“A gift economy or gift culture is a mode of exchange where valuables are not traded or sold, but rather given without an explicit agreement for immediate or future rewards.”
We choose to operate according to a gift economics model to make our work accessible to everyone. A business model with very ancient roots based on real values and aimed to create a conscious relationship between the giver and the receiver. The economy of exchange, quid pro quo, separates us from each other and makes us adversarial, while gift giving and receiving creates mutuality and trust.
At Designer for Change we believe in the power of partnerships and shared visions in order to make a positive difference in the world. We aimed to grow together with the projects we support, filled by the gift of gratitude, creating a sense of community that can come only from giving and cocreativity.
As Charles Eisenstein writes in his “Sacred Economics”, “Community is woven from gifts. Unlike money or barter transactions, in which there are no obligations remaining after the transaction, gifts always imply future gifts. When we receive, we owe; gratitude is the knowledge of having received and the desire to give in turn.”
Trusting Gratitude
And gratitude becomes also the measure of the value of what we do. We don’t work to generate a sense of gratitude, we work because we want to help and because this is the best way we can give our gifts. Gratitude in return is a sign that tells us our gift was given well.
To go deeper in understanding how is to work in the gift, we invite you to read this excerpt from Sacred Economics by Charles Eisentein
To really understand the sacredness behind a gift economics choice, here are some useful links:
- The Gift Economy – gift-economy.com
- Articles and Essays by Genevieve Vaughan
- Sacred Economics by Charles Eisenstein
- How to Run a Business in the Gift Economy by Marie Goodwin
