THE COMMUNITY CURRENCY DIRECTORY OF HUMBOLDT COUNTY

Information Packet for Local Businesses

Dear Local Business Owner:

Thank you for your interest in the Humboldt Exchange!

The Humboldt Exchange is Humboldt County’s Community Currency Project. This packet of information will provide you with much of the information you will need to participate in the project and begin accepting Community Currency at your business.

We hope that you find this information useful. We want your experience with Community Currency to be positive and rewarding - both financially and otherwise. Once you have had a chance to review these materials please contact us to set up a meeting to further discuss your participation in the Humboldt Exchange Project.

We will be happy to answer any questions you may have and to do whatever we can to help get you started. We also welcome your feedback on this project and the materials enclosed.

What is Community Currency
Community currency is a currency not backed by a national government, and intended to trade only in a small area. These currencies are also referred to as “local currency” or “complementary currencies.”

How Humboldt Community Currency Works
The distribution of Currency and the publishing of the Humboldt Exchange, the bi-monthly directory for exchanges based on Community Currency, is facilitated by the Humboldt Exchange Community Currency Project, under the umbrella of Democracy Unlimited of Humboldt County and is therefore a project of a nonprofit 501c3 organization.

Person to person exchanges are suggested at a rate of half Community Currency and half and US dollars, however there are several items and services listed in the Humboldt Exchange directory that are available for all Community Currency. We encourage the concept of a Minimum Living Wage of $10/hour, so we ask all participants to charge a minimum of $10 (half U.S. dollars and half Community Currency) for an hour of their services.

In practice, each exchange is negotiated between individuals. As a participating business you will decide for yourself how many Community Currency bills your business will accept per purchase, and you may change your policy as you go along. As Community Currency is only issued to businesses and individuals that also accept the Currency, it is our goal that you will never be flooded with more Currency than you can easily re-spend.

Is This Really Legal to Use?
Local currencies are legal and there are many of them throughout the Unites States. Like U.S. dollars, they are a form of taxable income. The Federal Reserve and the Internal Revenue Service have no prohibitions on local currencies, as long as their value is fixed to the U.S. dollar, the minimum denomination is worth at least $1, and the bills do not look like federal money. Humboldt Community Currency meets each of these benchmarks.

Making a Community While Making a Living
Research from other community currency systems, most notably Ithaca HOURS, shows that community currencies increase business volume for participating merchants. Community currencies inject more cash into the local economy. Local money provides an incentive for people who have such money to spend it at a local business that accepts the currency.

Additionally, because Humboldt Community Currency bills re-circulate within the community indefinitely, rather than leaving the area after only a few transactions, as U.S. dollars often do, the entire community benefits from them over and over. As more and more businesses and individuals choose to accept Humboldt Community Currency, our local economy will be strengthened, making Humboldt less vulnerable to outside economic dominance and instability.

Materials Included in This Packet
• How the Humboldt Exchange Project Will Work With You
• Ways to Accept Community Currency at Your Business
• Ways to Spend Your Community Currency
• How Community Currency Supports Your Local Business
• How Community Currency Supports Our Community
• You Are in Good Company: Other Community Currency Projects in the United States
• Tax and Legal Issues
• Community Currency and Your Accounting System
• Other Ways to Support the Humboldt Exchange Project

We look forward to working with you to benefit our community members and help our local economy through this project. Please contact us to discuss your participation further, and thanks again for your interest in the Humboldt Exchange Community Currency Project.

Click here to view the Community Currency bills.In Each Other We Trust!
Heather Ault, Yvonne Doble, Ryan Emenaker, Samantha Roberts, Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap, Shannon Tracey & Jared Wilken
The Humboldt Exchange Coordinating Committee

Download the packet as an Adobe PDF document.

 

 

Click here to submit listings for the next issue!

The Humboldt Exchange Community Currency Project is a project of
Democracy Unlimited of Humboldt County (DUHC)