Cool tant!

German Grandmother Lives Money-free and Has Never Been Happier

By Sarah B. Weir | Shine from Yahoo! Canada – Tue, 10 Jan, 2012 9:16 AM EST

Most of us could go a day without spending any cash. But a week? How about sixteen years? That’s how long 69-year-old Heidemarie Schwermer, grandmother of three, has lived without money. Schwermer’s odyssey is the subject of a documentary film, Living Without Money, by director Line Halvorsen, which is screening internationally and is also available on DVD.

In 1996, Schwermer, a former schoolteacher and psychotherapist, decided to try to live without money for a year as an experiment. As a child she had experienced deep deprivation as a refugee fleeing from Russian forces during World War II. Her family had escaped what was then East Prussia and ended up in Germany ”penniless.” She has always felt a sense of compassion and empathy for the homeless community in the city of Dortmund where she settled as an adult.

Two years before she began living completely without money, Schwermer had opened a swap shop where people could barter services and goods. It was such a success it gave her the confidence to take the leap of quitting her job, giving away all of her possessions except what could fit into a single suitcase and backpack, and moving out of her rental home. According to the Austrian Times, Schwermer says she ”had become irritated by the greedy consumer society” she was witnessing.

She acknowledges that her friends were confused and her two grown daughters were initially shocked (she says they now accept her lifestyle). Schwermer lived nomadically, trading gardening, cleaning, and even therapy sessions for food and a place to sleep. She found it liberating: ”Living without money gave me quality of life, inner wealth, and freedom.”

Schwermer has written three books about her experiences. She says the first, ”The Star Money Experiment” was quite successful and she passed out all the money she earned to people on the street, ”in five mark coins,” Germany’s currency before the euro. She waived her advances on the other books and asked the publisher to give her royalties to charity.

Director Halvorsen told Yahoo! Shine, ”Heidemarie’s unique story made me want to create a film that challenges the viewer into questioning their own relationship to money and possessions.” She explains, ”The film does not teach you how to live without money, but is a portrait of a woman who has made a very courageous and inspiring choice.”

Living without money in the United States

Schwermer’s experiment is obviously extreme and Germany does have more of a social safety net than we do in the United States. But there are many ways to live with less money here. You can get everything from a bicycle to kid’s clothing without spending a penny by logging on to websites such as Freecycle. Craigslist also has a section devoted to giveaways. Apartment swaps and couch surfing are ways to travel on the cheap. Yahoo’s Conscious Consumer blog has many other ideas for getting free stuff easily.

Impact Investment

Okej, Bannans* ska betalas av de som vill se den ske enligt principen ”många bäckar små”. En liknande trend fast med motsatt princip kallas Impact Investment. Filantropin kommer till Sverige, det menar i alla fall CSR i Praktiken:

 

 

Samtidigt som Sverige på allvar börjar få upp ögonen för filantropi har utvecklingen av Impact Investment, en ny form av investering, parallellt växt fram. Impact Investment handlar om att investera i sociala företag vars målsättning går utöver ekonomisk vinst. Till skillnad från traditionell filantropi – som brukar definieras som allmännyttig verksamhet som utan genkrav stöder institutioner och projekt inom kultur, utbildning, forskning och hälsa – innebär Impact investment genkrav. Allt fler menar att givande utan genkrav inte är vad som behövs för samhällsutveckling och vänder sig nu istället till Impact Investment. Inte minst har flera svenska entreprenörer har anslutit sig till denna krets.

Inom ramen för Impact Investment ställer investeraren krav på mer än bara en avkastning på den ekonomiska investeringen – här vill investeraren se en social avkastning i form av samhällsutveckling inom exempelvis hälsa, miljö, ekonomi, utbildning eller liknande. Denna avkastning benämns i internationella termer som Social Return on Investment, SROI.

Läs hela artikeln HÄR

Emma ska åka vasaloppet

Kära Inspirationsbanken.
Idag vill jag skriva om en utav de där människorna man ibland bara råkar stöta på, som efter att ni pratat en stund med varandra lämnar dig gapande i ren beundran med en helt ny syn på livet omkring dig. Hon heter Emma Hellberg är 26 år gammal och är en vän till min bästa vän. Emma blev diagnostiserad med livmoderhalscancer 2010. Hon bestämde sig tidigt för att detta inte skulle bli ett hinder. Hon kompromissar inte med livet. Hon skriver en helt fantastisk, hoppfull, hjärtskärande, personlig och inspirerande blogg. Jag rekommenderar varmt att du läser den. Hon har mycket att säga! Livmordet länk.

I år ska Emma för tredje gången åka Vasaloppet som går av stapeln den 4de Mars i år. Hon har inför loppet skapat en sida på FB, Hjälp Emma åka Vasaloppet – FUCK CANCER!, där säljer hon metrarna i snön för en krona metern. Alla 90 000 metrar. Pengarna går till Ung Cancer.

Att köpa metrar går till såhär

Sätt in pengarna på Ung Cancers bankgiro 705-8878 och märk din betalning med ”Jag köper xxx meter till Emma”.

Hejja Emma! De första två dygnen trillade det in 25 000, Nu är hon uppe i över 50 000 sålda metrar!

Det var allt från mej för denna gången!

Tack för mej!

Alexandra

She i Kina?

Precis när drakens år är över oss initieras en diskussion om samhällsentreprenörskap i Kina på socialedge.org (Tack Fredrik för tipset!). Hur ser fältet ut där? Är det andra saker som kännetecknar det som kan beskrivas som samhällsentreprenörskap? Vilket förståelse finns för att driva verksamheter med andra syften än vinst?

Intresset verkar iaf definitivt finnas, Muhammad Yunus fick snabbt över 36 000 följare när han för några veckor sedan öppnade konto på Weibo, Kinas motsvarighet till Twitter!

Social Entrepreneurship in China

”The recent Social Enterprise Summitin Hong Kong drew in more than 100 institutions and an audience of 1,000, with an increased presence from the mainland.

For all the talk, however, it is less clear how much is being translated into action. In many ways, it seems social entrepreneurship in China lags behind other dynamic, developing countries. Many outside of China are skeptical about the country’s intent and capacity to support social enterprise on a scale that will create real impact. At the same time, many also believe that China can achieve in two years what has taken other countries ten years to do, if it decides to prioritize at a national level the development of social enterprises. The crucial issue, of course, is the role the government chooses to play.

Although we are close to the scene we still have much to learn about the social sector in China. The country is incredibly diverse and full of apparent contradictions. As many have often commented, “whatever you hear about China is true somewhere.” Bearing this in mind, can we draw any conclusions about social enterprise and innovation trends in the world’s most populous country?”

Flera spännande inlägg finns i diskussionen, i olika riktningar. T ex ser signaturen Rodongo positivt på utvecklingen:

”Five years ago, debates on the meaning and applications of social entrepreneurship were already live and strong in many non-profit symposiums hosted in China. By now, the debates have echoed more often on Weibo.com than in the conference rooms, and the domestic SE field has become a truly dynamic landscape with thousands of self-declared social entrepreneurs and a dozen of supporting institutions and foundations.”

Vad händer de kommande åren? Hör vi så lite om fältet i Kina på grund av språkbarriären?

Länk till diskussionen på social edge