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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;kaparthy, post: 25953, member: 57463&quot;]Look at</p><p><a href="http://www.schumachersociety.org" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.schumachersociety.org" rel="nofollow">http://www.schumachersociety.org</a></p><p>and</p><p><a href="http://www.communitycurrency.org" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.communitycurrency.org" rel="nofollow">http://www.communitycurrency.org</a></p><p>and</p><p><a href="http://www.baybucks.org" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.baybucks.org" rel="nofollow">http://www.baybucks.org</a></p><p>Bay Bucks is the project I have been involved in.&nbsp; Sample notes look like these below.</p><p><br /></p><p>How they are inserted into the economy depends on your models.&nbsp; In our case, one proposal is to pay people for &quot;community work&quot; such as cleaning up the banks of the local river.&nbsp; Collateral efforts include store signs &quot;We accept Bay Bucks&quot; and having merchants offer Bay Bucks in change.&nbsp; Our local Downtown Development Agency created their own &quot;Gift Certificates&quot; but that program lags for several reasons.&nbsp; A strong community involvement is important.&nbsp; In our case -- as in many others -- it comes from the so-called &quot;alternative community.&quot;&nbsp; Other involvement come from local merchants who are squeezed by &quot;big box&quot; stores. </p><p><br /></p><p>I feel that the most important factor ist to think small.&nbsp; You need to define your community and get their support.</p><p><br /></p><p>To help that along, a newletter or website lets people know where they can spend local currency.</p><p><br /></p><p>Also, in our case, we have a closed loop. Our area is heavily agricultural and in addition we have a strong local food co-op ($3 million annual retail sales) that buys local and local organic produce. The farmers then can spend the local currency at the local hardware store and the people there can use it at the natural healthcare providers, bookstores, etc., who then can take it to the co-op to buy groceries.</p><p><br /></p><p>It seems to me that your model is more in line with a coupon.&nbsp; You are closing the loop with outside money.&nbsp; Your merchants will redeem the local currency for &quot;cash.&quot;&nbsp; That can be an aspect of the currency, that a board will exchange at some rate.&nbsp; (They do that in Toronto: only merchants can redeem and then only for 90 cents on the dollar.)&nbsp; However, exchange of local money for federal money runs counter to the basic intent of a local currency.&nbsp; The idea is to keep your wealth local instead of exporting it.&nbsp; (At least, that&#039;s our model in Traverse City, Michigan.)[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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