| Click here to download an application. BayNVC Financial Addendum “This is the first time I've been able to ask an organization for “I always thought that it would be hard to give so much, that there would be We have so enjoyed the way we work with money. So many needs of ours have been met, principally among them the sweetness of living in line with our values, and the opportunity to connect with so many people whom we might have missed otherwise. Another need met is the joy of receiving from so many people who love our work and want to support it. Along with the joy, we have faced several challenges. First, we are aware that some people do not approach us with their needs regarding finances and choose instead not to participate in our programs. We’re sad about this, longing for trust in our commitment and passion for sharing this work freely. We hope that this document will further support everyone in building trust that their needs matter and that we fully wish to include them. A second challenge is sustainability, specifically financial sustainability. We are still struggling to know how to encourage choice that is truly based on connection with your needs as well as ours. To this end, we have chosen to articulate (in some detail) our philosophy about money in this document and to experiment with strategies that we hope will maximize each person’s ability to hold all needs with care and to make decisions that are grounded in needs. A third challenge is logistical: making individual arrangements with people in terms of how much is contributed and when takes quite a lot of people power on our end, and our staff are stretched. In an effort to streamline our processes, we have developed particular requests related to the way contributions and payments are made. These are articulated in this document. We ask all applicants to our programs to read this document, whether you plan to contribute within the sliding scale or not. This gives us hope for fuller partnership in holding all of our needs, yours and ours, and for growth – individually and collectively – around this very vital aspect of our interdependence. If you have questions and your questions are not answered in this document, please contact us by phone or email, and we will gladly respond. Section 1: Our Approach to MoneyOur consciousness in using NVC is that money is a strategy to meet needs. When we offer workshops, we meet a variety of our own needs, including for contribution, meaning, connection, and growth. We want to also meet our need for support in our livelihood through our teaching of NVC because that way we can contribute most of our time and energy without seeking other work through which to sustain ourselves and our families. Hoping to meet these needs, we ask that each person contribute the most they can. At the same time, we have a deep joy in and commitment to making NVC available to all people regardless of their financial means. We are particularly interested in reaching people for whom our requested contribution would be prohibitive due to their existing financial resources – people who would make the choice not to attend our workshops because paying for a workshop would mean their basic sustainability needs would go unmet. This meets our needs for inclusion, hope, and concrete action toward bringing peace to our world. Hoping to meet these needs, we ask that each person to contribute not more than they are able to. We are excited about this approach as we predict that, over time, it will contribute to meeting all of our needs for learning and for moving toward a society in which everyone's needs fully matter. At the same time, we can only continue to offer this if our needs are held with care, and if each person does their utmost to contribute at the top of their financial ability. We have noticed over the years that many people contribute at the low end of our scale. We are more and more aware that this choice does not support our sustainability sufficiently. We are aware that "money" is a charged issue for most of us in this culture. We have learned that it is very difficult for people to hold our needs with full care while experiencing stress about money. This has been people’s experience both when they do and when they don’t have access to sufficient financial resources to cover program costs. Consequently we have developed several strategies to consider how to shift our relationships to money through NVC. One of our strategies is to create wide sliding-scales rather than the usual quite narrow sliding-scales. We offer the low end of our sliding scale to support people who are struggling financially. For most people, we are hoping for contributions around the middle of the scale. If everyone paid at the low end of the scale, this would not be sustainable for us. Another strategy is to use the application process itself as an opportunity to invite everyone into engagement with their process, awareness of their options, and full choice about the needs they want to attend to. It is for this reason that you will find a series of questions in the Financial Information section of our applications that ask you to articulate your internal reflection and decision-making processes. A third strategy is to offer ideas for how to raise funds and how to make contributions (financial and other) that would support mutual sustainability. These are articulated in Section 2, below. We hope that these tools will enable each person to consider the variety of needs that exist within your relationship to money, and to arrive at an amount that reflects your financial reality grounded in an awareness of all needs. We hope, furthermore, that you engage in this process as an opportunity to grow in awareness, conscious choice, and trust that everyone’s needs can and do matter. Section 2: Strategies for Supporting Mutual SustainabilityQ: I am contributing within the sliding scale, but my contribution is lower than I would wish. Do you have suggestions for how I can increase my contribution? A: Yes! We are excited by the recognition that many people would like to give more than they are. The section below will give you ideas for raising money that do not involve withdrawing money from your own bank. Additionally, you may want to gift us with your time and skills. Check the section of the application for volunteering your time. Q: The low end of the scale is a stretch for me. Do you have suggestions for how I can raise sufficient money to be able to contribute within the scale? A: Yes! We are excited to support people in taking proactive steps to raise funds to support your participation and capacity to contribute to yourself and to others. Below are various ideas we have about how you can do that. Each person who participates in an extended program, particularly one of the leadership programs, will be contributing back to their community through their skills in living NVC and sharing it with others, in leading groups, mediating, and/or serving as a hub for those who want to learn more about NVC. We believe many communities and individuals would enjoy investing in an individual who wants to make the commitment to learning and integrating NVC at this level. Nearly every one of the fundraising ideas below can also become an opportunity to talk with people about NVC and to share flyers or brochures about NVC and/or about the program:
Q: It’s not sustainable for me to make the full financial contribution that is requested, and I cannot see a way of doing fundraising. What are my options? A: There are three main options you can consider:
Very occasionally, we are able to offer scholarships for Basic Expenses (room and board) for retreats. See below for more information about this. Q: How do extended payment plans work? A: Extended payment plans are available to those people for whom our other payment options would create a hardship. As with all payment options, we ask people who are choosing extended payment plans to submit an application fee followed by a deposit once they have received the official confirmation of participation. Thereafter, participants pay the remaining amount due in monthly installments for a timeframe they determine, up to a maximum of 24 months. Q: How does a volunteering plan work? A: There are several aspects to answering this question. First, please note that, while we are grateful to receive offers of your time, we only want people to make volunteer agreements if they are connected with a desire to contribute to us in this way. We generally want to receive as much time as you are comfortable and happy to give – not more. At the same time, each time we have a volunteer working with us, it takes staff time to train and support that person. Therefore, we request a minimum time commitment of 20-25 hours in order to consider this option. When people offer time for an extended program, they may offer a weekly amount of hours for the duration of the year (such as 2-8 hours a week), or concentrated amounts of time for special projects. Some people volunteer their time even when they are contributing within the sliding scale. Types of volunteer opportunity that arise regularly include administrative work in the office (answering phones, data entry, etc.), graphic design, working on word and excel documents, organizing events, fundraising, and many more. The application contains several questions to help you and us find an arrangement and use of your time that will be most aligned with your skills and our needs. Please fill it out, and one of us will be in touch with you. Q: How do you make decisions about scholarships? A: We aim not to turn anyone away for lack of funds for any of our programs. For longer programs, we keep to this aim provided the program as a whole is sustainable. So far we have successfully managed to find ways of including virtually every person who has wanted to come to one of our retreats and programs and let us know of their desire ahead of time. We offer full and partial scholarships for tuition for those who would not otherwise be able to attend and who are unable to or prefer not to offer their time or a payment plan. Q: Do you offer scholarships for basic expenses? A: In every one of our retreats and longer programs we have covered the basic expenses for a small number of people. Because this is a direct expense for us, we see it as an investment in the spread of NVC. For basic expense scholarships, we prioritize people from communities that are under-represented in NVC circles, including people of color, people who are living below the poverty line, and teens and young adults, as well as people who are bringing or intend to bring NVC to such communities. Since we are also trying to meet our needs for sustainability as an organization, it is a challenge for us to offer a basic expenses scholarship to someone if the overall income from a retreat or program is less than is sustainable for us. Therefore, we may request people who would like basic expenses scholarships to wait before confirming their acceptance into a retreat or extended program, until we are confident that the program is sustainable. While we express the challenge in offering basic expenses scholarships, we do not want to discourage anyone from letting us know if they need this level of support. We remain committed to and joyful about making this work available to all. Q: What is the process for requesting financial assistance? A: On our application forms, we ask applicants to indicate the amounts of their contributions, their preferred methods and timeframes for payment, as well as whether they are offering to volunteer or requesting a scholarship. In many cases, we will simply confirm your registration, accepting the payment plan, volunteer offer or scholarship request you have made. In some cases we will put you on a waiting list until we confirm the program you are applying for assistance for is sustainable. If we have any challenge in meeting your request, we will let you know and try to find a different arrangement.
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