Introducing the Social Actions Consultants Cooperative

As promised, here is the plan for earned income program #3.

Since writing a blog post about the Sustainability Solutions Group and in working alongside the Brattleboro Tech Collective for the last six weeks, I've become convinced that a large portion of Social Actions long-term financial sustainability can be generated through a worker-owned consultants cooperative that services the larger micro-philanthropy sector.

In the coming years, there will be many organizations, foundations, and companies that will want to take part in the paradigm shift toward micro-philanthropy and citizen-centered civic engagement. Who better to provide advice to these institutions than a group of citizen philanthropists who work everyday with practitioners and 20+ peer-to-peer social action platforms.

In October 2008, a few colleagues and I will begin to offer part-time strategic consulting to institutions on how best to enter the micro-philanthropy sector. We'll offer webinars, 1-on-1 consulting and in person events. In many instances, the market rates for our services will exceed what those of us working in the consultants cooperative receive as compensation.

The surplus will be used to cover the costs of the non-income generating programs associated with running an opensource initiative like Social Actions. Think RedHat meets philanthropy. Part-time and fulltime coop members will also be able to choose how best to use the surplus to launch independent initiatives that contribute to the micro-philanthropy sector as a whole.

We'll be drawing heavily on the Sustainability Solutions Group model for our cooperative. If you would like an invitation to join the cooperative or think you may need our services, please write to peter@socialactions.com.