writing.
2. You can research the history of a property at
the County Courthouse or City Hall to see if
it had a previous use permit that allowed
more density than is currently allowed.

118 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

Sometimes a prior use carries weight withcurrent officials. Would it have more density
if it were an educational center? Was permission ever given for a subdivision? Was it everzoned agricultural, and hence now be permitted additional people if they were agricultural workers? (And would organic gardeners
qualify as agricultural workers?)
3. You can sometimes buy property with an
expired conditional use permit, or one thecounty decided to discontinue, and work to
get it reinstated.
Gambling with Former Use Permits

In the more liberal zoning atmosphere of the
1970s, the Farallones Institute secured an educational use permit allowing up to 50 permanent
residents and up to 150 at a time for workshops
and classes. When Sowing Circle/OAEC
founders researched the property local officials
said the permit would remain in effect for only
three more years to give the county time to decide
whether or not the new owners’ use would warrant continuing the permit. The founders thought
this was a reasonable gamble because theyplanned on hosting the same kinds of educational
events the previous owners had, and they bought
the property without knowing the outcome.
Three years later the officials lowered the density
to 26 permanent residents, with up to 50 allowed
for courses and workshops, but granted the use
permanently as what’s called a “nonconforminguse.” (A nonconforming use is one the county orcity allows as an exception to the rest of the zoning in an area, because it was established before
current zoning use for that area took effect.)
Sometimes, hiring professionals such as a
private land-use planner and/or real estatelawyer can make all the difference in keeping or
restoring a use permit that’s in question.

One of the first things Kenneth Mahaffeyand Dianne Brause did before buying the Lost
Valley property was to research the status of its
former conditional use permit (called a “special
use permit” in their county) to see if it could be
re-established as a nonconforming use. They
intended Lost Valley to be a community of 20 orso, with hundreds of conference and workshop
participants yearly. They had learned that in theearly 1970s, the previous owners received an
extremely liberal conditional use permit for
hosting public events — up to 50 full-time residents and up to 3,000 visitors over a year’s period, as well as permission to build 25 buildings.
While conditional use permits are usuallyattached to the property deed and follow fromowner to owner, in this case its was discontinued
because the former owners lost title when theproperty was seized by the IRS. The county had
certain requirements for use permits to remain
valid, including that there should be no gap
between owners for longer than 12 months, andthe property’s density had reverted to the county
standard — one household on a parcel that size,or up to five unrelated adults if they were doingreforestation.
Kenneth and Dianne learned that everyone
who had wanted to buy the property before
them had failed to secure the continuation of
the conditional use permit. But as an experienced real estate investor, Kenneth knew you
could sometimes challenge a county in zoning
matters, and prove that a permit should be reinstated. So, even though buying the property
with no certainty about the use permit was anenormous gamble, they did it anyway.
(Experienced founders do not recommend this,since your group could be stuck with an expensive property you can’t use. Kenneth andDianne’s back-up plan, in case they didn’t get

NEIGHBORS AND ZONING 119

the permit, was for Kenneth to use the property
as a family home.)
The two hired as their advocates a private
land-use planner who’d formerly been employedby the county planning department, and a realestate lawyer familiar with the property. Neither
had ever lost a case, and said they weren’t planning to lose this one. The advocates said that,probably in three of four months, the county
would cite them for having too many people. To
prepare for it, they offered the following advice:
1. Don’t ask the county directly if they’re awareof the expired use permit, but test theirknowledge of it by requesting somethingsmall and innocuous instead. This they did,asking if they could put a mobile home on
the land, and learned that the county was
indeed aware of the issue.
2. Don’t approach the county asking for a nonconforming use, since the burden of proof
would then be on Lost Valley to demonstratethat the county’s ordinance about therequired year of continuous use was invalid.
3. Wait for the county to approach the community, which meant the county would have theburden of proof to demonstrate that no similar-use activities had occurred during the 13
months between owners.
4. Lost Valley must gather documents todemonstrate to the county that the community’s intended educational uses of the property would be similar enough to the previous
owners’ to match the terms of the former
conditional use permit, and that those samekinds of uses had occurred on the property inthe 13-month period between their ownership and the former owners’. Fortunately, theproperty’s caretakers had hosted a Greens
meeting, a men’s sweat lodge, and several

other minor events on the land which could
be construed as public events.
5. Be as open and public as possible about theirconference center plans and activities, since,
after all, this demonstrated they were continuing to host events that benefited others andinvolved guests on the land, just as the previous owners had.
This is just what they did, holding large public conferences, workshops, and classes, as well as
opening a youth hostel. They always made sure
to collect and pay the county’s required room tax
on overnight guests. The county accepted theirtax payments — a tacit implication of approval
the group could use in their documentation. A
year after they’d arrived there was wave of local
media coverage of their activities, which also
served to publicly document their use of theproperty for educational and public activities.
Finally, two years after the land purchase, thecounty contacted them, and nine months later,
after reviewing Lost Valley’s excellent records ofthe former caretakers’ public events and theirown public events, the county granted themnonconforming use status. Up to 35 families or
160 people total could live there year-round,with up to 3,000 total visitors over a year, andthey could build more buildings. The gamble
had paid off.
Seeking a Zoning Exception

If your group finds property that looks promising but doesn’t allow as much density as you
want, you’ll need to apply for a zoning varianceor conditional use permit (depending on theterms used in the area). If your community plansinclude a retreat center, guest facilities, a healing
center, or other type of service facility, you’ll need
to apply for a conditional use permit, unless the120 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

property you’re considering already has one. And
if you’re planning to buy land and subdivide it sothat members will hold title to their individuallots or housing units, you’ll need to comply withthe state, county, or city’s subdivision ordinances,including approval of a plat map for your proposed development, and assurance that you’llbuild all the required roads, etc. Depending on
the location, any of these will most likely requirea year-long process costing $10,000 to $20,000
or more in permit fees, tests, surveys, and consultants (and probably far more for a subdivision), and involve at least one public hearing.
And you won’t know until the end of the process
whether your application will be approved. Like
Meadowdance founders, you may want to consider funds like this “the cost of doing business,”and be willing to walk away from it if the property doesn’t work out.
Depending on the state and the area, applying for a conditional use or noncomforming use
permit, and possibly getting permission to subdivide, can require various tests and permits. These
can include one or more of the following:
1. An archaeological survey to make sure thebuilding and development sites don’t contain
artifacts.
2. A traffic study to determine the impact ofincreased traffic on access roads.
3. A test well or wells to find out if there would
be enough water for the proposed project.
4. A septic and soils survey to discover whether
the property’s soils are compatible with largescale septic systems.
5. An Environmental Impact Report to determine the effects of the proposed use on
wildlife, wetlands, or forests.
6. A study to find out whether road width,
grades, surfacing, and water storage would
meet fire codes.

7. A report by the local building department
about whether the property’s existing buildings meet health and safety standards.
As we’ve seen, county officials and neighbors
tend to consider use permit applications morefavorably when the property was previously used
to serve the public. “It’s becoming increasingly
difficult to develop a public facility from scratch
on property with no public use history or zoning,” observes Stephen Brown, cofounder ofShenoa Retreat and Conference Center in
California.
The specific process of getting approval forand subdividing your property is considerably
more complex and expensive than simply getting
a zoning variance or a use permit. As such, it’s
beyond the scope of this book, but there areplenty of resources for communities seeking to
subdivide.
Your first step in any of these scenarios is towrite up an outline of what you have in mind.
Visit with an official in the planning department, a planning commissioner, or county supervisor, or if the property is in a municipality, a city
council member, to see whether your proposed
exception is likely to be accepted. Ask theiradvice for how you can adjust your proposal tohelp meet the goals of the General Plan, and forthe names of any other local experts you might
consult. Meeting as many zoning officials as you
can and seeking their advice far in advance ofyour public hearing is, along with meeting theneighbors, the best thing you can do to influence
a positive outcome. At the public hearing you
won’t be an unknown group out of the blue, but
one whose interests and goals are familiar tothem, and whose members have already demonstrated respect for their authority and for thegoals of their General Plan. They might just

NEIGHBORS AND ZONING 121

become the best allies your project could have.
(With one exception — if the change you’reseeking would actually change the zoning law
itself, in many states you’re not allowed to meetwith any officials beforehand.)
Negotiating for What You Want

You can negotiate with the county to try to getwhat you want. In 1991, when Sharingwood
community in Snohomish, Washington decided
to become a cohousing community, they wanted
a narrow pedestrian pathway to connect theirgroup of homes and encircle their central commons. The community had legally transformed
their form of private and shared land ownershipto that of a condominium association, and when
they applied for a building permit to build theircommon house, the county said their new status
required that they couldn’t have a pedestrian
pathway but must build a regular city street withplenty of room for parking. Sharingwood members negotiated, saying it would alter their community’s safe and friendly atmosphere to have awide street circling through it. So to get a narrower road they offered the county two concessions — they’d forbid street parking (visitors
would park in a nearby field), and they’d allow
speeds no higher than five miles per hour. The
county agreed, and shaved four feet of width off
the road requirement. Now Sharingwood has arather thin asphalt road with three large speed
bumps, which is used as a footpath, children’s
play area, everyone’s basketball court, and veryslow-driving car access for members. It’s not apedestrian pathway, but it’s close.
You can also negotiate a variance, conditional use permit, or other kind of zoning exception
by considering what you can offer in return,based on the policies and goals of the General
Plan. Does it call for clustered housing, open

space, or what it defines as “sustainable development?” Tell the officials how your community’splanned development will do this, and use theirterms, even their phrasing, from the General
Plan. If your property is in an urban area, canyou offer public parking, public open space,creekside access, or extension of any urban trails
or bike paths? If it’s rural, do you have a wildlife
biologist willing to testify as to how your plan
will protect a wildlife corridor? Can you protect
an endangered wilderness, wetland, or species
habitat, or preserve open space and views, or
keep an area permanently devoted to agriculture?
One legal device which allows you to do this is aconservation easement, which is an irrevocable
use restriction attached to the deed and bindingon all future owners. Another is a declaration of
restriction, a use restriction which does the same
but is revocable. (Some counties give propertytax reductions in exchange for conservation easements that help land fit into their General Plan.)
When Sowing Circle/OAEC founders werenegotiating to preserve the high density of theirproperty’s educational use permit, they put their
two locally famous hillside gardens into anorganic easement, so that they and any future
owners must keep the gardens organic forever.
(See Chapter 16.)
Again, hiring a private land-use planner
and/or real estate lawyer to help, as Lost Valley
did, can be invaluable.
James Hamilton, cohousing resident andproject manager of Stone Curves cohousing in
Tucson, advises founders to remind local elected
officials that members of an intentional community put so much time, energy, and heart intodeveloping their project that they’re likely to live
there for many years and invest themselves in theneighborhood. This is highly desirable to elected
officials, since, in our highly mobile society, in122 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

each election many people who once voted forthese officials have moved away and the candidates must woo new voters.
Zoning Exceptions, Neighbors, andPublic Hearings

Because the concerns of neighbors will most
likely affect how local officials may respond to
your request, you’ll probably need to seek outneighbors, as the Meadowdance group did: listen to their concerns, and make a good-faitheffort to gather all reasonable information toanswer their questions, and even modify yourplans, if possible.
Not all founders have known this. In theearly 1990s, a group of meditators in northern
California wanted to offer meditation retreats totheir fellow meditators in the wider area. The
group, which I’ll call Valley Oaks Sangha,bought a five-acre rural property and renovatedthe house to accommodate retreat participants.
They didn’t seek the required conditional use
permit for their periodic high-density use
because they were afraid they might be turned
down. So to call the least amount of attention tothemselves, they interacted as little as possible
with neighbors. Soon they realized they needed
to build more dorm facilities, which required abuilding permit, which in turn required seeking
approval for a conditional use permit and a public hearing. Again, to protect themselves frompossible objections, community members said
nothing to neighbors about their plans and weresilent about the upcoming public hearing. At thehearing the county supervisors were quite willingto grant the conditional use permit and overlook
past infractions, but not the neighbors, who hadturned out in force. Although they would have
had little objection to the use permit originally,
they now vehemently opposed it, resenting thecommunity for being so secretive and unfriendly,
and for trying to slip the public hearing pastthem unnoticed. The supervisors bowed to public opinion and rejected the use permit. (Valley
Oaks Sangha later established another center
elsewhere.)
A similar fate befell a community I’ll callHigh Mountain Meadow, whose founders wanted to establish an educational center for spiritual and environmental practices on a former ranchin the Colorado Rockies. They needed theirrancher neighbor to approve a request for higher
density and clustered housing on one part oftheir property. Although their relationship was
delicate — the ranchers were suspicious of environmentalists, and the founders didn’t like theranchers’ target practice on coyotes and prairie
dogs — they had reached an agreement.
Workshop participants would park in town andcarpool out to the site, drive slowly on the area’s
dirt roads to keep noise and dust to a minimum,and keep their workshops relatively quiet; theranchers wouldn’t shoot off rifles during workshop weekends.
One summer in their second year of operation the founders rented their facilities to agroup that led workshops on spiritual-emotional healing work that involved a lot of “express andrelease” yelling and screaming. While the grouppromised the founders they’d keep the noise of
their workshop to a minimum, they got carried
away, and soon the howls and yowls of longburied childhood wounds went careening down
the mountainside and bouncing off the cliffs.
Three days of what was effective healing work
for workshop participants was nothing but
unearthly caterwauling to the ranchers. So, while
the founders’ conditional use application was
backed by an inspired vision, an enviable cashflow, and a committed group of members, at the

NEIGHBORS AND ZONING 123

zoning hearing the ranchers squashed it flat.
High Mountain Meadow didn’t get their use
permit. (They succeeded with another plan several years later, however. )In 1993, the four young Phoenix-based
founders of a community I’ll call Anasazi
Ecovillage were all set to buy 147 acres of piñon
and sagebrush in a remote county with few
zoning restrictions and no building codes in the
Four Corners area. Their property was near
two towns — a hip tourist destination, and in
the more remote county, an old-time ranching
town. The founders mailed out a flyer describing their plans to friends and acquaintances in
the area, and posted a flyer in each town.
Although the response was overwhelmingly
positive from the tourist town, one county
supervisor and several people from the ranching
town called a meeting to express their alarm
about the project. To them, the flyer’s terms“composting toilets” and “constructed wetlands”
conjured up visions of stench and unsanitaryconditions that would lower their property values. “Ecospiritual” meant the group probably
worshipped rocks and trees. “Ecovillage” meant
they were damned tree-huggers that would try
to shut down the town’s only industry, a plantthat ground up aspen trees to make swamp
cooler filters. At the meeting, the county supervisor said they could bring the group to its
knees financially if the county insisted that thestate’s subdivision law applied to the project.
This would require the founders to widen theiraccess road to standard subdivision width,
which would cost them between $35,000 and$500,000. “I know how we can stop ‘em faster,”vowed an irate rancher. “And I’ll supply the
kerosene!” Unwilling to deal with this level of
prejudice and misinformation, the founders
abandoned their plan.

It doesn’t have to be this way. In 1994 whenfew people had heard of cohousing, the firstpublic hearing for a zoning variance was held forGreyrock Commons Cohousing in Fort Collins,
Colorado. After the core group described thecohousing concept and presented the group’s
proposed site plan, neighbor after neighborstood up and expressed fears about increased
traffic,“big developers” coming in to build houses that would block views of the neighborhood’s
open meadow, and apprehension about a “snooty
close-gated community” ruining the ambiance of
their friendly family neighborhood. The City
Council didn’t grant the zoning variance, butscheduled a second public hearing several
months later to give the Greyrock Commons
founders time to meet with neighbors and see ifthey couldn’t work something out. This theydid, making appointments to visit and sending
representatives door to door to meet their neighbors and listen to their concerns, answer theirquestions, and describe what the founders hadin mind. By the time of their second public hearing, like Meadowdance, they’d won over mostthe neighbors and the City Council granted thevariance.
A year later, after Greyrock Commons had
become a neighborhood which local officials
proudly showed off to visiting dignitaries, an
actual “big developer” in Fort Collins made plansto turn a vacant ten-acre parcel adjacent to riverfront park into a housing subdivision. The
neighbors of the park wanted none of it, and senta delegation to City Hall, saying if a development was going to come into their neighborhoodand block their access to the park and the river,they’d rather it be that new kind of development“like they have over at Greyrock Commons.”
And that’s just what they got. A new core groupformed, and River Rock Commons cohousing124 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHERYOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH NEIGHBORS
Even if you don’t need the support of local residents tochange any zoning, you’ll certainly want their support asneighbors and potential friends. The greater the contrast
between your community culture and theirs — if they’re
farmers, ranchers, or other politically and religiously conservative country folk — the more important this is.
Successful community founders advise giving yourneighbors every opportunity to learn that you’re friendly,
hardworking, and respectful; that you pay your bills; thatyou treat your children well. Ask your neighbors’ advice,find out how you can help them, get them to tell you
about their farm or ranch operation and about local history. Join local civic endeavors — the Volunteer Fire
Department, the Women’s Auxiliary of the VFD, the 4-Hclub, community theater groups, friends of the library, thelocal hospice. Offer to feed and water their livestock andpets when they go on vacation. When they’re planning a
construction project, go over there with carpentry tools.
When they’re going to pour concrete, show up with shovels. Don’t preach to them about organic food or a vegetarian diet or what’s wrong with the government. When theypreach to you, listen graciously. If there’s a fire or otherlocal disaster, they’ll be the best friends you have on Earth.
In 1971, when the founders of The Farm community
near Summertown, Tennessee arrived in a bus caravan fromSan Francisco, their distinctive hippie appearance triggered
alarm and hostility in local residents. So the newcomers
behaved as respectfully and responsibly as possible withneighbors and townspeople, and made sure their checks
were sound and they paid debts promptly. Although community members didn’t smoke tobacco or eat beef, they
helped neighbors bring in a tobacco harvest, and donatedpulp from their soy dairy to help livestock-raising neighbors
get through a rough winter. After a few years Farm members
had earned such a good reputation in the area that rumor
had it you could cash a check anywhere in those parts if
you just wore tie-dye and had long hair.

was built there instead — maybe the first timeever that folks in mainstream America clamoredto have an intentional community move in nextdoor.
If your group needs a zoning variance, conditional use permit, or other kind of exception tozoning regulations before you buy your property, you will also need to meet and listen to yourfuture neighbors. Don’t send your group’s mostserious or businesslike members; send yourwarmest and most engaging. Follow Stephen
Covey’s advice and “Seek first to understand,rather than to be understood.” First ask what theneighbors might want for the field next door
before you lay your community rap on them.
Don’t bombard them with information or scarethem off with environmental or sustainability
jargon. Use the word “community” sparingly if atall, and avoid altogether terms such as “intentional community,” “spiritual,” “sustainable,”“ecospiritual,” or “ecovillage.” It may be far betterto simply say you’re a group of families and individuals who want to make life easier and moreenjoyable by sharing some resources and creating a friendly, wholesome neighborhood where
everyone knows and helps one another, andwhere children and elders are safe again, like inyour grandfather’s day. If you’re environmentallyoriented and have sustainability goals (depending on what you’re planning), you could say you
plan to heat your homes partly by the sun’s heat,or save money by generating your own power
instead of paying a big company for it, or growyour own vegetables like your grandmother did.
How could any old-time rancher, conservative
executive, or Fundamentalist believer object tothat? (But if your group is also into vegan diets,
raw foods, meditation, emotional healing,
shared parenting, cross-breast feeding, shared
love partners, or channeling archangels, aliens,

NEIGHBORS AND ZONING 125

or entities from the Causal Plane — please keep
it to yourself !)Keep in mind that any local media coverage
could be a double-edged sword. A sympathetic
reporter with similar visions and values can help
your case; but if the reporter (or the editor) is
suspicious, ill-informed, or simply prejudiced
against “communes,” an article with snide comparisons or inaccurate information can negatively influence local citizens, future neighbors,
and/or the elected officials who’ll consider yourrequest for a zoning exception. To benefit fromany potential media coverage and mitigate
against the effects of a potential negative spin,
prepare a press release describing what you hope
to do and hand it to any reporter who seeks youout. Keep it short and use your Vision
Statement in the first paragraph. Don’t write aself-congratulatory PR puff piece, but a matterof-fact article in classic newspaper style. (If you
don’t have a group member who knows how towrite newspaper style, hire someone who can dothis for you — it’s money well spent. )When it’s time for your public hearing, be
prepared for the fact that, as in Meadowdance’s
case, some of the deciding officials can be inexplicably for or against a project, or officials whoformerly offered support can suddenly change
their minds for no reason you can fathom. Even
if you’ve done everything you could to stack thedeck in your favor — meeting officials andneighbors beforehand, getting opinions in writing, and hiring a land-use planner — you could
still be turned down. If this happens, remember
that, like Meadowdance, Valley Oaks Sangha,
and High Mountain Meadow, a community canstill follow their dream if the first property theywanted to buy, or the first zoning exception they
tried for, didn’t work out.

In Chapter 12 we’ll look at the many ways you
can finance your community property.

Chapter 12
Financing Your Property(Loans You Can Live With)W

HEN BUYING PROPERTY for a communi-

sonal loans, owner-financing, and bank financing
apply to communities in which the property is
not subdivided and members will not have title
to individual lots or housing units.
(A good resource for financing and developing community property in which members willhold individual title is Chris Hanson’s The
Cohousing Handbook. We’ll touch on this briefly
in “Drawing on the Cohousing Model” later inthis chapter.)ty, it’s clearly more advantageous not toborrow money at all but to pay cash, owe nothing, and be done with it, as Hank Obermeyer
did with Mariposa Grove.
The major disadvantages of borrowing
money to buy property are risking its loss if you
can’t make the payments, and the cost of interest.
Interest is like rent. If you rent an apartment
you’re actually “borrowing” its use from the landlord. If you rent it for $1,000 a month, after ayear you’ve paid $12,000. If you live there 10
years, you’ve paid $120,000. If you borrowmoney you’re “renting” its use for some period oftime, and the interest payments are the rent.
Depending on the interest rate and the length of
payback time, you’ll pay considerably more thanthe purchase price when you include the interest.
You can figure this out in advance by looking up
tables of principal amounts, interest rates, andpayback times in an amortization loan schedulebook, available at office supply stores.
But since few forming-community groups
can afford to buy community property withdonations of cash from personal assets, borrow
we must. In this chapter we’ll look at how per-About “Renting Money” — What You
Should Know

The combined borrowing power of your groupmeans you can theoretically borrow money to
buy your property as well as for a contingency
fund for making payments, development (which
can include repairs, renovations, and new construction), and land development. (Some banks
may discount your borrowing power, reducing itby 10 to 20 percent, because of the inconvenienceof dealing with the net worth statements andcredit reports of a whole group.)
Banks and most owner-financers will want
all group members to sign the loan repayment
guarantee, along with anyone else willing to126

FINANCING YOUR PROPERTY (LOANS YOU CAN LIVE WITH) 127

co-sign, such as family members and friends.
While many people co-signing the loan helps
your group increase its borrowing power, it’s adouble-edged sword. If for some reason you can’t
make the payments for a few months, banks (andmost owner-financers) will repossess your property and sell it to get their money back. If they
can’t sell the property at a high enough price torepay their loan, they’ll go after the assets ofeveryone who’s co-signed the loan to recover the
loss. It won’t matter if you’ve paid 90 or 95 percent of the loan before missing a few payments.
Banks (and some owner-financers) will still
repossess your property; in fact, it’s more lucrative for banks to repossess your property whenit’s almost paid off.
Here are some tips for borrowing money.
1. Know your group’s borrowing power aheadof time. As discussed earlier, you should havefigured out your group’s potential borrowing
power before you began the land search. This
will help you determine whether yourdesired property is within the means of yourborrowing power.
2. Know each other’s credit rating ahead oftime. You’ll need to know about each otheras credit risks. Ideally, you got credit reports
for group members intending to be co-signers on a loan before looking for land. Look at
the reports as a group and learn whether anyone has bad credit. If so, arrange for that person to re-establish or improve their credit
before you seek a bank loan. If that’s not possible, don’t have that person co-sign the loan.
Perhaps he or she could contribute to thegroup’s cash needs by arranging a small private unsecured loan, which that member
pays off personally.

3. Get the property appraised ahead of time.
The amount you offer on the property will bebased on its current market value, yourassessment of the needs and circumstances ofthe seller, and how much you estimate you’ll
need to spend on any repairs, renovations, or
further development. Hire a local appraiser
to get the current market value of the property before you make an offer on it (unless
you’re already convinced of its value), andbefore applying for a loan. You’ll want toknow what a reasonable purchase offer
would be, given the current market values in
the area, and knowing that will give you abetter idea of what an owner-financer orbank would consider a reasonable amount toloan you. Bob Watzke suggests that if there’sa chance you’ll seek a bank loan, use theappraiser your bank usually works with. Askthem who they use; they’ll tell you.
Since the bank will arrange an appraiser
anyway, why pay again for the same service?
In order to get the highest loan amount (sincebanks will make a loan based on a percentageof the property’s value), you’ll want the property appraised at the upper limits of its current market value. You have the best chance of
this if you know local market values, get yourappraisal ahead of time, and pay the appraiser yourself. Also, if you already have anappraisal, instead of charging you a second
appraisal fee, the bank may charge you no
more than a minimal “recertification fee” —10 to 20 percent of the original appraisal fee.
“Imagine how confirming it could be to
the bank when they see that your appraisal
supports your requested loan,” says Bob,“andthe signature on the bottom is one of it own
appraisers.” The bank will then have marketing data and an appraisal of your intended

128 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHERRAISING MONEY FOR DEVELOPMENT
The amount of money you’ll need to renovate or develop
your property will depend on whether you’re buying raw
land, developed property, or a fully-developed turn-key
property, and whether you’ll do simple repairs, minor to
major remodeling, or begin at square one with roads,
utilities, and buildings. It will also depend on how manymembers you have, how much money you can raise, andhow long you’re willing to wait for your community tofunction as you’ve envisioned.
Lost Valley raised $100,000 to buy their turn-key
property and another $100,000 to repair and renovate it.
Sowing Circle/OAEC raised $150,000 for the down payment on their turn-key property and $55,000 for repairs
and new construction.
Hank Obermeyer paid $485,000 for the Mariposa
Grove property, and by the time repairs and renovation
are complete, will have spent at least $200,000 more.
Buying raw land is quite different. Dancing Rabbit
raised $190,000 for their land and $35,000 for their contingency fee and first expenses of physical infrastructure.
Earthaven raised $128,000 as a down payment for their
raw land, and an initial $22,000 for their first development expenses. Again, the cohousing model is a bit different; cohousers who buy raw land develop it all at
once and then move in.
At both Lost Valley and Sowing Circle/OAEC, once
the founders had spent their initial development fund,they were able to live on their property and begin theireducational center businesses. And while additional
income over the years has been spent on further renovation and new construction, most of it was completed
early on. Mariposa Grove’s renovation will be finishedthree years after purchase. At Dancing Rabbit andEarthaven, income from new members adds to thedevelopment process which will take many years tocomplete.

property that represents and supports theamount of your loan request.
4. Don’t get loans with penalties for early
repayment, if at all possible.
5. Seek only fixed-rate loans. Bob advises getting 15 to 30-year, fully amortized mortgages
with fixed interest rates, and fixed mortgage
payments. If a land purchase deal is so attractive that you’ve got to accept a variable rate
mortgage, then do it — but refinance theloan as soon as possible to a fixed rate andfixed term mortgage.
6. Negotiate for no payments or interest-only
payments for the first few years. If you’re
founding your community with fewer people
than you ultimately plan to have, then you
won’t have as much money for monthly orquarterly payments as you will later, whenmore people have joined you. If at all possible
do as Lost Valley, Dancing Rabbit, andSowing Circle/OAEC did, and negotiate forno payments or interest-only payments forthe first three to five years.
7. Establish a contingency fund. Bob Watzke
and other real estate investors strongly advisethat you create a contingency fund for times
when you can’t make your land payment
through your normal means. “The last timein the world that you want to seek moneyfrom a lender is when you need it — especially when you’re behind in your payments,”
Bob says. “From your preliminary market
research, find out how much you are likely toneed before you start looking for property.
Establish a purchase plan and a budget thatprovides enough money to buy the property,
and enough money to operate with, plus a
contingency reserve; say, six to 12 months’
cash reserves to cover both fixed and variable
operating expenses for that period.”

FINANCING YOUR PROPERTY (LOANS YOU CAN LIVE WITH) 129

Private Financing

Lost Valley, Dancing Rabbit, and Mariposa
Grove founders used their own funds or privateloans and paid the sellers cash to buy their properties. Kenneth Mahaffey of Lost Valley and
Hank Obermeyer of Mariposa Grove paid thewhole purchase price from personal assets.
Dancing Rabbit’s founders raised two personalloans from within their own membership, one
from a founders’ family, and another from colleagues in the communities movement.
Earthaven’s founders raised money mostly fromwithin their membership to pay off their ownerfinancers and hold their own internal mortgage.
(For information on creating your own “shoebox” bank, as Earthaven did, see E.F.
Schumacher Society in Resources.)
The obvious advantage of borrowing fromfounders, family, and friends instead of banks orowner-financers is that no money is owed to outsiders. If the new community has a financial shortfall and can’t make payments for a few months ora year or so, there is far less danger of foreclosure.
Presumably founders, family, or friends wholoaned the money would be willing to wait much
longer before it became necessary to ask for repayment or force the sale of the property.
When approaching community founders,friends, and family members for a loan, offer
them what private lenders usually need to see —a clearly written, well-presented explanation ofyour community’s vision and goals, a strategicplan for how you’ll accomplish those goals andyour intended timeline, and how you’ll manage
and care for your property. Create an agreement,such as a promissory note, that covers all thestandard aspects of a loan.
• What is the amount of the loan?
• What is the length of the loan?

• What is the interest rate and terms of
repayment? Will payments be monthly orquarterly? Is the interest to accrue andbecome due along with the principal? Is
the interest simple or compounded?
• Will the money be secured by real estate
or a promissory note with a personal
guarantee from your group? Will you
place a lien on the deed? If the loan issecured by real property or other assets, isthere sufficient equity to guarantee theloan?
• If the note is unsecured, how will yourgroup repay the loan if the community
isn’t successfully created as planned?
• Have you notarized the loan and/or
recorded it with the county?
• If there’s more than one lender, how haveyou arranged that each lender be repaid— proportionally, or first one, thenanother?
Here’s where your real estate attorney canserve you again. Dancing Rabbit’s founders
wanted to make sure that each of their three private loans were in fact mortgages, so the lawyer
not only recorded the loans with the county, but
created the wording in the promissory notes andplaced liens on the deed showing that the loans
were secured with 9/19ths, 5/19ths, and5/19ths respectively of any proceeds of the saleof the property if the community were to disband.
When One Member Buys the Property

Sometimes the best way — or even the only way— for a group to acquire property is for one or
two members who can afford to do so to just up
and buy it. Every community profiled in this130 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

book that paid cash for their property did so
because one or two founders had the money. The
clear advantage here is that the person withmeans secures the property immediately, freeing
the group from spending months trying to raise
the money while another buyer with ready cash
snatches it off the market. The founder buying
the land functions like a bank, financing theproperty for the group at a presumably reasonable rate of interest and being reimbursed overtime until the loan is paid back.
This is what Kenneth Mahaffey and Lost
Valley did, with members reimbursing his$100,000 purchase loan and $100,000 development loan over the years through income fromthe conference center business, and later by refinancing the property. And Hank Obermeyer
will be reimbursed all but his own ownershipshare when the Mariposa Grove property is refinanced as a limited equity housing co-op.
Dancing Rabbit is paying off its founder, family,
and friend lenders quarterly, through rents collected by the increasing numbers of members living on the land.
Protecting Your Sole Owner with a
Triple Net Lease

Many founders who could afford to buy theproperty for their forming community grouphesitate to do so because they’re wary of thepotential problems inherent in sole ownership.
For example, if the founder buying the property
were to make all decisions affecting its property
value (since he or she took a personal financialrisk), other members would resent the power
imbalance — a sure set-up for structural conflict. On the other hand, if decisions affecting
property value were made by the whole group,
the founder who bought it could resent it since
his or her equity could be diminished by people

who’d risked nothing. The sole property owner
would also be liable for any lawsuits or damages
and financially responsible for maintenance,
taxes, and insurance, with no legal recourse to
induce others to pay a share of these expenses if
there were a dispute.
If a forming community finds a desirable
property and one or two of them could buy it,
the group could bypass these problems with a
Triple Net Lease (also called a Net Lease). Thisis a device that spells out the rights and responsibilities of landlord and tenant in commercial
space rentals. However, it can also be used toprotect a sole property owner from undue
financial or legal burdens and spread the
responsibilities of property ownership fairly
throughout the group. A community can use a
Triple Net Lease as a legally binding document
between the person who buys the property (theLessor) and all the other community members(the Lessees). It can declare, for example, thatcertain named community members (including
but not limited to the property owner) have certain property use rights and restrictions, andare equally responsible for paying the cost of
maintenance, utilities, taxes, and insurance. It
can indemnify the property owner from sole
responsibility for these as well as from anyother legal or financial liabilities (although thelegal entity through which the group buys theproperty should offer liability protection aswell). A Triple Net Lease can include clausesthat cover any kinds of rights and responsibilities unique to intentional communities but notfound in commercial property landlord/tenant
issues, and stipulate any default scenarios orremedies in the event anyone violates the termsof the lease. A lawyer familiar with both commercial real estate law and a group’s values andgoals can check over its proposed Triple Net

FINANCING YOUR PROPERTY (LOANS YOU CAN LIVE WITH) 131

Lease document to make sure it thoroughly
protects the property owner as well as all community members.
Owner Financing

In owner-financing, the seller is willing to forego
receiving the entire sale price at once, and instead
will receive a down payment and earn interest on
the balance due. Normally the seller will want 25
to 30 percent down, monthly payments, andinterest at a negotiated rate. The terms could beequal to, or greater than what a bank would
charge. Rural properties are commonly financed
this way.
But owner-financing can differ as widely as
the circumstances of the sellers themselves. For
example, Sowing Circle/OAEC had a reasonable down payment of 17.5 percent of the purchase price and generous terms (although, if you
recall, the owner-financer demanded triple thedown payment five days before closing).
Earthaven’s founders paid 32.5 percent of thepurchase price and had to deal with unusuallydifficult owner-financing terms.
In contrast, the founders of Abundant
Dawn had a far more straightforward ownerfinancing arrangement. In 1996 they found 90
acres of fields and woods in a rural county insouthwestern Virginia for $130,000. The property was in a U-shaped bend of a river, with gently rolling wooded hills and meadows, a road, an
old farmhouse, a cabin, and an open-sided barn.
The owner was willing to take $13,000 or 10
percent down, and owner-finance a 15-year
mortgage at 8.3 percent interest. Abundant
Dawn’s seven founders each contributed slightly
more than $1,800 apiece for the $13,000 down
payment.
If your group plans to seek owner-financing,take the same steps you would as if you wereseeking financing from a bank and get anappraisal of the property before you make anoffer. (In which case, unlike when seeking a loan,
you’ll want an appraisal at the lower end of thevalue range for the property’s current market
value.) Owner-financers will probably want tosee each of your group member’s net worth statements and credit reports just as a bank would.
If you’re buying developed property and plan
to improve it anyway, you might do as Sowing
Circle/OAEC’s founders did and negotiate for alower down payment or better terms in exchange
for a contract promising to do certain repairs andimprovements on the buildings and infrastructure within a certain period of purchase, backed
up with a business plan showing how muchmoney you’d use for that purpose and where
you’d get it. This assures the owner-financers
that the property value will increase with yourownership and lowers their risk, since if yourgroup defaults on payments they would probably repossess a property with a higher market
value than it had before.
If you’re bidding on developed property andyou suspect your offer may be less than otherbidders, you can use the same principle. Remindthe owners that it’s not just money they’ll need,but many people on site most of the time tomaintain and protect the property, which issomething your group uniquely can offer.
Your real estate attorney should see all documents relevant to the property to make sure any
note to the previous owners has been paid off,
and that the seller has the right to sell the property without paying the note off first. You’ll needa boundary survey, title search, and title insurance. Don’t skip these in an attempt to savemoney. The owner could have made an honest
mistake, and you’d have to live with it for the restof your community life.

132 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHERNO FUNDS? HOW ONE COMMUNITY DID IT
Let’s say your group has few assets and little to no borrowing power. You can still do it. Community activist
Rob Sandelin heard the following story from a community founder he met at a shared campsite.
In the early 1980s this man and his friends
dreamed of creating a community in rural Oregon, but
none of them had any money. They all had jobs of one
kind or another, but each household was only meetingits expenses, not saving anything, and the group
couldn’t imagine coming up with enough money to
buy land and start a community from scratch.
Then they had a very simple idea: Why not all
move in together, and use the amount they’ll save bysharing expenses as a starting stake? They drew up a
simple financial agreement saying they’d put themoney they saved every month by sharing rent, food,utilities and other household expenses into a savings
account. Although each household could withdraw
their share of the money if they decided to leave, intime, their accumulated savings would be their staketo buy property in the country.
They found a large rental house in their small
Oregon town, remodeled the garage as a kids’ dorm
and play area, and took the plunge — eight adults andfour children all moved in together. They saved money

Bank Financing

Bank financing (meaning both banks and othercommercial lenders), is probably the last choice ofmost forming community groups, for two reasons. The development plans of most communities don’t meet most banks’ criteria for loans.
Further, if your property will be owned as a nonprofit, keep in mind that most banks prefer toloan to for-profit legal entities such as corporations or LLCs. And, unlike private lenders

by buying food and household items in bulk, and by
splitting rent and other living expenses. They quickly
discovered that they really only needed three to fourcars between them, so they sold their extra four cars
and put that money into the account as well. Whilethey learned many lessons about how to live together
as a community, they managed to put away a little
over $2000 a month. To their surprise and delight, in
two years they had accumulated $50,000.
However, by that time their vision had changed,
and they decided they liked living in their small town.
So they formed a legal entity and bought a large
home. They remodeled it to fit their needs and turned
the yard into a large organic garden with chickens andtwo milking goats.
The amount they owed on the house was low
enough that after seven years they were able to pay off
the mortgage. Their friends all thought they had a greatthing going, so when one of the families moved out,
two others bought in as new members. The community continued sharing resources and saving moneyand bought an RV and a boat, and even took vacations
together.
Not a bad life for folks who started off with nothing!

friendly to the community, banks will repossess
the property if the group can’t make payments fora few months. Some founders, like Earthaven’s,
also didn’t want bank financing because they
intended to demonstrate workable alternatives toconventional development, including a sustainable, home-grown financing method.
Banks don’t often want to loan to intentional
community groups, as they’re wary of financing
non-standard or alternative development. Banks

FINANCING YOUR PROPERTY (LOANS YOU CAN LIVE WITH) 133

evaluate a loan application with the possibility
that they may have to repossess the property to
get their loan money back, so they want property that’s attractive to the average home buyer andthus simple and easy to resell. This doesn’t usually include projects with several houses on one
unsubdivided property, natural building techniques, off-grid energy, composting toilets, andso on. The more sustainable, natural, and environmentally sustainable your planned development, the less likely a bank will be interested init. An increasing number of banks are financing
cohousing communities, however, which offer
subdivided properties with individual housing
units, and as such are considerably more marketable as possible resales. To get bank financing
therefore, most cohousing founders have createdstandard housing units with conventional construction and utilities.
Meadowdance founders, however, were willingto get a bank loan for their intended property in
Vermont. If private loans or owner-financing aren’t
an option, your group may want to do this too.
Most people buying property allow thebank to determine the value of the property as
well as the amount of the loan. This is less thanideal because you have little to no control overthe process. But Bob Watzke and other experienced real estate investors strongly recommend
you learn as much as possible about the practices of local banks ahead of time. Approachthem as fellow business people who alreadyknow the current market value of your desired
property and the amount you want to borrow,and compare. “Here’s the current market valueof the property we want to buy; here’s theamount we want to borrow; here’s documentation on exactly how we’ll spend the loan; here’s
financial and credit information on each of us.
Can we do business?”

Unfortunately there’s still another difficulty
in seeking a bank loan. As the economy began
declining in the late 1990s, many banks began
having less money available for loans. Thismeans that they increasingly depend on selling
their loans to the secondary loan market —large-scale “bankers’ banks” that buy wholegroups of loans in bulk from local banks in orderto free up money to loan out again. (One of themost well known is the Federal National
Mortgage
Association(FNMA),
or
FannieMae.) This way, local banks grant loans,
keep them a short while, sell them to the secondary loan market, and get their money back toloan again. Unlike previously, many banks are
increasingly holding only short-term loans intheir portfolios — those they can sell to the secondary loan market — and hold fewer and fewer
long-term loans.
This results in two problems for community
groups seeking loans. First, banks are reluctant
to grant loans FNMA won’t buy from them,such as small loans or loans for nonstandard
properties, because it means it becomes a longterm loan; they have to hold the loan in theirown portfolio until maturity (like a retail business having too much capital tied up in inventory instead of cash). It’s likely that the kind of
property a community will buy, and its plans fordevelopment, would require a loan that’s too
odd for the secondary loan market, and thus not
a profitable enough loan for the local bank to
grant. (By the way, if you think it’s possible you’llseek a bank loan when you create your legal
entity, don’t state in your bylaws or other documents that your decision-making method isconsensus. FNMA doesn’t accept consensus asa reasonable decision-making process, although
they do accept super-majority voting of 66 or 75
percent.)

134 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

The second problem is that while banks used
to tell a customer fairly soon that they’dapproved a requested loan, increasingly they can
only give preliminary approval while they wait
for final approval from FNMA or another bankin the secondary loan market. The wait can beweeks or even months, although this varies indifferent areas of the country. It’s possible that acommunity group can put an offer on property,
seek a bank loan, get preliminary approval, andfind out the morning of the closing that the
loan’s not approved, with enormous negative
consequences to both buyer and seller. This has
happened to several people I know, and it happened to me. If your group plans to seek a bankloan, make sure you get final approval of the loan
— in writing — before making any plans topack, move, quit your jobs, or otherwise change
your lives.
But let’s assume a bank loan is your only
option. Besides the basics — that you know yourgroup’s borrowing power, each other’s credit ratings, and the appraised value of the property —here are additional steps Bob Watzke recommends.
1. Make sure your legal documents support
getting a bank loan. Banks will want to see
corporate Bylaws, an LLC’s operating agreements, or other documents of your community’s land-owning legal entity. They’ll also
want to examine documents relating to theproperty for details about property insurance, permission for zoning variances,approval of any plat maps for subdividing,and to make sure nothing would devalue
your property or make it hard to later resell.
2. Research local banks. Call a loan officer at
each bank, and without specifically identifying the property or yourselves, find out

whether the bank is making loans on thetype of property you’re interested in. Narrow
it down to those banks making this kind ofloan, and ask them about their loan rate andlending practices so you’ll know the terms,
policies, and procedures of each bank inadvance. You’ll especially want to know theirpreferred ratio of loan to property value.
Request a copy of the annual report of thesebanks and view the profit and loss statements of the last year and the current yearto-date. Do they hold any long-term loans(that is, those unlikely to be resold to thesecondary loan market)? If so that’s good,since your requested loan may fall into thiscategory. Examine the size and assets of eachbank and learn who their directors and operating officers are. With this information,choose the bank or banks you’d most like toapproach.
3. Determine the amount you want to borrow
and write up your own loan application.
The amount you’ll request will be based on:• the appraised property value• the bank’s preferred loan-to-value ratio• how much cash your group has and its
likely borrowing power• how much you’ll want to spend on adown payment• how much you’ll need for repairs andremodeling or development and new construction• how much you’ve chosen to set aside as acontingency fund.
Bob Watzke recommends creating a onepage loan application document which describes
to the bank the amount you want to borrow andthe terms you want. He recommends using the

FINANCING YOUR PROPERTY (LOANS YOU CAN LIVE WITH) 135

name and street address or the rural route box ofone of your founders, rather than a post officebox, and not using your community name. Keepit brief, using the terms in the sample loan
request, below: Borrowers, Guarantors, Purposeof Loan, Loan Security, Length of Loan, andMeans of Payback.
SAMPLE LOAN REQUEST
Loan Request — $200,000
May 25, 2004
John Smith
1563 Northwest Skipper Lane,
Nathansville, ME
BORROWERS: John Smith, Jane Smith, Susan
Jones, Cindy Brown, Ned Brown
GUARANTORS: John Smith, Jane Smith, Susan
Jones, Cindy Brown, Ned Brown
PURPOSE OF LOAN: To buy property for ourneighborhood
LOAN SECURITY: Property at 3563 Ancient Forest
Way, Old Town, ME
LENGTH OF LOAN: 30 years
INTEREST RATE: 9%
MEANS OF PAYBACK: Monthly payments of$1,609.00

The appraisal of your intended property
should be at least equal to, and preferably greater
than, your intended purchase price. Therefore
the ratio of your loan request to the appraisedvalue should be better than what the bank normally requires, thereby adding to their margin ofsafety. This could make a substantial differencein the bank’s giving final approval to yourrequest.

4. Create a document showing, in detail, how
you plan to use the loan funds. If you’reseeking funds in excess of the amount used topurchase the land, to do repairs or create
improvements, describe the repairs, renovations, and new construction, the expected
costs for each, and your timetable for doing
them, as Sowing Circle/OAEC did. Youmight want to identify the contractors you
plan to use.
5. Collect resumes, net worth statements, andcredit reports for each person co-signing
the loan. The resumes should be brief andconcise, describing each member’s background and accomplishments. Don’t include
your community’s vision documents or
description of purpose or goals, which could
distract, annoy, or turn off the bankers. Tellthem only what they want to know and no
more, focusing on your individual strengths
and your ability to pay back the loan.
Use the bank’s own form for your individual net worth statements.
Find out which credit agency or agencies your chosen bank (or banks) use, andfrom each of these credit agencies get a
copy of the credit records of each person
who’ll co-sign on the loan, as well as for thelegal entity of your group. Why provide
banks with credit information they’ll procure on their own? It will help you to knowwhat credit agencies are going to say about
you before the bank knows, which enables
you to correct any discrepancies — sincestudies show that 20 percent or more ofcredit agencies’ information about people
can be false.
6. Meet with the bank’s executive vice president. Bob Watzke advises that you dress theway the way the loan officers in the bank136 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

dress, and ask to speak only with the executive
vice president (or to the president in theabsence of the executive vice president). If
the executive vice president is busy, wait orcome back. If a secretary wants to shunt you
off to one of the bank’s loan officers instead,insist in a nice way on making an appointment with the executive vice president, saying it’s about a business loan.
What’s the significance of the executive
vice president? This is the person who runs
the place, Bob says, and if he or she likes
your group, you’re in. (Remember to avoid
terms such as “intentional community” and“ecovillage.”) The executive vice president
can usually poll the bank’s loan committee orboard of directors by phone. Besides, theauthorized loan-commitment limits for the
executive vice president or the president arealmost always greater (if not unlimited) thanthose of other loan officers. And finally, if
the executive vice president doesn’t want togive you a loan, other loan officers aren’t
going to get it approved either.
When you meet with the executive vicepresident give him or her:
• Your one-page loan application document• The appraisal for your intended property
and other comparables and marketing
data that supports the appraisal• Documentation on how you’ll repair or
renovate the place (estimated costs,
timetable, etc.), if applicable• Documents for your legal entity• Any approvals or permits from the county or municipality about zoning variances, use permits, or subdivision• Brief resumes, net worth statements, andcredit reports for everyone who’ll co-signon the loan.
7. Negotiate simultaneously with more than
one bank. Some banks dislike this, feelingthey are being “shopped,” and they are.
Nevertheless, you are taking a position of
power. A bank will know you’re talking toother banks because they’ll order credit
records of each co-signer (even though you’ve
given them copies), and they’ll see in theserecords that other banks have recently soughtcredit information also. You might avoid thisby applying to all banks on the same day andproviding all the documentation that eachbank needs.
If you believe that these steps may be overly
assertive, Bob Watzke points out that the yourbank will most likely require that everyone inyour group, and perhaps even your family members and/or officers of the companies any of you
work for also become co-signers and guarantee
the loan. This means if you were unable to continue making payments for some reason and thebank couldn’t recover its loan by selling yourproperty, it could go after each community member’s other assets, or those of anyone else co-signing the loan. If you’re risking this much to buy
your property, you might as well tailor the loan
to your specific needs and requirements. “Moveas assertively as you feel comfortable without
being overbearing,” advises Bob.
Drawing on the Cohousing Model

Unlike the founders of most non-cohousing
communities, cohousers sell housing units on
the open market and build all their infrastructure and housing at once. Some cohousing

FINANCING YOUR PROPERTY (LOANS YOU CAN LIVE WITH) 137

groups have developed their communities themselves, or one or more members of their coregroup has served as their developer. But anincreasing number of cohousing core groups
have partnered with professional real estatedevelopers, and such partnerships are often quite
successful in acquiring, financing, and developing their property. In exchange for a percentage
of profit (usually relatively small, compared tothe profit margins developers are used to), thedeveloper supplies expertise, an entrepreneurial“sixth sense,” some of the up-front money, an
intimate knowledge of the local real estate market, and established working relationships withlocal planning officials and lenders, architects,
engineers, and building contractors. Group
members are actively involved in the design
process and in marketing the project.
If your group plans for members to hold title
to individual lots or housing units (whether you
plan to sell them on the open market or only toyour own members), you might benefit from
adapting some of these cohousing methods orworking with a cohousing developer. (SeeResources.)
Here is a brief overview of one version of thismodel, based on how groups have worked with
Wonderland Hill Development Company in
Boulder. The groups use three sources of financing: funds raised by themselves and the developer,
the construction loan, and individual mortgages.
1. Funds raised by the group and the developer.
Before the project breaks ground, the group raises at least ten percent, and sometimes considerably more, of the total cost of the finished projectfrom assessments to themselves (with new people
joining and contributing money at all stages of theprocess), sometimes supplemented by short-termloans from members of the group who might havemore money, or from cohousing lenders. The
developer usually also contributes funds, management, and overhead, and will be reimbursed later.
These up-front funds are used for what
Wonderland Hill calls the feasibility phase andpre-construction phase of their process.
In the feasibility phase, the group creates site
criteria, a preliminary budget, and a legal entity
for buying the land (usually an LLC). Group
members each get pre-qualified for mortgages on
their individual housing units. The group chooses a likely property, puts a 60- to 120-day option
on it, and arranges a feasibility study to determine whether this parcel of land will work forthem. They pay for legal fees, promotional
expenses, land-search costs, and the option fee.
In the pre-construction phase, they conduct
the feasibility study, pay for any tests, surveys,
permits, and fees, and get any necessary zoning
changes. If they decide to buy the property, theyusually pay a certain amount down and arrange
with the seller to pay the balance when they
secure a construction loan, which can be up to ayear later. Some sellers are willing to ownerfinance this pre-construction phase. (If a seller
requires all cash, the group usually doesn’t pursue
the property, but keeps looking until they find
one whose seller could work with these terms.)
The group hires architects and engineers todesign the site plan and buildings specifically forthis property, tests the market to see if the housing units will sell at the projected prices per thecurrent budget (and adjusts the prices and/or thebudget accordingly); and advertises and promotes
the project in order to attract additional groupmembers and continue raising money.
2. The construction loan. This loan pays off theseller and funds the “hard” development costs —grading the site, hooking up utilities, and build-138 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

ing roads and parking lots — as well as all construction costs for the common house and individual housing units.
A construction loan is granted only after thegroup has acquired property and met all legal
requirements to develop it, has produced professionally-designed site and building plans, andhas had everyone in the group pre-qualified for amortgage. To get a construction loan the group
approaches local banks with their developer
partner.“Banks are much more likely to give construction loans if a well-known local developer isleading the charge,” notes cohousing consultant
Zev Paiss.

3. Individual Mortgages. These are usually standard 30-year mortgages at current interest rates,
set into motion when construction is complete.
Money from the individual mortgages pays off
any private loans from individual group members or cohousing funding organizations, thedeveloper’s contribution (plus profit), and theconstruction loan. Money credited towards
everyone’s mortgages immediately pays off any
private loans for the up-front costs and any
money contributed by that developer plus a certain amount of profit. Each individual member
household now owes the bank the balance of thesale price of their own housing unit, which they

IS COHOUSING CHANGING THE WAY WE FORM COMMUNITY?
As of this writing, cohousing is not cheap. As of
2002, buy-in fees for studios to two-bedroom units
and a share in the common infrastructure can range,depending on property values in the area, from the
low $100,000s to the high $200,000s. Three-and
four-bedroom units and detached homes withshared common infrastructure are often in the$300,000 to $400,000-plus range. And yet, whilecohousing communities are usually the mostexpensive of all communities to join, since thehousing units are individually owned, banks dogive homeowners loans for them. And developerassisted cohousing communities do get construction loans. So, paradoxically, buying in to a cohousing community can sometimes — in terms of initial
cash outlay anyway — be comparable to buying in
to a non-cohousing community with shared landownership, if you consider the cost of joining fees,site-lease fees, and building your own house without a bank loan. (See Chapter 14.)

As of 2000, there was one Christian cohousing
community in North America, at least two with strawbale houses and off-grid power, and in the forming
stages, a vegan cohousing group, a Jewish cohousing group, and a group exploring self-financed,
exceptionally affordable buy-in costs. I believe that
increasing numbers of forming communities withspecific shared lifestyles or common purposes likethese — with spiritual, religious, or ecological goals;
even aspiring ecovillages — will choose the cohousing model, rather than attempting the arduous, doeverything-yourself model we’ve seen in thesepages. These forming community founders will prefer private ownership of their individual housing unit
and shared ownership of common facilities, developer involvement, and bank loans, rather than trying
to leap the land-purchase, zoning, financing, anddevelopment hurdles entirely by themselves. The
successes of the developer-assisted cohousing
model might just be influencing forever the way wego about creating intentional communities.

FINANCING YOUR PROPERTY (LOANS YOU CAN LIVE WITH) 139

pay off like any other mortgage holder, throughmonthly payments of interest and principal.
Other developers who partner with cohousing groups do it somewhat differently. Chris
ScottHanson of Cohousing Resources recommends that the core group first acquire the property and get the site and buildings designed, thenwork with a developer to build it for them.“Theonly reason to use a development partner,” hesays,“is to have the developer locate, acquire, andguarantee the construction loan financing.”
What about Grants and Donations?

A common misconception among forming community groups is that philanthropists or grantmaking foundations would want to fund agroup’s land purchase, but this isn’t usually thecase. Wealthy people and foundations do, however, often give money to groups or organizations whose vision and mission for a better worldmatches their own, who have a demonstrated
track record of accomplishing their goals, andwhose principal players have shown through pastaccomplishments that they use money responsibly. If your group is just starting out and you
have inspiring plans to benefit the environmentor serve people or serve spiritual goals — but so
far no history of accomplishments as a group —it’s unlikely you could get grants or donations to
help you get started.
But by all means seek grants and donations
after you’ve bought your property, have created a
501(c)3 non-profit for receiving tax-deductible
donations, and have demonstrated for several
years how you’ve benefited the environment or
people, or achieved some service goals. Seek
grants and donations for a particular projectwith a particular budget, timeline, and measurable goals. If you’re an aspiring ecovillage, forexample, and you want to teach others aboutalternative building construction or off-grid
power, seek a grant for construction funds ofyour classroom teaching facility, or for workscholarship funds, so that potential students cancome as interns and offer free labor to help build
the facility. If you get a grant or donations, spend
the money the way you said you would, and keep
accurate records. Send photos and the records of
how you spent the money to your donors, with
thanks. If your donors like what you’ve done,
they may consider you for future funding
requests.
Sowing Circle/OAEC got private loans of$40,000 and $25,000 with generous terms,
because the founders were well-known to thephilanthropist lenders, and were their colleagues
in environmental activism. For getting grants,
donations, and friendly loans, there’s nothing likeknowing your donors or lenders through sharedactivist work and having a good reputation withthem already.
Refinancing Your Property

If you don’t think it will be easy to live with yourfinancing terms but it’s the only way you cansecure the property, consider how you mightrefinance it later. (Remember, avoid loans withearly repayment penalties.) You can’t live toolong with high monthly payments, or with interest-only payments that will skyrocket as soon as
you begin paying the principal, or with onerous
terms and lenders who’d readily repossess.
Earthaven, Lost Valley, and Sowing
Circle/OAEC all successfully refinanced theirproperties and their members are now breathingeasier because of it.
We saw how Earthaven’s founders refinanced the year after they bought the property,
creating the EarthShares fund to pay off theirowner-financers and get control of their entire

140 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

property. It was a good thing they did. The
founders overestimated the number of new
members who’d join in the next few years, andthe resulting cash shortfall meant that for the

next three years they couldn’t afford to bothdevelop the property and make their interestand-principal payments. So they made interestonly payments for three years in order to build

HOW FINANCING AFFECTS OWNERSHIP AND DECISION-MAKING
Presumably, months before you seek financing, you’ll
have decided whether founders will make financial
contributions toward the purchase, and what the relationship will be of each member’s contribution to basic
aspects of community ownership and governance. Hereare some points to consider in determining these issues:
1. Will each founder be required to contribute anequal amount towards the purchase?
2. Will founders be allowed to contribute different
amounts toward the purchase?
3. Will the amounts each founder contributes confer
equity in the property, and is the amount of equity
commensurate with the contribution?
4. Will the amount of contribution be tied to ownership rights and responsibilities, and to decisionmaking rights?
5. Will some make loans to the community that others
pay back over time?
6. Will incoming new members contribute the sameamount as the founders did?
Will they contribute more, based on increasing property
improvements and rising property value? How willfounders be reimbursed?
7. Will the founders’ (or members’) contributions be
reimbursed if they later leave the community?
Where will the money come from to reimbursethem?
In every community whose purchase we’ve examined, founders have had equal rights and responsibilities for the entire property and equal decision-making

rights. But it doesn’t have to be so: for example, a community could have contributors to the property purchase, but not others, make decisions affecting property value, with all members making all other decisions
together. If the original contributions were loans, othercommunity members could pay the loans back overtime, and thus earn the right to make decisions affecting property value. But while this scheme would solve
issues of some contributing money and others not, it
raises issues of possible resentment or imbalance ofreal or perceived power in the group. As we saw earlier, Hank Obermeyer, as sole founder of Mariposa
Grove, paid for the property himself. However, whenit’s refinanced as a limited equity housing co-op, eachshareholder/member will have ownership and decision-making rights.
Dancing Rabbit and Lost Valley, in which only somefounders contributed loans or gifts, different ways havebeen worked out for non-contributing founders andnew members to reimburse the contributing founders.
Dancing Rabbit members don’t pay a joining fee, but
pay a fee for the amount of square footage they leasefrom the property, which pays back their loans. Lost
Valley members pay a joining fee and pay rent to thecommunity for their cabins or housing units, which
reimburses the community for their current (refinanced)
loans. Incoming Earthaven members pay a $4,000 joining fee, and a site lease fee, which has increased by$1,000 every year since the founding. In 2002, the sitelease fee was $17,000.

FINANCING YOUR PROPERTY (LOANS YOU CAN LIVE WITH) 141

the necessary roads and buildings. They could
never have done this with their original ownerfinancers.
And as we saw in Chapter 1, for its first two
years Lost Valley made no payments on its two$100,000 loans from founder Kenneth
Mahaffey, and for the next four years reimbursed
him $30,000 annually — $20,000 in interest and$10,000 toward the principal. This meant thatby 1995 they’d paid $120,000 total, but had
reduced the loans by only $40,000. At this point,
Kenneth was far less involved in the communityand no longer living there, and preferred to be
cashed out if at all possible. So in 1995 the community secured a $125,000 loan from Cascadia
Revolving Loan Fund, and a private loan for$150,000 from friends who were members of
their board of directors. With this $275,000 they
paid off part of the $160,000 in principal they
still owed Kenneth, and used the rest to makeadditional improvements on the property. In
1998, they refinanced a second time, borrowing$161,000 from three friends and supporters, andpaid off the balance they owed Kenneth as wellas the Cascadia fund. They still made annual
payments, but their loan was in the hands ofpeople who thoroughly supported what they
were doing and were unlikely to repossess theproperty if the community ran into hard times.
Since that time they’ve borrowed more funds fordevelopment and renovation. As of 2002, theyowe $360,000 in total to approximately 15 different lenders, and pay $3,500 monthly in principal
and interest.
Sowing Circle/OAEC began with a$700,000 owner-financed first mortgage at 6.7
percent interest, and two private loans of$40,000 and $25,000 at 5 percent interest each.

All three loans allowed interest-only payments
for the first five years. For four years, the community paid approximately $37,500 a year on theseloans, but as they approached the fifth year theyrealized they’d better refinance before theirannual payment increased dramatically in 2000.
They got an appraisal and learned the property
had increased in value to about $1,400,000 (by2002 it was probably double that amount). By
this time OAEC had been offering classes andworkshops for four years in organic gardening,seed saving, permaculture design, and otheraspects of sustainable living, and had gained
quite a loyal following in the region. Many workshop participants returned frequently, and somebecame friends of the center and regular volunteers for their monthly garden tours and biannual plant sales. Dave Henson asked one of thesefriends about the possibility of becoming moreclosely involved by providing a refinancing loan.
The friend was glad to do so, and she and Dave
worked out a refinancing loan of $1,000,000, tobe paid back over 30 years at 6.85 percent interest. The community used this money to pay off
the $765,000 still owed on all three mortgages,
and designated the remaining $235,000 for further capital improvements and a contingency
fund. Their monthly land payments were then
$5,565 a month, split between 11 people, so afterrefinancing they paid $515 per person per month
towards the refinanced mortgage.



In Chapter 13 we’ll look at the common challenges of the development process, and how
some communities developed their land.

Chapter 13
Developing Sustainable Human SettlementsA

S SOON AS THEY BOUGHT their property,

cabin, no buildings.) The property’s once-fertile
soil had been depleted by the unsustainable agricultural practices of its previous inhabitants, asmall Appalachian farming community. The area
had apparently been settled fairly densely, as apost office stood at the confluence of Earthaven’s
two major streams, and people had even settled
in the small side valleys and cultivated the steep
slopes. Uninhabited for the past two generations, the land had reverted to forest, and was in
the secondary stages of forest succession when
Earthaven’s founders acquired it in 1994.
The first thing they did was invest about$6,000 in a boundary survey and about $2,000 inaerial photos and a contour map.
Map in hand, and led by Peter Bane andChuck Marsh, two Earthaven founders who arealso permaculture designers, the group walked
the land to identify sacred sites, springs andstream courses, flood plains, erosion gullies, plantcommunities, land suitable for agriculture, potential pond sites, and potential home and businesssites. They also wanted to get a sense of the optimum carrying capacity of the land and limit their
future population to match it. The concluded
that if they grew most of their own food theirland could support about 120-160 people.

Earthaven’s founders wanted to began thepermaculture design process and create a siteplan. But in their particular circumstances thisprocess would take a year or two, partly becauseof the rugged terrain and partly because theyneeded to get a boundary survey, since the former owners didn’t know the exact number ofacres or the actual location of all the propertylines. At the same time the group wanted to initiate at least some rudimentary physical infrastructure in order to move their vision forward,
but which wouldn’t conflict with the site plan
still to be developed.
Here’s what they did.
Earthaven’s Development Process

Earthaven’s mountain terrain made creating asite plan and developing the property more challenging than for most new communities. Theirproperty consisted of three converging stream
valleys, flood plains, bottom land, lower terraced
slopes, and steeper ridge slopes and ridge tops.
(Unlike Abundant Dawn’s forested mountainproperties, Earthaven had steeper slopes, noclearings or meadows, a phone line but no otherutilities, and except for a tumbled-down hunter’s142

DEVELOPING SUSTAINABLE HUMAN SETTLEMENTS 143

After several seasons of observing the land
and getting to know its nuances under various
conditions, they overlaid key components of
their intended ecovillage onto their contour
map. They identified sacred sites; land thatwould remain forested; areas for gardening,
farming, and orchard; potential locations forponds and hydro-power stations; the center of
their village and future sites for community
buildings; the existing road; and future roads
and paths, and they mapped out residential
neighborhoods for clustered housing with likely
road access. They decided they would build
only on slopes, and save their flat bottom land
for agriculture.
With this knowledge, and led by their visionof “a planned permaculture ecovillage,” theydecided to develop the following physical infrastructure:• A village center with a Council Hall, alarge kitchen/dining room/conference
facility, a media center and library, possibly shared workshop and commercial
space, and possibly high-density apartment-style housing.
• Ten (later, 11) neighborhoods of three toeight passive solar homes on quarter-acreor eighth-acre sites, clustered on gentle
south-facing slopes, each site potentiallyterraced in home gardens, and eachneighborhood sharing a common agricultural area of bottom land, benches,
and/or lower slopes.
• To help restore the soil’s fertility and create food sustainability, they would keep
as much water on the land as possible,
through roof water catchments, swales,and ponds, rebuilding the soil in specificareas with layers of organic matter.

WHAT WE MEAN BY “PERMACULTURE”
AND “ECOVILLAGE”
Permaculture is a set of techniques and principles fordesigning sustainable human settlements, with plants,
animals, and buildings — and especially the relationships
between them. It’s guided by a set of ethical principles,such as “care for the Earth,” “care for people,” and “sharing the surplus.” (See Resources.)
Here’s Robert Gilman’s widely used definition of anecovillage: “A human-scale, full-featured settlement inwhich human activities are harmlessly integrated into thenatural world in a way that is supportive of healthy humandevelopment, and can be successfully continued into
the indefinite future.”
Although the term was coined in the early 1990s,
increasing numbers of intentional communities are
attracted to the ecovillage concept. Some older communities have retrofitted various aspects of sustainability(such as building with natural materials or adding offgrid power) and now call themselves “ecovillages,”
while others, including some cohousing communities,
are attempting to create full-scale ecovillages fromscratch. Most ecovillage activists agree, however, that notrue ecovillages exist yet (since we can’t yet knowwhether these settlements are sustainable “into theindefinite future”), so they call these communities “aspiring ecovillages.”• An initial “base camp” settlement near thecenter of the property in which people
could try out experimental natural-building construction techniques before settling the neighborhoods.
• Member-owned businesses on businesssites in the village center and throughout
the neighborhoods.
• Fields with larger-scale agriculture or
livestock.

144 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER• Bridges across each of the three streams
for cars to get to the center of the property.
• They agreed not to build on ridge tops, toprotect their identified sacred sites, andto preserve their most tranquil and beautiful valley as a wilderness area, to remain
undeveloped.
The process of mapping and observing theland, creating a proposed site plan and agreeingon it as a group took three years, and occurred
while they simultaneously raised the money to
pay off their owner-financers and undertook thefirst stages of physical infrastructure development.
Here’s what their process looked like chronologically:
1995: This first year, they contracted for theboundary survey, aerial photos, and contour
map, and began the process of walking the landand observing its subtleties in various seasons,adding to and correcting the contour map.
They investigated the process of creating a“shoe box bank,” and created the EarthSharesfund to raise the money to pay off the ownerfinancers more quickly and gain control of theentire property. (See Chapter 9.)
Most of the founders lived and worked in
Asheville, 45 minutes away, so through weekend
work parties and with the help of interns, theycreated a campground and cleared a south-facing
slope at the center of the property, where theybuilt an open-walled meeting pavilion and one
member built a small hut.
1996: The next year, they continued walking theland and correcting their map. They cleared
more land on one particular slope in the centerof the property, and built a second road for better access to it. They intended this area, called
the Hut Hamlet, to be the “base camp” cluster ofsmall experimental passive solar dwellings ofabout 300 square feet each, which would serve as
temporary housing until people could build permanent homes. The founders wanted to try
many different construction techniques in thesehuts in order to learn how to work with locallyavailable, inexpensive natural materials. They
also wanted to make their mistakes on a small
scale first, before attempting larger buildings.
Using lumber harvested from the land withhorse-drawn logging and a portable sawmill,they built a small timber-framed strawbale
kitchen/dining room/bathhouse for the Hut
Hamlet, brought in piped water from a spring,
installed a small photovoltaic system to power
the pressure pump and the kitchen’s lights, andinstalled a propane refrigerator. They also built
a clay-straw composting toilet building, a root
cellar, three more private huts, and footbridges
across the streams. They brought in organic
matter as mulch and began creating gardens.
Beauty was important to the founders also; theHut Hamlet buildings had forest-green metalroofs (for water catchments) and, because of
the red clay in the soil, the earth-plastered exterior walls were various shades of peach-pink
and apricot. Several had earth-coupled clay
floors.
Like Sowing Circle/OAEC and Dancing
Rabbit, Earthaven was eager to fulfill its missionof offering sustainability education, so that second year they began presenting classes andworkshops in the small open-walled pavilion. By
this time, because they had rudimentary housing
and other facilities, a few people lived in the Hut
Hamlet year round.

DEVELOPING SUSTAINABLE HUMAN SETTLEMENTS 145

1997: The third year, they finished adding
details to their map. Their permaculture designers proposed a detailed site plan, and over aseries of meetings, the group modified andapproved it.
This was the year they paid off their ownerfinancers and could finally develop their wholeproperty, so they began building roads to theiridentified neighborhoods. They built more huts
in the Hut Hamlet, and logged and milled timbers for their planned 13-sided Council Hall. A
few more members moved to the land.
1998: The fourth year, they continued building
roads to the neighborhoods, cleared an area in
their planned village center, erected the timber
framing for their Council Hall, and installed amicro-hydro system in the stream across theroad. Several members formed the workerowned Forestry Co-op to fell and mill timberand do construction, and they set up a portable
sawmill and lumberyard in the village center.
The community finally had enough revenue
from the joining fees and site lease fees of incoming members to pay not only for ongoing development projects like these, but to start reimbursing principal to the EarthShares fund, instead of
paying interest only. By this time about 15 people had moved to the land.
1999: The fifth year, they created a small constructed wetlands to handle the Hut Hamlet’s
graywater, built a three-story multi-unit dwellingto house couples with young children, and set up
a visitor’s campground across the creek. They put
a roof on the Council Hall and filled in its walls(with strawbale, straw clay, and cob), and began
holding meetings there. Several members began
construction on their shared community building in one of the neighborhoods.

2000: The sixth year, they remodeled andimproved the kitchen/dining room in the Hut
Hamlet. More founders and new members
moved from town onto the land and built
dwellings in the Hut Hamlet and/or brokeground on permanent homes in the neighborhoods. By this time about 25 people lived there.
2001: The seventh year, they finished plastering
the interior of the Council Hall, and built another root cellar. One member built and opened asmall general store and a lodge which will one
day be a members’ cafe. Another member raised
funds for and organized volunteer labor to build
a sauna.
2002: The eighth year, they completed a large
water tank above the Hut Hamlet to improve its
water supply and extended piped water to othernearby areas. They finished plastering the exterior of the Council Hall and installed its wooden
floor. One family built a large house to serve as apermanent home for themselves, and as temporary lodging for visitors and other members who
were building their homes. Another group leased
adjacent home sites and began building a twostory townhouse-style common-wall building
with small individual units and a shared kitchen
and other common facilities. And at long last,eight years into the project, they finally had thefunds, the labor, and the know-how to build
their first bridge across a creek ford.
By this time about 35 people lived full timeon the land.
By Earthaven members’ standards, and thoseof many of its visitors over the years, theirs has
been an excruciatingly slow development
process, and it isn’t over yet. Even though yourcommunity may not buy undeveloped mountain146 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

land with no utilities, and you may not intend tobuild a whole village, Earthaven’s story illustrates
many aspects of the process you’ll face in developing your property, or in renovating buildings
and adding new construction to it.
Listening to your Land

A community site plan depicts how its buildings
and other human-made features (courtyards,
common greens, children’s play areas, gardens,orchards, agricultural fields, ponds, roads, bridges,
pathways, parking areas, and so on) are situated inrelation to each other and to natural landscapefeatures such as clearings, woods, streams, naturally occurring ponds, wetlands, and so on.
One of the principles of permaculture designis that for human settlements to be sustainable,
they must adapt themselves to the needs of theecosystems they inhabit. So a permaculturebased site plan also shows how the human-madefeatures will enhance and mutually reinforce theneeds of the land, its living creatures, and its
human inhabitants.
Permaculture designers and experienced
community founders strongly suggest creating
your site plan before locating any homes or community buildings on your property, rather thanfinding a likely spot for the first building andthen making up a plan as you go along. And creating a permaculture-based site plan requires
getting to know your property intimately first —“listening to the land” over several seasons tounderstand its needs.
“I have had numerous occasions to work withintentional communities,” observes permaculture
designer Ted Butchart.“I have been struck by thesubtle but important contribution made by thecommunity members who first pierce through toa real connection with their particular land.
They have a clear sense of the spirit of that land,

and that guides them in making decisions thatwill lead to sustainability.”
Ted notes that the usual approach to landdevelopment in our culture is to see the land itself
simply as “an exploitable resource: a blank canvas
with a certain topology for us to place our buildings and roads upon.” To take a more sustainableapproach, he suggests we must first see our community land as a long-term dwelling place bothfor humans and the other creatures living there.
Secondly, he suggests “we must seek out the soulof that land, the spirit of the place. What is sacred,untouchable? What is inspiring or uplifting?” Onequick method, he says, is to find the most beautiful place on the property, then build somewhere
else. Lastly, he says,“design the built environment
with an eye for minimal harm and maximum
enrichment of the place.”As we’ve seen, Earthavenfounders followed these design principles.
The other communities we’ve studied haveengaged in a similar process. Dancing Rabbit
observed their land for several seasons, studied
permaculture design principles as a group, andcreated a permaculture-based site plan for their
280 acres. Even though their properties werealready developed, Lost Valley, Sowing
Circle/OAEC, and Abundant Dawn createdland-use policies and other agreements about
how they would sustainably develop the rest of
their land and engage in any new construction.
Four communities we’ve studied — Earthaven,
Dancing Rabbit, Sowing Circle/OAEC, andLost Valley — offer classes and workshops inpermaculture design or sustainable earth-based
building practices, or both.
Creating your Site Plan Yourselves“How well we succeed in manifesting our visionof a new village culture at Earthaven will be
determined by the quality of the work we do as

DEVELOPING SUSTAINABLE HUMAN SETTLEMENTS 147

both social and permaculture designers,”
observes Chuck Marsh. “Most community failures stem from inadequate design, either social
or physical. Design takes time, but up-front
investment in good design will more than pay foritself in the long-term health of the community
and its members.”
He notes that while in mainstream culture
design and planning are usually relegated to professionals, in communities this can be disempowering to members who are directly affectedby the decisions. Like most permaculture
designers, Chuck suggests that communities get
training in permaculture design principles, and,perhaps with the guidance of a permaculture
designer, create their site plan themselves.
“Community-based design and planning, while amuch slower and occasionally frustratingprocess, has the distinct advantage of investing
the participants in an outcome that is more likely to meet their real needs.”
Here’s how Zuni Mountain Sanctuary went
about the process. In the 1990s, permaculture
designer Ben Haggard was hired to help this315-acre community in northern New Mexico
develop a permaculture-based site plan. The
group began with an in-depth study of permaculture, then assessed their site for wind patterns, erosion patterns, and evidence of past fires
and floods, and learned something about theirregion’s soils and plant and animal communities.
“Zuni Mountain residents identified the mostappropriate locations for buildings, gardens,
agroforestry, sacred places, and wildlife corridors,” Ben Haggard recalls.“They listened to theland, allowing its potentials and liabilities to dictate the pattern of development.”
He describes a portion of one of their draft
site plans: “A single, short, easy-to-maintainroad offers access to a tightly clustered village

center surrounding agricultural fields and aspring-fed pond. This road gets good solar
access, so it’s less likely to be icy in winter andmuddy in summer. It’s on contour, so it can prevent erosion. It’s just above the orchard, so
runoff from the road surface can be used for
irrigating trees. It’s perpendicular to prevailingwinds and the direction of greatest fire danger,
so it’s an ideal firebreak. And it leaves the
majority of the property free from incursion byautomobiles, minimizing potential pollution
and maximizing open space and wildlife areas.
Zuni Mountain members took on an ambitious
and complex project that few could afford or
had the experience to build as individuals.
Their efforts will leave the land healthier thanthey found it.”
Avoiding “Urban Refugee Syndrome”“Many of us have been so traumatized by the fast
pace of modern life that we feel we need lots ofspace around us to protect us from a harsh anddangerous world,” says Chuck Marsh.“I find that
one of the greatest challenges at Earthaven is tofind ways to meet people’s privacy needs while
keeping our homesites compact and not
sprawled all over the landscape.”
Ben Haggard calls this tendency to spreadout “urban refugee syndrome.”“Urban and suburban people, afraid of thepotential lack of privacy in villages and closeknit communities, scatter across the landscapelooking for a place to hide,” he says. “This only
repeats in microcosm the worst mistakes of suburban development — destructive, repetitive
sprawl. Networks of paths and roads proliferate,requiring maintenance, creating erosion scars,and disrupting wildlife. The costs of distributing water, energy, or wastes go up.
Communication becomes more difficult. Often

148 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

these siting decisions assume that residents willremain young and healthy forever.”Before Zuni Mountain Sanctuary members
learned about permaculture, one member hadplanned his house site far from the community
center. Like all Zuni Mountain members, hewould have to first build his house, requiring thedelivery of construction materials and water (forconcrete). Ben Haggard pointed out that aremote location requires its own access road and,in the fragile ecosystem of New Mexico’s highdesert, even driving over the ground once leaves
a permanent scar. And this house, like all houses, would require ongoing work and materials tomaintain. And even well-designed solar houses
require fuel — firewood or propane for backup
heat during the bitterly cold winters.
Ben also pointed out that having a home so
far from the center of the community would
make life harder in an environment where life isalready hard enough. Forgetting a necessary tool,for example, would require a long hike home,sometimes in harsh weather.“I’ve noticed that in
spread-out communities, people simply adjust to
not having what they need. The daily effort ofgetting from one place to another hampers residents’ ability to do their work. Individuals andthe whole community suffer as workloads
become overwhelming and maintenance of people and infrastructure is neglected.”
Ben asked the member to imagine the 20 ormore proposed members’ homes placed as isolated dwellings around the land.“He saw that sucha pattern would eliminate the most desirable
open space of the community,” Ben said.
“Anywhere one walked would be someone’s
backyard.”The member agreed, finally persuadedthat clustered housing would allow optimal useof the best areas for building and maintain the
integrity of the commons.

Creating Privacy in the Midst ofCommunity

Yet the desire to spread out is understandable.
The greatest fear of many people choosing community is that they won’t have enough privacy.
However, Danish cohousing residents, who’vebeen living in densely clustered townhouse-stylehousing units since the late 1960s, and cohousingarchitects Kathryn McCamant and Charles
Durrett know very well that not having enoughprivacy is rarely a complaint of people living inthis kind of community housing.“People find thatonce they close their door, their unit is as private
as any private housing,” says Kathryn McCamant.
“It’s much easier to get solitude in the midstof community than to get community in the
midst of solitude,” observes Winslow Cohousing
member Tom Moench.
Since privacy is a real issue, we need to findways to create sustainable development and meet
our needs for privacy. Fortunately, there are several things we can do. One is to arrange living
spaces so that front doors and front porches (and
often, kitchen windows) — the “public” side of adwelling — face the front doors and public sidesof other dwellings, and locate living rooms andbedrooms in the rear “private” side, facing awayfrom other dwellings and into rear patios or backyards (with no public sides facing into anyone
else’s back yards). Another is careful window
placement, so that windows don’t look out into
other neighbors’ windows. A third way is to effectively sound-insulate exterior walls, especiallycommon walls between separate housing units,
and use windows and doors that close snugly, tocreate more sound privacy between neighbors.
“Until your needs for privacy and autonomy
are met,” says Boulder architect David Barrett,“you can’t really do community.”DEVELOPING SUSTAINABLE HUMAN SETTLEMENTS 149

Designing for Conviviality

A community site plan can enhance social interaction and “community glue,” what Chuck
Marsh calls “designing for conviviality.”“Designing for conviviality involves placing
our access ways and buildings in patterns thatallow for, and in fact encourage, quality humaninteractions as we go about our daily activities,”says Chuck Marsh. Some of these patterns
include:Visual connection. Designers use “line of sight”
to help people feel more connected. If you can
see the community building from your front
porch or kitchen window, it tends to make you
feel more connected to it and inclined to visit
and use it. If you can see other members’ homesfrom your front porch or kitchen window, it
tends to make you feel more connected to thepeople who live in those homes and more
inclined to visit and interact with them. It creates
the feeling of a cozy neighborhood, for example,
if dwellings are aligned so that their front porches or patios and kitchen windows face each other,so everyone has views of other members’ homes.
Cozy distance. How far away buildings are froma well-traveled common pathway also affects thesense of community. In a study conducted in the
1990s, cohousing architects and members of a
Davis, California cohousing community foundthat the coziest and most charming “felt space”
for a front porch from a common pathway was
about ten feet.
Prominence. For a shared community building
to be well-utilized, and to become a beloved andinspiring symbol of the community, it should be
more visually prominent than other buildings
and placed in a central area where people can see

it from their front porches and kitchen windows.
To take advantage of these “conviviality” patterns,
cohousing communities are often designed with
their dwellings in rows facing each other across anarrow or oblong central commons, about ten
feet from an encircling pedestrian pathway, with
their large community building at one end of thecentral commons in full sight of every home.
Footpaths, gathering nodes, and centripetalenergy. The flow of foot traffic can also encouragesocial connection, and the path of car traffic candisrupt it. Having a limited number of pedestrian
pathways between destinations with natural congregating places en route — gazebos, shaded
benches, picnic tables, and so on — encourages
people to spontaneously encounter each other andhave conversations. Locating parking at the edgeof the site, having the pathway between the parking area and the homes pass by the front of thecommunity building, and having individual mailboxes and a community bulletin board located in
the community building encourage people to stopin at the community building while walking toand from their homes and cars, where they’re likely to meet others and connect. Design features likethese create a concentrated, centripetal energy,rather than a dispersed, centrifugal energy.
“In good design, conviviality happens spontaneously among the inhabitants of the settlement because the physical spaces are ‘tuned’ tothe wisdom of our bodies,” Chuck says.
“Buildings create positive outdoor spaces;
entrances are prominent and transitions aremarked by gateways; paths meander and cross;places to sit or to tarry are frequent, people feelsafe to sleep in public or to make love in thewoods. Permaculture design should nourish not
only the Earth and our bodies, but also the individual’s soul and the group soul.”150 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

Earthaven’s members utilized many of theseprinciples in their site plan. Their roads andfootpaths follow the terrain and lead naturally tomembers encountering one another as they walk

between the kitchen/dining room, dwellings inthe Hut Hamlet, the general store, or theCouncil Hall. Home sites in the neighborhoods
are clustered. The kitchen/dining room with its

YOUR COMMUNITY BUILDING
Community buildings are as varied as the communities
they’re part of. They can range from a single structure
housing a kitchen/dining area and meeting space, orthey can include these functions and more: dance
space, daycare facilities, teen hangout rooms, laundry
facilities, and workshops, to name a few. Some community buildings feature separate structures for different activities. (A good resource is the “Pattern
Language for the Village” in A Pattern Language, by
Christopher Alexander et al. See Resources.)
A well-designed community building can literally
help create cohesiveness, give the feeling of a central“hearth,” and be a source of pleasure, joy, and pridefor its members. Here are some design tips to help
you design such a center.
Put all your eggs in one basket. For better social
interaction, to effectively “design for conviviality,” aswell as to save money, it works best to have relatively
small individual living spaces and larger community
buildings with many amenities.
Make it prominent. Many communities use architect
Christopher Alexander’s principles of “building archetypes” in A Pattern Language for creating a warm andinviting built environment that invites community spirit. One of his principles is that the primary community
building in any given location be taller, bigger, or
somehow more visually prominent than other structures around it.

Put it at the “heart.” It should also be accessible,
both visually through “line of sight,” and by footpath,from many other locations around the community.
Make it beautiful. Cohousing architects Kathryn
McCamant and Chuck Durrett, as well as Christopher
Alexander, insist that for a community building tofunction well and be used by its members, it must be
beautiful. Ideally, it inspires and uplifts the members
whenever they see it — a physical symbol of the community to its members.
Build it first. Many founders have learned that constructing the community building first, before any
individual dwellings, adds significantly to a group’s
identity and community spirit. It creates an energetic
center for the group’s focus — a centripetal energy. In
contrast, when everyone is preoccupied with building their own homes first, it tends to create a moredispersed centrifugal energy in the community.
Build it yourselves. Nothing builds community glue
like working together, and nothing makes people more
proud of their community building than building itthemselves. “I see repeatedly that people in general
enjoy being a part of, and want to contribute in a fullbody, hands-on way to the physical building of theircommunity,” observes Ted Butchart. Ideally, a community building isn’t built quickly by professionals or
hired laborers, but created consciously, even ritually,
and, as Ted says, “placed and quilted and kneaded
and shaped by the users themselves.”

DEVELOPING SUSTAINABLE HUMAN SETTLEMENTS 151

gable-roofed canvas awning and terraced front
patio is larger and more imposing than othernearby structures, and is visible from the maincommunity road and one of the parking areas.
The Council Hall is large and imposing andlocated on high ground, and also visible from themain road.
Developing your community physically is an
ongoing process that could take 10 to 15 years tocomplete. But creating community itself is neverreally “complete.”“Earthaven is very much a work in progress,
a constantly evolving attempt to more deeply

inoculate permaculture and ecovillage culture
into our bioregion,” says Chuck Marsh. “We’reworking away in the belly of the beast of western
civilization to find our way home in the company of kindred yet diverse spirits.”



In Chapter 14 we’ll look at one of the most crucial issues of your community-forming process— how your internal financing affects your lives
in community, and how attractive your community may be to potential new members.

Chapter 14
Internal Community Finances(Can We Afford to Live There?)G

ETTING FINANCING TO BUY your property

n’t have to reinvent the wheel. I hope the examples in this chapter will to give your group plenty of ideas for considering how you might (1)raise enough money to pay off loans, pay operating expenses, and build any needed infrastructure; (2) call up enough labor; (3) meet yourmembers’ needs for income, housing, and possibly equity in the property; and (4) attract the
new members who’ll help you do all this.
Thus, when arranging the terms of yourfinancing, you’ll need to consider how much themonthly payments will be, and whether theamount you’ll need to assess yourselves to makethese payments will be affordable — depending
on how many of you will split the payments,
your income levels, and if your contingency fundis large enough to subsidize part of the payments
until enough new members join you. (And will
your monthly payments and contingency-fundsupplements allow you to choose members basedon your agreed-upon criteria, or will financialpressure dictate that you accept people you aren’t
sure of because you desperately need their cash?)If you’re seeking property in a rural area thechallenge escalates. You’ve got at least threechoices:is one thing; living with the financial
arrangements is another.
The financing terms of your property purchase — especially the amount of monthly payment — will affect your internal finances as well.
Internal finances are the choices you’ll makeabout whether, and how, you’ll assess yourselves
over time, and/or assess new members when theyjoin. You’ll need to account for such expenses as
the mortgage payment, property taxes and insurance, utilities, maintenance and repair costs, any
remodeling or infrastructure development, or any
management costs such as office and bookkeeping supplies, website expenses, and so on. Sourcesof revenue for communities can include joining
fees, monthly and/or yearly assessments, rent
from community-owned living quarters, and sitelease fees. Your internal community economy also
involves members’ labor requirements.
As you’ll see, the founders of the communities we’re examining arranged their internalfinancing in completely different ways. And mostcreated these unique economies from scratch,without benefit of knowing how any other communities may have done it. But your group does152

INTERNAL COMMUNITY FINANCES (CAN WE AFFORD TO LIVE THERE?) 153

1. Buy your rural property near a town or smallcity with a reasonable job market, or within
acceptable commuting distance of one.
2. Arrange financing with monthly paymentsthat are low enough so that assessments will
still be affordable to members with low-paying or part-time rural jobs, or who aredependent on the uncertain income of individually owned businesses.
3. Create one or more community-owned businesses that will pay members decent enoughwages to meet your monthly assessments. (Inthis case,“business” could include a non-profit organization that, like Lost Valley’s or
OAEC’s educational organizations, generates an income and pays employees.)
Rural Communities — How will yourMembers Make a Living?

Here’s how members of some rural communities
make a living.
1. Rural communities near a good job market.
Sowing Circle/OAEC is in a rural-residential
area surrounded by the cities and towns ofSonoma County, two minutes from the town of
Occidental, 25 minutes from the city of Santa
Rosa, and an hour and a half from San
Francisco. It’s relatively easy for Sowing Circle’s
11 members to bring in Bay Area-level salaries.
Five are employed by OAEC in multi-skilledroles that include administration, grant application writing, gardening, maintenance and repair,and teaching workshops. The OAEC staff members began working for $10 an hour, with annual seniority raises, and salaries now range from
$1,900 to $2,600 a month, depending on seniority. This is a low wage by Bay Area standards, butfine relative to the community’s values. Sowing
Circle’s membership also includes a grade school

teacher, a college professor, an environmental
educator, and a home-based mom/politicalorganizer. Another member, the president of anon-profit organization, works half-time at his
home office and half-time in Berkeley, an hour
and a half away.
2. Rural communities 30-45 minutes from a
low-wage job market. Abundant Dawn is anhour from the small city of Roanoke, Virginia,
and about 40 minutes from three other mediumsized towns, all with relatively few jobs and low
wages. Their members’ income-producing activities are typical of what rural community members with few nearby jobs must do. One works as
a self-employed computer programmer (sometimes telecommuting and sometimes travelingelsewhere to jobs); two retirees own, repair andmaintain their own local rental properties —and also bake bread for area restaurants; one
offers a holistic health service in Roanoke andthe three local towns — and also takes on otherodd jobs; one formerly owned and operated aportable sawmill but now goes to college; and thefour members of their income-sharing pod makeand sell hemp hammocks, work part-time at a
nearby CSA farm, and own and manage thefruit-distribution service for the CSA farm.
The situation is almost identical at Earthaven,which is 50 minutes from Asheville, and 20 and 30
minutes from two small towns, all of which also
have few jobs and low wages. Some members areowners of an on-site forestry co-op that fells andmills trees and builds homes for other members.
One member owns an herbal products business;
another publishes Permaculture Activist magazine(both employ other community members parttime); another owns rental units in Asheville andan on-site general store. Two artists paint and selllandscape paintings; one woodworker makes

154 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

wooden candle-lanterns and another makes custom stairways. Two work part-time administeringand promoting workshops on sustainability for
Culture’s Edge, Earthaven’s educational non-profit. Several are self-employed in full- or part-time
service businesses: carpenters, permaculture
teachers (one also does landscape design, anotheralso teaches consensus), a massage therapist who
commutes to Asheville, and a website designer/
landscape designer. Two work as waitresses in a
nearby town, one works three months a year as apublicist in a city in another state. Some work
part-time or for a few hours a week for the community, coordinating its labor, doing repairs andmaintenance, cooking for workshop participants,
or managing the campground. A few live on theinterest from investments; six are retired.
Lost Valley is within 15 minutes’ drive from a
few small towns and 30 minutes from the smallcity of Eugene, Oregon — all with relatively few
jobs and low wages. Fifteen people (almost threequarters of its members), work for the community’s educational center business, either full timeor part-time. One of the part-time employees
also works as a massage therapist on-site, andothers work part-time in Eugene or the nearby
towns. Members who don’t work for the educational center have full-time or part-time jobs offsite as well — grant writer and consultant, parttime librarian, part-time park ranger, sales rep fora food distributor. Another member flies to a different city each weekend to represent products at
trade shows. Another drives 12 hours to the San
Francisco Bay Area for week-long trips eighttimes a year to work as an accounting consultant
for clients there, but at Bay-Area wages.
Rural communities far from a job market.
Dancing Rabbit members have an even greater
challenge, since they live so much farther from a

job market — 45 minutes from a small townwith low-paying jobs, and almost an hour and ahalf from the nearest city. Two members are selfemployed in service businesses — a musician’s
booking agent and a freelance editor. Some havepart-time or occasional work building homes forother members. Several have part-time jobs
working for the Fellowship for Intentional
Community at nearby Sandhill Farm, or in
Sandhill’s tempeh-making business, or for the
Missouri chapter of a national organic certifying
agency. Some work off-site for several weeks ormonths — a personal assistant who helps disabled people, a traveling sales representative, andcarpenters who work construction in other
cities. Several work a few hours weekly for thecommunity doing accounting, answering correspondence, managing their intern program, or
fund-raising for the community, and one works
full-time eight months a year, growing the community’s vegetables. Members of Skyhouse, theincome-sharing sub-community, work a variety
of telecommuting jobs, including computer programming, website design, and graphic arts.
As you can see, in rural communities awayfrom thriving job markets, most people make dowith various odd jobs, part-time jobs, one-person businesses with an uncertain income, or theytelecommute. Few actually have “a job.”
Starting a new business while also starting acommunity can be difficult to impossible; bringing a telecommuting job or an already-successful
business to a rural community can work well.
For example, the computer programmers at
Abundant Dawn and Dancing Rabbit brought
their professions with them and now telecommute. The income-sharing pod at Abundant
Dawn was already making hammocks as subcontractors for Twin Oaks’ hammock-making

INTERNAL COMMUNITY FINANCES (CAN WE AFFORD TO LIVE THERE?) 155

business before they began Abundant Dawn
(they later launched their own independent
hammock line). The owners of various businesses at Earthaven started them before joining thecommunity.
The Risks of Community Businesses

Several founders of rural communities have told
me it would have helped enormously, at the very
start, if they’d had one or more viable community businesses to employ community members,
and there’s plenty of precedent from incomesharing rural communities formed in the late1960s or early ’70s. Twin Oaks in Virginia started its hammock business, and subsequently, abook-indexing service and tofu-making business— all still in operation today. Sandhill Farm in
Missouri started an organic foods business —growing and processing sorghum syrup, honey,
tempeh, garlic puree, horseradish, and mustard.
The Farm in Tennessee started many businesses, including processing soy foods, manufacturing electronic equipment, video production
services, and midwifery and midwife education.
All these businesses continue today, althoughsome are now owned as sole proprietorships byindividual Farm members, or are owned bymember collectives.
However, creating a community-owned business (or a non-profit educational center that pays
wages to its employees) is not without its own
risks. Start-up businesses fail at the rate of atleast 95 percent, usually because they’re undercapitalized or the founders didn’t do adequate
market research ahead of time. Start-up businesses require not only business experience andentrepreneurial skill to succeed, but often take10- and 12-hour days for at least the first six
months to a year. Even if you’re a community ofexperienced, savvy entrepreneurs, where will you

PRIVATE ECONOMIES, INCOMESHARING ECONOMIESIn a private or independent community economy, however members earn money — working at outside jobs, byowning their own businesses, through investments, orsome other means — they keep their earnings anddecide how they’ll spend, invest, or save their own earnings. In other words, their finances are private and individual. They pay agreed-upon joining fees, site lease
fees, and/or other assessments to the community for allcommunity expenses, and the whole group decides
how to spend or save their community assets. Most communities operate this way. In an income-sharing (communal) economy, however, members work for one or morecommunity businesses and pool the profits in a common
treasury, or work at jobs outside the community and pool
their earnings from these jobs. The common treasury pays
the mortgage payments, property taxes, insurance, maintenance, and other costs, and all members’ basic needs
for food, shelter, monthly stipends, and so on. All members decide how their common assets are spent.
Relatively few communities do income-sharing, however
members of Skyhouse subcommunity at Dancing Rabbit
and the Tekiah pod at Abundant Dawn organize theireconomies this way. Meadowdance has a hybrid
income-sharing economy. Everyone works for
Meadowdance’s community-owned businesses, andtheir basic expenses are paid from business profits.
Members can also earn money they can use as theyplease by working at outside jobs or working extra hours
for their community-owned businesses.

carve out the time and energy to set up a newcommunity and a business, much less keep relationships intact with your partners and children?
It’s much worse if you try to do all this on raw
land you’re developing from scratch. New development either requires boatloads of money tohire professional crews, or long hard hours of156 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

your own sweat-equity labor, or both — usually
over a period of several years. It’s unlikely mostcommunity founders could pull this off and starta business. Bottom line — if you’re planning acommunity-owned business, if at all possible, get
it established and running well before moving to
the land.
But there are several other ways to create onsite income for members besides the community becoming the employer itself. Several members could create a worker-owned co-op, forexample, or could provide the community food,cooking, lumber, construction skill, laundry
services, and so on for a fee. Or an individual or
several members could start a business enterprise that employed some or all other community members.
A community-owned or member-owned
business that employs other community members also has its own set of problems. On the one
hand, community members would have on-sitejobs, the entrepreneurs would have an ongoingsource of close-at-hand workers, and, since it had
an income source, the community would be
more attractive to new members. On the other
hand, just because some folks are fine fellow
community members doesn’t make them suited
for a particular job role. What if the member was
unsuited for the work, or made costly mistakes,
or didn’t show up for shifts, or came late and leftearly? What if the person was miserable, or evendestructive, in the job? Imagine the amount oftension that could arise between that member
and the business owners, whether the person was
kept in the job (creating resentment in the owners and co-workers), or was let go (creating
resentment in the person). Also, if some members owned the business and others didn’t, a realor perceived power issue could arise between
what could become the “owner class” and the“worker class.” Or the needs of the business, driven by markets, cash flow, and other financial considerations, could slowly encroach on and evensupplant the community’s own visions and values for itself. Instead of being a servant to thecommunity — providing income for members— the business could become its master. An
antidote to this kind of “creeping takeover”
would be to set up more than one memberowned business from the beginning, or a combination of community-owned, worker-owned,
and individually or group-owned businesses, creating a more balanced “marketplace” of businessactivities and employment opportunities.
Another issue is whether a community business is really viable. A business might earn thecommunity far less money per member thaneach person would make working outside, but aslong as each member’s expenses are low, theirwork-hours reasonable, the work itself satisfying,
and their lives in community fulfilled and balanced, they’re probably living better than theirwealthier counterparts in the mainstream. As
the saying goes: “Living below your means is acheap way to be rich.”On the other hand, a community businesscould pay its overhead, satisfy its customers, fund
all necessary community expenses, and seemfirmly in the black, but at the cost of community
members working inordinately long hours to pull
it off. If members intersperse gardening, maintenance, cooking, and other community tasks withhours at the community business they might notreally notice that by the end of the week they’ve
worked 60 or even 70 hours at the business, andthat their free time had diminished to nothing.
Entrepreneurs and business consultants identify
this situation immediately for what it is — a failing business that’s actually in the red — butmany communities can’t see it.

INTERNAL COMMUNITY FINANCES (CAN WE AFFORD TO LIVE THERE?) 157

This happens regularly at a rural incomesharing community I’ll call Cranberry Valley. Its
20 members work at one or more community
businesses — installing slate roofs, processing
maple syrup for local stores, and operating a coffee house venue in town for local poets andmusicians. But the hours are grueling and thecommunity’s newer members become exhausted
and demoralized. (And in what I call “community macho,” the long-time members remind themthat it takes a lot of stamina to handle the intensity of community life.) Someone finally does
the math and concludes that the coffee houseloses so much money that everyone’s actuallyworking for $2.00 an hour, and their outrageously long hours are the result of trying to keep it
afloat. Eventually, the newer members proposethat Cranberry Valley cut its losses and close thecoffee house so everyone can live normal lives
again. The founders and old timers don’t agree,
saying that having a groovy coffee house was partof the community’s vision from the beginning.
Then there’s a major exodus. The scene repeats
itself regularly with new groups of members several months or years later.
Given these pros and cons of running a community business, here’s how some communities
manage it. And, although it’s unlikely that any ofthe members in these community-owned, worker-owned, or individually-owned businesses will
ever get rich, or even perhaps earn a normal wage
by mainstream standards, they’ve found a way tolive in a rural community and make a living
there.
1. Income-sharing community-owned businesses. Meadowdance founders were convincedfrom the outset that a significant factor in a newcommunity’s success is whether people canafford to join it. They didn’t want people to haveto eke out a living of odd-jobs and part-time jobs
and still try to make land payments, so having
community businesses was part of their community vision from the start. They chose two businesses, Vermont Software Testing Group andWordsworth Typing and Editing, specificallybecause they weren’t living in their permanentrural location yet and both businesses were
portable, and because any members with basic
knowledge of computers could be trained as
effective software testers. As we’ve seen, because
they didn’t get their desired rural land,
Meadowdance founders bought a large house ina town and launched their businesses from there.
For the first two-and-a-half years, these businesses made barely enough to pay overhead andmarketing, house payments (mortgage, taxes,
and insurance), food and household expenses,
gasoline and maintenance of shared cars, and atiny stipend for each member. Then the businesses began taking off, and the community
could relax a bit. Even so, they consider these
two businesses less than ideal in some ways, sinceboth involve sitting at a computer for long hours.
Now that they’ve purchased and moved to their
new property, they’ll found other community
businesses, says cofounder Luc Reid, which most
likely will be different in nature. Eventually they
may phase out one or both of their computerbased businesses.
Meadowdance organized its income-sharing
structure differently than other income-sharing
communities. Income-sharing subcommunities,
such as Skyhouse at Dancing Rabbit and Tekiah
at Abundant Dawn, own their businesses
through a 501(d) non-profit tax status and share
one tax return, which gives them a definite tax
savings. (See Chapter 16.) But to retain that tax
status, members cannot work for outside businesses without sharing that income also, and any158 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

outside assets must either be put in trust or contributed to the common treasury. Meadowdance
wanted to make it easy for anyone with enoughmotivation and energy to be able to earn additional income, and they didn’t want to discourage
anyone from joining who owned investments,
real estate, or savings. So they don’t own any
assets through the 501(d) non-profit, but own
their property as a Vermont Limited Liability
Partnership, and each business as a Limited
Liability Company. (See Chapter 15.) They file
one tax form for the Limited Liability
Partnership, and spread the tax burden among
members equally. With this legal structure, aslong as members meet their internal workrequirements, they can work at outside jobs anddo anything they want with outside earnings andother assets.
Lost Valley’s Educational Center business isorganized differently again. Fifteen members
work full time or part time for the business, inadministration and programs, consulting,accounting, promotion, gardening, or grounds
maintenance and repair. The base pay is $6.50 anhour, with a seniority increase of 12.5 cents anhour more every year, plus 65 cents an hour
additional if the employee has children. Fulltime wages range from $845 to $1,040 a month(and full time is 30 hours weekly).
2. Member-owned community-service co-ops.
Eight Earthaven members decided to make amodest living on the land by addressing two of
the community’s challenges — the need to clear
forest on arable bottom land so the community
can grow enough food to feed itself, and the needfor building materials and carpenters for community buildings and members’ homes. They
formed a worker-owned co-operative, Earthaven
Forestry and Building Company (as a Limited

Liability Company), and taught themselves how
to harvest trees sustainably, mill lumber, andbuild houses. It was a steep learning curve formany of them, as only two were carpenters, andthey went into fairly deep debt with private loans
from other members for a portable band saw, adump truck, and other equipment. They areaccomplishing their goals — clearing land,
milling a surplus of lumber (and even finding a
way to use smaller-than-normal dimensional
lumber for innovative building methods), helping build community buildings and members’
homes, and slowly paying off their debt. As of
2002, they were charging $16 to $25 an hour,depending on equipment used, whether thework involves heavy machinery or logging, andwhether the work is on or off-site. They use partof this for overhead and debts, and split the rest,
aiming for a $10 an hour wage. When they can’t
pay themselves that much, they pay what they
can and credit the remainder to themselves for a
future draw when the cash is available. LikeOAEC and Lost Valley members, they’re notgetting rich, but they have found a way to makemoney in a rural community and simultaneously serve its long-term vision and goals.
3. Sole-proprietor businesses that serve thecommunity. Dancing Rabbit also wanted tofind ways to meet members’ needs and generate
on-site incomes, so they formed the Cattail
Food Co-op, which buys produce from several
members with thriving vegetable gardens. The
food co-op collects money from members andorders food items from a natural foods wholesaler that delivers monthly, but most of theirfunds go to the gardeners. In the April-Octobergrowing season, one member works full-time
growing nearly all the community’s vegetables
for the co-op. As of 2002, he was making a very

INTERNAL COMMUNITY FINANCES (CAN WE AFFORD TO LIVE THERE?) 159

modest living by ordinary standards, but one
that works in Dancing Rabbit’s low-expenseenvironment. Three other part-time gardeners
grow salad greens, herbs, and other edibles tosell to the co-op.
Keeping Member Assessments
Affordable

There are probably as many ways to assess members for community expenses as there are communities. The total amounts vary widely,depending on the purchase price of the property(for example, it’s considerably higher in
California than in Missouri); whether it’s developed, and to what degree; the amount of initialcosts (down payment plus repairs, renovation, ordevelopment costs); the monthly land fee (loanprincipal and interest, taxes, and insurance); thenumber of members who will split these costs;
and whether members will have equity in theproperty. Table 7 on the following pages illustrates some of these differences.
In each of the rural communities in the chart,
the monthly land payments are affordable, given
access to nearby jobs. In the years 1995 to 1999,
when they were still paying interest-only payments on their three loans, SC/OAEC members
paid $800 a month for the mortgage, taxes, insurance, utilities, repairs, maintenance, and further
development, which was reasonable in this ruralarea near high-paying jobs. Now, after refinancing, and with 11 members, they each pay $815
monthly ($515 in land payments; $300 in taxes,
insurance, repair, and maintenance). The community’s operations expenses are not paid bymember assessments, but by their $70,000 annual income from OAEC leasing their facilities. In
rural areas with few available jobs, and where theproperty doesn’t cost as much, the scale is lower.
Earthaven members pay $15-$20 per month, andDancing Rabbit members pay $25 per month
toward the land payment, and an annual assessment of two percent of each member’s annual
income, plus food costs and, if they rent a spacefrom the community or Skyhouse subcommunity, a rental fee of $70 to $150 per month.
The monthly assessment for Abundant
Dawn members for the land payment and otherexpenses ranges from $105 to $350 per month,depending on which pod (Tekiah or DaySpring
Circle) the member is part of, his/her assets andmonthly income, and other factors. In 2001,
monthly assessments averaged $176 per member, and this fee will go down somewhat as moremembers join. If they rent community-owned
housing, Abundant Dawn members pay from$50 to $150 monthly.
Lost Valley members pay a $250 monthly fee
for utilities, taxes, insurance, maintenance, andloan payments, and $75 to $225 in rent for community-owned housing.
Food costs are usually figured separately. At
Sowing Circle, Lost Valley, and Dancing
Rabbit, where members share food expenses
and eat together, food costs range from $100 to$150 per person per month. Abundant Dawn
members pay for their own food, but areassessed $20 per month for bulk foods sharedby the community. Meadowdance members pay
nothing; their community businesses fund basic
expenses and pay each member a small stipend.
(See Table 7.)
Joining Fees

Joining fees vary widely, and some communities,
such as Meadowdance and Dancing Rabbit,
don’t have them at all. The joining fee is $4,000
at Earthaven and $1,000 at Lost Valley.
Abundant Dawn has no joining fee for individual members, but each pod pays a one-timeTABLE 7: INTERNAL COMMUNITY FINANCES

Community

Founders’ Contribution
Members’ Joining Fee
Site Lease Fee

ABUNDANT DAWNFounders paid $1,800 each plus a $300

$13,416 yearly; $1,118 monthly.

nonrefundable security deposit. EachInterest & principal to owner-financer.

Annual/Monthly Mortgage orLoan Payment

pod pays $5,000 to join Abundant
Dawn. For Tekiah pod there’s no joining
fee. For DaySpring Circle pod, newmembers pay $3,000 to $4,000 to
reimburse DaySpring Circle founders forthe pod joining fee for Abundant Dawn,
and for DaySpring Circle’s infrastructure.
No site lease fees.

DANCING RABBITNo required founders’ contributions.

$20,750 yearly; $1,600 monthly.

No new-member joining fee.

(CRP payments pay about half this.)Interest & (now) principal payment to
private lenders.
Members build homes on leased sites.

SOWING CIRCLE/OAEC$20,000 founders’contributions. New(1995-2000) $37,500 yearly;

members pay joining fee of $20,000+$3,125 monthly.

which reflects capital improvements
and increased property value.

Interest-only payments on threemortgages.

160

INTERNAL COMMUNITY FINANCES (CAN WE AFFORD TO LIVE THERE?) 161

Do Members Have Equity
in the Community Property?

Annual or Monthly
Member Assessment(excluding food)Weekly Labor Requirement
How Members Make a Living

Housing Arrangements
PARTIAL EQUITY

9 members pay monthly land payment:

No labor requirement but labor

Undivided ownership of wholeamount varies per member (ranging

averages 10-12 hrs. per week.

property; members lease sites.

between $105-$350 per member),Members leaving after 3 years may be

depending on pod, member’s assets &Few jobs locally. DaySpring Circle

reimbursed 25% of their land pay-

income, & other factors (average

members work in on-site member-ments, starting w/their 4th year, atmonthly fee in 2001 was $176). This Fee

owned businesses, off-site jobs, orcommunity’s discretion.

will decrease somewhat as more

telecommute. Tekiah members working

members join.

in pod-owned hammock business andoff site jobs.

Live in community-owned housing orowner-built homes.

1.5 hrs labor/wk (75 hours yearly).

NO EQUITY

Annual assessment: 2% per member.

Property owned as Land Trust through16 members (2002) hold 20 leases total.

501(c)2 non-profit. Members lease

Monthly site lease for home, garden &Few jobs locally. Members work insites for $25 monthly.

business sites: $25 per 2500 sq. ft.

member-owned on-site businesses,
jobs off site, telecommute, or work forthe community.

Live in small owner-built cabins orrent community-owned cabins for$50-$150/month.
EQUITY(1995-2000): 8 people. $37,440 yearly:

Equal undivided interests in property.

$3,120 monthly. $800 per person/monthLive in community-owned cabins.

7 hrs week/average.

for mortgage, operating expenses,

Good job market locally.

development, & maintenance. (2001+):

5 members work for OAEC (approx.,

11 people. $67,980 yearly; $5,665$1500/mo. take-home pay) or atmonthly. $815 per person/month foroff-site jobs.

mortgage, development, &maintenance. (Operations paid by
OAEC annual lease fees.)

Continued on page 162-163 (over)162 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER
Community

Founders’ Contribution
Members’ Joining Fee
Site Lease Fee

Annual/Monthly Mortgage orLoan Payment

EARTHAVEN

Founders paid $10,000 ea. for site lease.

$50,400 yearly; $4,200 monthly. Interest

New members pay $4,000 joining fee && principal to EarthShares fund.

one-time site lease fee, which increases
by $1,000 every year ($17,000 in 2002).

LOST VALLEY

No required founders fees.

Original property purchase loans are(One loaned money for acquisition andpaid off; now pay $42,000 annually/

remodeling.) New members pay $1,000$3,500 monthly interest & principal tojoining fee.

multiple lenders for further capital
improvements.

MEADOWDANCENo required founders’ contributions;

Mortgage on house in town: $5,196

some gave loans; some didn’t.

yearly; $433 monthly. Property Taxes:

No joining fee$4268 yearly; $356 monthly.
Community businesses pay the
mortgage.

$5,000 fee to be a part of Abundant Dawn.
Tekiah, Abundant Dawn’s income-sharing pod,
has no joining fee for incoming members, andDaySpring Circle, its independent-income pod,requires $3,000 to $4,000 per incoming member
to partially reimburse DaySpring Circle
founders for their $5,000 pod-joining fee andexpenses for their neighborhood infrastructure.
The joining fee for new Sowing Circle/
OAEC members is equivalent to the amount(adjusted for inflation) it would cost the community to reimburse a departing founder at thetime the new person joins, even though no one
is actually leaving. This amount is a combination of the $20,000 founder’s contribution, plus
the portion of the monthly loan payment that
goes toward paying off the principal (but notinterest, taxes, insurance, repair, maintenance),
multiplied by the number of months (and years)
the founder paid it at the time the new member
joins. The joining fee is thus continually increasing; by 2002, it was close to $35,000. This may
seem high, but consider that 11 members own aproperty that by 2002 was probably worth 2.8

INTERNAL COMMUNITY FINANCES (CAN WE AFFORD TO LIVE THERE?) 163

Do Members Have Equity
in the Community Property?

Annual or Monthly
Member Assessment(excluding food)Weekly Labor Requirement
How Members Make a Living

Housing Arrangements
EQUITY

55 members.

1500 hours labor in the member’s first

Undivided ownership of whole prop-$120 yearly for operations; plus either

10 years (2 hour weekly minimum).

erty. Members lease sites. Site lease$60 yearly facilities-use fee, or, for resi-

fees $17,000 (in 2002). Leases may bedents who use community kitchen,

Few jobs locally. Members telecom-

sold to incoming members.

$130 yearly facilities-use fee.

mute, work for on-site forestry co-op,
members’ on-site businesses; or at
off-site jobs.

Live in small owner-built cabins.

10 hours’ labor weekly.

NO EQUITY

22 members pay $20 monthly fee for

Property owned as 501(c)3 non-shared infrastructure.

profit.

Each pays monthly rental fee, from $75-

Few jobs locally.

$225 monthly, depending on size and13 members work for educational

amenities.

center business; others work at off-

Members rent community-ownedsite jobs.

housing.
NO EQUITY

7 members. Community businesses pay

45 hour weekly (including work in

Community has option to financiallyall other expenses and give members acommunity businesses).

assist departing members in setting

small stipend.

up new living arrangements.

Members work for community
businesses, though they may work at

Live in community-owned housing.

million. If new members paid a joining fee that
was a proportional share of the property value,with 11 members it would be almost $255,000.
When two new members joined the Sowing
Circle community (as partners in relationships
with founders), they were responsible for thefull joining fee, which at the time was about$31,000. The community used this incoming
revenue to remodel two of the cabins so they’deach be spacious enough for a couple. The newpeople each paid only about $20,000 of theirjoining fee in cash and are paying the balance inoutside jobs if they choose.

monthly payments (in addition to their $815
monthly mortgage payment, and food fees.)
These payments will reimburse the community
for cabin remodeling expenses beyond $20,000
per cabin. (See Table 7 above).
Housing Arrangements

These can vary widely as well. Some communities provide housing, others rent housing, and atstill others, members must build their own
homes. The monthly land fees at Sowing
Circle/OAEC confers the use of a community-164 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

owned cabin. Lost Valley members pay from $75
to $225 for community-owned cabins or housing
units, and Abundant Dawn members pay from$50 to $150 for community-owned space(although they can also build their own temporary or permanent housing, and/or bring in a
temporary mobile home.) Dancing Rabbit members can rent community-owned (or subcommunity-owned) cabins for $70 to $150. Dancing
Rabbit and Earthaven members lease their individual home sites, and must pay construction
costs for building their own individual or sharedhomes. Meadowdance members share the housethey own together.
Site Lease Fees and the Debt Load

Dancing Rabbit’s founders wanted to keep
expenses affordable, not only because of theirvalues, but also because of the low incomes people would likely earn in a rural area as remote as
theirs. So they set up their internal finances
without a joining fee, and assess members two
percent of their annual income every year.
They also set up a system of site leases witha minimum of about 2,500 square feet per person (an area corresponding to 50 by 50 feet,enough for a small cabin and a garden), andcharge one cent per square foot per month, orapproximately $25 a month per leased site.
People can lease more than one site, dependingon the size of their household and how muchspace they want, and can also lease business andgardening sites. They can also choose not to leasespace, but rent community-owned housing
instead. The founders set it up so that regardlessof the number of members or any change in theirdebt load, this low monthly assessment remains
the same.
For their first three years, from 1996 through1998, they paid slightly over $1,000 a month

towards two of their private loans, and in 1999, atthe end of their three-year grace period from their
third loan, began paying about $2,750 a month.
As of 2002, with 16 members leasing 20 home,garden, and business sites, this wasn’t enough tomake the payments, even with their annual
income of approximately $12,000 a year from
Conservation Resource Program payments. But
this wasn’t a problem, since they’d planned fromthe beginning to run on a deficit budget until they
got enough members to lease enough sites, supplementing their site lease fees and CRP payments with money from their development/contingency fund. As soon as they lease 30 sites,
they’ll have enough monthly income, supplemented by the annual CRP payments, to pay theirloans without dipping into any other sources. And
with 40 sites, they’ll have enough for maintenance,
repair, capital improvements, and so on.
Earthaven’s site lease arrangement is quite
different. The founders raised the funds fortheir down payment and early development
costs by paying one-time site lease fees of$10,000 for roughly quarter-acre residential andbusiness sites. Some paid all cash, others paid
half down with monthly payments, and someleased both business and residential sites. The
next year, to pay off their owner-financers, theyrefinanced, creating the EarthShares fund witha series of small private loans from members,
founders, and supporters.
They intended to pay off the EarthSharesloans from additional one-time site lease fees aswell as joining fees from incoming members
over the years. The site lease fees had to meetthe following criteria. (1) They had to be low
enough to be affordable, considering that members would also pay a joining fee and construction costs for building their homes. (2) They
had to represent a reasonable value, based on theINTERNAL COMMUNITY FINANCES (CAN WE AFFORD TO LIVE THERE?) 165

increasing amount of community infrastructure. (3) They had to be high enough to generate enough annual income for Earthaven tomeet its loan payments and maintenance projects, and generate enough total income to eventually pay off the EarthShares fund and build all
the community’s planned roads, bridges, andcommunity buildings.
The founders met this challenge by planning
a population of 150 adult members, their estimated carrying capacity of the land in terms offood self-reliance based on 55 to 66 quarter-acresites. They set the joining fee at $1,000, raising itover the years to $4,000, and began gradually
increasing the original site lease fee of $10,000.
(As of 2002, the site lease fee was $17,000.)
They later added a compact site designation,roughly an eighth-acre for 60 percent of the fullsite fee, and are considering “common-wall” highdensity sites of housing units in apartment-likebuildings with shared yards for half of the fullsite fee When all potential sites are leased andthe community is full, maintenance and new
development funds will come from members’monthly assessments, from annual fees fromshorter-term leases for business sites, and fromrevenue-generating events and services for the
public. (See Table 7.)
Labor Requirements

Another source of wealth in a community’s
internal economy is the labor it asks of eachmember on a weekly, monthly, or annual basis.
Community labor tasks can range from construction, maintenance, and repair, to housekeeping of common areas, bookkeeping, various
clerical tasks, and answering correspondence. If
the community grows its own food and shares allor some common meals, labor tasks will also
include gardening, shopping, cooking, and clean-

up. If members work at one or more community
businesses, that labor is included as well.
Communities need to create a budget for
their labor needs, just they do for financial
needs. This important step is easy to overlook
unless you realize that your members’ skills andenergy are equivalent to money, and that each ofyou will be responsible for a portion of labor tohelp make the community viable. How muchlabor is required per person per week (or per
month, per year, or for the first ten years) — andhow you allocate it — depends on the number
and kind of tasks you hope to accomplish(building a road, remodeling a building, creatinga bookkeeping system or a website, and so on),how many hours you estimate each task will
take, your number of members, and when you’d
like to finish these tasks. If you don’t create alabor budget, you’ll be forever tempted to add
new projects and ask the community to allocate
labor credit for them, leaving you wondering
why you have six half-done construction projects sitting around for years.
As with every other aspect of community
economics, labor requirements vary widely,mostly depending on whether or not the group isdeveloping raw land, how quickly the groupwants to accomplish its goals, how much common space or common activities the groupshares, and how many members are splitting thework. Groups that cook and eat together usuallyrequire a greater amount of community laborthan those in which members have their own
kitchens. Among the communities we’ve been
examining, labor requirements vary from lessthan an hour a week to ten hours a week. Most
communities include community meetings aspart of their labor requirements. At Lost Valley,
for example, four of the required ten hours weekly are for full-group or committee meetings.

166 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

As in most communities, Earthaven’s
founders spent an enormous amount of labor
creating their financial and governance systems
and their physical infrastructure, and wanted tofind a way for incoming members to match that.
So, in the late 1990s, they set up a system whereby all members owe at least 1,500 hours’ labor in
their first ten years of membership, whichmatches what most founders have already contributed. Although this averages out to about 3
hours a week, Earthaven members can arrange
their 1500 hours any way they like over the ten
years, as long as they work a minimum of 50hours a year, or pay the equivalent in cash, measured at $7 an hour.
Abundant Dawn has a labor requirement
but doesn’t require a specific number of hours
per week. They hold a labor review meeting
every few months in which members let eachother know what they’ve done since the previous
labor review. Feedback in these meetings can
include the observation that someone may beworking considerably more hours than others, or
asking someone to do more community work.
Their amount of labor is related to the need;during one period it averaged about 10-12 hours
per member per week.
Earthaven and Dancing Rabbit each set up
internal currency systems (Dancing Rabbit“Hours” and Earthaven “Leaps”) for exchanging
goods and services with the community and witheach other, and for keeping track of labor hours
owed to the community. Both currencies are
based on an hour’s labor valued at $7.
Meadowdance members observed that they
engage in many kinds of work that cannot bemeasured in durations of time, such as taking
responsibility for a certain aspect of community life, or making sure other people are signed
up for a particular job, so they made up a unitof work requirement called “Responsibility
Points” or RPs. Even though some RPs are conferred for oversight or supervisory functions
that don’t necessarily take up time, RPs arenevertheless equivalent to about 15 minutes
each. The community requires 180 RPs per
member weekly (about 45 hours), which has
averaged at about 16.5 hours working at community businesses and 28.5 hours working
non-business community activities per week.
Non-business activities include building maintenance, shopping, cooking, and cleaning,learning and recreational activities with thekids, computer repairs, and management activities such as dealing with taxes, insurance, paying bills, answering correspondence, and participating in whole-group meetings and committees (land search, work requirements, insurance, finance, and so on).
Sowing Circle/OAEC’s labor system is also
not based on required hours, but on requirements to accomplish different kinds of tasks invarious time periods (although the hours averageout to about 7-10 a week). For example, with ten
currently active community members (at a community where they share all meals), each is
required to cook once in two weeks and do dishes once a week, with an intern’s help. Every member and intern must do a basic housekeepingtype task for the community listed on the“Chore Wheel,” each of which takes three to six
hours a month. Every two months they rotate
the wheel and everyone gets a new chore. Every
member participates in two-hour community
meetings once a week, three-to-four-hour “deepcheck-in” meetings every other month, and halfday long-term planning sessions and half-day
work parties every few months. In addition, eachmember is responsible for one of ten “workspheres” (for example, wildlands management,

INTERNAL COMMUNITY FINANCES (CAN WE AFFORD TO LIVE THERE?) 167

finances, development and planning, maintenance), with two or three other members assisting, so every member is involved in several work
spheres. Each work sphere can take from a few
hours to many per month, depending on a work
sphere’s requirements at the time, and how muchenergy the member responsible for it wants todevote to it. (See Table 7.)
Every community we’ve studied depends formuch of its labor on interns — people who workfor the community for several weeks to several
months in exchange for room and board (andwho sometimes pay a small amount for the experience). Interns are an invaluable source of community labor — and often a source of potential
new members as well.
Building Equity

If a community as a whole owns all the property
and no members hold title to their own lots or
housing units, it’s still possible for the members
to build equity in the property — meaning they
are reimbursed all or part of their founders contribution and/or land payments if they leave.
Usually such reimbursements come from thefunds of incoming members, often paid out inmany installments over time. And even in thosecommunities that aren’t set up for anyone tobuild equity in the property, members may haveequity in the home they’ve built, or in otherimprovements to their site, which they can usually sell to other members before leaving,depending on the community’s agreements.
Sowing Circle/OAEC members have equity,
but it’s tied to how much they’ve paid in, not toproperty value. As described above, departing
members would be reimbursed their founder’scontribution and the total amount of principal
they’d paid in monthly payments for all themonths they’d lived there, adjusted for inflation(about $35,000 by 2002). Funds for each reimbursement fee would come primarily from thejoining fee of an incoming member, and would
not be available unless a new member joined.
Earthaven members don’t have equity in thestrict sense of the term, since everyone owns allof the land (and its bylaws prevent it ever selling
the land for speculative gain). Members can,however, sell their site leases back to the community at the same price they paid, depending on
the community’s financial health at the time, andthe community can lease that site to an incoming
member at the current lease fee. Departing
members can also sell their houses, and anyother site improvements, to incoming members.
Departing Abundant Dawn members who
have lived there longer than three years have thepossibility of partial equity in the property,
depending on what the community decides at
the time. If approved by the community at thetime, departing members would be reimbursed
25 percent of their monthly land payments forevery year they’d paid in after their first three
years (minus certain adjustments), over the same
number of years as they lived in the community
after the three-year mark.
For example, if a household lived there five
years and left, they’d be reimbursed 25 percent of
the land payments they made in years four andfive in payments over a two-year period. There’s
no profit on the 25 percent equity reimbursement, even though the property value will haveincreased, but the amount is adjusted for the costof living. If the departing members had built ahome, they could sell it to incoming members.
Departing members of Lost Valley and
Dancing Rabbit aren’t reimbursed any part oftheir assessments, but if they’ve built homes,
they may sell them to incoming members.
Departing Meadowdance members also receive

168 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

no reimbursements, since they didn’t pay into
assessments for expenses (profit from businesses
paid for this) or for building homes or housing
units, as they intend that profits from the business will pay for members’ homes also. However,depending on what the community decides at
the time, departing Meadowdance members may
be given financial assistance to help them get set
up outside the community. If the departing
members loaned the community money, loanrepayment priorities will be shifted in order toreimburse them sooner. (See Table 7.)
The combination of these assessments andfees, and issues of equity, helps determine not
only how easily you can live in your community,
but also how attractive you may be to potential
new members.
Can People Afford to Join You?

In the late 1990s, Patricia Greene and John
Charamella wanted to find the right community
to join. As experienced communitarians, they
assumed this would be reasonably easy financially,
since they were debt-free and could sell theirhome for more than enough to pay a joining fee
and build a modest house, and they could transplant their tile-laying business anywhere there
were enough potential customers. They wereseeking a community in which members had
independent finances, in a rural area with no to
low zoning and building codes. They assumed
they’d pay from $10,000 to $15,000 in joining feesand site-lease fees or the right to build on a footprint of land, and about $40,000 to build a housewith their own sweat equity. But after researchingcommunities on the web, and by e-mailing andphoning communities and taking several extended trips to visit the most promising ones, they
ended up wondering whether the average community seeker could afford to join any community.

At one end of the affordability scale theyfound a 25-year old community whose founders
had long ago paid off and developed the land andweren’t seeking reimbursement. Members lived
in small, rustic cabins without water or electricity, and shared meals and took showers in a central community building. The community wanted to make living there affordable enough somembers didn’t have to work at outside jobs, so
there was no joining fee, a nominal monthly fee
for room and board, and an 18-hour weekly
work requirement. To discourage new members
from starting construction and then leaving
behind a half-built building, the community wasconsidering requiring a $10,000 bond from newmembers planning to build, to be returned tothem when the house was built. And if members
left, their home would belong to the community.
But mostly Patricia and John found communities at the other end of the affordability scale.
One had a $80,000 joining fee, as well as monthly payments for overhead. Another community
looked reasonable — at first. It was $5,000 to
join, with a $250 per person monthly mortgage
assessment. Because members shared meals andtook showers in a central community building,
Patricia and John figured it would cost about$25,000 to owner-build a small home without
utilities. But when they added the $5,000 joining
fee, a $25,000 home-building cost, and $250 foreach of them monthly, after 10 years they would
have paid $90,000, after 15 years, $120,000, after
20 years, $150,000 — all with no equity.
They liked a third community immensely.
The joining fee was a modest $1,200-$2,400 sliding scale. The property was paid for, so there wasno mortgage assessment. The monthly fees were$100 to $150 per person rent for one or two
rooms and the use of all common facilities, and a$600 per person monthly assessment for food,INTERNAL COMMUNITY FINANCES (CAN WE AFFORD TO LIVE THERE?) 169

health insurance, community utilities and maintenance. If they lived there without building,they’d pay $1,450 a month for both of them forthree rooms, food and insurance. To build, they’d
pay a one-time non-refundable infrastructure feeof $15,000, which went towards the community’s
maintenance and development of roads, water
systems, and the off-grid power system. Added
to this was approximately $40,000 to ownerbuild their house. The work requirement was 15
hours a week. But then they did the math. They
figured what they’d pay over 10 and 15 years, andwhat they’d get, deducting what food and healthinsurance would have cost if they’d paid it on
their own, and realized that the exceptionallyhigh work requirement would prevent themfrom either building their home quickly, or frombeing able to work much outside and generate
any savings. Coupled with the fact that they’dhave no equity in the property, it just wasn’t
worth it.
Patricia and John’s experiences illustrate how
your community’s internal finances can attract orrepel the new members who could make yourland payments more affordable. You’ll need tocreate a balance between how affordable andattractive your community may be, and how
much revenue and labor you’ll need from eachmember to finish paying off your property pay-ments and building infrastructure. And part ofthis attractiveness is whether or not your community allows members to build any equity they
could take with them if they left.
The Internal Community Finances chart
illustrates the relative financial ease of joiningsome of the communities described in this book.
Newcomers to Dancing Rabbit, AbundantDawn, and Earthaven would need to bring theirjobs or sole-proprietorship businesses with themor find a way to make a living in a rural county.
Their highest expense would be the one-timecost of building a home, which they’d need to dowith their own funds or private loans (or a bankloan if they had other property or assets as collateral). Building a home would most likely costmore at Earthaven, since members need to clear
and grade their sites and set up off-grid power aswell as build homes. If newcomers to Lost Valley
didn’t work for the conference center businessthey’d need to find a way to make a living in thatrural setting as well.

In Chapters 15 and 16 we’ll return to some of themost basic tools for growing a community —legal entities that help us buy, finance, develop,
and own property in accordance with our values.

Chapter 15
Legal Entities for Owning Property

I

HOPE IT ’S ABUNDANTLY CLEAR by now that

2. Will this legal entity (and the way you holdtitle to land) allow you to choose who will
join you as a member?
3. Will this legal entity offer liability protection? For the group? For each of you as individuals?
4. Will it allow members to build equity in thecommunity, and take all or part of it when
they leave?
5. How would this legal entity influence banks
or private lenders in deciding whether to refinance a mortgage or make a construction
loan? For the community? For individual
members?
6. Does this legal entity allow the community
to assign its own criteria for decision making, in terms of how decisions are made andwho can make them? (See below.)
7. Does it allow the community to determine
the relationship between the amount ofmembers’ financial contributions and theirownership rights? Between their contributions and their decision-making rights?
8. How will your community collect contributions from members (joining fees, site-lease
fees, periodic assessments)? And what will
be its expenses (mortgage payments, property taxes, property insurance, maintenance,

you should set up the legal entity for owningproperty before beginning the search. Choosing
the right one for your community is a process ofassessing available legal entities in terms of several different issues that will affect your community’s functioning and well-being. You’ll need toconsider issues such as how you’ll hold title toland, property rights, financing options, members’ liability, tax consequences, and how attractive you’ll be to new members. Not every legal
entity will be ideal in every area, so you’ll need toanalyze them for the best balance of benefits ineach of these areas.
Of course, you should seek the advice of alawyer you trust about these matters. This bookdoes not presume to offer legal advice, but rather
to describe how some communities deal withthese issues.

Checklist for Choosing a Legal Entity

Here’s a checklist for the legal entities you’re
considering (based on a checklist created byDave Henson, cofounder of Sowing Circle/
OAEC).
1. How will your community hold title to theland? Will this legal entity support it?
170

LEGAL ENTITIES FOR OWNING PROPERTY 171

capital improvements)? How will your legal
entity treat this income and expenses for tax
purposes?
9. Will your members share incomes? If so, will
it be from profits of community-owned businesses, from earnings of outside jobs, orboth? What kinds of member expenses will
be paid by the community? How will yourlegal entity treat your shared income andexpenses for tax purposes?
10. How easy will this legal entity be to set up or
manage over time? How vulnerable is it tochanges in the law, or to IRS or other governmental scrutiny? How much are annual filingfees?
11. How easy would it be to make changes inthis legal entity’s controlling documents, or
to manage the legal and ownership implications of people joining or leaving?
12. Will this legal entity restrict your group fromengaging in political activity?
While these questions may seem technical,
their answers reflect your community’s basic
values. So the questions underlying all theseother questions are: Does this legal entity
inherently support your community’s vision,
mission, and values? Does it support your ownership, financing and decision-making structure?
Let’s explore some of these questions.
How You’ll Hold Title and Arrange
Members’ Use Rights

There are probably as many ways to organize
land ownership and use rights and finance construction of homes in community as there arecommunities. You need to think about theseissues now, before buying property, because yourmethod of land ownership and internal financ-ing both influences and is influenced by the legal
entity you choose, and different legal entities
resolve these issues differently. Let’s look atsome of the ways your community could do
this.
Buying Raw Land

• Like Dancing Rabbit, you could buy
property and lease individual homesites
to members for quarterly or yearly lease
fees. Or, like Earthaven, you could use 99year renewable, transferable leases andreceive substantial fees for homesites,
almost like “buying” the sites.
• You could assign homesites to members
without using leases at all, but assign
them based on your members’ equity contributions. Let’s say you had 10 member
households who each contributed$30,000 to buy a $300,000 property, andyou designated a five-acre homesite for
each. Or , if you got private financing or abank loan to buy the property, you could
assign yourselves the same homesites andeach pay an equal portion of the mortgage.
• In any of the above scenarios, each ofyour member households could pay theconstruction costs for their own houses.
Then you’d each own your homes but not
the ground beneath them.
• The community could front the construction costs for each house, with members leasing or renting their houses fromthe community until they’d paid off thecommunity’s construction costs plus
interest. Then you’d own the homes, but
not the ground beneath them.

172 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

In all the above cases, if members left, they
could sell their portion of equity in their houses
to incoming members.
• As Meadowdance intends to do, the community could pay construction costs tobuild housing for members, with members working at community-owned businesses and receiving a small stipend. No
member would own their own home, but
all members own everything.
• Each member household could loan yourcommunity the money to build thehomes, and trade the construction costplus interest for as many years of free rent
as it took to pay off each member household’s loan. After the loan was paid off,
you’d pay rent for the use of communityowned housing.
• You could subdivide the property, andindividual member households could holdtitle to their own lots. If you had 10 member households and bought 50 acres, forexample, you could split it into 10 five-acrelots, or into 10 three-acre lots and shareownership of the remaining 20 acres.
• In the same circumstances, you could create a cohousing community, with eachmember household owning title to its
individual lot and housing unit, andeveryone sharing ownership of all the restof the property and all common facilities.
Buying developed land

• Like Sowing Circle/OAEC, you could
each live in already-existing community
housing, with your individual monthly
land payments conferring that right.

• Like Lost Valley, you could each rent
already-existing community housing,with money you received for working offsite or at a community business.
• Like Abundant Dawn, you could rent
already-existing community housing orbuild your own temporary or permanent
housing that you’d then own individually(but not the ground beneath it).
• Like Meadowdance (currently), you
could all live in a house your community
owns.
• Like Mariposa Grove, you could create alimited equity housing co-op and eachown a share of the whole property, with alease that allows you to live in “your”
housing unit.
• You could arrange two or more of thesemethods in combination.
How you decide to arrange your ownershipand use rights affects how attractive your community may be to potential members, how you
can finance building your homes, and how muchcontrol you have over your membership process.
Attractiveness to Members

How you own land and apportion use rights willaffect whether and how members may recover allor part of their equity if they leave the community, or if the community disbands. If you set
things up so that it’s relatively easy for members
to recover equity from, say, site lease fees or construction costs, you’ll attract members more easily. And thus, whichever legal entity you choose
will make this particular choice of land ownership and use rights easier or more difficult toexecute.

LEGAL ENTITIES FOR OWNING PROPERTY 173

Affordability of Building New HousingYour choices about ownership and use rights will
also affect how affordable your members’ housing might be if they have to build their own
homes. For example, if your members held title
to their own plots of ground or individual housing units, they could seek mortgages or construction loans, but if your whole community owns
the land, your members could either pay cash tobuild their homes, or get private loans with otherproperty or assets as collateral.
Control of Your Membership ProcessYour choices about ownership and use rights
will also affect how much control your community may have over who joins you in the
future. If your members hold title to their own
plots of ground or individual housing units,
but to get members you offer these plots or
housing units on the open market, you may
have to sell to any interested buyer who canmeet your terms. Thus, you have little control
over who joins you as members. And even if
someone leaving your community didn’t intend
their property for public sale, but to be soldonly to incoming members who’ve gone
through your member-screening process, thegovernment may assume otherwise. The
Federal Fair Housing Act was enacted to protect buyers from discrimination, so that sellers
can’t refuse to sell to a qualified home buyer on
the basis of race, gender, age, religion, or
national origin. If you decline to sell your community home to a qualified buyer who is not acommunity member, would a court say you are
you breaking the law? Several real estatelawyers have told me that the penalties forbreaking this Act, or even being accused ofintending to break it, are so swift and devastating that they advise against testing it.

On the other hand, the buyers of property
for sale in a community may be self-limiting, as
many cohousing communities have found.
Relatively few average home buyers are interested in buying homes in cohousing communities;
usually, incoming members who buy the homesof departing cohousing members are interested
in cohousing themselves, and it tends to work
well for the community and the new residents.
But not always — and when it doesn’t work out,
there’s nothing the community can do about it.
As you can see, how your community holds
title to land can cause a trade-off between affordable housing and control over membership.
Again, you must think about this now so you canchoose a legal entity that meets your needs inthese areas.
Organizational Flexibility

The legal entity you choose will also impact yourinternal agreements about finances and rights andresponsibilities. For example, if each member puts
in differing financial contributions, do they havedifferent rights and responsibilities in terms of
paying taxes, responsibility for maintenance andrepairs, liability for debts and damages, enjoymentof the land, choice of homesite, tax-write offs for
tax-exempt expenses, and decision-making?
Whichever legal entity you choose will affectyour freedom to determine these issues yourselves. A Limited Liability Company (LLC), forexample, allows you to arrange these matters any
way you like, as long as you spell it out in youroperating agreements when you file with yourstate. State regulations for various kinds of corporations stipulate how you must organize theseissues, although in some cases you can create
internal community agreements that apportion
these rights and responsibilities differently thanyour state’s default requirements.

174 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHERHow You’ll be Taxed

How you set up the internal finances of yourcommunity will affect the amount and kinds ofincome your community receives, which willaffect how you’ll be taxed, depending on yourchoice of legal entities. Since a community isn’t
usually a for-profit enterprise, what are sourcesof community “income” that could be taxed?
1. Fees collected from members for maintenance and repair of the community’s landand buildings, income taxes and property
taxes, and insurance.
2. Fees collected from members for mortgage
payments or other loan payments.
3. Fees collected from members and saved for
longer than a year, such as for maintenanceand/or capital improvements, or savings forany possible future use.
4. Rental or lease fees for community buildings
or land, from community members or noncommunity members (the IRS can tax theseincome sources differently).
5. Income from the sale of products, such as
timber, firewood, or agricultural products, orthe sale or lease of rights to products, such as
water, mineral, or timber rights.
6. Interest from loans to members, such as
when the community allows members to paysite leases or housing lease fees throughmonthly payments.
You may want to estimate your likely
amounts of income from these sources ahead oftime, and factor the taxation of that income into
your choice of legal entity.
This chapter offers brief descriptions ofLimited Liability Companies, homeowners’
associations, condominium associations, housing
cooperatives, and non-exempt non-profit corpo-

rations (which have no special IRS tax status),with advantages and disadvantages of each andexamples of communities that use them.
Chapter 16 gives brief descriptions of nonprofit 501(c)3 corporations (especially in conjunction with separate land-owning legal entities), 501(c)2 non-profits, land trusts,
Community Land Trusts, and 501(d) non-profits, again with pros and cons and examples ofcommunities that use them.
The information in this chapter and in
Chapter 16 is simply an overview, and not meant
as a replacement for your own further research— through additional reading (see Resources),talking with other community founders, and theadvice of your group’s attorney.
Having said that, let’s start with a basic definition of a corporation.
Overview: Corporations and Non-profit
Corporations

Corporations. A corporation is a legal structure
that, like a person, can enter into contracts, buy
and sell goods and services, borrow money, andpay taxes. It is considered an entity distinct fromthe people who own or operate it, so that any
criminal charges, business claims, or lawsuits canbe filed against the corporation but not against
its owners, directors, officers, employees, orshareholders. They have “limited liability” andcannot be held personally liable for the corporation’s debts. (It’s “limited” rather than zero liability, because if the corporation is found to be
operating solely so its owners can dodge taxes or
break the law, the courts can prosecute them personally and/or attach their personal assets.)
Corporations are organized at the state,rather than the federal level, and are therefore
regulated by the state. A corporation is createdby filing articles of incorporation, paying theLEGAL ENTITIES FOR OWNING PROPERTY 175

state’s fees, and preparing bylaws and otherrequired documents. A corporation can beformed for any lawful purpose, and most canissue shares of stock to people (shareholders)
who invest money or property in the corporationor provide it with some kind of service.
Shareholders receive money back on their investment when the corporation declares and pays
dividends, or if any assets remain when the corporation is dissolved. One way of distinguishingtypes of corporations is by how they pay taxes;
two of the most common taxation systems are C
corporations and subchapter S corporations.
Non-profit corporations. Also called non-stock
corporations, non-profits are a special kind of
corporation organized to benefit the public or acertain group of people, rather than to make aprofit. No income from a non-profit corporation
may be distributed to its members, directors, orofficers, although it can pay its employees reasonable wages or salaries, and sometimes its officers are paid employees.
Corporations intended to be non-profit must
be so designated when they’re created, and can
only pursue activities permitted by the statutes
for non-profit organizations. Like other corporations, non-profits can enter into contracts, have
employees, pay taxes, and borrow money. Whilea non-profit corporation is accountable to creditors and any lawsuits, its founders, directors, officers, and employees are protected by limited liability.
Non-profit corporations don’t issue shares ofstock or pay dividends, and don’t have shareholders. (Exceptions are certain hybrid corporations
such as cooperative corporations used by certain
kinds of co-ops, including housing co-ops.)
Like any other corporation, a non-profit
corporation is created by filing the required

documents with a particular state — the documents for a non-profit corporation will beslightly different from those for a for-profit corporation. Exemption from income tax is determined at the federal level.
Exempt non-profit corporations. The IRS offers
approximately 20 different non-profit tax-exempt
status types. Some of these the group can simply
select each year, such as Section 528 for a home-

SOME BASIC TERMS
Limited liability. The protection offered by a corporation(for-profit or non-profit), which means the personal
assets of the shareholders, founders, board members,
officers, or employees are not vulnerable to most debts
or lawsuits filed against the organization.
Double taxation. In a for-profit corporation such as a C
corporation, any taxable income which is paid to its
shareholders as dividends will be taxed twice: once at
the corporate level, at a rate of at least 15 percent; andagain when individual shareholders pay taxes on those
dividends.
Pass-through tax status. A taxation method used bypartnerships, limited liability companies, and subchapter
S corporations, in which the legal entity pays no taxes
directly. Any taxable income (or loss) is divided up andpassed to its partners, members or owners, who pay
taxes on the income (or deduct the loss) on their personal income tax returns. The purpose of pass-through taxation is to avoid the double taxation of most for-profit corporations. Pass-through taxation is a favorable tax method
in circumstances in which a legal entity would pay dividends which would be taxed at both the corporate andindividual level, and in cases in which the individual tax
rate would be lower than the corporate tax rate.

176 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

owners association, while others, such as Section
501(c)3, must be petitioned from the IRS, andinvolve filling out many documents and awaiting
the IRS’s approval of this requested status.
Non-exempt non-profit corporations. When agroup files with the state to form a non-profit corporation, but doesn’t apply for or choose any taxexempt status with the IRS, it could be called anon-exempt non-profit. A non-exempt non-profit pays taxes just as any other corporation.
Now let’s examine five types of legal entities
used by communities to own property.
Limited Liability Companies (LLCs)

The founders of Sowing Circle/OAEC set up
two legal entities and a lease to support theirintentions and goals. They own their property
with a Limited Liability Company (LLC),
which, like a corporation, offers its owners limited liability. They operate the OAEC with a nonprofit 501(c)3 corporation, which leases theproperty from their LLC.
Advantages of LLCs

A limited liability company offers limited liability just as a corporation does, and pass throughtax benefits, just as a partnership does. (It has far
fewer requirements than a subchapter S corporation, as well; for example, there’s no limitation on
the number of owners.) As in corporations andpartnerships, people put their money in the LLC
and receive a percentage of ownership interest in
return. A relatively new legal entity, the LLC was
first introduced in 1977, and became more widely accepted after an IRS ruling in 1997. Now it’srecognized in all 50 states, though its regulations
differ somewhat from state to state.
Sowing Circle’s LLC owns all the land, andindividual members live in its cabins. Each mem-ber pays a monthly fee for community expenses,
including the property’s mortgage and otherland-purchase loans. Because they own theirland this way, they can control their membershipprocess.
An LLC could also be used to own the original property that a community later subdivided
into individually owned plots for members,
which would allow those members to seek mortgages or other bank financing for building
homes. If so, the community would no longer beable to control who joined them.
Each Sowing Circle member, through theirmonthly payments, is building equity in thecommunity, most of which they can take withthem if they leave, but only if a new member
buys into the community, with the new member
paying off the departing member. However, acommunity owning property with an LLC could
certainly retain ownership of all the equity adeparting member had paid into the community,
or of any dwelling the departing member built.
An LLC’s members can decide such matters any
way they like, as long as their policy is stated in
the documents they file with the state, which iscalled an operating agreement.
Sowing Circle’s founders included their mostimportant agreements in the operating agreement — their vision, mission, and goals; howthey will operate; how they will share ownershipinterests, profits, losses, rights, responsibilities,
and liabilities; how they might sell any ownership interests back to the community; and what
procedure they would use to disband the community and dispose of its assets. An LLC usually costs more than a partnership to set up, andunlike with partnerships, requires paying state
filing fees.
As mentioned earlier, an LLC is considerably more flexible than other legal entities. For

LEGAL ENTITIES FOR OWNING PROPERTY 177

example, in an LLC the amount of ownershipinterest per member need not match the actual
amounts of money contributed by each member,but can be apportioned any way the groupdecides. If six members each put in $20,000 andseven put in $5,000, all 13 members could
receive equal ownership interest, equal decisionmaking rights, equal distribution of annual
profits and losses, and equal shares of assets if
the group ever disbanded and sold the property.
Or, the 13 members could have ownershipshares in proportion to their financial contributions, but their decision-making rights could
still be equal. An LLC can also allow different
kinds of decision-making rights for different
kinds of members. For example, a community
could have supporter/members who invest acertain designated amount of money but don’t
live at the property, and resident/members who
do live there. Supporter/members could be
involved in decisions that affect land value but
not day-to-day decisions, which could be limited to resident/members only. If members do
decide to apportion their rights differently than
the amounts they each invest, or have several
kinds of membership, they should state thisclearly in their operating agreement so the IRS
won’t contest it later.
Like a corporation, an LLC must prepare
and file organizational documents with the state,
pay filing fees, and adopt operating rules thatoutline the basic legal requirements for operating
under state law. Unlike a corporation, LLC s are
not legally required to keep minutes, hold meetings, or make resolutions. An LLC passes its taxable income and tax-deductible expenses on toeach member; however, an LLC can also choose
to be taxed like a corporation to save tax costs incertain situations.

Disadvantages of LLCs

Pass-through taxation is only beneficial to individual members if they’re in a 15 percent or

WHY NOT USE A PARTNERSHIP OR A
SUBCHAPTER S CORPORATION?
A partnership offers pass-through tax status, and unlike an
LLC, a community organized as a partnership can accumulate savings over the years without having to pass the
tax liability for such “profit” onto its members. But a partnership offers no limited liability, and any partner can act
on behalf of the whole partnership — including signing
contracts and borrowing money for it-and such contracts
or debts are binding on the partnership as a whole, even
if no other partners agreed. Thus all partners are jointly
and severally liable, which means each partner is liable
for all the debts and liabilities of the partnership. A creditor or the plaintiff in a lawsuit can go after all of the members, or single out only the richest member, to collect the
debts of or the court-mandated damages against thewhole community.
Subchapter S corporations, created for small businesses, were more commonly used before LLCs cameonto the scene. Most communities which would havepreviously chosen an S corporation (such as many
cohousing communities) now use an LLC instead. An S
corporation offers limited liability and pass-through tax
status, but has more rules and regulations than an LLC,
especially in terms of taxes, and is more complex toadminister. It wouldn’t work for a large community, as S
corporations can have no more than 35 members.
“I’m not aware of any reason to form an S corporation
over an LLC,” says Sowing Circle/OAEC cofounder Dave
Henson.
For more information about partnerships, limited
partnerships, and other legal entities communities tend
to choose less often, see the author’s website<www.CreatingALifeTogether.org>.

178 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

lower tax bracket, (the same as corporate taxes).
For any members with middle-class incomes,
however, their tax rate would likely be 27.5 or 30
percent, almost twice the corporate rate. Also,
the IRS will consider any savings the LLC accumulates by the end of the year to be “profit,” andthe tax liability for these funds must be distributed (“passed-through”) to each member thatyear.

Homeowners Associations — Tax
Advantages (and Disadvantages)

In Colorado’s brilliant sunshine, a few miles eastof Boulder where the Rockies meet the plains, isNyland Cohousing. With 42 two-story townhomes, each painted a different brilliant color,
Nyland is one of the largest cohousing communities in the United States. Members share a

COMMUNITY ASSOCIATIONS AND INTENTIONAL COMMUNITIESCommunity Associations (also known as “common
interest community associations” or “master planned
communities”) are generic terms for ways people canown shared property together. They include:
1. Homeowners associations, also called “planned
communities” or “planned unit developments,” or,by the IRS, “residential real estate management associations,” generally own the common areas of theproperty.
2. Condominium associations own no property, buthave a responsibility to manage and maintain all of thecommon elements; that is, all property outside theinterior walls of the individual housing units.
3. Cooperatives, more commonly called housing
co-ops, own the property, while residents own
shares in the housing co-op and lease their individual
units from it.
Community associations are regulated at the statelevel, and laws vary from state to state. What is calleda homeowners association in one state may be calleda planned community in another. Community associations are usually set up by developers of real estatesubdivisions and multifamily developments, and areused by the residents to own and manage their sharedproperty together. Intentional communities can use
these forms of property ownership as well.
Community associations are required to have aboard of directors, regularly elected officers, andannual meetings, and, through an elected board of
directors, make decisions about the operations of theassociation. Typically, either the board of directors
manages and maintains the common property, or theyhire a manager or management company to do it forthem. In most real estate subdivisions or multifamily
developments, the residents don’t get involved in the
day-to-day aspects of management. When intentional
communities use a community association for property ownership, quite often all members are on theboard and use that as the body for governing theircommunity. Whether an intentional community chooses a homeowners association, condominium association, or housing co-op depends on the approvals
and/or requirements of the state and/or the local planning department, what kinds of terms banks mightoffer, or how readily available financing might be inthat state. Financing for housing co-ops is less available, and usually costs more than financing for either
homeowners or condominium associations.

LEGAL ENTITIES FOR OWNING PROPERTY 179

large wooden common house, a woodworking
shop, a large organic garden, and acres of common land. As in most cohousing communities,
people hold title to their own housing units andthe ground beneath them. Nyland’s 135 residents share ownership in the rest of the property as a homeowners association.
While laws for homeowners associations varyfrom state to state, in general they require that (1)the homeowners association owns the common
areas such as pathways, parking areas, clubhousefacilities, and so on, and (2) all owners of housing
units must be members of the association andpay regular assessments for the maintenance andmanagement of its common areas. Intentional
communities can also use homeowners associations, primarily because (1) they are recognizedlegal entities for owning shared property and getting bank financing for individually owned housing units, and (2) some states and municipalities
require that a group intending to have individually owned housing units and shared common
areas organize as a homeowners (or condominium) association before its development plan will
be approved by the city or county.
Some cohousing communities, such as
Sonora Cohousing in Tucson, Arizona, havearranged that residents are automatically members of the homeowners association’s board of
directors, and decide all community matters, notjust those of property maintenance, in their regular community meetings. Others, such as
Nyland Cohousing, set it up so that members
elect a separate board of directors for their
homeowners association, but all community
members are still part of the whole group’s decision-making body. Earthaven uses a homeowners association to own its entire property. Unlike
in cohousing, members don’t hold title to individual homesites, but lease them from

Earthaven’s homeowners association with 99year leases. All full, active members are membersof Earthaven Association’s board of directors,
and, as such, decide all community-wide issues.
Creating a homeowners association requires
forming a non-profit corporation. But rather
than petitioning the IRS for a particular taxexempt status (such as when seeking a 501(c)3
tax status), each year the community simply files
under IRS Section 528, which means they caneither pay taxes as a homeowners association
and receive certain tax advantages, or pay as aregular for-profit corporation. (The IRS 528 tax
status is different from the 501(c)3 non-profit
tax status used by educational, charitable, or religious organizations to receive tax-deductible
donations. And, unlike a 501(c)3, if a homeowners association disbands and sells its property,
there’s no IRS requirement that the assets bedonated to another non-profit; the assets are disbursed to the property owners as in any otherbusiness.)
Financing advantages — sometimes. Banks andother lending institutions are familiar withhomeowners associations and are willing to loan
to them when they are used in the typical way,with each household holding title to their individual housing unit and sharing ownership ofcommon elements with other residents. Thus,
homeowners associations are advantageous tocohousing residents, who can seek mortgages fortheir individual housing units and recover theirequity if they leave the community. But homeowners associations don’t offer this advantage
when a community uses it to own all their property in common, like Earthaven does. Since no
Earthaven members hold individual title to theirhomesites, no one can use a homesite as collateral for a bank mortgage, and so homes must be180 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

built with existing assets or personal loans. (Thisis not a disadvantage of homeowners associations in general, but a result of Earthaven members not owning individual homesites.)
Membership control. However, when a community such as Earthaven uses a homeowners association to own all of its own land, and leases
rather than sells its homesites, it is free to choose
its members. (Again, this is not because of thehomeowners association, but because homesites
are leased to members rather than sold.) But incohousing communities, individual housing
units are sold on the open market (one of therequirements for bank financing), so the community as a whole has no actual control over
who joins them. The Federal Fair Housing Act
prohibits discrimination in the sale of real estate,
and most cohousing communities I’m aware ofhave been advised by their lawyers to sell towhomever can meet the terms of sale. However,people buying in to new cohousing projects andthrough resales into existing cohousing communities tend to be self-selecting — only those witha fairly strong interest in the cohousing concept
and cooperative decision making are willing to
get involved in a lifestyle so unorthodox by mainstream standards.
Member equity. A member household leaving a
cohousing community using a homeowners
association simply sells their housing unit andrecovers their equity. People leaving a community that uses a homeowners association like
Earthaven does can recover their equity by selling their site leases back to the community(which resells them to incoming members) andsell their home and other site improvements tothe incoming members.

Organizational control and flexibility.
Technically homeowners associations (and condominium associations) don’t have as much flexibility in internal agreements about decision
making or what degree decision making may betied to the amount of each member’s equity inthe property. Like all organizations that create
non-profit corporations with the state, homeowners and condominium associations must create bylaws which describe the organization’s
overall operations and how it makes decisions,and use the state-mandated boilerplate language
for these bylaws, which stipulate one vote per
housing unit. However, real estate lawyer
Carolyn Goldschmidt has helped several
Arizona cohousing communities overcome thislimitation by adding a paragraph to the bylaws
empowering the association’s board of directors
to create a policy manual that outlines their decision-making and other internal agreements.
Then the policy manual, not the bylaws,
becomes the community’s flexible, easily changed
document, which, if they like, can stipulate thatthey use consensus decision-making and othermatters of community choice.
Tax advantages — and disadvantages. With ahomeowners association, all income collected inany given year for acquiring property, construction, or managing or maintaining its physicalinfrastructure, is tax exempt. But using a homeowners association can also result in a tax liability, because the income and expense categories ofintentional communities often don’t fit the categories the IRS created for the mainstream housing developments that homeowners associations
are typically used for. In order to get the special
tax breaks of a homeowners association in any
given year (rather than being required to pay
taxes as a corporation), the community must

LEGAL ENTITIES FOR OWNING PROPERTY 181

meet the “60 percent test” — at least 60 percentof that year’s gross income, known as “exempt
function income,” must come from members’dues, fees, or assessments for maintaining andmanaging that physical infrastructure. And it
must meet the “90 percent test” — at least 90
percent of its expenses that year must be for theacquisition, construction, management, maintenance, or other operating costs of its physicalinfrastructure. But intentional communities
aren’t just about physical infrastructure. A community, unlike a suburban housing subdivision,might have other sources of income; for example,
from a members’ shared meal program, a childcare program, rental or lease income, income
from the sale of firewood or building materials,
interest on loans to members, or grants or donations earmarked for an education program orcapital improvements.
And here’s the first tax disadvantage: all ofthese sources of income are taxed at a flat 30 percent. And the second: if these sources total morethan 40 percent of that year’s income, it will
reduce the community’s non-exempt function
income to less than the required 60 percent andthe community won’t be able to pay taxes as ahomeowners association — with exempt function income — and must pay as a corporation.
And, if more than 10 percent of its expenses
that year pay for similar activities that have nothing to with managing and maintaining physicalinfrastructure, such as implementing food orchildcare programs, this reduces the community’s
expenses for physical infrastructure to less than
the required 90 percent, and again, the community can’t pay taxes as a homeowners associationthat year, but must pay as a corporation instead.
If the community spent all its members dues
and assessments collected that year for physicaloperating expenses, paying taxes as a corporation

wouldn’t matter, as it would be a break-even situation. But if the community had capital expenses that couldn’t be deducted that year, but which
had to be depreciated over several years, or if it
wanted to save money for future capital expenditures or maintenance that wouldn’t be offset by
expenses in the current year, it would not be abreak-even situation, and the community would
have to pay as a corporation.
Stuart Kingsbery, a CPA and tax lawyer, andPam Ekrem Vogel, an accountant, examined various alternatives to this situation in Cohousing
magazine (Winter, 1995). A community using ahomeowners association could form a second,
for-profit or non-profit corporation as a subsidiary, through which it conducted all community activities not involved with physicalinfrastructure — a food program, childcare
program, educational grant program, and so on.
(If the subsidiary corporation was for-profit itpresumably would not pay taxes because it
would break even, with any income being roughly equal to any expenses.)
If the community used the subsidiary to rentout space, the rental income would be taxable tothe homeowners association, and should not
total more than 40 percent of its income. In
order to satisfy the IRS, the subsidiary corporation must have a separate board of directors,
operate independently of the homeowners association, and not be considered an agent of thatassociation.
However, there’s no specific guidance fromthe IRS about whether creating a subsidiary corporation would really work for a community
organized as a homeowners association, say
Kingsbery and Vogel.
“Use caution,” they warn, and first get theoption of competent tax and legal counsel.
Another alternative they consider is to create

182 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

two different legal entities sequentially, startingwith a homeowners association to collect andspend money almost solely on property acquisition, construction, management, and maintenance. Delay meal programs, child-care programs, grant-seeking programs, loans to members, and other projects or activities that don’t
involve infrastructure until later, when the initialbuilding phase is done. Then dissolve andreplace the homeowners association with a different property owning entity such as an LLC or
non-exempt non-profit (making sure yearly
expenses roughly match income), and which
could operate any such social, member-loan, andeducational programs without undue tax consequences. They advise tax and legal counsel forthis idea as well.
Condominium Associations

Pioneer Valley Cohousing in western Massachusetts consists of 23 acres of woods andfields, an orchard and organic garden, and a concentric circle of attached and single family houses
in red, blue, cream, yellow, green, and brown, plus
a large common house, a workshop, and a homeoffice building where several community members work. Pioneer Valley’s 94 members own
their property as a condominium association.
As mentioned earlier, in a condominium
association residents generally own the air spaceinside their individual housing units and hold afraction of ownership in the entire property,
including all buildings and common areas. The
condominium association manages and maintains the property, but owns nothing. The fractions of ownership are usually unequal, and are
based on the square footage of the individual
housing units.
Condominiums are more numerous in theEast, and their laws vary from state to state(although many states have adopted the Uniform
Condominium Act). In Massachusetts, residents
own not just the air space of their individual
housing units, but the inside surfaces of thewalls, ceilings, and floors. Still other states allow
condominiums, called “air space condominiums,”
on plots of ground, such as that of Sharingwood
Cohousing in Washington, in which people can
individually own their own lots and houses, anda fraction of the entire property. (This form ismost often used in rural areas where a drain fieldor leach field needs to be defined as part of the
housing unit, although it can also be used in situations where the building footprint of adetached house is defined as the housing unit.)
Cohousing communities choose condominium associations for property ownership for thesame reasons they choose homeowners associations: they can get bank financing for them, andsome local zoning jurisdictions require either
condominium or homeowners associations inorder to approve the development.
Depending on state requirements and thegroup’s preference, condominium associations
are created by either forming a non-profit corporation or an unincorporated association, and aswith a homeowners association, annually filingtaxes under IRS Section 528. (Most real estatelawyers recommend that a group form a nonprofit corporation rather than an unincorporated association, because the former offers liability
protection.)
Advantages and Disadvantages ofCondominium Associations

As with homeowners associations, banks arefamiliar with condominium associations and will
loan to them. Cohousing residents can get bankloans for their individual housing units and canrecover their equity if they leave. However, sinceLEGAL ENTITIES FOR OWNING PROPERTY 183

individual homes are sold on the open market,
the community as a whole has no control over
who joins them. Again, as in cohousing communities that use homeowners associations, incoming members tend to be self-selecting.
Pioneer Valley chose a condominium association because they got better financing terms
than they would have if they’d organized as acooperative, the only other alternative for thiskind of housing available in Massachusetts.
Homeowners associations are not available inthat state. Pioneer Valley residents elected aboard of directors from among their members tocarry out certain tasks. Most community decisions, however, are made by the membership as awhole at membership meetings.
Because condominium associations must
maintain and manage the physical area, including the entire property (not just some commonly shared property), maintenance fees are usually
proportionately higher than in homeowners
associations.
Housing Co-ops — Separate Ownershipand Use Rights

Members of a housing co-op (also called a cooperative or a co-op) are shareholders in a corporation that owns the property. Their shares confer
many of the rights of ownership to a particularhousing unit, and a proprietary lease confers theright to live in that unit. Housing co-ops are set
up as either non-profit 501(c)4 mutual benefit
corporations, non-profit 501(c)3 public benefit
corporations, or, in some states, as cooperative
corporations, a specialized legal entity createdfor cooperatives. Sometimes a cooperative’s legal
entity is a trust, and owners don’t have shares,
but have beneficial interests in the trust.
Cooperatives are taxed according to their nonprofit or cooperative corporation status.

If the housing units are of different sizes, orsome are more desirable than others, members
can either own specific shares for specific housing units (and these shares have different monetary values), or a higher number of shares forlarger or more desirable units, depending onstate law. Usually cooperatives are used for owning apartments in an apartment building, but
land can also be owned this way. Miccosukee
Land Co-op, for example, is a 279-acre intentional community near Tallahassee, Florida,founded as a cooperative in 1973. Miccosukkee’sfounders designated 100 homesites up to several
acres in size, and share the rest of the property,
including 90 acres of protected wetlands. One
hundred shareholding families and individuals
joined the community and built their homes onthese homesites. Members don’t have title toindividual plots of land, and since getting amortgage in a cooperative housing structure isdifficult, Miccosukkee’s members built theirhouses slowly over time, as cash flow permitted.
In a cooperative, shares can pass from one
owner to another through sale or inheritance, but
the right to live in the housing unit, conferred bya lease, must be approved by the whole group or
its board of directors. Thus it is possible forsomeone to buy or inherit shares in a housing coop but not be approved by the group to live there(which usually means they must sell their unit toa new shareholder approved by the co-op.)
Advantages and Disadvantages of Housing
Co-opsLike homeowners’ and condominium associations, individual homeowners in a cooperative
are eligible for bank financing, and can recover
their equity when they leave. However, fewerbanks loan to co-ops and loans are usually more
expensive than they would be for other forms of184 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

THREE LEGAL ENTITIES OF COHOUSING COMMUNITIESFrom the late 1980s through the late 1990s, the firstyears of cohousing in North America, many cohousing
communities created two legal entities: a subchapter
S corporation for their land-purchase and development phase (or an LLC, once LLCs became more widely used), and later, a homeowners or condominium
association for common ownership of shared property. Some real estate lawyers, such as Carolyn
Goldschmidt, who’s worked with many cohousing
communities in Arizona, recommend three legal entities, as follows:
Non-exempt non-profit corporation. First, the coregroup needs an initial legal entity that legitimizes it asa group. Carolyn recommends a non-exempt nonprofit corporation, created by filing as a non-profit
corporation with the state, but not applying for orchoosing any tax-exempt status with the IRS. The nonexempt non-profit has a business name and bankaccount, and is used to collect any membership feesor dues and pay expenses (promotional costs, landsearch fees, lawyers fees, engineers’ fees, and anyother fees associated with the land search), and helps
demonstrate to potential new members that the coregroup seriously plans to develop a multimillion-dollar
project.
Limited Liability Company. This is usually created
when the core group is about to buy their property,
and is the vehicle through which they will buy theland, seek a construction loan, and develop the prop-

property ownership. (Pioneer Valley Cohousing
considered organizing as a cooperative, forexample, but the finance costs would have been
so much higher that each housing unit would

erty. An LLC may have corporations as well as people
as members; usually the group’s non-exempt nonprofit is the LLC’s first member, and the development
or construction company they’re partnering with is its
second member. (See Chapter 14.)
Homeowners’ (or condominium) association. This
third entity is usually created after the group has
bought the land. It is the vehicle through which thegroup will own its shared property once the land is
subdivided (or not subdivided, if it’s a condominium), and with which it will help get bank or lenderfinancing for individual mortgages. Cohousing communities and any intentional communities intending
to develop and subdivide their property as homeowners associations or create condominium associations are technically real estate developers. Somestates as well as municipalities require developers tocreate a homeowners (or condominium) association
for their future lot owners before they will approve
the group’s plat or site plan, and before any construction can begin.
Once the cohousing group has secured mortgages for their individual housing units, the community is built and people have moved in, and the lastdetails of property development have been completed, the original non-exempt non-profit and the LLC
are usually dissolved, leaving the homeowners (orcondominium ) association as the cohousing community’s sole legal entity.

have cost $2,000 more than if they organized asa condominium.)
Because the right to live in a co-op must be
approved by the whole membership, theoreticallyLEGAL ENTITIES FOR OWNING PROPERTY 185

a community organized this way can choose its
members, yet some real estate lawyers advise
against this. While cooperatives have rejected
potential members in the past, it’s questionable
whether a cooperative could reject members
today without triggering any local discrimination
laws, although housing co-ops are exempt fromthe Federal Fair Housing Act.
In a cooperative, ownership and decisionmaking rights are not always tied to the amountof equity contribution (although this varies fromstate to state), but are usually expressed as one
vote (or one consensus decision-making right)
per housing unit, regardless of the relative valueof different units.
Limited Equity Housing Cooperatives

This is a special form of cooperative used to create affordable housing co-ops, senior housing coops, and student housing co-ops. In a limited
equity housing co-op, the price of shares does
not rise with escalating housing prices. Members
make down payments and monthly mortgage
payments to the bank; when they leave, they are
reimbursed the amount of their down payment,
plus an additional amount related to the cost-ofliving increase, but no more. In some states,
departing members do not recover any amountof the mortgage payments they made to the bankfor the years they lived there. Their mortgage
payments remain in the co-op as equity for the
next incoming members who will live in thosesame housing units, and who will pick up themortgage payments where the departing members left off. In other states, all assets can berecovered. Thus, owning a home in a limited
equity housing co-op is not necessarily an investment in property, but a way to own a home without an undue financial burden, combining features of owning and, in some states, of renting.

Like owners, members must pay a down payment, which will be reimbursed when they sell,
and they own their housing unit and have a sayin the management of their shared property.
Like renters (in some states), they have an unrecoverable monthly payment.
While the property for Mariposa Grove in
Oakland, California was purchased and renovatedby its founder, its members are considering reorganizing themselves as a limited equity housing
co-op. To become a limited equity housing co-op,
Mariposa Grove will incorporate either as amutual benefit or a public benefit corporation(two kinds of legal entities offered in California).
Non-exempt Non-profit Corporations

Abundant Dawn in Virginia owns its property
through a non-exempt non-profit corporation,
which means it doesn’t have a particular IRS tax
designation such as 528 or 501(c)3. Rather, its
founders indicated in the community’s organizing documents that it was a non-profit or nonstock corporation (meaning it would not be
organized to make a profit, and would have nostockholders and pay no dividends). Therefore,
Abundant Dawn’s tax rate is the same for as forany corporation: the first $50,000 of net income
is taxed at 15 percent. Why would a community
choose this form of corporation?
When Abundant Dawn cofounder Velma
Kahn began researching legal entities, she considered homeowners associations, entities with
pass-through tax status such as LLCs, various
categories of tax-exempt and partially taxexempt non-profits, and non-exempt non-profit
corporations. She expected the community toreceive income from various sources, primarily
from members’ fees, and compared how the community would fare at tax time under the various
entities she was considering.

186 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

She rejected homeowners associations forseveral reasons, including the “60 percent”
restriction on income sources and the rule that
only income collected for maintenance andother expenses related to common property
management is tax exempt. She also rejected
entities with pass-through taxation such as
LLCs and subchapter S corporations. Whilepass-through legal entities are taxed the same asdirectly-taxed corporations (in terms of thekinds of income and expenses that are considered tax exempt or tax deductible), Velma considered the pass-through tax status of an LLC
or S corporation to be disadvantageous. For one
thing, while members in low-income tax brackets would pay 15 percent on any passed-throughincome, members in middle-class tax brackets
would likely pay 27.5 or 30 percent, almost
twice the corporate rate. Velma also rejectedpass-through taxation because she preferredthat Abundant Dawn pay taxes at the community level, rather than the individual level, since
it would mean less entanglement between thecommunity’s finances and its members’ finances.
If they were taxed at the community level, nomembers would ever need to wait to finish theirtax returns until the community had figured its
own taxes and determined each member’s passthrough tax portions. And if there were a crisisin community finances, it wouldn’t create a crisis in every member’s personal finances. This left
a simple nonexempt non-profit corporation as
the most likely candidate.
Velma’s next step was to consider which portions of the money coming into the community
would be taxable income and which portions of
its expenses would be tax-deductible. She knew
most of the community’s income would be from
regular monthly payments from members, to be
spent on property taxes and insurance, repairs

and maintenance such as fixing the tractor, andbuying food and seeds for the garden. If most of
the money collected from members was spent on
expenses that were by definition tax deductible(in that the monies were collected for the purpose of making these expenditures), then it really wouldn’t matter whether their collected members’ fees were treated as taxable income or not,as the tax burden would be negligible. But Velma
saw two reasons why the community’s tax burden might be unjust if the collected members’
fees were treated as taxable income.
The first involves Abundant Dawn’s potential savings. The community might want to saveportions of their collected members’ fees for several years, or simply carry over some funds fromone year to the next. But if they did this, theamount collected from members’ fees for thispurpose would be considered taxable income,and any amount left unspent at the end of theyear would be taxed.
The second reason involves buying theirproperty, and to a lesser extent, buying otherfixed assets. The portion of their mortgage payment applied to interest would be taxdeductible, but the portion applied to the principal would not be deductible. (When buying
equipment such as a tractor, the payment could
be deductible, but in some cases only throughdepreciation over a number of years.) As the
mortgage would be paid down over the years,
and increasing portions of the mortgage payment applied to principal, the community’s tax
burden could become substantial.
Fortunately, after researching tax law andcase law, and receiving corroboration from a tax
attorney, Velma learned that their member contributions for these expenses need not be treatedas taxable income, for two reasons. First,
Abundant Dawn members would be in the same

LEGAL ENTITIES FOR OWNING PROPERTY 187

position as stockholders, and their contributions
would be akin to stockholder contributions toequity — a relationship which is well-substanti-

ated in case law. Second, the community would
act in the role of agent for the members, collecting money from several households for purposes

CAN YOUR GROUP BUY PROPERTY WITHOUT A LEGAL ENTITY?
If you buy property together with no legal structure,
you have two choices: own it as tenants in common
or as joint tenants. (The terms vary from state to state,
as do the regulations for each.) If you don’t choose,the state will automatically consider you Tenants in
Common.
Tenancy in common. As tenants in common, eachmember of your group has an undivided interest in
the property. Unless you agree otherwise on thedeed, you will all have equal rights to the use of theproperty, and will all share equally in any liabilities or
profits. Usually, this means sharing equally all maintenance costs and property taxes. However, as tenantsin common, you can distribute ownership interestsin the property however you wish. Your ownershipinterests could reflect the relative amounts of money
each of you contributed, or you could choose equal
ownership portions even if you’d each contributed
different amounts. Taxes, maintenance expenses,
profits, and the value of any improvements must be
apportioned at the same percentages as everyone’s
shares of ownership.
As tenants in common any of you may sell, mortgage, or give your ownership interest in the property to anyone you wish, and the new owner becomesthe new tenant in common with the others. If anyone
dies, their ownership share of the property passes totheir heirs or assigns, not to the other people in yourgroup.

Joint Tenancy. As joint tenants each of you has
equal rights to the use of the property, and each of
you also shares equally in liabilities and profits, andusually in maintenance costs, taxes, and work
responsibilities. But if one of you contracts for
improvements on the land, that person is solely
responsible for paying the costs if the rest of you
didn’t consent to those improvements.
Joint tenants have the “right of survivorship,” whichmeans if one of you dies that person’s share doesn’t
pass to their heirs, but passes automatically to therest of you (free from any creditors’ claims or debts
the deceased person might have incurred).
Disadvantages of tenancy in common and joint
tenancy. Both tenancy in common and joint tenancy
are poor choices for communities because you
could lose your property because of something one
member does.
In a joint tenancy, for example, if one of you goes
into debt, the creditor seeking collection could
force the sale of the property to get the cash value ofthat person’s share in the property. Also, any community member could sell or give away their interest
without the approval of the rest of you. This wouldcancel the joint tenancy, and property ownershipwould revert to tenancy in common.
And, as mentioned earlier, in a tenancy in common any member can sell his or her ownership interests to someone who isn’t a community member.
Worse, any disgruntled community member can force
the sale of the property to get his or her money out.

188 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

which would not be taxable if the same expenses
were paid by a single household (such as when ahousehold pays property taxes or mortgage payments). The community would be collecting
after-tax income from its members, and thesemembers would have already paid income tax
before paying their monthly community fees forshared expenses.
Velma knew they would pay taxes on otherkinds of income, such as rental fees from members renting rooms or cabins belonging to thecommunity, visitor fees, and subscription fees tothe community’s newsletter, and this was fine.
With these questions resolved, it was easy tochoose a nonexempt non-profit corporation.
Abundant Dawn members believed such a corporation would offer the lowest tax burden of

any of the available legal entities, with no temptation to shift tax reporting to meet a particularlegal entity’s stringent requirements, such as
those of a homeowners association. Moreover,they chose a corporation because regular corporate taxation is simple, straightforward, and easy
to explain compared to the taxation of otherlegal entities they’d considered. “A non-exempt
non-profit corporation was the cleanest,” says
Velma. “It didn’t require any distortion of what
the community is, or creating two sets of stories,
one for the IRS, and one for real.”

In Chapter 16 we’ll look briefly at various kindsof tax-exempt non-profits.

Chapter 16
If You’re Using a Tax-exempt Non-profitIof southern
Oregon, Lost Valley Educational Center isorganized as a non-profit 501(c)3 corporation. A
501(c)3 non-profit must offer a religious, charitable, educational, scientific, or literary benefit.
(To the IRS, “religious” is not limited to recognized religions, but can include alternative formsof spirituality, which is why yoga ashram communities and meditation centers often use
501(c) non-profits.) Lost Valley can use a
501(c)3 because of its educational mission: toteach people about sustainable living. Sowing
Circle/OAEC in California, Earthaven
Ecovillage in North Carolina, and Dancing
Rabbit in Missouri all use 501(c)3s to conduct
research, offer documentation, and offer classes
and workshops in sustainable living.
Again, neither I nor the publisher, nor any
community members mentioned in this bookpresume to offer legal advice about tax-exempt
non-profits. This information is intended tooffer a variety of ideas for you and your community to consider.

to receive foundation grants and tax-deductible
donations. Donors can claim up to 50 percent of
their adjusted gross income for such donations.
People can leave money to a 501(c)3 in theirwills, and upon their death their estate canreceive an exemption from federal estate taxes.
Also, having a 501(c)3 may make your community more desirable to donors and philanthropists for private loans with generous terms, as we
saw with Sowing Circle/OAEC’s refinancing.

N THE EVERGREEN FORESTS

Significant tax breaks. A 501(c)3 non-profit
doesn’t pay federal or state income taxes on
income generated by any business activities related to its purpose. It does pay taxes on income
generated by activities not related to its purpose,
however. For example, Sowing Circle/OAEC
pays no taxes on fees for its classes, workshops,
and plant sales, but if for some reason it also
repaired cars, it would pay taxes on all car-repair
income, since that activity is not related to its
purpose. In most cases, if a 501(c)3 owns land, it
is often exempt from county property taxes. It
does pay sales tax.

Advantages of a 501(c)3 — Donations,
Tax Breaks, Limited Liability

Other savings. As a non-profit, you are more
likely to receive material donations and support
from volunteers. You can get non-profit third

Tax-deductible donations. The primary reason
for an organization to incorporate as a 501(c)3 is189

190 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

class bulk postal rates for any bulk mailings, discounted space from some Internet service
providers, lower advertising rates in some publications, and free radio and TV public service
announcements.
Limited liability. As with all corporations, a501c(3) non-profit confers limited liability on its
directors, trustees, officers, employees, and members. However, courts hold non-profit board
members and officers to a higher standard of
conduct and accountability than those of forprofit corporations. Non-profits often buy liability insurance to protect their officers and board
members.
On-site income for community members. If
your 501(c)3 will be operating an educational orother kind of organization that requires full- or
part-time staff, you can hire your own community members as employees, and pay their salaries
from the non-profit’s income (though these can’t
be exorbitant salaries). Rural communities often
need community businesses in which people canearn money without commuting to jobs elsewhere, and depending on their purpose andscale, a 501(c)3’s on-site activities can offer suchjobs. This is how two-thirds the members of
Lost Valley Educational Center and five of
Sowing Circle’s members make a living withoutleaving their land.
Disadvantages of a 501(c)3 — Onerous
Requirements, Irrecoverable Assets

High set-up and maintenance costs. It can be
costly to hire a lawyer to prepare incorporation
forms and a tax accountant to prepare IRS applications. As mentioned in Chapter 8, you can savemoney by doing much of this yourself with thehelp of Nolo Press’s book How to Form a Non-profit Corporation and asking a lawyer and tax
accountant to check your work. The total fees toincorporate in many states is less than $200,
including the application fee for federal tax
exemption, but annual registration fees may behigh: in 2002 it was $800 per year in California,
for example. (However, most states’ annual fees
for for-profit corporations are similar.)
Restricted access to bank financing. If you’ll beseeking private loans from friends and supporters to buy your property or for projects that support your mission, having a 501(c)3 for lenders
to loan to can be an advantage. But it can be a
distinct disadvantage if you’ll be seeking a bankloan, since most banks prefer not to loan to nonprofits, preferring instead to loan to corporations
or LLCs.
No equity in the property for members.
Members of Lost Valley and Dancing Rabbit
cannot build any equity in their property thatthey could take with them if they left the community, since these communities own their property as 501(c)3s (or 501(c)2s). Sowing Circle/
OAEC members do build equity however, since
their property itself is owned as an LLC andtheir 501(c)3 owns nothing but simply manages
their educational center project.
Paper shuffling, number crunching. Like all
corporations, a 501(c)3 requires ongoingrecord-keeping. This begins with the filing of
the initial documents with the state, and continues with an annual report of activities and othermandatory forms. IRS requirements can also be
intimidating. You must keep meticulous financial records with double-entry bookkeeping toprove that your 501(c)3 continues to deserve its
tax-exempt status, prepare annual non-profit

IF YOU’RE USING A TAX-EXEMPT NON-PROFIT 191

informational tax returns, and, if it has employees, deal with payroll tax withholding andreporting. Often the idealists who want to set
up 501(c)3s are unfamiliar with these businessprocedures, but if they fail to do these things the
IRS can freeze their bank account and bring all
their non-profit activities to a halt. Most nonprofits start out with a tax advisor or accountant
to help them set up their books and create a system to prepare tax forms on time. Some nonprofits get these services at no cost by arranging
that a bookkeeper or accountant friend is on theboard of directors.
Restricted politics. As a 501(c)3, a significant
portion of your activities cannot be influencing
legislation or endorsing or supporting candidates
for public office. How much a “significant portion” is depends on the state.
Losing control of your non-profit. One criticalpoint with 501(c)3s is that 51 percent of thepeople on its board of directors must be “disinterested.” This doesn’t mean uninterested (in the
non-profit’s activities); it means they must haveno financial interest in your non-profit, and cannot materially benefit from its existence. If you
own your land with a 501(c)3, at least 51 percent of your board members cannot live there,
and if it operates your non-profit business, atleast 51 percent cannot be its paid employees.
Some non-profits initially organize themselveswith a group of what’s called “voting members”
who elect their board of directors every three
years. If you organize yourselves this way, 51
percent of your voting members must be disinterested.
While it’s relatively easy to find supportivefriends willing to become board members, you
cannot predict or control what they might do in

the future. Years down the road, as things andpeople change, you could find yourselves fighting
desperately with your own board for control of
the assets you yourselves donated. If the majority of your board members someday vote to radically change your mission, kick all of you off theproperty, or disband the community, you couldn’t do a thing about it. (You couldn’t’ block sucha decision in a consensus process, since state law
requires that non-profit boards must use majority-rule voting. No matter what you might try to
block, a 51 percent vote of your board members
can change the course of your community’s history forever.) “This is the biggest danger with a
non-profit,” warns Dave Henson.
At least one community has found a way tosolve his, however, as we’ll see below.
Irrecoverable assets. Once your community
donates assets such as cash, securities, personal
property, or land in a 501(c)3 non-profit, you cannever get these assets out again. (This isn’t trueof loans. You can loan money to a non-profit, as
two Dancing Rabbit founders did, and receive
interest and recover part or all of the value of theloan if the community disbands or sells its assets
to pay its debts.) If things don’t work out andyou disband, you cannot take back the value ofthe land and its capital improvements, but must
either donate your property to another nonprofit, or sell it and donate the proceeds of thesale to a non-profit.
For many communities this is not a disadvantage, since they choose a 501(c)3 primarily
for this feature. When Dianne Brause andKenneth Mahaffey bought the Lost Valley
property, for example, they wanted to restore theland and protect it from ever being sold for speculative gain. They chose a 501(c)3, knowing thatno community member could ever personally192 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

benefit from the sale of the property, which
would act as a major disincentive for any futurecommunity members to disband the community and sell the land. Sometimes communities
choose 501(c)3s for land ownership because thefounders want to live out their ideals, intending
to move to community and stay there. Nature’s
Spirit founders chose a 501(c)3 partly for thisreason, and partly from a commitment to live amore spiritual way of life in a beautiful rural setting. Why would they want to leave?
However, one community’s blessing is another’s downfall. It’s disastrous to start a project you
can never recoup your life savings from if that’s
not explicitly what you intend at the beginning.
What if things don’t work out as you imagined?
(Remember the 90 percent?) There’s nothing
more demoralizing than disillusioned communitarians grimly hanging on for decades because no
one can afford to leave.
If you choose to own your property as a
501(c)3, be sure you understand all the implications. Be certain you’re choosing it for the rightreasons — not just because you think it’s cool!
Land-Owning Entities and 501(c)3
Corporations — The Best of Both Worlds“Think really hard before you use your 501(c)3
to own anything,” advises Dave Henson. Sowing
Circle community’s non-profit OAEC owns
nothing but its good reputation and some officesupplies. Everything else — OAEC’s officebuilding, equipment, classrooms, dorms, dining
facilities, and the grounds on which they host
visitors and teach classes-is leased from the
Sowing Circle LLC. The lease fee is $70,000 ayear, and OAEC splits with Sowing Circle costs
for repairing and maintaining the land andbuildings it uses. The mission of Sowing Circle
community founders is to live sustainably incommunity and promote a more environmentally aware, ecologically sustainable way of life.
They created OAEC as a 501(c)3 non-profit tohelp them carry out this mission by offering
workshops and classes to promote the arts, social
justice, environmental activism, and ecologicalsustainability. Sowing Circle founders also set up
OAEC in order to provide income for community members, five of whom are salaried OAEC
staff.
The OAEC non-profit makes money from avariety of sources, such as workshop and classfees, consulting fees, facility rentals, membershipfees from supporting members, plant sales, foundation grants, and private donations (including
volunteer labor and work exchange and donatedin-kind services, such as printing).
The non-profit spends money on salaries for
20 full- and part-time employees (including offsite employees, and on-site residents who aren’t
community members), as well as associatedexpenses for Workers’ Compensation; meals forwork-exchange staff and course participants;
wages for outside instructors; advertising andpromotional costs; office supplies, postage, etc.;
and when needed, materials or outside labor for
repairing and maintaining leased grounds andbuildings.
The Sowing Circle community’s expenses,
on the other hand, include mortgage payments,
liability insurance, property taxes, food and otherhousehold expenses, and donations to OAEC
for materials and any outside labor for maintenance and repairs. Because it’s organized as an
LLC, Sowing Circle’s taxable income is divided
up and passed to each member.
Sowing Circle receives income from members’ monthly dues and OAEC’s lease fees. In
the beginning OAEC had agreed to pay $24,000
in lease fees, but the first year it could only pay

IF YOU’RE USING A TAX-EXEMPT NON-PROFIT 193

half, and Sowing Circle wrote off the other half
as a business loss. Several years later Sowing
Circle hired a rural property appraiser andlearned that, at market rates, their property
could be worth up to $85,000 in annual lease
fees (in year 2000 dollars). So Sowing Circle
raised its annual lease fee to $70,000. The leasefee Sowing Circle charges OAEC cannot be any
higher than the appraised market value of sucha lease, or the IRS would consider it “self-dealing. To be safe, Sowing Circle charges OAEC
$15,000 less than the appraised leasable value of
their property.
In terms of decision making, all 11 Sowing
Circle members make decisions about the relationship between their community and theireducational non-profit. All OAEC staff members (including the non-community members),
decide the non-profit’s financial and other matters, and its board of directors make major policy decisions. Forty-nine percent of these directors are also Sowing Circle members. (To protect themselves, Sowing Circle’s lease document
has a clause which allows them to terminate
OAEC’s lease at any time for any reason. If amajority of OAEC’s board tried for some reason
to take the non-profit in a direction the community didn’t want, the community could cancel
the lease and OAEC would lose its teachingfacilities.
Sowing Circle community benefits from its
business relationship with OAEC in several
ways, including:• Community founders can accomplish
their educational mission without undue
taxation or liability of their members orproperty. If OAEC were ever in financial
or legal trouble, the community’s land
would be safe from any debts or lawsuits
against the non-profit.

• Nearly half Sowing Circle’s members,
and six to ten other long-term residents
and interns work for OAEC, and so don’t
have to leave the property to make a living.
• It earns $70,000 in annual lease fees.
• Most of its property and buildings arerepaired and maintained by OAEC.
• Any grants or donations that come in to
OAEC specifically earmarked for facilities improvement benefit the community’s land and buildings (since they’re thesame), and result in capital improvements
to the community.
• If Sowing Circle has taxable income left
over at the end of the year it can donate it
to OAEC for certain kinds of non-capitalizable maintenance and repair (that is,
projects that don’t improve the property
long-term), and receive a tax break for the
donation.
OAEC benefits from its business relationship with Sowing Circle community as well. For
example:• It has beautiful grounds and facilities for
its educational activities.
• Its five Sowing Circle staff members are
devoted to its mission, and live on-site.
• Its lease is relatively secure, because thesame people, with the same intentionsand vision, are the lessors and lessee. If forsome reason OAEC couldn’t fulfill its
maintenance responsibilities, or couldn’t
pay its annual lease fee, there’d be a great
deal of flexibility in solving the problem.
For information on setting up and maintaining a 501(c)3 non-profit, see Appendix 3.

194 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHERHow One Group Retained Control of its
Board“We never wanted to lose control of our own
projects, or even fight with our board if thingschanged someday,” one founder told me. She andher seven cofounders set up a 501(c)3 in such a
way as to protect themselves from this kind of
takeover.
They planned that 17 “voting members”(that is, a special group that elects their board of
directors every three years), would elect eightpeople to their board. All eight founders became
voting members. They needed nine more people
to become the remaining voting members, sothat at least 51% would be “disinterested.” Thefounders asked nine of their closest friends tobecome voting members, explaining that theirsole role would be to vote for the non-profit’sboard of directors every three years. The
founders described their non-profit’s mission
and goals and gave their friends all of its documents. Then the eight founders nominatedthemselves as eight of the board members for the
first three years. They asked these friends/voting
members to approve or deny their slate of board
member candidates (themselves), hoping, ofcourse, that the friends would approve them. (“Ifany of you have a problem with our request to
approve or deny the candidates,” the founders
asked them in advance,“then please don’t agree tobecome voting members.”) Since the friends
knew and trusted the founders they voted toapprove them as board members, as expected.
The IRS looked very carefully at each of thesenine voting members to make sure they didn’t
benefit materially from the non-profit, and they
didn’t. After the usual three-year period of close
scrutiny, the IRS was satisfied. At this point, thefounders asked their friends to disband the vot-

ing membership aspect of the non-profit (which
voting members can do), and increase the board
to 11 members. The voting member-friends did
this, and the founders asked three of them to join
their board, which they did.
Now the community had all eight community members and three friends on the non-profit’sboard. Why did they want three non-members
to join them? Whenever the board had to decidematters that benefited the community (such as
adjusting the lease fee of the buildings it rents
from the community), or raising salaries of community members who are also paid employees,
they must remove themselves from the decision.
They have three non-community board members so that for decisions like these, there will
still be people left who can decide. (There arethree so that if they disagree, one can break thetie. Of course, as friends of the community, theydecide the way the community asks them to. If
any of the non-community board members went
against the community’s wishes, the community
would vote them off the board and replace themwith someone more sympathetic.)
Title-holding Corporations — Collecting
Income from “Passive” Sources

The primary mission of Dancing Rabbit in
Missouri is to research, document, and educate
people about sustainable living, and so they use a
501(c)3 non-profit to host workshops on sustainable living and carry out their other educational
activities. However, another part of their mission
is to preserve their land as a sustainable ecovillage
and prevent it form ever being sold for speculative
gain. So they formed a land trust, and own theirproperty with a 501(c)2 title-holding non-profit,
from which members lease small siteholdings.
A 501(c)3 non-profit can own property, but
no more than 20 percent of its income may be

IF YOU’RE USING A TAX-EXEMPT NON-PROFIT 195

from “passive” sources (rents, lease fees, andinterest on loans or investments), or it can lose
its tax-exempt status. So 501(c)2 non-profits
were created in order to hold, control, and manage property and other assets for 501(c)3 nonprofits, and they are often used as the land-owning entity in land trusts and community land
trusts. A 501(c)2 cannot exist by itself, and mustbe paired with a 501(c)3. The 501(c)3 must
exercise some control over its 501(c)2, such as
having the same board members on each nonprofit’s board. Unlike a 501(c)3, a 501(c)2 cannot actively engage in any business activities,
other than collecting rents, receiving interest,and so on. The 501(c)2 turns over all its income
to its parent 501(c)3, and the two organizations
file a consolidated tax return.
Private Land Trusts — Protecting theLand

A land trust is a legal mechanism to preserve thecharacteristics of a parcel of land, prevent it fromever being developed in an undesirable way, or
protect it from being sold for speculative gain.
Land trusts have been used to protect ecologically sensitive areas or the habitat of endangered
species, preserve land as wilderness or farmland,
and in urban areas, to protect affordable housingfrom the effects of escalating real estate values. A
land trust either takes a property off the market
forever or arranges that it can never be bought
and sold at speculative market rates, or developed in a way that the donors of the land trust
don’t want. Intentional communities have placed
their properties in land trusts for various reasons— to preserve its rural or agrarian character, toprotect virgin stands of timber, to keep it as
farmland, or simply to preserve it as an ecovillage
for future generations.
Three parties are involved in a land trust.

1. The donor or donors are land owners whoplace the property in the trust for specificpurposes. They can be the original land owners, or people who buy the land in order toplace it in the trust.
2. The trustees or board of trustees administerthe property and protect its mission. Selected
for their alignment with the land trust’s mission and goals, the trustees make sure theproperty is preserved in accordance withthem. Over the years outgoing trustees are
replaced by incoming ones, so the trust cancontinue in perpetuity.
3. The beneficiaries are the people and/or
plants and animals who live on or otherwise
benefit from the land. For a preserved wilderness the beneficiaries are its plants and animals and the humans who hike its trails; foran affordable housing project the beneficiaries are the people who live there.
The donors, trustees, and beneficiaries can all
be the same people. Dancing Rabbit’s founderspurchased their property through their 501(c)2
land trust entity (making them functionallyequivalent to donors of a land trust), are members of its board of trustees, and benefit from living on and enjoying the land.
A 501(c)3 and 501(c)2 non-profit are mostoften used for land trusts. The 501(c)2 holds
actual title to the land and grants the beneficiaries long-term, renewable leases at reasonable
fees.
Donors may deed their property to an existing land trust organization in their region, which
serves as the trustees for that and other properties. Sometimes the donors have the right to live
out their lives on the land, for example, if they
donated their family farm to a land trust to bepreserved as farmland. Other donors might196 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

donate their land as a wilderness area, in whichcase they wouldn’t live there. The donor receives
a one-time tax deduction for the appraised valueof the property. In many circumstances, donors
are required to pay $5,000 to $10,000 or more to
the land trust’s legal fund, so the organization
can legally protect the property from any future
threats to its mandated use.
Or people may create their own land trustand serve as its only trustees, in which case it’scalled a “private land trust.” Private land trusts
can be either revocable or irrevocable. If it’s revocable, the donors can change their minds anddevelop or sell the property for another use.
Once land is placed into a land trust it can be difficult to use as collateral for bank loans.
Land can also be preserved by creating a conservation easement, a legal restriction attached toits deed which limits all future use of the land toa specific purpose, such as to protect farmland,
wetlands, a wilderness area, and so on. Sowing
Circle created an “organic easement,” possibly the
first of its kind, to preserve its two locally-famous
gardens as organically-managed in perpetuity.
Community Land Trusts — An
Irrevocable Decision

A community land trust is designed to establish
a stronger and broader board of trustees thanthose of a private land trust. While one-third of
the trustees of a community land trust may liveon the land (through lease agreements with thecommunity land trust), two-thirds of thetrustees must live elsewhere (be “disinterested”),
receiving no direct benefit from the land. This
ensures that any donors or beneficiaries who arealso trustees cannot change their minds about
the purpose or mission of the trust, or develop
the land for some other purpose, or sell it.
Having the majority of its trustees from thewider community serves to guarantee the mission of the community land trust, because theoretically they are more objective, and are not in aposition to be tempted by gaining financiallyfrom any change in the use of the land.
Community land trusts are irrevocable,
which means the original owners of the landcannot remove it from the trust once they havedonated it. As with private land trusts, once landis placed into a community land trust, it’s not
likely to be used as collateral for bank loans.
Private land trusts, and community land
trusts especially, are options for founders wishing to ensure that the original purpose for theircommunity and its land continues unchanged
into future generations, unaltered by subsequent
requirements for quick cash, loss of commitment, or personality conflicts among members.
For “Common Treasury” Communities —501(d) Non-profit Corporations

Originally designed for the Shakers and other“Religious and Apostolic Associations” in the
1920s, 501(d) non-profits offer tax breaks forcommon-treasury religious communities thatengage in business for the common benefit of
their members. 501(d)s are also used by nonreligious income-sharing communities, whose
members work in one or more community businesses, and which provide members’ basic material needs — food, shelter, monthly stipends, andso on. (Again, to the IRS, “religious” and “apostolic” does not necessarily mean a traditionallyrecognized religion; communities with alternative spiritual beliefs or secular beliefs havebecome 501(d)s.) The 501(d) tax status was
originally created for groups that had taken a“vow of poverty,” but Twin Oaks in Virginia successfully challenged this requirement, and the
IRS no longer requires it.

IF YOU’RE USING A TAX-EXEMPT NON-PROFIT 197

Some communities, such as Twin Oaks andthe Hutterite communities, use a 501(d) to own
their land as well as their businesses. Other communities own their properties with one of theother legal entities, but a smaller group of members — a sub-community within the community— use a 501(d) to own their own income-sharing business. Abundant Dawn, for example, owns
its land with a non-exempt non-profit, but
Tekiah, a pod (sub-community) of AbundantDawn, operates its shared hammock-making andmarket garden businesses with a 501(d). Dancing
Rabbit owns its land with a 501(c)2 non-profit,
and Skyhouse, a subcommunity, operates
Skyhouse Consulting, a computer programming
and website design business, as a 501(d). (TheIRS was initially somewhat dubious about
Skyhouse’s petition to be taxed as a 501(d),because a high-tech telecommuting business withskilled, well-paid professionals was nothing likethe hammock-makers or Hutterite farmers they
were used to. But Skyhouse members demonstrated they were every bit as devoted to incomesharing, common-treasury principles as anyother group, and the IRS granted the status.)
Advantages of 501(d) Non-profits

The main advantage of a 501(d) is income tax
savings. The taxable income of a 501(d) is divided into equal parts and “passed through” to eachmember as if they were filing individual tax
returns (as in an LLC or partnership). For example, if a group had 10 members and earned$100,000 one year, they’d each be assigned$10,000 as taxable income (even though theywouldn’t actually receive it). Divided up like this,the rate of taxation is much lower than if it were
one lump sum. A 501(d) can also choose not to
pay self-employment taxes, which is often up to
15 percent of the annual income.

Depending on the amount of the community’s annual income and how many members it
has (and if it chooses not to pay self-employment tax), the amount assigned to each community member may not be enough to warrant
being taxed, which happens most years with
Skyhouse subcommunity at Dancing Rabbit.
However, if a 501(d) community has a highincome and few members, then the amountpassed through to each member may be highenough to pay taxes on, which has also happened
with Skyhouse. In this case, the community pays
the taxes on behalf of the member.
If the community chooses not to pay selfemployment tax they’ll never get Social Security
benefits and must set up some form of in-house
retirement fund and take care of their members
as they age. 501(d) groups can voluntarily pay
self-employment tax to retain access to Social
Security.
A 501(d) non-profit can engage in any kindof business, passive or active, religious or secular,
since the IRS makes no distinction between
related or unrelated income for a group with thistax status. A 501(d) can engage in any kind ofpolitical activity, such as lobbying, supporting
candidates, or publicly advocating political causes. However, donations to a 501(d) community
are not tax deductible, as donations to 501(c)3
non-profits are.
Communities organized as 501(d)s canchoose their incoming members, and departing
members may or may not receive equity when
they leave, depending on the community’s internal agreements.
Disadvantages of 501(d) Non-profits

To use the 501(d) tax status the community mustbe “income-sharing” in the sense that they shareincome not only from community businesses but

198 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

also from any outside jobs, investments, or otherforms of income. If, however, a substantial percentage of community income is derived fromoutside salaries or other sources, the IRS may
rescind or deny the 501(d) status. (Unfortunately
the IRS has not clearly defined what it means by“substantial,” so this remains a gray area.) For thisreason, Twin Oaks asks any members who havesignificant assets such as real estate, securities, orsavings accounts to place these in a trust for theduration of their community membership.
Members of Meadowdance in Vermont are“income-sharing” in that they work at community-owned businesses, pool business income in acommon pot, and provide their basic material
needs from it. But, as mentioned earlier, they
have a hybrid economy — each member is free
to spend money from existing assets, and canearn extra money by working longer hours at
community businesses, or working part-timeoutside the community. Meadowdance doesn’t
qualify for a 501(d) tax status nor does it want tobe limited by the requirements of a 501(d), sothey own their businesses as Limited Liability
Companies.
The 501(d) non-profit is not applicable formost communities, but if your group plans toshare income from community businesses andprovide most of your members’ material needs, it
can offer an ideal way to save on the tax bite.



In Part Three we’ll return to the essence of growing a healthy community — the “people skills.”

Part Three:Thriving in Community— Enriching the SoilChapter 17
Communication, Process, and Dealing with
Conflict: The Heart of Healthy CommunityW

HEN LARRY KAPLOWITZ and his wife
Karin moved to Lost Valley in 1994, they
arrived a few weeks after more than half themembers had moved away for various personalreasons unrelated to the community. The
remaining four members had desperately needed
help for the community’s conference center business and put out the call for new people. Larryand Karin were part of ten newcomers whojoined in response. The rapid turnover was difficult for everyone.
“Here, suddenly, were ten of us; enthusiastic,full of our own hopes and ideas, hurts anddefenses, and relatively short on the kind ofexperience it takes to make community living
work,” Larry recalls. “Lost Valley’s community
culture, delicately woven over the previous years,
couldn’t survive the onslaught. We began to sinkin misunderstandings, resentment, and conflict.”“Within a year, conflict had practically paralyzed us. In our weekly business meetings, where
we make decisions by consensus, almost every
new idea or initiative, if not rejected outright,
was resisted or undermined. Some people had
become so uncomfortable with each other thatthey would go out of their way to avoid crossing

paths. Resentments simmered but were rarely
expressed directly, except in occasional outburstsof anger. At times the tension was so thick wefelt like we were choking on it.”Eventually the people who were most at odds
with each other left the community, and things
improved a bit. But the experience had left people feeling hurt, discouraged, and cautious. For
the next year, Lost Valley accepted no new members. People did their own thing and tried to stayout of each other’s way.
“By the summer of ’96 every one of us was
frustrated, dissatisfied, and considering leaving,”
Larry says. “We agreed that if we were going tosurvive as a community we needed major change,
which meant we would have to face our difficult
issues directly.”
Serendipitously, they learned about the NakaIma training. A Japanese phrase meaning “herenow,” Naka-Ima is an interpersonal healing
method designed to help people reveal themselves
honestly and connect with each other deeply. So
the Lost Valley folks signed themselves up.
“By the end of the weekend training,” Larry
recalls, “the obstacles we all had in the way of
being clear, compassionate, and honest with each200

COMMUNICATION, PROCESS, AND DEALING WITH CONFLICT 201

other seemed to have dissolved, leaving a room
full of radiant beings. We knew that the ‘glow’
would come and go, and that our obstacles,
defenses, and wounds would continue to play
havoc with us. But they no longer had the same
power over us. As we integrated what we’d experienced over the next few weeks and months, webecame increasingly honest with each other. We
began taking the time to stop and address issues,
conflicts, and hurts. We began making space foreach other to express our feelings.”
To save their community from continued
stalemate and decline, Lost Valley members
embraced what I call “good process” — communication skills and other techniques that help
people feel connected and stay connected. Like
great community property and a healthy internal
economy, “good process” is another foundation
for sustainable community. Learning good
process skills nourishes the soil of healthy community. Not learning them is another set-up forstructural conflict.
The “Rock Polisher” Effect

Most people drawn to intentional community
are seeking a more harmonious and connected
way of life than that of mainstream society. But
we can’t just wish it into existence. If we want tolive better lives in community, we’ve got to do
things differently there.
Most of us don’t realize that our wider society is dysfunctional because it’s just ourselves,
doing what we habitually do, but multiplied andmagnified by millions of people. When we see
governments or corporations using manipulative, controlling, or punishing behaviors —through threats, terrorist attacks, or outright war— it frightens and disgusts us. But when we dothe small-scale versions of these same ploys ourselves, we don’t see it. We may revile “terrorists,”

but what about our own choice of words andtone of voice this morning with our partner orchild? Those of us who think we do these behaviors the least are often the ones who do them themost. The more spiritual we imagine we are, theharder it is to see it.
This is why good process is so important tocommunity. For life in community to be better
than it was before, we’ve got to be better than wewere before. In fact, we need good process skills
more when we’re involved in community, since
the community process tends to trigger fasterthan-normal spiritual and emotional growth.
The “crucible of community” tends to magnify
and reflect back to us our own most destructiveor alienating attitudes and behaviors. We
become magnifying mirrors for each other. The
more intensely we dislike these attitudes andbehaviors in other community members themore likely we have them in ourselves (or used tohave them), although we may be unaware of it.
The more we criticize other people for them, themore likely that we’re unconsciously condemning ourselves for doing the same.
The close and frequent interactions withother community members about how we’ll live
and work together tends to evoke some of ourworst and most destructive behaviors. And
potentially, it can heal them. I call this the “rockpolisher” effect. Rocks in a rock tumbler first
abrade and then polish each other. In formingcommunity groups and communities our roughedges are often brought up and then wornsmoother by frequent contact with everyone
else’s. But the rock-polisher effect can be so
painful it ejects some people right out of thegroup, or the group becomes so fraught withconflict that it breaks up.
Through good community process we canmake the rock-polisher effect more conscious.

202 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

Rather than suffer helplessly, we can use community as a powerful opportunity for personal
growth. The process of sharing resources andmaking decisions cooperatively in community— and no longer being able to get away with
our usual behaviors — is a wake-up call to thesoul. Community offers us the chance to finallygrow up.
Nourishing Sustainable Relationships“At Lost Valley we learned that sustainable community must be based on sustainable relationships — relationships that give more than theytake — that nourish, enliven, and inspire us,”says Larry Kaplowitz. “Such relationships are acontinual source of energy. They support us inbecoming fully ourselves.”
As you’d expect, the same kinds of communication and process skills that enhance love relationships do the same in community — sharing
from the heart, listening to each other deeply,
telling difficult truths without making each

THE PROCESS TEAM
Some communities, such as Sharingwood Cohousing inWashington state, help maintain well-being in the community by establishing a team of consensus and processfacilitators whose job it is to train meeting facilitators,
introduce process methods (sharing circles, threshingmeetings, the public/private scale, and so on), and keep
an eye out for potential conflicts, intervene when necessary. “Get your best facilitators and the people most interested in process,” says Sharingwood process facilitator
Rob Sandelin. “Encourage them and give them funds to
get training in and bring back good process techniquesback to the group. The investment of time and money ingood group process will more than pay for itself in community health and well being over the long run.”other wrong. This includes speaking to and perceiving others in ways that allow us to stay inbeneficial relationships with them while discussing even the most sensitive subjects.
Here are some “good process skills” communities often use to create sustainable relationships:
Speaking more consciously. This involves speaking to one another in ways that tend to increase,rather than decrease, the level of harmony andwell-being between people. When communication is “clean” enough, people feel confident they
can talk to each other about anything, including
disagreements or sensitive issues, and still feel
goodwill and connection. These include using “I”
rather than “you” messages, checking assumptions, describing feelings with real feeling words(“angry,” “worried”) instead of blame-words (“criticized,” “manipulated”), and using neutral language to describe behaviors rather than characterizing people negatively.
The most effective communication skills I’ve
found are those of Marshall Rosenberg’s
Nonviolent Communication process, which help
people speak to each other in ways that tell the
deepest truths while enhancing goodwill anddeepening their connection. Many resources areavailable for learning these and other basic goodcommunication skills (see Resources).
It takes time, energy, and willingness to change
the ways we habitually talk with people, so that
our conversations enhance, rather than diminish,
our relationships. At first these methods may feel
“unnatural.” It helps to remember that all communication skills, including those we use now, arelearned behaviors, and we can learn new ones.
Creating communication agreements. Conflict
can arise because of the widely differing communication styles and behavioral norms that people

COMMUNICATION, PROCESS, AND DEALING WITH CONFLICT 203

bring to community from different regions, subcultures, and socio-economic backgrounds. So
some groups agree on and write down explicit
communication and behavioral agreements. For
example, is jumping in before someone has finished speaking considered a disrespectful interruption, or normal lively conversation? Is coming
directly to the point considered respectful of eachother’s time, or brusque and preemptory? Are
using swear words or explicitly sexual expressionsof anger considered no big deal, or way out ofline? Is inquiring about each other’s romantic, sexual, financial, or health matters seen as friendly
and intimacy-creating, or an invasion of privacy?
Check-ins: Check-ins can occur before decisionmaking meetings, or in separate meetings.
Everyone around the circle tells what’s going onin their lives at that time, their feelings about it,
and perhaps their hopes and dreams about it. No
one interrupts or responds — there’s no sympathizing, criticizing, or offering advice. Usually
there’s a time limit, such as five or ten minutes
per person.
Abundant Dawn allows 15 to 30 minutes ofcheck-in time at the beginning of business meetings for members to let each other know what’s
going on that may affect how they communicate
in the meeting, as well as any events that may
affect community business itself. “If we justlearned that someone’s father died that week, forexample,” says member Joy Legendre,“then we’ll all
know why he hasn’t been his normal self lately.”
Sharing circles: Sharing circles are also sometimes wisdom circles, the talking stick process,listening circles, heart shares, or the council
process. These are sessions in which people sharewhat’s true for them and listen to each otherdeeply. Inspired by the Native American talking

stick process, the purpose is not to solve problems or make decisions, but to explore issues andlearn together, share personal stories and become
closer to each other, or hear everyone’s truth,
pain, or joy about community issues.
People usually sit in a circle. Candles and ritual objects, including a small object such as atalking stick or a stone, are placed in the center.
One person at a time picks up the talking stickor object and speaks from the heart. This means
being honest and real, and allowing any emotions that might come up. It involves taking therisk to speak your truth without knowing how itwill be received. Speaking from the heart often
opens the door for others to do the same.
As in the check-in process, everyone listens
respectfully, and no one comments (although ingroups that follow Native American traditions,people often say “ho!” if the speaker’s words havetouched them deeply). When the speaker is finished, the talking stick or ritual object isreturned to the center, and there a short periodof silence. The next person moved to speak doesso, and then others, until everyone who wishes to
speak has had a turn. Not every person needs tospeak. In some sharing circles no one speaks
twice; other groups encourage individuals to
speak two or three times.
In another version of this process, when eachspeaker finishes, the ritual object is passed to theperson on the left, who speaks next, and so onaround the circle. Some groups go around at
least three or four times, with each person taking
one to three minutes each.
The Roots of Conflict: Emotionallycharged Needs“Most of the time we no longer resist conflict, or
ignore it, or try to tiptoe around it,” says Larry
Kaplowitz .“We’ve come to see it as an opportunity

204 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

to identify our patterns, to uncover and heal ourold wounds and distress. We’re usually willing tostop what we’re doing and address conflict, get to
the root of it, and clear it.
“But we’ve accepted that it’s not an instantprocess, nor a tidy one. Lifelong patterns don’t
give up the ghost without a fight. Sometimes wefall back on our denial and avoidance for days

and weeks until it gets unbearable, but eventually someone always musters up enough courage orannoyance to shout ‘Enough!’”Community process consultant Laird
Schaub defines conflict as at least two people
having different viewpoints about something,with at least one of them having an emotionalcharge on the matter. Conflict also seems to be a

FIVE WAYS TO RESPOND TO CONFLICT
1. Ignore and suppress it. Rarely a conscious
choice, but rather a lifelong avoidance pattern, this
response erodes the quality of well-being in a group.
Your members might not notice the buried resentments accumulating over time, but visitors certainly
will. “Why does this group feel so heavy?” And like trying to squash beach balls by pushing them under therug, ignored conflict always pops up somewhere.
2. Leave it. Leave the subject, leave the room, leave
the group or the community. Another popular, mostly
unconscious choice, this is usually a lose/lose situation, for the person and for the group.
3. Leap into it aggressively. Some people thrive on
conflict, and enjoy how emotionally alive they feel
when sparring with others. They may crave emotional
intensity; or believe that aggressive criticism is equivalent to “being honest.” They may unconsciously want
to recreate a negative but familiar experience fromearly childhood. Some people may not experience
their feelings consciously, so yelling at others getsthem in touch with suppressed anger, and it feels
great to let it out. Other people can only feel connected with someone once they’ve had a fight — as ifthey’re testing someone’s solidity or strength before
they can trust them. By leaping into conflict people

may meet their own needs for aliveness, authenticity,
healing, connection, or trust, but their strategy of fighting with people to meet these needs can drive others
right out of the room and right out of the group.
4. Change how you feel about it. In this response toconflict, emotional upsets are considered opportunities for personal growth and spiritual development.
You don’t address issues that upset you, but rather go
deeply into any anger, fear, or sadness as a result of the
problem in order to release these feelings and enter astate of tranquility. This can empower individual members, and certainly prevents angry confrontations in
the group, but it doesn’t necessarily empower thewhole community or help create sustainable relationships. Gary may continue blasting his loud music at
3:00 am and annoy the hell out of everyone else, nomatter that you’ve become enlightened because of it.
5. Use the conflict to strengthen the community.
Lastly, you can use conflict to generate more understanding and connection, and make changes inbehavior to improve how everyone gets along — inother words, use it as part of “good process.”
Handled well, dealing with conflict can make a community stronger, more connected, and lighthearted in
the long run.

COMMUNICATION, PROCESS, AND DEALING WITH CONFLICT 205

multi-layered process. On the surface it may
seem to be about differences in ideologies, priorities, and values, especially about such controversial community issues as children, food, labor
requirements, and pets. But below that layer, it
seems to be about fear, guilt, or resentment, andbelow that, deep longings from early childhoodfor certain basic human needs — for acceptance,
approval, control, love, and so on.
Psychologists recognize that besides physicalneeds for food, water, warmth, and so on, certain
emotional needs must be met for infants and children to develop into emotionally healthy adults— including nurturing, affection, love, acceptance, empathy, connection, being valued, andbeing respected, to name a few. When an infant orchild doesn’t experience nurturing and affection in
adequate amounts, for example, these needs canbecome highly charged because they’re associatedwith the pain of loss, which creates the unconscious fear that the person will never get enoughnurturing or affection. Hence, buried pain fromlong-ago unmet emotional needs can trigger conflict in community 20, 30, and 40 years later.
Having deeply-buried emotionally charged
needs is not the problem. The problem is believing that at some level that community will somehow meet these needs. The secret, silent demandthat community or other community members
must provide what seems to be missing adds a
cutting edge to conflict. This is why arguments
about what on the surface seem like ideologies,
priorities, or values, can be so intense. I may
assume that community means valuing inclusion(because I desperately needed acceptance as achild and didn’t get it); you may assume community means freedom for each of us to do our own
thing (because you desperately needed autonomy
as a child and didn’t get it). So we end up having
fierce fights about what “community” means.

What can we do about it? We can develop
good communication and process skills, learn toaccept and welcome feedback and do course-correction when necessary, find ways to heal our
individual issues, and deal constructively withconflict when it arises.
High Woundedness, High Willingness“We’ve learned that it’s the little things — theminor hurts, the small resentments, the petty
judgments about each other — that subtly yet pervasively undermine and limit the degree of wellbeing in our relationships,” says Larry Kaplowitz.
“Even a small degree of mistrust can prevent us
from really being open with each other. Uncleared,
this can quickly spiral downward into disconnection, avoidance, more resentment, and conflict.”
Clearing these issues often involves offering
feedback, by which I mean telling someone
about something they did or said and how it
affected you negatively.

COHOUSING AND CONFLICT
Cohousing founders tend to excel at the logistics of forming a community — acquiring land and financing, anddealing with development — but tend to stumble overinterpersonal communication, often becoming
embroiled in intractable conflict once they move into
their beautifully constructed buildings. Founders of noncohousing communities, however, often stumble overbusiness and financial hurdles but seem to instinctively
value good process and communication skills. (Foundersof more recently built cohousing communities, however,seem more aware that the human connection is as important as the construction loan.) We certainly need bothsets of skills! Let’s hope members of cohousing and noncohousing communities will learn from one another, andwe’ll all benefit.

206 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

Many people attracted to community have somany highly charged unmet needs that they areeasily triggered into hurt, anger, and defensiveness. They give feedback in brusque, unskilledways and resist any feedback that others try tooffer them. They have what I call “high woundedness.” Yet others attracted to community,
equally wounded, are also willing to do what it
takes to heal themselves and learn good processskills. Such people have what I see as “high willingness and high woundedness.” Even thoughdealing with critical feedback is difficult, theyoften learn good communication skills wellenough to give feedback compassionately, anddevelop enough self-esteem to hear and thoughtfully consider any negative feedback offered byothers. They often become community’s best
facilitators, counselors, and mediators.
Before dealing with the art of giving andreceiving feedback, however, let’s examine somecommon kinds, as well as some common sources,of community conflict.
Seven Kinds of Community Conflict We
Wish We’d Left Behind

Here are how certain habitual “old paradigm,”“dominator culture” behaviors and attitudes areoften expressed when transplanted to intentional community. We can begin to dismantle thesebehaviors in ourselves by first realizing that if wewant to live more sustainably and harmoniously
in community than we did in mainstream culture we’ve got to change ourselves too!
1. Founder’s Syndrome (I). Unconsciously
assigning parent and authority figure roles tofounders and acting out adolescent rebellion andself-identity issues by resenting, undermining,
and/or challenging the community founders’ wisdom or experience, and/or the validity or relevanceof the community’s values, vision, or purpose.
2. Founder’s Syndrome (II). Founders’ clinging
to an unconscious self-image as parents orauthority figures; assuming a wiser, superior, ormore privileged status than other members; andresenting, undermining, or challenging any
efforts to question the founders’ authority orotherwise offer the community innovation, newperspectives, or change.
3. Visionary Abuse. When dynamic, energetic,
visionary founders, burning with a spiritual,environmental, or social-justice mission, work
grueling hours in primitive, cramped, uncomfortable, or health-risking conditions, and happily expect all members, interns, and apprentices todo the same. Related to eco-macho, sustainabler
than thou, campground macho (“We all lived intents for three years with no heat, electricity, or
running water, and you should too”), and community macho (“Community is not for wimps:
we can take it, can you?”).
4. Violating community agreements. The
resentment and erosion of community trust that
occur when a few people don’t follow the community’s agreements and policies consistently,
while others follow and uphold them.
5. Letting people get away with violating community agreements. The further resentment,
erosion of trust, and breakdown of community
well-being that results when a member isn’t
called on disregarding agreements and so continues disregarding them. By default the person
becomes a kind of community aristocrat withthe privilege of living outside the normal rules.
Often perpetuated by interpersonal power
imbalances.

COMMUNICATION, PROCESS, AND DEALING WITH CONFLICT 207

6. Interpersonal (as compared to “structural”)
power imbalances. Conflict, resentment, andthe breakdown of trust in community whensome members have more power than others
because of behaviors that others are reluctant toor afraid to deal with. These can include:• Intimidation power: Habitually emanating
anger, suppressed rage, “panic-anger,” andburning intensity; speaking sharply or
harshly, bossing people around, criticizing people frequently, and sometimes
name-calling and shouting people down.
The person with intimidation power
wields power over other members
because it’s difficult to muster the courage
or energy to disagree with their opinions
or ask them to change their demeanor.
People may have tried many times to ask
for change and have given up, or the person is now less aggressive as a result of
past feedback and others are too worn
down to ask for further change, or the
person also offers such beneficial qualities
that others resign themselves to having amixed blessing and let it go.
• Undermining power: “Bad-mouthing,” discrediting, and undermining another person’s behavior and/or character to othercommunity members; assuming theworst about the targeted person’s motives
and then criticizing those motives to others (“He’s just trying to rip us off,” “She’s
just trying to control everyone”); not distinguishing between one’s own fears
about the person and objective reality;
not talking about these concerns with thetargeted person or setting up a thirdparty mediation. The undermining person wields power over others in the community because s/he operates behindpeople’s backs, and others are reluctant tovoice concerns about this behavior forfear they’ll be targeted next.
• Hypersensitive power: Reacting to evenmildly worded feedback or requests forchange as though it were an intolerable
personal attack; becoming visibly upset
when others disagree with one’s views or
beliefs; responding with such defensiveness and self-justification so that people
give up: “You can’t tell Reginald anything.”
This wields power over other community
members because no one has the energy
or patience to deal with this person’s highlevel of fear and drama. People withhypersensitive power, like those with
intimidating or undermining power,
maintain their power over others because
they rarely receive feedback.
7. Assuming the worst about other people’s
motives. Resenting and criticizing someone not
only for what they may have done, but also forthe assumed “worst-case scenario” motives fortheir actions (He’s trying to cheat us,” “She justwants to bully everyone,” “He’s always trying toshow off ”) and using these assumptions as proofof the person’s malfeasance or character flaws
without (1) realizing these are assumptions, notfacts, and (2) not asking the person if theassumptions are true.
Twenty-four Common Sources ofCommunity Conflict“Structural Conflict” Set-ups

1. Vision and values differences. Arguments
over how money should be spent, or how timeand labor should be allocated, based on differingvalues or visions about the community. (See
Chapter 4.)

208 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

2. “Structural” power imbalances. Resentment
and blame arising from real or perceived power
differences in terms of how decisions are madeand who makes them, or who has more influencethan others in the group, either because of persuasive influence, expertise, or seniority in thecommunity. (See “Interpersonal power imbalances,” above.)
3. Exhausting, divisive, or unproductive meetings. Resentment and anger from too-frequent,
overlong, or dragging meetings that accomplish
little and go nowhere, or meetings characterized
by resentment or hostility. (See Chapter 6.)
4. Lack of crucial information. Arguments about
whose fault it is that we’re suddenly stopped in
our tracks, or must raise unexpected funds
because we didn’t adequately research somethingearlier; for example, not knowing that our local
zoning regulations don’t permit our planned population density or clustered housing, or not knowing composting toilets are illegal in our county.
5. Remembering verbal agreements differently.
Eruptions of resentment, blame, or hostility
because some community members appear to bedishonest or trying to cheat others, because we
all remember our financial or other agreements
differently. We can’t just look up the agreements
because we didn’t write them down. (See
Chapter 7.)
6. No communication or behavioral agreements. Misunderstandings and resentments
because group members have widely divergent
communication styles or behavioral norms.
What are our norms for how people talk to eachanother, or express disagreement and strong
emotion?

7. No processes for accountability. Resentment,
blame, and flying accusations because some of us
didn’t do what we said we’d do, and certain projects can’t move forward because some earlier
tasks are unfinished, causing us to lose money ormiss important opportunities.
8. No membership criteria or new-member
screening process. Resentment and mistrust
arising because new people enter who don’t share
our values and vision, don’t align with our community culture, or can’t meet our financial andlabor requirements. (See Chapter 18.)
9. Being swamped with too many new members at once. Disorientation, overwhelm,
depression, loss, or panic because the “container”
of our shared history, values, and culture isthreatened or damaged by the sudden influx ofmore people than we can assimilate easily.
(Forming community groups and communities
do better to add new members slowly.)
10. High turnover. Disorientation, overwhelm,
depression, and associated emotions because toohigh a percentage of members are continually
coming and going for the community to establish a sense of itself. The center does not hold;there’s no “there” there.
Differences in Work and Planning Styles

11. Processors vs. Doers. Conflict between
group members who want to process emotions orclear up points of meeting procedure, and those
who want to focus on facts, strategies, and “real”
things, but who sometimes override other people’s feelings or ignore agreed-upon procedures.
12. Planners vs. Doers. Tension between those
who want to gather facts and data and make

COMMUNICATION, PROCESS, AND DEALING WITH CONFLICT 209

long-term plans before taking action, and those
who want to leap in and get started.
13. Spiritual vs. physical manifesters.
Annoyance and impatience between those whowant to use visualization, affirmation, or prayer
as the primary means to manifest community,
but may not feel comfortable with budgets,mortgages, shovels, or power tools, and those
who want to use strategic plans, cash flow projections, and work parties as the primarily means
to manifest community, but are leery of “invisible
stuff.”
14. Differences in information processing.
Disrespecting, dismissing or devaluing people
who may process information differently (visually rather than aurally, in wholes rather than stepby step), or at a different pace than we do.
15. Differences in communication style.
Socioliguistic differences based on region, ethnicity, subculture, socio-economic background,gender, or whether a member has lived in communities for decades or just arrived from themainstream.
Fairness Issues

16. Work imbalances, or perceived imbalances.
Resentment toward those who work less often orless rigorously on community projects than wedo, or than they’ve previously agreed to.
17. Financial issues. Arguments over who’s
expected to pay for what, and if and whenmoney can be reimbursed. Resentment and tension over the relationship between financial contribution and the amount of influence in decision-making.

18. Time-crunch issues. Disagreements about
the amount of time spent in meetings and oncommunity tasks versus. time with one’s family
or household. Conflict over the best times toschedule meetings or community projects sothey’re convenient for everyone. Arguments over
how consistently community members should
contribute to the group and whether it’s OK totake periodic breaks.
19. Gender imbalance and power-over issues.
Power imbalances and resentments if there areconsiderably more members of one gender thananother, or one gender dominating some areas,or one gender consistently teasing, behaving suggestively towards, or dominating the other.
Neighbor Issues

20. Behavioral norms. Conflict over what’s considered acceptable behavior in community; forexample, to what degree people might intervene inor restrain potentially unacceptable, unsafe, or
destructive behavior of other people, their children, or their animals. Can community members
request changes in parents’ child-raising style, orrequest that others restrain, train, or fence theiranimals? What are standards of acceptable behavior outside the community, where someone’s
behavior might reflect on the community?
21. Boundary issues. Tension about what community members do on their homesites, in theiradjacent homes, or shared common spaces, thatcan be seen or heard by others, including what
noises may too loud or disruptive to others during certain hours or what physical objects might
be an eyesore to others. What behaviors — suchas disciplining children, having loud arguments,
butchering livestock, drinking, taking drugs,
nudity, displays of affection, or sexual expression

210 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER— are fine for some to overhear or view are fine
and which are “over the line.” To what degree
can fellow community members borrow eachother’s personal items without asking? Whatdegree of playful, affectionate, or sensual physical touch is welcome to some and unwelcome toothers?
22. Care and maintenance issues. Conflict
about standards for taking care of and maintaining jointly owned equipment or tools, and who’s
responsible.
23. Cleanliness and order issues. Tension overstandards for cleanliness in common rooms, andcleanliness of jointly used items and how they’restored, particularly in kitchens and bathrooms,
and who’s responsible.
24. Lifestyle issues. Conflict arising from items
some members may own or activities they may
enjoy privately — smoking, liquor, drugs, guns,
pesticides, and meat eating — which may be no
big deal for some but disturbing to others.
Conflict over the degree to which relationships
between families, couples, or households may be
the business of other members, such as parents’discipline or lack of discipline with children,
open marriages, polyfidelitous relationships, or
gay or bisexual relationships. To what degree is
how people treat each other in their love relationships the business of other community members?
Every one of these conflicts can be reduced or
prevented by well-crafted agreements and procedures, good training in group process, or both.
The Fine Art of Offering Feedback

Offering feedback is not an attempt to assess orguess or criticize the person’s intentions or
motives. If you do that, it’ll probably trigger

defensiveness and escalate the problem. And
although you can also request that the person dothings differently in the future, this can also
make things worse, if wanting the person tochange is the only reason you’re giving the feedback.
“Get in touch with your motives for offering
feedback,” advises process consultant PaulDeLapa. “If your intention is to offer information about how the person’s actions or behavior
affected you, there’s a good chance the person canhear and accept it. But if your motive is tochange them, it probably won’t work.”
Don’t try to convince or coerce them.“People
don’t resist change itself as much as they resist‘being changed’,” says Paul. So offering feedback
can support someone’s own willingness tochange something if the feedback is offered in a
way that doesn’t register as a demand or as animplication that they’re somehow bad or wrong.
How you say it has everything to do with how
feedback will be received. It requires all the bestcommunication skills we can muster — using
neutral language, describing what the person actually did rather than assessing his or her characteror motives, and using real feeling words rather
than blame-words. Again, the best process I knowof for offering feedback constructively comes fromthe Nonviolent Communication process.
Receiving Feedback — Listening for
Kernels of Truth

Even if you learn to offer feedback skillfully,
much of the critical feedback you may hear
about yourself could be delivered in a gracelessmanner. Even people committed to good process
can still speak awkwardly or harshly whenthey’re trying to deliver a difficult message. You
could get feedback that implies or outright statesthat you’re wrong, bad, or defective in some way.

COMMUNICATION, PROCESS, AND DEALING WITH CONFLICT 211

You can hear guesses and presumptions about
your motives stated as facts. You can be told you“always” do such-and-such or “never” do suchand-such. You can be armchair-psychoanalyzed
as to what childhood factors cause your malfeasance. This can be so painful it completely
obscures the important information the person
is trying to give you.
Hearing critical feedback can hurt. Not only
because of any harshness in the delivery, but also
because of the possibility that, to whateverextent, it may be true. It helps to keep some principles in mind:
1. Just because feedback is delivered in a critical,
exaggerated, or hostile manner doesn’t mean
it doesn’t contain a kernel of truth — ormaybe a lot of truth.
2. On the other hand, it could be a projection of
the person’s own issues onto you, with nothing to do with your own actions or behaviors.
3. And even when delivered skillfully, feedback
might still be exaggerated, or partially or
wholly invalid.
Hearing critical feedback requires at least
two skills: the ability to respond to the person in
a way that doesn’t make things worse — for you,for them, and for the whole community; and listening for the kernel of truth in what they say
and finding ways to check it out objectively.
Suppose Jason says:“I’m annoyed and frustrated by the mess in the kitchen after you’ve used it.
I’ve been cleaning up after you and I’m getting
tired of it. I wish you’d clean up after you’re done.”
Constructive responses could include(depending on how accurate you think Jason’sobservation may be): “Thanks for telling me,” or“Thanks, I’ll consider that,” or “Thanks, I’ll dosomething about it,” or just “Thanks.”

But what if he’d said: “You’re a slob who
leaves a mess every time you use the kitchen! We
always have to clean up after you!” With a message like this, it can take a great deal of patienceand tolerance not to retaliate in kind. If you do,you, Jason, and the whole community will probably feel worse. If you respond more neutrally assuggested above, you’ll have helped the community’s well-being by not adding to the burden of
ill will Jason has just dumped into it.
How do you know when feedback is true?
Introspection, self-observation, and any mannerof self-awareness techniques, including asking
for inner guidance, can help you assess its degreeof truth. Even better, you can ask other community members directly. I recommend doing thisin relatively straightforward way, for example:“Excuse me, Sally, do I sometimes leave a mess inthe kitchen?”
Sally could say,“You sure do. I’ve been meaning to tell you about it. Would you please takemore time to clean up after you’re done?”
Or she could say, “Hmmm, let me see. Well,
maybe once or twice, but not all the time.”
Asking various people and getting a consistent response one way or the other is one way togauge the accuracy of someone’s feedback.
Asking questions in a straightforward way gives
you a better chance of getting neutral, accurate
information.
But suppose you felt so hurt or angry by how
Jason criticized you that you exaggerated and“horriblized” what he said when you tried to verify it: “Jason says I’m a horrible slob who always
leaves a mess in the kitchen and everywhere I go.
He says everyone always has to clean up after me!
Is that true?”
This defeats your chances of getting accurate
feedback, because Sally would probably say
something like: “Of course not! You don’t leave

212 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

messes everywhere!” And you’ll have missed thekernel of truth that you do, in fact, sometimes
leave a messy kitchen.
We can help create sustainable relationships
by giving feedback as skillfully as we can, without
expecting or demanding that other people are any
good at it. We can sift through any graceless or
harsh criticism for whatever helpful truths about
ourselves we can glean. This is a lot to ask. Yet it’s
the rock polisher in action, and it’s one of the best
ways we can use community to grow and heal
ourselves and strengthen our relationships there.

HEALING OUR INDIVIDUAL ISSUES
If several people say give us the same feedback, maybe
we should do something about it. But what? How can
we get along better with each other, and help our lives
become happier, lighter, and more enjoyable?
“Thought field therapy” is a relatively new method
for releasing hurts and wounds from the past that may
be influencing perceptions and attitudes in the present.
I’ve tried various therapies over the years, but neverfound anything so effective, painless, cheap, and fast. It
can take only three or four sessions, for example, tomake a noticeable difference. Thought field therapy
doesn’t require re-experiencing or even understanding
old upsets, or using visualization or affirmations. It’sessentially a mechanical technique involving certain
acupuncture points, but without the needles, and one
can do it at home, without a therapist. It seems to workby healing issues at the core — for me it’s like pressing
the “erase” button on a tape recorder, unbelievable
though that sounds. I recommend this healing tool for
any community members seeking an exceptionally fastand simple way to peel away the negative layers thatcan get in the way of sustainable relationships. (SeeResources.)

Threshing Meetings“The amount of time and energy conflict cansuck out of a community can endanger its viability,” says Dave Henson of Sowing Circle/OAEC.
He’s right — and it’s everyone’s business toresolve small conflicts before they become community-wide conflagrations.
Most communities profiled in this book haveregular meetings to unearth small conflicts before
they escalate to larger ones. Threshing meetings
are like safety valves that periodically let off pressure, and can include giving appreciative as well as
critical feedback, venting frustration or anger,
asking people for specific changes in behavior, or
simply exploring controversial issues.
Using processes like threshing meetings tohandle conflicts early, when they’re small, often
prevents them from mushrooming into major
conflagrations later on. It’s also much easier for agroup to resolve large conflicts once they’ve
learned to handle smaller ones.
Abundant Dawn members set aside an hour
and a half twice monthly for what they call “personal/interpersonal time.” People describe what’s
going on in their lives, says Joy Legendre, as well
as delve into any conflicts. “Just knowing thatspace is there for us to bring these issues up helps
defuse the little tensions and problems. It’s easier to let them go and not get bothered by them,
just knowing that we can always discuss them at
the meeting.”
But they’re not called “threshing” meetings
for nothing. “Public feedback sessions can berisky,” cautions process consultant PaulDeLapa, “because it risks undermining trust
between people instead of building trust.” Many
people aren’t willing to offer feedback one-onone, and will criticize people behind their backs
rather than speak to them directly. In publicCOMMUNICATION, PROCESS, AND DEALING WITH CONFLICT 213

feedback sessions such as threshing meetingsthese are usually the people who suddenly feel
free to unleash the floodgates of pent-up frustration and resentment. For the person receiving the feedback it can feel as thought they’rebeing ganged up on. If everyone in a groupplans to give one member feedback, Paul recommends that the person sets up some boundaries, such as what kind of feedback they’d bewilling to hear, and how they’d prefer it bedelivered. Establishing some boundaries first
empowers the person and helps them feel lessvulnerable.
But in some circumstances feedback offeredin a group setting can be easier to take than
one-on-one. If Vaughan gives Sally critical feedback, and other group members say they’venever had that experience themselves, it could
offer Sally a wider perspective and lessen thesting. And if Vaughan were to offer feedback ina harsh way, other, more skilled communicators
could intervene, and remind him to alter his
language.
The public/private scale exercise, first suggested for the visioning process can help people in a threshing meeting (or any meeting)break the ice in discussing an issue that they’rereluctant to talk about publicly. Let’s say it’sbelieved that someone repeatedly breaks community agreements or has seriously breachedbehavioral norms, or some members cannot
meet their financial obligations to the community, or it’s rumored that someone may beharming a child — and no one wants to bringit up. Using the public/private scale and framing the issue as a series of questions makes
public the range of members’ opinions about
the issue, which can help induce people tospeak up and address the matter directly. (See
Exercises, Chapter 5.)

Creating Specific Conflict Resolution
Agreements

Some groups create a set of agreements about
how community members will handle conflict
when it comes up. Here are the agreements
Sowing Circle made, excerpted from their“Conflict Resolution Policy.”
Sowing Circle Community: Conflict
Resolution Policy
When confronted with conflict of any kind,the community agrees to adhere to the conflict
resolution principles and steps outlined below:

I. Problem-Solving Ground Rules. All members agree to attempt to solve problems by firstdealing directly with the person or persons withwhom he/she is experiencing problems. Implicitin this agreement is a commitment to honest,
direct problem-solving. All members will agree
to the following ground rules when involved inconflict resolution efforts:
1. A commitment to mutual respect.
2. A commitment to solve the problem.
3. No put-downs.
4. No intimidation, implied or direct.
5. No physical contact.
6. No interrupting.
7. Agreement to use the conflict resolution protocol, below.
II. Conflict Resolution Protocols. Community
members in conflict will:• Make a good faith effort to resolve theproblem between/among themselves. If
this does not work, the members in conflict will:• Ask a mutually agreed-upon member tohelp mediate and solve the problem withthose having the conflict. If this does notwork, the members in conflict will:214 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER• Formally request assistance from thecommunity in solving the problem.
• If the community is unable to assist in
resolving the conflict, and all avenues ofconflict resolution have been exhausted,
then the community may choose toengage in outside mediation to solve theproblem.
III. Third Party Confidentiality. We recognize
the importance of the conflict resolution protocol
outlined above, and agree to abide by it in principle and practice. As non-involved parties, we willencourage conflicting parties to deal directly with
one another. However, we also recognize theneed, at times, to discuss, seek advice, or seek
comfort from others while in the midst of conflict. Such a situation requires confidentiality. As“third parties” who are approached for solace,advice, etc., we agree to provide these things in
the spirit of helping to improve the situation.
We do not wish to contribute to rumors,gossip, “bad-mouthing,” or the perpetuation ofproblems. If a person who is experiencing a conflict with one or more people on the property
approaches a neutral “third party” it is understood that the person is responsible for keeping
the health and well being of the community inmind. That is, while maintaining confidentiality,
the third party should remind the conflictedperson of the conflict resolution protocol, if necessary. In addition, by virtue of being privy tothe conflict at hand, the third party is also
responsible for monitoring the situation. If the
feelings, issues, etc., are leading to greater conflict or to a weakening of the community, then
the third party should take steps toward facilitating resolution, even if this means exposing
the fact (not details) of the problem at hand toothers in the community.

IV. Confidentiality with Regard to InternalCommunity Conflict. In the spirit of protecting
the privacy and rights of members of the community, we are committed to maintaining confidentiality regarding individual and community
issues of a sensitive nature when speaking withpeople outside the community.
Helping Each Other Stay Accountable
to the GroupOne of the most common sources of conflict incommunity occurs when people don’t do what
they say they’ll do. As in business, this oftencauses repercussions “downstream,” since somepeople count on others to finish certain preliminary steps before they can take the next steps.
But by putting a few simple processes in place,community members can help each other stayaccountable to one another in relatively painless,guilt-free ways.
One is to make agreements about tasks inmeetings, and keep track of these tasks frommeeting to meeting. This involves assigning tasks
to specific people and defining what they’re being
asked to accomplish and by what time. It also
involves having a task review at the beginning of
every meeting — the people or committees who
agreed to take on these tasks report whether they
have been done, and if not, when they will be.
It also helps to create a wall chart of assigned
tasks with expected completion dates and theperson or committee responsible for each.
Assign someone the task of keeping the chart
current and taping it on the wall at meetings.
Community activist Geoph Kozeny suggests
creating a buddy system, where everyone isassigned another group member to call andcourteously inquire, “Did you call the county
yet?” or “Have you found out about the healthpermit?” This is not about guilt-tripping; it’s

COMMUNICATION, PROCESS, AND DEALING WITH CONFLICT 215

about helpful inquiry and mutual encouragement. These methods rely on the principle thatit’s more difficult to forget or ignore responsibilities if they’re publicly visible. Social pressure canoften accomplish what good intentions cannot.
If not completing tasks becomes an ongoingproblem with one or more people in the group,
you can add additional processes. For example,
when anyone accomplishes a task, thank andacknowledge the person at the next meeting.
When someone doesn’t accomplish a task, thegroup as a whole asks the person to try again.
After awhile, the simple desire not to let others
down usually becomes an internalized motivator
for more responsible behavior.
If someone still frequently fails to do what
they say they’ll do, you can use a graduated seriesof consequences. (See below for a more detailed
explanation of a graduated series of consequences.) First, several people could talk with theperson, for example,. describing the repercussions
to the group of failing to follow through. If that
doesn’t resolve it, the matter could be taken up by
a committee convened for this purpose. Last, it
could become a matter for the whole group.
Why is this such a common source of community conflict? I think it’s about developing thehabit early in life of procrastinating or agreeing
to take on more than is possible, and not having
enough motivation to change. When we live
alone or live with our families, it’s relatively easy
to change our minds about whether or not, or
when, we’ll do something we said we’d do, or justplain let it go. But in a forming community
group or community, this can have widespread
negative impacts on other people, and we’ll certainly hear about it. It can take time, energy, andcommitment to shift from “live-alone” or “singlefamily” mode to consistently considering how
our actions will affect others.

GETTING OUTSIDE HELP
Sometimes conflict gets so entrenched and seemingly
irresolvable that communities call in process gurus, consensus facilitators, or other communication consultants to
help sort out the problem. These consultants are skilledin process and conflict-resolution methods, and, since
they’re often community veterans themselves, their community experience gives them a context for the uniquechallenges that arise when people attempt to live moreclosely and interdependently. (See Resources for suggested community process consultants.)

When people repeatedly don’t do what they
promise and others continue to hold themaccountable, it usually results in the person
either changing their habits or eventually leaving
the group.
A Graduated Series of Consequences

It’s especially painful for community groups
when someone consistently violates agreements
or behavioral norms, or refuses to make changes
repeatedly requested by other community members regarding behavior or communication style.
One remedy is to agree on and implement negative consequences for such offenses. In order toprotect a community, it’s possible to design a
graduated series of fair, compassionate consequences, from mild to increasingly serious, thattreat people with respect while inducing them tomake necessary changes.
Many communities have no consequences
for such breaches, partly because most of us feel
uncomfortable considering such matters, andpartly because having negative consequences
seems no different than the fines and jail sentences of mainstream society. It’s difficult forcommunity members to propose or implement
coercive methods of governance when what they216 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

really want is a finer, kinder, more conscious
society than the one they grew up with. For thesame reasons, the communities that do have consequences are often reluctant to enforce them.
Still other communities have consequences,
but the consequences are too severe for theoffense, so people are loathe to employ them. For
example, one large income-sharing community
has just one consequence for members who get
too far in the “labor hole” (failing to do their shareof labor) or the “money hole” (borrowing too muchagainst future stipends) — eviction from the community. But this requires polling the members for
100 percent agreement to take this action. While
many people in this community have gotten into
the labor hole or money hole over the years, thisconsequence is rarely proposed. And when it is,usually enough friends of the member in question
vote against it so he or she doesn’t have to leave.
Everyone loses here. The community continues tofinancially carry members who contribute less andtake more, and the offending member continues to
get away with irresponsible behavior and has little
motivation to change.
Occasionally, community members need aseries of consequences to finally understand thatthey must make changes. When all else fails, coercion can give a person a needed kick in the pants.
Community Alternatives Society inVancouver, Canada, had no real “rules” until they
were forced to create agreements about behavior,and more importantly, institute a graduated seriesof consequences if anyone breached them. This
community’s series of consequences treats members with respect, yet has “teeth.” Here’s what they
do if someone seriously violates behavioral norms
or repeatedly breaks community agreements:
1. One person talks with the member in question about the problem and asks him or her
to make changes.

2. If this doesn’t work, four people meet about
the problem — the first two and a trusted
friend of each, again, requesting that the person make changes.
3. If this doesn’t solve it, the person meets with
the Accountability Committee to resolve theproblem.
4. If this still doesn’t solve it, the Accountability
Committee creates a five-month contract
with the member that outlines how he or she
will make the necessary changes, and meetswith the member monthly for updates. The
purpose of the contract and meetings is not topunish or humiliate the member, but toencourage and support their making thechanges.
5. If even this doesn’t work, the whole community meets specifically to decide what action
to take, which may include asking the person
to live somewhere else for a while, and possibly also revoking his or her membership. The
member can participate in this meeting, but
has no blocking power.
6. If most members want to take this action but
one or more people block it, the committee
meets with the member in question and thethose blocking the proposal to seek resolution together.
The number of consequences a group has,and how far it goes (a whole-group meeting?
expulsion?) will depend on the size of the groupand how deeply connected people feel — often afunction of how long they’ve been together.
Isn’t it drastic to put a member back on aprovisional membership status, or ask them tolive elsewhere for a while, or worse, to ask themto permanently leave the community once you’re
all living on the land? Yes, it is drastic. And sometimes, when the violation is severe enough or theCOMMUNICATION, PROCESS, AND DEALING WITH CONFLICT 217

conflict too wrenching, it’s the only way to protect your forming community group or community from breaking up altogether.
After they took the first Naka-Ima workshop, Lost Valley members noticed two divergent trends developing in their community. Most
members wanted to move in the direction of
more cooperative and shared resources, but felt
frustrated because other members wanted more
independent lives. At that time, as a relatively
small consensus-based group of ten members, it
seemed that without something changing
nobody would be able to get what they reallywanted — especially since using consensus
requires a common purpose.
“To those of us who held the cooperative
vision,” Larry recalls, “it seemed necessary to
break with precedent and ask the others to leave,
freeing the energy to move forward. We didn’t
feel we had enough of a foundation to toleratethat kind of diversity. This was the first in aseries of courageous and risky choices that we
believed we must take to restore our integrity as
a community.”
The people did leave, and Larry reports thatthe community became more harmonious
because of it.

Asking someone to leave your group or community is probably the most disruptive and painful
way to deal with apparently irresolvable conflict.
It is far easier to address the likelihood of suchconflict ahead of time by carefully choosing thepeople who join you. We’ll address this controversial topic in Chapter 18.

IDEALISM AND DISILLUSIONMENT
Community founders and newcomers often assume thatthey won’t need conflict resolution methods, ways tohelp each other stay accountable to the group, or consequences for violations agreements — since none of theseissues will ever come up in their community. They assume
they won’t be living in the “old paradigm,” so why have
remedies for it? But a few months or a few years into theprocess they see that heir community does not at all
resemble the harmonious and deeply connected “newparadigm” family they envisioned, and disillusionment
sets in.
Usually they blame the community itself (“We’re soscrewed up!”) or particular members (“If only Ollie
would leave!”), rather than realizing they had unrealistic
expectations to begin with, and they are having a typical(some say, inevitable) community experience.
Community life is more functional and satisfying thanlife in mainstream culture — but often not as functionaland satisfying as we’d hoped!
Community is like crossing a bridge between winlose culture and the more harmonious and sustainableculture we aspire to and would like to leave to our children. Community members are traversing the bridge,
passing from one realm to the other, helping generatethat future as we keep learning better how to interact andcommunicate with each other in cooperative, win/win
ways, resolve conflicts successfully, and so on.
Utilizing the processes described in this chapter isn’t
evidence of our community’s failure. These processes arelike training wheels; they’re small, helpful, devices to help
us travel more easily from we’ve been to where we’regoing — toward communities that are socially, ecologically, and spiritually sustainable.

Chapter 18
Selecting People to Join You

I

N THE MOUNTAINS AND HIGH DESERT val-members’ use and enjoyment of the land. As aconsensus-based group, no one could force theissue unless everyone agreed, and Regina didn’t.
(And because they were new to consensus, no
one realized there had been no real agreement in
the first place since they’d never decided as agroup to allow Regina to use that amount ofland.) The conflict grew steadily worse. The
other women resented Regina for behavior that
seemed unfair and demanding, especially since
they had literally gifted her with community
membership out of their own pockets. Over the
next several months feedback sessions didn’t
work, threshing meetings didn’t work, outside
mediation didn’t work. Finally, the others offeredto split the 11 acres, with Regina retaining anacre and a half, although not the portion she
wanted. She could reimburse the others inmonthly installments, with no down payment.
The community would continue, minus Regina,
on the remaining nine and a half acres. But she
refused. By now an intolerable situation, the only
recourse the women had was to sue Regina toforce the sale of the property and get theirmoney out. This they did. In less than a year anda half, Pueblo Encantada had become Pueblo
Nada.

leys of southwestern Colorado, six professional women in their forties through sixties planneda small community I’ll call Pueblo Encantada.
After awhile it became clear that a seventh person who’d recently joined the group, whom I’ll
call Regina, couldn’t afford the $20,000 landpurchase contribution. Everyone assumed she’dno longer be involved, but Regina, deeply movedby the vision of a rural community in a beautiful
setting, was convinced it was her destiny.“I know
I should be there,” she said.“It’s calling to me spiritually.” So the other members, moved by thedesire not to exclude anyone for financial reasons, and unwilling to go against anyone’s strong
spiritual conviction, took Regina into the community, bought an 11-acre property, and placed
her name on the deed with everyone else’s.
Most of the women lived and worked intown and visited the land on weekends, planningto move there as soon as they could afford it orafter they retired. But a few, including Regina,
lived on the land full time.
After about six months, tension arose overland use. Regina had acquired a horse, and insisted on certain requirements for pasturage andaccess to water, although this limited the other218

SELECTING PEOPLE TO JOIN YOU 219

If this weren’t bad enough, because Regina
was on the deed as co-owner, the court disbursed
to her one-seventh the proceeds of the sale, inspite of the fact that she’d paid not a dime. But
this wasn’t the worst part. The worst part wasthat every one of the six women had felt uneasy
about Regina when they’d met as a core group.
Her energy, her communication style, and hernear-insistence that she belonged on the land,
had raised red flags for everyone. But no one had
said a word, not wanting to appear unkind, orworse, “selfish.” Wanting to be generous, unwilling to heed telltale signs, and ashamed of their
feelings of aversion, no one voiced her private
misgivings. Being “nice” cost them their dream.
Select for Emotional Maturity — the“Narrow Door”

Pueblo Encantada’s story is not at all unique; I’ve
heard many variations of this tale in the years
I’ve been watching forming communities.
Accepting someone into to your core groupor already-established community who isn’taligned with your vision and values, or who triggers strong reservations, doesn’t work. It canpotentially lead to spending hours of meetingtime on conflicts that leave everyone drained andexhausted, or worse, to lawsuits and community
break-up. And, because people project so muchidealism onto community, we tend to make thesame kinds of mistakes choosing community
mates as we do choosing lovers: leaping before
we look, projecting idealized archetypes ontoordinary folks, refusing to pay attention to telltale signs.
The antidote is to put in place a welldesigned process for accepting and integrating
new members and screening out those who don’t
resonate with your group. Since community living involves getting along well with others, you’ll

want to select people whose lives demonstrate
they can do this. Ideally, you’ll select for emotional maturity and self-esteem. Not having amembership selection process can be a heartbreaking source of structural conflict later on.
“If your community front door is difficult toenter, healthy people will strive to get in,” says
Irwin Wolfe Zucker, a psychiatric social worker
and former member of Findhorn and other communities. “If it’s wide open, you’ll tend to attractunhealthy people, well-versed in resentful
silences, subterfuge, manipulation, and guilt
trips.” Once these people become members of
the group, he warns, everyone’s energy may laterbe tied up in getting them out again.
A membership screening process usuallymeans a period of time visiting the core group orcommunity as an observer, answering questions,being interviewed by the group, and acceptancethrough the consensus process. In forminggroups, this can include paying membershipdues and/or fees towards land purchase. In
already-established communities, this usuallymeans a more rigorous set of questions, a longer
visiting period, a six-month-to-a-year provisional membership, and possibly higher membershipfees.
An important part of the screening process is
how accurately the group describes itself publicly. Done well, your promotional materials(brochure or other handouts, inquiry response
letter, website, classified ad in Communities magazine, listing in the Communities Directory), willdraw those people aligned with your values andvision, and who are able and willing to meet yourtime, energy and financial requirements.
Your promotional materials can help you
draw the kinds of people you’re seeking anddeter anyone else. You can be explicit about this
if you wish. One community’s brochure reads:

220 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

We’re looking for people who feel confident andgood about themselves, who have achieved a
degree of emotional maturity, and who can getalong with others in a group situation.
We’re interested in people who don’t feel thatthey’ve been harmed or taken advantage of byothers, or who don’t get the feedback thatthey’re moody, or touchy. We’re seeking people
who enjoy the company of others, and are willing to ask for what they want and need.

It makes sense to have a formal memberscreening process once you’re living together incommunity, but is it reasonable to ask someone
to go through all this simply to attend meetingsof your core group? It doesn’t make sense for visitors who will simply observe and offer comments. But it does if they will become decisionmaking members who’ll help influence thefuture of your community.
Another reason to screen new core groupmembers involves keeping the ones you’ve got.

WHO DOES WELL IN COMMUNITY?
1. Someone who doesn’t “need” it. People who are
fulfilled and doing well in their lives are more likely to
thrive in and contribute to community.

what’s expected of them. But with enough “high willingness,” such people can use community as a learning
opportunity and become fully contributing members.

2. Someone with a healthy sense of self. People
with emotional maturity and self-esteem, who knowwhat they want and know their strengths and weaknesses, and who are seeking personal growth forthemselves, tend to do well in community.

5. Someone willing to abide by group agreements. Some people fiercely guard their autonomy,
find the idea of interdependence with others unsettling, and tend to bristle when asked to do follow
rules or perform a task. Again, with enough “high willingness,” such people can move from “I” consciousness to “we” consciousness without losing their senseof self. It feels good to be interdependent with others; however, for some people it takes a certain
amount of self-confidence and trust even to try it.

3. Someone who is open to and able to hearother points of view. The aggressive, competentbusiness executive or entrepreneur who instinctively
knows best and makes decisions quickly tends to feel
frustrated and impatient in community until he or she
becomes comfortable with cooperative decisionmaking. Then such a person can thrive in communityand contribute a great deal.
4. Someone with a sense of connection to people
and an interest in the well-being of others.
Obviously a socially confident person who likes people will enjoy community, but people who are shy or
natural loners can have difficulty at first. They can beinsensitive to other people’s needs and have no idea

6. Someone willing to speak up. People who arewilling to take the initiative, say so when they disagreewith others, and ask for what they want, tend to dowell.
7. Someone willing to be quiet and listen. People
who always know what’s best, or who are dynamic,
assertive, and full of ideas, may need to tone downthat energy somewhat in group meetings in order togive others the space to speak.

SELECTING PEOPLE TO JOIN YOU 221

Once you’re living in community, it’s not easy forsomeone who’s fed up with a newcomer’s behavior to leave. But until a core group’s level of commitment has increased, for example, after buying
land, if someone joins you who annoys or disrupts the group, anyone in the core group could
become annoyed enough to walk away and neverreturn.
But is it Community?

Many people don’t think it’s “community” unlessthe group is inclusive and open and anyone canjoin. Doesn’t community mean offering a more
accepting, inclusive culture than mainstream
society?
Most experienced communitarians would
reply that not having criteria for new members— admissions standards, if you will — is simply
an invitation for emotionally dysfunctional people to arrive. Without realizing it, they seek out
communities in order to heal childhood hurts
and wounds. They look to community to provide the loving family they never had. (One community founder told me that their community
sign out front might as well have read:“Emotional Hospital — Welcome.”)
When I bring this up in workshops, many
people shift uncomfortably in their seats — it
goes against the grain to consider excluding people. I can always spot the experienced community members though; they’re the ones rolling theireyes with “you can say that again” looks. They’ve
usually learned this through bitter experience;
there’s no reason you should learn it the hard
way too.
“An intentional community is a scarce andvaluable commodity in our culture,” observescommunitarian Harvey Baker of Dunmire
Hollow in Tennessee, “existing only because its
founders have invested a lot of time and humanresources. It’d be a shame to let in someone in
who could destroy what has taken so many people so many years to create.”
But what about the rock polisher effect?
Aren’t everyone’s rough edges worn smoother bycontact with everyone else’s? Veteran communitarians often point out that most people naturally mature in community because of the (hopefully) constructive feedback they’ll receive and thenatural tendency to learn from the (hopefully)
good communication skills modeled by moreexperienced members. Many groups know people who were difficult to be around when theyfirst arrived, but were so motivated to learn thatthey became model community members.
But the rock polisher effect appears to hingeon the willingness of the potential new member
to learn and grow and change. I’ve seen forming
communities — even those with otherwise fineprocess skills — break apart in conflict andsometimes lawsuits because even just one member didn’t have enough self-esteem to function
well in a group. The person’s “stuff came up” — aseveryone’s does in community — but theirs was
too destructive for the group to absorb. When aperson is wounded and having a difficult time, heor she can certainly benefit from living in community, and, ideally, can heal and grow becauseof the support and feedback offered there. But a
certain level of woundedness — without “highwillingness” — appears to be too deep for many
new communities to handle. I believe one deeply
wounded person can affect a group far more thanten healthy people — potentially derailing thecommunity’s agenda and draining its energy.
Passive Victims, Outraged Victims

Consider the person who has had the misfortuneof being abused as a child and hasn’t had muchhealing before approaching your group. Such a222 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

person usually feels needy at some level, andtends to interpret other people’s inability or
refusal to meet his or her needs as simply moreabuse.
Sometimes the person seems timid, passive,
or insecure, which people sometimes characterize as having “victim” energy. Others, equallyhurting, have the opposite traits, appearing edgy
and intense, or erupting into anger rather easily.
In both cases, it appears that on an unconscious
level, the person expects to be victimized, and is“ready for it” in advance. Such a person tends toeither seek out abusive situations or provoke
normally mild-tempered people to anger. They
can perceive angry or abusive behaviors where
they don’t exist, and conclude,“See, I knew you’dabuse me.”
The problem is not that the person was once
victimized, which obviously wasn’t their fault.
The problem is the ongoing interpretation ofother people’s actions as victimizing them.
Here’s how this often plays out in community. Let’s say Darleen arrives at your door, or
begins attending meetings of your core group.
She’s in difficult life circumstances; you feelcompassion and want to help, so you do. You feel
good about this, and all is well for awhile. Butsoon tension builds between Darleen and othermembers. At sharing circles she retreats.
Attempts to offer her feedback are rebuffed.
Requests for minor changes in her behavior are
seen as attacks. Any “good process” attention thecommunity gives her is seen as persecution. At
first Darleen thought you were allies, but look:just like everyone else, you’re out to victimize
her too.
For some reason “Darleen” often shows up incommunities as a single mother on welfare withseveral small children and two dogs which thechildren are very attached to. The mother has

environmental illness, one of the children has
special needs, the dogs have fleas and the mange.
(The potential drama and cost to the community escalates if the father of Darleen’s children istrying to take them away from her, or wants tomove in and abuse her further.) Darleen is
exhausted and desperate, and of course you want
to help her. By all means feed the family, givethem shelter for a few nights and a little money,
if you like. Encourage Darleen to get help withcounty social services. Just know what you’ll betaking on if you let her join you.
Lost Valley once rescued a single mother incircumstances like these, and she ended up
resenting and blaming the community no matter
how they tried to help. “We didn’t have what it
took for her to continue accepting our charity,”
Dianne Brause recalls wryly.
Or let’s say Mike arrives at your door. Angry
with the corrupt powers that plunder the Earth,he’s certain of his convictions and passionate
about social change. He knows community —your community — is part of the answer. He
joins and you welcome his zeal. All is well forawhile.
Soon tension builds between Mike and a few
others. The feedback he gets is wrong; requests
for change are power-plays; sharing circles are forwimps. Any “process” attention the community
gives Mike is coercion. At first your community
seemed like righteous allies in the struggle, but
look: you’re just corrupt power-mongers likeeveryone else.
Darleen is operating out of fear, Mike out ofrage. Both are victims.
What kind of communities can people inthese circumstances join, besides therapeuticcommunities, or service communities organized
to offer support to people in need? A large, old,well-established community can sometimes take

SELECTING PEOPLE TO JOIN YOU 223

on difficult or wounded people without muchdamage to itself. A mature oak tree, after all, canhandle being hit by a truck. But don’t take on
this challenge if your group is small, or brandnew. You’re just a seedling, not an oak tree, andstill too vulnerable.
Membership Screening and the Law

As mentioned earlier, if you have housing units
or lots for sale on the open market, you can’t pickand choose your members, but must sell to anyone who meets your terms. If, based on yourmembership criteria, you choose some buyers
and reject others, courts could interpret this as
discrimination. Cohousing communities face
this issue, but, as mentioned earlier, usually findthat only those people who want more community in their lives are interested anyway, so theirmembership selection process becomes selfselecting.
But sometimes a cohousing core group sees a
red flag and does something about it. This was
the case with a forming cohousing group in the
Northwest, which I’ll call Redwood Commons,and a member of their group whom I’ll call“Cal.” Cal spoke in a monotone and had little
facial expression, what psychologists call “flataffect.” Everyone noticed his unusual, somewhat
mechanical demeanor. Some felt compassion
and were kind; others were unnerved. When it
was time for Redwood Commons to put money
down on a property and move forward, somedidn’t want Cal in the group. “What if he ‘snaps’
someday and harms one of our children?” they
asked. Others were heartsick about it. They
wanted to be kind to Cal, who was obviously
hurting and would benefit from community living, but they didn’t want to risk it. So a few
members took Cal aside, and rather awkwardly,
asked him to leave the group, which he did. They

didn’t point out that he had every legal right tobuy in. To this day many Redwood Commonsmembers feel ashamed of the way they asked Cal
to leave; it was obviously a painful experience forhim. Could they have done it more kindly, they
ask? Should they have discouraged his meeting
attendance earlier in the process? And were they
just dead wrong? Cal could have been a fine community member. Frequent contact with neighbors, particularly children, could have brought
needed warmth into his life.
Yet even though this issue is painful to contemplate, I think these core group members did
the right thing by following their instincts andtaking the action they thought best for the community. Unlike Pueblo Encantada members,
Redwood Commons people didn’t let shameabout their feelings of unease stop them fromspeaking up.
Dealing Well with Saying “No”

Whether a group has homes or lots for sale on
the open market, or owns its property and canthus choose its members, is it worth it to ask
someone to leave, given how badly they may feel?
Consider this: someone who is not accepted formembership in a group or community feels disappointed, gets over it, and moves on. But someone who is accepted as a community member,moves to the community and lives there forawhile, and is later asked to leave, may be deeply
scarred. It is far easier on everyone concerned totake this painful step at the beginning.
I’d much rather see a new community getestablished, sink roots, and grow strong andhealthy for a few years before taking in a wounded person who might be disruptive but could
benefit from community, than see them try thiswhen they’re first starting out and risk everything
in the process. You’re propagating from seeds

224 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

here. You need all the protection you can get.
This can be so difficult that people don’t deal
with it at all, especially if they were raised tobelieve that it’s not “nice” to say “No.” Like Pueblo
Encantada members, people can feel ashamed of
their feelings that something’s “not right,” andjudge themselves for being “judgmental” orworse, for being “discriminating.”“Judgmental” means to criticize someone as
unworthy, whereas what you’re doing is assessing whether this person resonates with yourvisions and values, is aligned with your behavioral norms, and can meet your financial andlabor requirements. And to “discriminate” means

to recognize the differences between various
choices; to differentiate, to discern. And discern
you must, since you could be living near andsharing property with this person for the rest of
your life.
How Can You Tell?

Since most of us are wounded to some degree
and are in various stages of recovery, how can wetell in advance who might be wounded severely
enough to drain and exhaust the group? Most
people with serious emotional difficulties don’t
give off signals like Regina and Cal, but seem justlike anyone else at first.

SCREENING NEW MEMBERS
Communities organize their membership screening
process in various ways.
At Earthaven, for example, people learn about thecommunity’s vision, values, membership requirements, and other information through its website andinformation packet (which includes magazine article
reprints and a video). Interested people can take atour, attend the community’s Council meetings, andarrange weekend visits.
The first stage of membership is to become a “supporting member,” which is an opportunity for the person and the community to get to know each other in arelaxed way without too much being asked of anyone.
A supporting member can visit anytime, can live in thecommunity if accommodations are available, canattend Council meetings but not participate in discussions, and receives the community’s newsletter andemailed copies of Council minutes. Supporting members pay a small monthly membership fee and sign anagreement saying that they understand the community’s vision and values.

When people decide to join the community they
become “provisional members” for at least six months
first (although it can be longer), which allows themand the community to get to know each other far better, with a fair amount of commitment on either side.
Provisional members can participate in community
meetings (although they cannot block proposals) andthey’re encouraged to live in the community. They pay
the community’s $4,000 joining fee and sign a contract
agreeing to pay a site lease fee at the time of full membership. They are required to attend at least two committee meetings a month, work 48 hours per quarter oncommunity tasks, and get to know as many community members as possible.
Supporting members apply for provisional membership by filling out a questionnaire about themselves
and their community aspirations (which is shared withthe whole group), as well as telling aspects of their life
story at a whole group meeting convened for this purpose. If no one objects in to the person’s provisional
membership status in the three-week period following

SELECTING PEOPLE TO JOIN YOU 225

This is what two founders, whom I’ll call
Celeste and Brad, asked after their upper
Midwest community, which I’ll call Faraway
Lake, broke up in conflict and heartbreak.
Celeste and Brad are two of the most likable,
capable, and spiritually grounded people I know,
so when they began planning a new community
I was sure it would be a success. They wrote abeautiful description of their vision for Faraway
Lake and attracted five other cofounders, each ofwhom seemed equally grounded and capable.
The group met for months at each other’s homes
to make plans.
After looking at over 50 properties the groupthe storytelling evening, he or she becomes a provisional member. (If the community doesn’t ultimately
accept the person as a full member, the fee isreturned. But if the person decides not to join thecommunity, the community keeps one-third the fee
as a deterrent to anyone’s joining too casually.)
In six months, if the person has met the labor andother requirements, he or she can apply for full
membership. Community members are polled fortheir comments and whether they support the person’s becoming a full member. The questions
include: “Have you been able to get to know thisperson? If not, why not?” and “How do you think thisperson could best contribute to the community?”and “Do have any concerns about this person as amember? If so, have you met with the person to discuss them?” If a member does have a concern, he or
she must meet with the provisional member toattempt to resolve the concern. If issues cannot be
resolved, or if the community as a whole has con-found an ideal site by a lake, with everything
they’d been looking for. While they had enoughmoney for a down payment, they didn’t haveenough to buy the land outright, so began asearch for a mortgage. In the meantime theyrented a cabin near their intended property andcamped in the yard or slept dormitory-style in
the attic. In order to make a living in their rural
setting they started a small, cooperatively owned
manufacturing business, for which Brad andCeleste and two others invested savings and borrowed start-up funds from friends. They rented
and renovated a nearby factory space and set towork. Over the next few months the group toiled

cerns about the provisional member, the person may
be asked to continue in that membership status forawhile, and apply for full membership again later. If
no one has any objections, the person is proposed
for full membership at a Council meeting for consensual agreement. Then everyone celebrates.
Meadowdance has a similar process with successive levels of membership, but with morecheckpoints; at the first-month, fourth month, seventh month, and 13th month, when the person
becomes a full member. At each membershipstage the person can participate in meetings, butcannot block a proposal. Meadowdance’s process
must necessarily be more regulated than joining avillage like Earthaven, since Meadowdance members join a household, share a kitchen, and work forthe community businesses.
Most of the “successful ten percent” have similar
multi-step membership processes.

226 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

long hours at the new business, but still managed
to take time out to enjoy stories around thecampfire, go hiking and sailing, and meditate by
the lake at sunrise.
Unfortunately their new business had aseries of unexpected setbacks. The financial
uncertainty, along with the fact that they lived incrowded conditions, strained their good will, andsoon they began bickering. This didn’t alarm
Brad or Celeste, who’d lived in community before
and were old hands at group process. But in one
member, whom I’ll call David, rage was growing.
In sharing circles or feedback sessions, he seemed
to be listening and understanding, but wassecretly becoming even more angry, resentful,and entrenched in his position. He took a particular dislike to Celeste, who had asked him tochange certain attitudes and behaviors toward
people outside the community with whom they
were doing business. As conflict escalated overthe next few months and Celeste, Brad, and others attempted to give David feedback, the more
he singled out Celeste as the cause of the problem. As their conflict grew worse, it got framed
as a power struggle between the two of them.
Celeste wanted David to become more consciousof and alter certain behaviors; he wanted her tostop trying to “dominate everyone.” As experienced communitarians, Brad and Celeste
believed that since they all lived under one roof
and were financially interdependent, David’s or
any other member’s behavior was everyone’s
business, but for David, it was an outrageous
invasion of privacy. The group split into factions.
Distrust and tension mounted.
Just when it seemed as though things couldn’t get any worse, the business failed, still deeply
in debt. Exhausted and demoralized, the groupfelt it had no choice but to call it quits. Everyone
moved away. After fourteen months Faraway

Lake was no more. David, who’d put no money
into the cooperatively owned business, refused tomake payments towards reimbursing its loan.
Living on their own again, dejected, and feelingstrangely ashamed of the failure of their community dream, Brad and Celeste worked for the
next three years to replace their savings.
“How could we have known how David
would react to living in community?” Celeste later
asked. “No one could have guessed by meetinghim. During the months of planning he was oneof the most engaging and delightful people you’dever hope to meet. How could we have known?”
Questions, References, “LongEngagements”“Look for good history of love and work,” advises Irwin Wolfe Zucker. According to psychological studies, past behavior is the best predictor of
future behavior, so he recommends asking questions, through questionnaires and interviews.
Let’s say you’re seeking people who are financially stable, emotionally secure, and, ideally, havesome experience living cooperatively. The more
intimate the community you’re planning — interms of physical proximity, the amount ofshared resources, and the amount of financial
interdependence — the more direct your questions might be.
For example, besides the usual questions
about the person’s community aspirations, you
might ask:
• How have you supported yourself financially?
• Can you describe some of your long-term
relationships?
• What was your experience in high schoolor college?

SELECTING PEOPLE TO JOIN YOU 227• How much schooling did you complete?
• If you chose to leave school, why wasthat?
• Have you pursued alternative educational or career paths such as internships,
apprenticeships, or on-the-job training?
Where, and for how long? Did you complete them?
• Have you lived in shared or cooperative
living situations before, such as college
dorms or student housing co-ops, sharedgroup households, or other intentional
communities?
• Do you have a significant love and/or
family relationship now? How long haveyou been together? Do you plan to live
together in community?
• If you’re a single parent, what is your current relationship with your children’sother parent? Are you on good terms andshare parenting or are you estranged?
Does the other parent want custody ofthe children?
• Will you be able to meet our labor andfinancial requirements? How?
While these are certainly personal questions,
keep in mind that you’re considering this person
for a truly personal relationship, involving
aspects of both marriage and a business partnership. You’re expecting him or her to be responsible and trustworthy as a close neighbor andsomeone who may be a friend to your children,
as well as someone with whom you’ll own property and make important financial decisions.
By the way, not having the money to pay ashare of land-purchase costs or membership fees
but wanting to join anyway is sometimes a predictor of trouble later on, as was the case with

Regina and David. But not always. Some of themost active and contributing members ofEarthaven, for example, are young people whojoined without funds, and are paying off membership and site-lease fees through a laborexchange with the community.
You could also ask for three or four references — from former partners, current and former employers, landlords, housemates, and/or
traveling companions. What if new people justgive names of friends who’ll only say goodthings, you ask? Consider that even the way people respond to the request for references tells you
something. If they are happy to provide references and do so immediately, it’s a good sign. I
once called references for people interested visiting a small forming community. (Referenceswere asked for before, rather than after a proposed visit, so that if the references didn’t checkout, the visitors wouldn’t have wasted their timeor travel expenses.) I learned that you can get apretty good sense of how others may feel about
someone by about the third or fourth reference
call. And it certainly would have benefited
Faraway Lake if Brad and Celeste had sought
references or a background check on David.
They later learned he had been fleeing courtordered judgments for punitive damages andreimbursement of funds owed former business
partners in two different past businesses, andhad been attempting to go underground,“hiding”
in various intentional communities.
But wait a minute — is past behavior always
the best predictor of future behavior? Whatabout people who change and grow? People definitely can mature and become more stable,compassionate, and responsible over the years
and we must allow for that possibility. I suggest
asking people about this directly: “What were
you like in your twenties? Have you changed in228 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

any significant ways since then?” We need toseek a balance between considering people’s past
behavior (and for some, perhaps during only thepast five or ten years), and their current state.
Questions and interviews, references, and a longgetting-to-know-you period where we can experience the new person on a day-to-day basis all
help with this process.
But, wait another minute — what about thepeople who started the core group or the community? If they screened themselves for all the same
membership criteria would they have gotten in?
Do they even meet their own requirements?
People often do tend to seek higher standards in new members than they exemplify inthemselves. It seems to be human nature to aim
high, perhaps like the father for whom noboyfriend is good enough for his little girl —even though old dad doesn’t meet his own standards. My advice is for founders of core groups
and communities to seek a balance between
new-member requirements that are so idealisticthat few could pass them (and certainly notthemselves!) and so lax that the requirements
don’t accomplish their intended purpose —attracting capable, like-minded people who will
help the community achieve its goals.
Besides getting information about the person, membership requirements usually also
involve a “getting to know you” period, and various kinds of fees. Time and money requirements
also help separate serious community seekers
from the merely curious.
I’m a firm believer in “long engagements:”
extended guest visits or provisional memberships of six months to a year or more, so thegroup and the prospective member can continue
to get to know each other. Most long-lived communities have discovered that this length of timeis important. Sometimes it takes a year to findout what someone is really like, or more importantly, what they’re like under stress, andwhether it seems they’ll be able to live happily
with your community agreements.
Finally, it’s important to have a process tointegrate new members into your group or community. Besides sharing your decision log andmaking sure the new person knows your agreements and financial and labor requirements,
you’ll want to share as much community history and “community culture” as you can with thisperson, and invite him or her to participate in as
many work parties, shared meals, and celebrations as you can. Most of this will naturally
occur over the period of provisional membership (and in forming-community groups, during
the “visiting observer” period). Sometimes communities take it a step further; for example, having a series of orientation sessions and/or
assigning the newcomer a sponsor who’s available to orient the new person and answer any
questions.
The most critical part of any orientation
however, should be making sure that the new
person is familiar with your decision-making
process. If you use consensus, you’ll want theperson to fully understand its philosophy andpractice, and especially the blocking privilege.
Some groups require that new people complete aweekend consensus workshop before becoming afull member with decision-making rights, which
seems like an excellent idea.

The suggestions in this book for planting theseeds for your ecovillage or intentional community and helping it grow and thrive are by nomeans all you need to know; nor is this the endof your learning. It is, of course, the beginning.

SELECTING PEOPLE TO JOIN YOU 229

You and your friends in community are pioneers in the finest sense. Your choice to live cooperatively with others, share resources, and evolvea more harmonious and sustainable way to live,
has the potential to benefit others in far greater
proportion than your numbers. Through slow,
small increments, as people hear about yourcommunity and visit you — and hear about andvisit other ecovillages and intentional communities across North America — they’ll be influenced by a vision for human settlement that’s
potentially so inviting it ultimately makes a positive difference in our culture.
Creating community may be one of the mostmeaningful ways you can spend your time. I wish
you every good fortune on the journey.

Appendix 1
Sample Community Vision Documents
Lost Valley Educational Center , Oregon• To provide financial and operational
resources to support and enhance theactivities of the educational center.

A community can alter its vision documents
to reflect changed circumstances and insights.
Vision (1996):• To be a vital resource for the creation ofsustainable culture for the PacificNorthwest.

Vision Statement (1999):
The mission of Lost Valley Educational Center
is to create and foster mutually beneficial relations between humans and all parts of the web ofexistence. We believe that these relationships
provide a means to well-being as well as survival.
In fulfilling this mission, our purpose is tocreate and maintain an intentional community
and an educational center dedicated to threegoals which guide us in all activities:• To educate broadly in areas such as ecology, sustainable agriculture, human-madeenvironments, personal and spiritual
growth, and community development.
• To live an ethic in which we are open to
spiritual diversity, demonstrate right
livelihood and sustainable economics,
support individuals in their personal
growth and healing, and steward the landto sustain and heal the Earth for generations to come.
• To participate in the global community,
network with others, and facilitate theMission (1996):• To support people in creating sustainable
lifestyles by providing learning opportunities to develop skills and awarenesses
that promote cooperative, harmonious,
sustainable and joyous ways of living in
relationship with each other and theEarth.
Goals (1996):• To offer and develop high-quality learning opportunities to develop skills andawarenesses for sustainable living.
• To provide a nourishing, supportive, andresponsive environment that facilitates
participants in achieving their goals andderiving full value form their learning
experiences.
230

APPENDIX 1 231

evolution of cooperative societies andsocially responsible relationships at every
level.
We dedicate ourselves to learning and teaching this way of life.
Earthaven Ecovillage, North Carolina

The following is excerpted from Earthaven’s“New Vision” document:
We are the members and pioneers of aplanned permaculture ecovillage, actively
engaged in building sacred community, supporting personal empowerment, and catalyzing cultural transformation.
We share a vision of a community with avital, diversified spirituality, healthy social relations, sustainable ecological systems, and a low
maintenance/high satisfaction lifestyle.
Earthaven’s “ReMembership Covenant” outlines the following purpose and goals:
Purpose:To be an evolving village-scale community dedicated to caring for people and the Earth by learning, practicing and demonstrating the skills forcreating holistic sustainable culture, in recognition and celebration of the Oneness of all life.
Goals:
1. Make conscious our connection to Spirit andEarth and our interdependence with the webof all life.
2. Facilitate our transition toward a life of elegant simplicity.
3. Nurture an increasingly abundant world byenhancing living systems, while reducing
consumption of resources.
4. Foster the lifelong learning and growth of

every community member, recognizing eachindividual is both teacher and learner.
5. Preserve our landholding through proper
stewardship, designated wilderness areas andecologically sound use of our resources.
6. Create a learning center that serves as a living
demonstration of this holistic vision.
7. Envision a positive, restorative future anddevelop the skills needed to create and sustain it.
8. Promote personal and planetary healing on
all levels.
9. Serve and reach out to the local and global
community, encouraging spiritual and cultural diversity and other forms of creative
expression while providing a sense of inclusion, integration and celebration throughresponsible community activities.
10. Encourage the growth of our village until wehave at least 66 site holders.
11. Encourage the establishment of memberowned and managed, ecologically soundbusinesses.
12. Actively support the intentional communities, permaculture and land reform movements as we are able.
Abundant Dawn, Virginia

Following is Abundant Dawn’s vision statement:• We are creating a loving and sustainableculture. We live close to one another,cooperate, and share resources, so that we
may live more lightly and joyously on theearth.
• As we seek to realize ourselves throughservice, and work towards ecological andsocial responsibility, we respect the diversity of our members’ life choices.

232 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER• Whether in times of peace or conflict, wemeet each other face to face, with openness and caring. We are each individuallycommitted to reaching through our hurts
and fears to find and share our deepest
truths.
• We honor the spark of the divine in all
beings.
The following is excerpted from Abundant
Dawn’s vision documents:
Abundant Dawn intends to be a large community (possibly 40-60) made up of four or fivesmaller subgroups, which we call pods. Pods are
small enough for all the members to sit in a room
together and make a decision. Decisions regarding such important matters as membership, children, housing, and level of economic cooperation
are decided at the pod level, with input from thewider community when appropriate.

This structure gives us some advantages of alarge community (diverse population, sharing alarge property, tractor and community center) as
well as some advantages of small communities(intimate living groups, direct input into lifeaffecting decisions, face-to-face meetings).
Each pod has a few acres designated for its
use and control. Within the guidelines of ourvision statement, land plan, ecological guidelines,
and other broad agreements, pods are encouraged to develop their own ways of living together. We intentionally include a spectrum of economic models from full income sharing to independent household incomes.
Major decisions, such as our overall landplan, are made by a consensus of the full members of Abundant Dawn. This may shift to consensus by pod representatives as we grow larger.

Appendix 2
Sample Community Agreements
Active members are entitled to a reserved
housing unit, participation in decision-making,and access to our community lending library.
At least one-third of all households will bereserved for families with children under 16.
All meetings are open and anyone may
attend. Non-active members may be asked toonly observe at meetings. They would not participate in consensus or other decision-making
processes.
If a vote is called for, each household is entitled to one decision-making right, which may be
split if members of that household chose todecide differently from each other.
Number of households to target for: 24.

Decision Log, Buffalo Creek Community

The following excerpt in the Decision Log of
Buffalo Creek Community (not their real name)illustrates the kinds of agreements a forming
community makes in their early stages, before
beginning the land search. Buffalo Creek’s vision
was to live in a spiritually focused community ofdeeply connected friends in a rural setting.
While they took detailed minutes of their meetings, this document records only their decisions,by date. They used this document as a “groupmemory” when considering new issues, and toorient visitors and new members to the group.
Sept 15: We named the community “Buffalo
Creek.” Our emphasis is on personal connection
with each other, with community living as a subset of that.

Dec 16: We will pay for an option or down payment on land only after we have 24 active households.

Oct 21: Five criteria determine an active memberof the community: (1) Being in alignment with
the Buffalo Creek Community Mission
Statement and Agreements; (2) Payment of$150 (or $75 for waiting list); (3) Participation
in at least one action group and general meetings; (4) Missing no more than two consecutive
general or action meetings; and (5) financial prequalification to buy a lot and build a house.

Jan 19: A household can sell its place (3rd, 16thetc.) on the membership list. As a place is vacated, all households that follow move up one placeon the list.
Mar 16: The Waiting List is limited to 50 percent of active members. For example, there
maybe 12 members on the waiting list when233

234 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

there are 24 active households.
Apr 20: For any decision to be binding on theentire community, two-thirds of all households
must agree to the decision.
A decision made by consensus will be considered to meet the requirements of the twothirds rule.
May 18: The Coordinating Team is given theauthority to approve, by consensus decision
making, expenditures of up to $500. If theirdecision is not unanimous, or if the expenditureexceeds $500, it should be proposed to the wholegroup for approval.
Jun 15: We established a Site Fund. Each active
community household is required, beginning
August 1, to deposit $250 quarterly to theCommunity Treasury to be held for necessary
expenses for obtaining the community building
site, including but not limited to professional,
legal, or other help. Further, this “forced savings”
will be held in a safe interest-bearing account.
The primary decisions of our next meeting
will involve creating an “exit clause” for any
active members who wish to leave the Buffalo
Creek group, as well as a “default clause,” for any
active members who do not meet the quarterly
payments.
“Ode” of Respects & Responsibilities:
Community Alternatives Society

Community Alternatives Society members, wholive in their own apartment building in downtown Vancouver as well as a farm in the countryside, called this agreement an “ode,” rather than a“code” of behavior, because it sounded more
poetic and less bureaucratic. I suggest using thisas a stimulus for your thinking when you consid-

er the issues of any behavioral agreements yourgroup makes.
Seven Areas of Respect

1. Respect personal boundaries, touch others
appropriately, and refrain from violence.
(Physical Respect)
2. Respect other people’s feelings and emotions,and take responsibility for my own.
(Emotional Respect)
3. Be honest, use respectful forms of communication with others, hear what others are saying to me. (Verbal Respect)
4. Respect my own and others’ right to privacy,
solitude, quiet, and security in their personal
space, and negotiate the use of communal
space. (Territorial Respect)
5. Care for individual, communal, and community property. (Material Respect)
6. Respect the diversity of people’s age, sex,
racial origin, sexual orientation, spiritual
practices, and physical and mental capabilities. (Respect for Diversity)
7. Respect the community structure and consensus decision-making process.
(Community Respect)
Seven Areas of Responsibility

1. Be conscientious in my attendance of community meetings.
2. Take responsibility for communicating myideas and feelings.
3. Contribute time and energy to the community in the form of work parties and chores,
and negotiate the duration and terms of any
reduction in community participation that I
may require.
4. Serve as a contributing member of a committee and the planning team during myrotation.

APPENDIX 2 235

5. Be open and conscientious regarding myfinancial responsibilities.
6. Inform the community about guests staying
for extended periods of time and any changes
in my personal situation which affect the community and/or my ability to contribute to it.
7. Promptly inform the appropriate people
about any violence or serious violations of
the “R&Rs” that I witness.
Steps Toward Conflict Resolution

1. Direct One-to-One Communication between the
involved parties. (If an individual feels
unsafe, go directly to #2, below. If any individual witnesses or experiences a flagrant violation, go directly to #3, below.)
2. Hear and Clear Session(s). Each person
involved in the conflict invites a trusted community member to the session as their advocate and the four individuals work toward theresolution.
3. Consultation with the “R&R” Accountability
Committee. Advocacy/resolution groups may
consult the committee for assistance when
avenues #1 and #2 have not proven successful. If the involved parties are not willing toresolve the conflict, they will be requested by
the committee to engage in a contract of selfempowerment with the community.
4. Self-empowerment Contract. The party(s) inquestion will be given one month to submit
in writing and present to the community, aplan of action that outlines how that person
will make the necessary changes in his or her
life. The community will expect monthly
updates and this contract will have a duration of five months. At the end of this period
there will be a marked improvement in thesituation or the community will proceed to#5, below.

5. Community Action Meeting. In the case of aserious flagrant violation the community
may go to this step directly. In a situation
where all other attempts at resolution havefailed, and where the party(s) in question has
not honored his or her Self-Empowerment
Contract with the community, and is therefore exhibiting a lack of commitment to thecommunity, a Community Action Meetingshall be called. The involved party may
attend this meeting but may not be involvedin the decision making. If the rest of the community reaches consensus, the involved party
shall be evicted (6a) and may also have his or
her membership in CAS revoked.
6. Lack of Consensus. If consensus is not reachedat the Community Action Meeting, the planning team will meet with the person(s) who
blocked the proposed action and the person(s) who violated the Self-Empowerment
Contract to seek a solution.
Pet Policy, Abundant Dawn

Abundant Dawn’s Pet Policy, although unfinished, demonstrates the kind of broad and deep
thinking community members must undertake
when dealing with especially controversial subjects, such as pets. I suggest you use it as a starting point when considering the issues of yourown pet policy. (Yes, you’ll need one.)Special terms: “pod,” a subcommunity orneighborhood within the larger community;“wild side,” the steeper, more forested side of
their property;“mild side,” the more gentle slopes
and pastures they intend to develop.
This document covers our agreements
regarding dogs, cats, and house pets. It does notcover our agreements regarding pasture animals,
such as cows, whether or not they are pets.

236 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHERPets in General: We agree to clearly state to visitors/potential members our concern about having pets on this land because of wildlife, noise
pollution, quality of life standards, etc. We agree
to write up our experiences with and discussions
about pets so new members understand the“why” of our policies.
We will have no pets on the wild side, except,
as it is beyond our control, free-ranging cats.
Dogs: Every pod will have 1.5 dog chips (onechip represents the right to have one dog). Chips
are loanable, holdable, sellable, negotiable amongpods. Chips cannot, however, be transferred permanently, but at maximum for the life of the animal in question. The dog chips (and thus thedog limits) are applicable to both indoor andoutdoor dogs.
There will be a membership process for alldogs.
We will have no dogs running free on theproperty. Dogs may be walked on leash on mildside of land. We will have no dogs on the wildside.
The community will fund a fenced dog park
(perhaps 0.5 to 0.75 acre) within which dogs
may run and play, with the amount of humansupervision to be determined in future deliberation. There will be a regular fee for dog owners(applicable to owners of both indoor and outdoor dogs) to pay back the expense of building
the park, fund upkeep of the dog park and fence,and pay other dog-related expenses. Dog owners
will be responsible for the labor of building thedog park and maintenance.
Whole pods will not be fenced. There can bea fenced yard, run or pen for dog(s) within thepod.
Dog owners will be responsible for the careand control of their dogs.

Dogs who are heavy barkers, or aggressive to
people, cannot live here.
Dog owners must deal with dog shit, especially keep it off paths.
Dogs must have rabies vaccinations.
Dogs must be spayed/neutered.
Noise, odor, flea and other nuisance issues
will be addressed by the dog owner to the community’s satisfaction. Dog owners will prevent
fleas by method of their choice. If it is not sufficient, owner will be open to feedback and tochanging their method to a more effective one.
Cats: Definitions. “Free-ranging” cat means an
unconfined outdoor cat (which may also haveaccess to indoor space). “Confined cat” means acat which is confined in a building and/or a yard
with an effective cat fence.
Every pod will have one cat chip (one chip
represents the right to have one cat). Chips areloanable, holdable, sellable, negotiable amongpods. Chips cannot, however, be transferred permanently, but at maximum for the life of the animal in question. The cat chips (and thus the catlimits) are applicable to free-ranging cats only.
There is no community-level limit on confinedcats, except insofar as there are problems withnoise, odor, fleas, etc.
There will be a membership process for all
free-ranging cats.
Free-ranging cats must have a bell to minimize the effect on wildlife.
All cats must be spayed/neutered. A variancecan be applied for related to an confined cat.
Noise, odor, flea and other nuisance issues
will be addressed by the cat owner to the community’s satisfaction. Cat owners will prevent
fleas by method of their choice. If it is not sufficient, owner will be open to feedback and tochanging their method to a more effective one.

APPENDIX 2 237

Cats must have rabies vaccinations.
Owners of free-ranging cats will work out
cat-fighting issues in acceptable ways, possibly
taking turns confining their cats.
Future issues: Abundant Dawn is still in theprocess of agreeing on standards for pet care.

Issues still to be decided: What is the minimum
amount of space in which dog or cats of various
sizes might be confined? Under what circumstances might the community intervene in termsof suspected mistreatment or abuse?
The community has not yet written a policy
regarding pets other than dogs and cats.

Appendix 3
Setting Up and Maintaining a 501(c)3
Non-profitCreating a 501(c)3 non-profit and keeping it
going can be time-consuming, and may not
be worth it unless (1) your organization generates a surplus of taxable income each year, (2)you want to attract tax-deductible donations,
and/or (3) you want to apply for public or private grant monies.

are switching to a 501(c)3), or that you’ve operated as the project of another non-profit (andthus can give evidence of your budgets and otherfinancial data for two or three years). In order toseek a final ruling, OAEC submitted their budget for the then-current tax year, plus for two past
years (during which they’d operated as a projectof the non-profit Tides Foundation), and an estimated budget for the following year.“It definitely helps to show the IRS any previous years’
budget activity to get a final ruling,” says OAEC’s
Dave Henson. “If your group has no history of
non-profit activity, you’ll need to estimate twoyears’ future budgets, and the IRS will likely takelonger to give final approval.”
The other option is to seek a preliminary
ruling. Whether you seek a preliminary or final
ruling, the IRS will grant you a temporary
501(c)3 status and monitor your activities forthree to five years. If you’ve applied for a preliminary ruling, after three to five years you may
apply for a final ruling, basing the requiredbudget and other data on your first years ofoperation. If, after examining your organization’s
posters, flyers, brochures, and letters, the IRS
considers most of your activities in that period

FilingFirst, file your Articles of Incorporation with thestate, noting your intentions to be a non-profit
corporation, and then create your bylaws andother necessary documents.
Preliminary Ruling, Final Ruling

You must request either a preliminary or a final
ruling as a 501(c)3. As you’ll see below, a final
ruling is more desirable.
In order to apply for a final ruling, the IRS
asks for (1) your budget for the current tax year,
and (2) budgets for either three prior tax years or
your proposed budgets for the next two years.
This means you’ll need to make a good guess as
to your expected expenses for the next two years,
or that you’ve operated for two or three years
already, through another kind of legal entity (and238

APPENDIX 3 239

to be related to your purpose, they’ll grant you a
final 501(c)3 ruling and will stop scrutinizing
you so closely. If the IRS determines that mostof your activities are not related to your purpose,and thus not really non-profit activities, they candelay your organization’s final 501(c)3 status
and continue close examination of your activities until you can show that you’re actually doing
what you said you would.
If this happens, and the IRS doesn’t grant a
final ruling after three to five years, it affects
your organization retroactively, since everything
you were doing was based on the assumptionthat you’d receive that final 501(c)3 status. Thismeans anyone who gave you a tax-deductible
donation during that period must now pay taxes
on it, because donations to your organization
during that time are no longer tax-deductible.
Thus, it’s hard to get grants until you have a
final ruling.
For this reason, experienced non-profit
activists strongly suggest you make your mission
statement as broad and general as possible when
you first apply for non-profit status. If sometime
later you decide to do different activities thanyou originally envisioned, the wording of yourmission statement can be interpreted to include
the new activities and you don’t endanger yournon-profit status.
However, you may want to apply for a final
ruling right away, if you have a history of activity
and can give four years of information on yourbudget and activities (the previous two years,
and estimates for the current year and the following year). OAEC applied for a final ruling intheir initial IRS application. For two years they’dbeen a project of the non-profit Tides
Foundation, so they could estimate their futurebudgets reasonably well, and they had a historyof activity. They got their final ruling muchsooner than they could have if they had requested their preliminary ruling first, making it easierto seek grants in their first few years.
Related and Unrelated Business Activity

Probably ninety percent of all 501(c)3 non-profits receive no other income aside from grants
and donations. But some engage in businessactivities, such as running a conference center,
for example, which generates an income. If a
501(c)3 were set up to run a conference center
for a particular kind of educational activity,
which was so stated in its Articles ofIncorporation, the IRS would consider all
income from the conference center as related to
the 501(c)3 non-profit’s purpose.
As noted earlier, any income from activities
not related to the 501(c)3’s purpose (called“unrelated” activities), is taxable. No more than
50 percent of a 501(c)3 non-profit’s income canbe unrelated; most must be derived from activities related to your purpose, as stated in your
Articles of Incorporation. If the IRS discovers
that more than 50 percent of your income-producing activities seem unrelated to your purpose,
they can rescind your 501(c)3 status. Also, tomaintain your 501(c)3 status, no more than 20
percent of your income can be from “passive”
sources such as rents, lease fees, and interest on
loans or investments.
“Disinterested” Board Members

As mentioned earlier, at least 51 percent of
your board members must be “disinterested.” If
you use a voting membership to elect yourboard, 51 percent of the voting members mustalso be disinterested. The IRS will watch thisclosely for the first three years of your nonprofit’s existence.

240 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER

The “Public Support Test”

Other Tax Exemptions

Every year you must pass the “public support
test” by demonstrating to the IRS that at least
one-third of your financial support comes fromthe public, through the sale of goods and services, membership fees, and/or donations.

You must apply separately for tax-exempt status
at your state, country, and/or city level.

Resources
M

y website, www.ic.org/newcommunity,
offers a great many resources (including
more specific ones) for every topic covered inthese chapters, including a comprehensive list of
consultants experienced in working with forming community groups. The site also featuresschedules for upcoming workshops and public
talks about forming new ecovillages and intentional communities, information on how a group
can schedule a workshop. What follows is a listof some of the best resources from the site.

process, effective meetings, decision-making— covering the wide range of communities
in North America from ecovillages tocohousing, plus updates of Communities
Directory listings. Website <www.store.ic.org>“A Pattern Language for Villages,” in A Pattern
Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction,
Christopher Alexander, et. al., Oxford
University Press (1976).
The Cohousing Handbook: Building a Place forCommunity, Chris ScottHanson, Hartley &Marks (1996). Practical advice and step-bystep processes for forming a core group anddeveloping and building cohousing communities. Much of it, especially in the first half,
is useful for founders of non-cohousing communities as well.
Website <www.cohousingresources.com>

Books and Magazines
Communities Directory: A Guide to Intentional
Communities and Cooperative Living, Fellowshipfor Intentional Community (2000).
Information on over 600 communities inNorth America — where they are, what
they’re doing, how to contact them, maps,
comparison charts, articles about community
living. Website <www.store.ic.org>
Cohousing: A Contemporary Approach to Housing
Ourselves, Kathryn McCamant, Charles
Durrett, and Ellen Hertzman, Ten Speed
Press, Second Edition (1998). The book that
introduced cohousing to North America.
Website <www.cohousing.com>
Communities magazine, Fellowship for Intentional
Community. Articles from experienced communitarians on various aspects of community
living — raising children in community,
growing older in community, conflict andGreat Meetings! How to Facilitate Like a Pro, Dee
Kelsey and Pam Plumb, Hanson Park Press(2001). Basic of meeting facilitation, the facilitator’s role and skills, preparing for anddesigning a meeting, problem-solving
approaches and tools, positive communication skills and conflict management, dealing
with challenging situations, and tips forbeginning facilitators.
Introduction to Consensus, Bea Briggs, Self-published(2000). This is the book I recommend mostto forming community groups because of its
clear, straightforward format.

241242 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHEROn Conflict and Consensus: A Handbook on Formal
Consensus Decision-making, C.T. Butler and
Amy Rothstein, Food Not Bombs Publishing(1991). A political activist and consensus
trainer, C.T. Butler developed the Formal
Consensus process as a more structured
method than other consensus processes andthe “principled objection” test for blocks to a
proposal — the block must be based in thevision or values of the group.
E-mail <fnbp@together.net> andWebsite <www.consensus.net>
Facilitator’s Guide to Participatory Decision-Making,Sam Kaner with Lenny Lind, Duane Berger,
Catherine Toldi and Sarah Fisk, New Society
Publishers (1996). Provides the tools to put
democratic values into practice in groups andorganizations, increasing participation andcollaberation, promoting mutual understanding, honoring diversity, and making effective,
inclusive, participatory decisions.
Website <www.newsociety.com>
Getting Real: 10 Truth Skills You Need to Live an
Authentic Life, Susan Campbell, New World
Library (2001). One of the best guides I
know of to the communication approach
which, like nonviolent communication, works
well in the “rock polisher” of community —telling the truth and being transparent.
Website <www.susancampbell.com>
Introduction to Permaculture, Bill Mollison and Reny
Mia Slay. Permaculture basics: how to feed
and house yourself in any climate the leastuse of land; energy; and repetitive labor.
Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Compassion,
Marshall Rosenberg, PuddleDancer Press(1998). Nonviolent communication (NVC)
is one of the most powerful, and effective
tools to create a sense of connection between
people, turn conflict into an experience of
mutual understanding, and reduce the frequency and intensity of future conflict situa-

tions. Website <www.cnvc.org>
The Mediator’s Handbook, Jennifer E. Beer andEileen Stief New Society Publishers, Revisedand Expanded 3rd Edition (1997). Overview
of conflict and mediation, a step-by-step
mediation process, skills and approaches forthe three main mediation tasks — supporting the people, controlling the process, andsolving the problem.
Website <www.newsociety.com>
Nolo Press. Practical, plain-language information
and advice to help people in the UnitedStates set up their own legal entities andsolve their own legal problems with confidence, and whenever possible, with minimalneed for a lawyer. Books, CDs, legal forms,
corporation kits, downloadable data, andlegal information online. See especially Nolo
Press books: Form your Own Limited Liability
Company; Incorporate Your Business; A 50-State
Legal Guide to Forming a Corporation; How to
Form a Non-profit Corporation; and How to
Write a Business Plan.
Website <www.nolo.com>
Permaculture Activist. Quarterly publication serving
the permaculture movement in North
America with useful, practical information
about permaculture projects “on the ground.”Website <www.permacultureactivist.net>
Self-Counsel Press. Similar to Nolo Press, but fora Canadian readership.
Website <www.self-counsel.com>

Organizations and Associations
Fellowship for Intentional Community (FIC).
Membership organization serves intentional
communities and community seekers inNorth America with information and networking. Publishes Communities magazine,
Visions of Utopia video, the Communities
Directory, and more. Website <www.fic.org>

RESOURCES 243

Northwest Intentional Communities Association(NICA). Network of intentional communities in the Pacific Northwest that provides
information and mutual support, and hosts
regional gatherings.
Website <www.ic.org/nica>
Global Ecovillage Network (GEN). Supports andencourages the evolution of sustainable settlements worldwide with information andnetworking. Website <www.gaia.org>
Also GEN Europe and Africa<www.gen-europe.org>
and GEN Oceania and Asia
<www.gaia.org/secretariats/genoceania/index>
Ecovillage Network of the Americas. The GEN organization for South, Central, and North
America. Website <www.ecovillage.org>
The Cohousing Network. Promotes and encourages
cohousing communities in North America
through networking and information.
Quarterly e-mail newsletter; biannual mailed
newsletter. Much of their information can beadapted to fit non-cohousing communities.
Website <www.cohousing.org>
Canadian Cohousing Network. Promotes cohousing
communities in Canada through public education and networking.
Website <www.cohousing.ca>
Federation of Egalitarian Communities (FEC). Support
network for North American intentional
communities that value income-sharing, nonviolence, participatory decision making, andecological practices.
Website <www.thefec.org>
Community Associations Institute. Provides information and advice to community associations(homeowners associations, condominium
associations, and housing cooperatives)
through books and booklets, courses, andcertification programs.
Website <www.caionline.org>

National Association of Housing Cooperatives. Offers
technical assistance and training to founders
and board members of housing co-ops.
Website < www.coophousing.org>
Institute for Community Economics. The organizationthat developed community land trusts in
1967. Offers information and assistance forcreating community land trusts through consultation, books, and a revolving loan fund.
Website < www.iceclt.org>
E.F. Schumacher Society. Information, book publishing, workshops, and consulting on local economic self-reliance, through community land
trusts,“shoe box banks,” microlending, local
currencies, and community supported agriculture farms.
Website <www.schumachersociety.org>

Websites
Author’s website. More resources for ecovillage andcommunity founders: addditional information on zoning, communication skills, andother relevant topics; additional community
success stories and cautionary tales; downloadable Sucessful Ecovillage Assessment
Tool; updates on profiled communities;
author’s workshop schedule.
Website <www.CreatingALifeTogether.org>
Community Bookshelf. Mail-order books on intentional community living, ecovillages, cohousing, consensus decision-making, effective
meetings, conflict resolution, and sustainableliving. Website <www.store.ic.org>
Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT). EFT is thefastest, cheapest, most effective and painlessself-therapy I’ve seen yet, and is ideal for
helping individual community members
transform attitudes or behaviors that can disempower the individual and the group.
Website <www.thoughtfield.com>

244 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHERVideos, Workshops, and Other
Resources
Visions of Utopia: Experiments in Sustainable Culture[video; 90 min.], Geoph Kozeny, Fellowshipfor Intentional Community (2002). Profiles
seven diverse communities, explores the “glue”
that holds communities together, offers candid assessments from community membersof what works and what doesn’t work.
Available online <www.store.ic.org>
Creating a Life Together: Practical Tools to Grow an
Ecovillage or Intentional Community. Three-day
workshop with Creating a Life Together author
Diana Leafe Christian at Earthaven
Ecovillage.
E-mail <culturesedge@earthaven.org>
Creating a Land-Based Intentional Community.
Weekend and five-day courses with Dave
Henson and Adam Wolpert at Sowing
Circle/OAEC. Website <www.oaec.org>
Culture’s Edge Workshops at Earthaven. Workshops
and community internships in permaculture
design, natural building, water catchment,
constructed wetlands, and forming new
intentional communities or ecovillages.
E-mail <culturesedge@earthaven.org>
Website <www.earthaven.org>
Ecovillage Training Center. Workshops and community apprenticeships in ecovillage design,
renewable energy, environmental building,sustainable agriculture, biological wastewater
systems, and permaculture design at The
Farm community in Tennessee.
Website <www.thefarm.org/etc>
Living Routes — Ecovillage Educational Consortium.
Organization hosts live-in educational experiences at ecovillages in Europe, India, andthe US for college credit.
Website <www.livingroutes.org>

Lost Valley Educational Center. Workshops and community apprenticeship programs in permaculture design, natural building, and organic
gardening. Website <www.lostvalley.org>
Occidental Arts and Ecology Center. Workshops andcommunity apprenticeships in permaculture
design, natural building, and forming landbased intentional communities.
Website <www.oaec.org>
Sirius Community Educational Programs. Workshops
and community apprenticeships in permaculture design, natural building, and organic
gardening.
Website <www.siriuscommunity.org>

Communities Profiled in this Book
Abundant Dawn
<www.abundantdawn.org>
Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage<www.dancingrabbit.org>

Earthaven Ecovillage<www.earthaven.org>
Lost Valley Educational Center<www.lostvalley.org>
Mariposa Grove<www.mariposagrove.org>
Meadowdance<www.meadowdance.org>
Sowing Circle OAEC
<www.oaec.org>

IndexAbanks and lending institutions
borrowing power, 104-105
financing, 132-136
Barrett, David, 148
Borie, Lysbeth, 62
Brause, Dianne (Lost Valley), 3, 17
Bressen, Tree, 36, 62
Briggs, Bea, 57, 61, 65
Brown, Stephen (Shenoa), 39, 44, 120
budget. see financial planningbuilding codes, 81, 111, 116-117
Butchart, Ted, 146, 150
Butler, C.T., 64, 65
buy-in fee
alternatives, 30-31
examples, 88-89, 159-160, 162-163

Abundant Dawn (VA)
agreements, 44, 72-74
buy-in fee, 159, 162
departing members equity, 167
feedback sessions, 212-213
income and expenses, 153, 159
internal finances chart, 160-161
labor requirements, 166
land cost, 9-10, 131
membership, 11
non-profit status, 185-188, 197
sample pet policy, 74, 235-237
sample vision document, 231-232
accountability of members
and consequences, 215-217
sample agreement, 216
task review, 27, 214-215
agreements and policies. see also vision documents
behavioral policies, 72, 216
communication agreements, 202-203
conflict resolution policy, 213-214, 235
drafting documents, guides to, 77-78
need for policy manual, 180
sample agreements, 233-237
sample pet policy, 74, 235-237
types of, 71-72
written agreements, 8, 68-71
Allison, Patricia, 65
Alstad, Diana, 55
anti-business attitudes, 12, 28, 70, 75

CCharamella, John, 168-169
closeness of community, 22, 33, 148-149
cohousingand condominium associations, 182-183
definition, xvii, 20-21
design, 31, 99, 149
experience of, 12-13
financial planning, 136-139
and homeowner associations, 178-179
lack of membership control, 173, 182-183
legal entity options, 184
neighborhood support, 123-124
remodeling examples, 101
The Cohousing Handbook (Hanson), 126
common-treasury religious communities, 196-198
communication and process. see also conflict resolution
completing tasks, 27, 214-217
emotional needs, 203-206

B
Baker, Harvey, 221
Bane, Peter (Earthaven), 142
245

246 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER
exercises in, 47-52
feedback, 210-213
nourishing relationships, 8, 202-203
thought field therapy, 212
Community Alternatives Society (BC), 72, 216
community design
initial decisions, 7-9, 20-29
legal barriers, 80-82
community-owned business
co-ops, 156, 158-159
need for legal entity, 75-76
use of 501(d) status, 197
viability, 155-157
community spirit, 28-29, 33-34, 202-203
composting toilets, 81-82
condominium associations, 178, 182-183
conflict resolution
behaviors and attitudes, 204, 206-207
in close communities, 201-202
communication skills, 202-203
conflicting visions example, 40-41
difficult or wounded people, 203-206, 221-223
exercises in, 47-52
feedback, 210-213
hidden expectations, 45-47, 51-52
sample community policy, 213-214, 235
setting consequences, 214-217
sources of conflict, 207-210
training, 200-201
consensus decision-making
attitude of banks, 133
facilitator, 57-58, 60
formal consensus, 64, 65
making it work, 58-60
process, 56-58, 64"pseudoconsensus", 60-62
sunset clause, 62
training, 58, 65-66
contracts, time pressure to sign, 107
co-ops. see housing co-ops
cost. see financial planning
Cottonwood Springs (MT), 68-69
Covey, Stephen, 124credit rating, 105, 127, 135
Cultural Creatives (Ray), 82
currency systems, internal, 166

D
Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage (MO)departing members equity, 167, 191
fees, 164
financing, 30, 85-86
finding land, 10, 80, 82-86
food co-op, 158-159
income and expenses, 154, 159
internal finances chart, 160-161
membership, 11, 87, 140
non-profit status, 189, 194-195, 197
vision documents, 40
Davidson, Gordon (Sirius), 36
decision-making and governancecombining methods, 63-66
consensus, 56-62, 64, 65-66, 133
by council and committees, 63
effect of financing choices, 140
majority-rule voting, 56, 57-58, 62
at meetings, 25, 27, 45
multi-winner voting, 62-63, 65
need for policy manual, 180
power relationships, 55-56, 78, 206-207
process, 7-8, 50-51, 56
DeLapa, Paul, 59, 212
Didcoct, Betty, 53, 59, 64

E
Earthaven Ecovillage (NC)buy-in options, 30, 159
decision-making with committees, 63
departing members equity, 167
financing, 30, 89-91, 139-140
finding land, 10, 86-89
and homeowner associations, 179-180
income and expenses, 153-154, 158
internal finances chart, 162-163
labor requirements, 166
membership, 11, 87, 140, 224-225
non-profit status, 189
sample vision documents, 39, 231
site lease fees, 164-165
site planning, 101, 142-146, 150-151
EarthShares fund, 14, 90-91
ecovillage, definition, xvi, 143
Ecovillage (NY), 83
Ecovillages and Sustainable Communities (Gilman), 43, 44
Elixir Farm (MO), 71
Environmental Impact Report, 120
equity of departing members, 167-168, 191-192

INDEX 247

H

Estes, Caroline, 57, 60
expectations, 45-47, 51-52, 217

Haggard, Ben, 147
Hamilton, James (Stone Curves), 121
Hanson, Chris, 126
Harmony Village Cohousing, 39
health and safety standards, 81-82, 110-111, 120
Henson, Dave (Sowing Circle/OAEC), 170, 212
land purchase, 95-97, 102role as founder, 15, 16, 78
homeowners associations, 178-182
housing arrangements, 163-164
housing co-ops, 92, 132, 178, 183-185
How to Form a Non-profit Corporation, 190

F
failure of communities
conflict, 218-219, 224-226
conflicting visions, 35-36, 40-41
hidden expectations, 45-47, 51-52, 217
need for written agreements, 68-69
reasons for, 6-7, 207-210
and zoning issues, 114-116, 122-123
Farallones Institute, 93-94
The Farm (TN), 124, 155
Federal Fair Housing Act (US), 173, 180, 185
Federation of Egalitarian Communities' (FEC), 85
financial planning. see also internal finances; ownership, options
borrowing power, 104-105, 127
business plans, 8-9, 96-97
buy-in fee alternatives, 30-31
buy-in fee examples, 88-89, 159-160, 162-163
contingency fund, 128
credit rating, 105, 127, 135
determining assets, 29-30, 104
examples, 85-98
fundraising, 31-32
loans, 104-105, 126-136
need for legal entity, 75-76
owner financing, 131owner-financing examples, 88-89, 94, 96-97
private loan, 90-91, 129
record keeping, 27
refinancing, 90-91, 139-141
total cost, 9-10, 26, 128
Fleming, Bill (Westwood Cohousing), 17, 28
food co-op, 158-159
founders, traits, 8-9, 15-18
Full Circle (NC), 88
fundraising, 31-32

I
idealism, unrealistic expectations, 217
income and expenses. see internal finances
intentional communities, xvi-xviii
internal finances. see also financial planningbuy-in fee, 30-31, 88-89, 159-160, 162-163
community-owned business, 155-159
departing members equity, 167-168, 191-192
housing arrangements, 163-164
income and expenses, 152-155, 159
joining members and equity, 168-169, 172
labor requirements, 165-167
lease or rental agreements, 164-165
and legal entity status, 173
sample communities chart, 160-163
Introduction to Consensus (Briggs), 65Jjoining fee
alternatives, 30-31
examples, 88-89, 159-160, 162-163
joint tenancy, 187

K
Kahn, Velma (Abundant Dawn), 78, 79
Kann, Elana (Westwood Cohousing), 17
Kaplowitz, Larry, 200, 202, 203-204, 205
Kingsbery, Stuart, 181
Kinkade, Kat (Twin Oaks), 36
Kozeny, Geoph, 33, 214
Kramer, Joel, 55

G
Gilman, Dianne, 43, 44
Gilman, Robert, 43, 44, 143
Goldschmidt, Carolyn, 180, 184
grants and donations, 139
Greene, Patricia, 18, 168-169
Greyrock Commons Cohousing (CO), 123-124
The Guru Papers (Kramer and Alstad), 55

Llabor requirements, 165-167
247

248 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER
land, buying. see also financial planningappraisal, 127
buildings, condition of, 111
contacting landowners, 84, 108-109
developed land, 101-103, 172
examples of, 85-98
initial decisions, 7-9, 22-23, 103
land trusts, 194-196
and losing members, 87
making an offer, 112-113, 127, 131
need for legal entity, 75-76
preliminary feasibility study, 109-112, 137
raw land, 100-101, 104, 171-172
real estate agents, 93, 105-106
researching land values, 107-108
site criteria, 22, 25, 84, 88, 95, 99-103
site planning, 142-151
and sustainable development, 80-82
land trusts, 194-196
leadership. see founders
legal advice
choosing a lawyer, 77-79
and making an offer, 107, 131
and zoning issues, 119
legal entity status. see also financial planningadvantages of, 75-76
condominium associations, 178, 182-183
corporations/non-profit corporations, 174-175
criteria for choosing, 76, 170-171
homeowners associations, 178-182
housing co-ops, 92, 132, 178, 183-185
and internal finances, 173
joint tenancy, 187
legal advice, 76-79
Limited Liability Company (LLC), 173, 176178
and membership control, 180, 185, 191, 194
non-profit status, 175-176, 185-198
partnerships, 177
subchapter S corporations, 175, 177
tax issues, 76, 174, 175, 179
tenancy in common, 187
legal protection, 90, 107, 174-175
Limited Liability Company (LLC), 173, 176-178
loansbanks, 104-105, 132-136
owner financing, 131owner financing examples, 88-89, 94, 96-97
personal loans, 129-131
private, 90-91, 129

property appraisal, 127
refinancing, 90-91, 139-141
repayment example, 85-86
tips for borrowing money, 126-128
Lore, Virginia (Dumawish), 19
Lost Valley Educational Center (OR)buy-in fee, 159
departing members equity, 167, 191-192
financing, 2-4, 10, 141
former use permit issue, 118-119
income and expenses, 154, 158, 159
internal finances chart, 162-163
labor requirements, 165
membership, 11, 140, 200-201, 217
non-profit status, 189
sample vision document, 230-231

M
Mahaffey, Kenneth (Lost Valley), 3, 16
majority-rule voting, 56, 57-58, 62
Mariposa Grove (CA)financing, 30, 91-92
membership, 10, 11
Marsh, Chuck (Earthaven), 88, 142, 147, 149, 151
McCamant, Kathryn, 148
McKenny, Vinnie (Elixir), 71
McLaughlin, Corrine (Sirius), 36
Meadowdance Community (VT)decision not to buy, 5, 114-116
departing members equity, 167-168
income-sharing, 157-158, 198internal finances chart, 162-163
labor requirements, 166
membership, 11, 225
vision statement, 39
media coverage, 125
meetings
facilitator, 25, 60, 202
feedback, 28, 203, 212-213
planning, 24-25, 59-60
and visitors, 32-33
members, newadvertising for, 32, 219-220
to established communities, 168-169, 172-173
integrating, 32-33, 224-225, 228interns, 167
and vision documents, 22-23
members, selection ofdecision-making, 223-224
difficult or wounded people, 221-223

INDEX 249

past behavior, 226-228
questionnaires and interviews, 226-227
screening process, 8, 27, 219-221, 223-228
setting standards, 221, 228
membershipchanges to, 34, 44-45, 87
control of, 173, 182-183, 191, 194
criteria, 8, 27, 219-221
decision-making status, 45
fees, 27, 31
group size, 10-11
Miccosukee Land Co-op (FL), 183
Moench, Tom (Winslow), 148
Morningstar Ranch, 117

N
Naiman, Valerie (Earthaven), 14-15, 16, 88-90
Naka-Ima training, 200-201
name, choosing a, 31
Nature's Spirit (SC), 38, 192
neighbors
good relations, 4, 95, 124
and land purchase, 111-112
and zoning variances, 15, 110, 122-125
non-negotiables, 49-50
non-profit status
and income-sharing, 157-158
and legal advise, 77-78
need for legal entity, 75-76
non-exempt non-profit, 176, 179, 185-188
and taxation, 179
tax-exempt non-profit, 175-176, 189-198, 238240
Nyland Cohousing (CO), 178-179

O
Obermeyer, Hank (Mariposa), 91-92"offer to purchase", 112-113
On Consensus and Conflict (Butler), 65"option to purchase", 112-113
Owner's Disclosure Statement, 109
ownership, options
condominium associations, 178, 182-183
examples, 157-158
and financing, 22, 30, 140
homeowners associations, 178-182
housing co-ops, 92, 132, 178, 183-185
joint tenancy, 187
and legal entity status, 75-76, 171-172

Limited Liability Company (LLC), 173, 176178
non-profit status, 175-176, 185-198
sole ownership, 23-24, 91-92, 129-131
tenancy in common, 187
ownership, sole, 129
and inequality, 23-24
Mariposa Grove example, 91-92
use of Triple Net Lease, 130-131

P
Paiss, Zev, 12, 46, 49, 50
A Pattern Language (Alexander), 150
permaculture, 143, 146, 147
permits. see zoning issues
Pioneer Valley Cohousing (MA), 182-183
policies. see agreements and policies
power relationships
awareness of, 55-56, 78
behaviors and attitudes, 206-207
and consensus method, 59
prejudice, dealing with, 104, 106, 124-125
preliminary feasibility study, 109-112, 137
press release, 125
promissory note, 129
property. see land, buyingRRay, Paul, 82
real estate agents, 93, 105-106
real estate market. see land, buying
Reid, Luc (Meadowdance), 15, 114-116
revenue. see internal finances
roads issues, 109-110, 120
Rosy Branch (NC), 88

S
sales contract form, 112-113
Sandelin, Rob, 50, 53, 59, 62, 202
Sandhill Farm (MO), 83, 155
Schaub, Laird, 204
Scheib, Cecil (Dancing Rabbit), 14-15, 80
ScottHanson, Chris, 139
septic systems, 82, 110-111, 120
Sharingwood Cohousing (WA), 182"budget party", 62-63
zoning negotiation, 121
Shenoa Retreat and Conference Center (CA), 39, 42
Shenoa Retreat and Learning Center, 39

250 CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER
Sirna, Tony (Dancing Rabbit), 14-15
site criteria
developed land, 101-103, 172
examples, 84, 88, 95
property or housing, 22, 25, 99-100
raw land, 100-101, 104, 171-172
site-lease/assessment fees, 160, 162, 164-165
site planningcluster housing, 147-149
Earthaven example, 142-146, 150-151
permaculture design, 143, 146, 147
your community building, 150
Sonora Cohousing (AZ), 179
Sowing Circle/Occidental Arts and Ecology Center(CA)buy-in options, 30, 162-163
chore wheel, 166-167
conflict resolution, 27, 43-44, 213-214
consensus statement, 56
departing members equity, 167
financing, 5, 10, 92-97, 141, 176
former use permit issue, 118
general principles statement, 26
income and expenses, 153, 159
internal finances chart, 160-161
membership, 11, 87
non-profit status, 189, 192-193
organic easement, 196
spiritual communities, 12
start up. see community design

Steiner, Rudolf, 33
sustainable development, barriers, 80-82

T
tax-exempt non-profit status
501(c)3 model set up, 238-240
501(d) status, 196-198
and land trusts, 194-196
overview, 175-176, 189-192
and ownership of land, 192-194
tax issues
legal entity status, 76, 174
and non-profit status, 179
terms, 175
tenancy in common, 187
terminology"a group of families", 104, 106
dealing with prejudice, 124-125
timeline, setting goals, 26, 28-29
training
consensus, 58, 61-62, 65
hiring expertise, 9Twin Oaks (VA), 196-198

Uutilities, 110Vvalues, exploring, 47-53
vision documents
drafting, 53-54
elements of, 37-38
and fundraising, 31-32
general principles, 7, 25-26, 36
hidden expectations, 45-47, 51-52
process of creating, 42-45, 47-53
vision statements, 38-41
visitors/interns, 32-33, 167
Vogel, Paul Ekrem, 181

Wwater issues, 81, 109, 120
Watzke, Bob, 107, 112
website, your community, 32
websites, research, 20, 177
Wilson, Roberta (Winslow Cohousing), 12
Winslow Cohousing (WA), 12-13
Wolpert, Adam (Sowing Circle/OAEC), 34, 36, 37

Z
zoning issues
decision not to buy, 5, 114-116
former use permits, 118-119
General Plan, 110, 116
housing density, 116-117
and neighbors, 15, 110, 122-125
subdividing, 120
and sustainable development, 81-82, 109, 116variance or permit, 119-122
Zucker, Irwin Wolfe, 219, 226
Zuni Mountain Sanctuary (NM), 147

About the Author

Since 1993 Diana Leafe Christian has been editor of Communities magazine, a quarterly publication about intentional communities in North
America. She has been interviewed by NPR and
the BBC about intentional communities andcontributed a chapter on forming new communities to Creating Harmony (Gaia Trust, 1999).
Her articles on ecovillages, financial and legal
aspects of communities, children in community, and communication and group process
issues in community have appeared in publications ranging from Mother Earth News to

Communities magazine, the Communities Directory,
and Canada’s This Magazine.
Diana leads workshops for forming-community groups and educational centers nationwide
and at communities conferences, on the practicalsteps to create ecovillages and intentional communities, including the land-purchase, zoning,
and legal stages of these projects.
She lives at Earthaven Ecovillage in North
Carolina, one of the “successful 10 percent” communities she began researching for this book.
Website: www.CreatingALifeTogether.org

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