Here's to start a discussion on membership and services. I'm not done with this, but it's a start.

MEMBERSHIP
If you want to develop a more sustainable relationship with your environment (human, animal, and inanimate,)
If you believe that doing so requires the acknowledgement of the fundamental interrelatedness of all life systems on the planet, and
If you're ready to get to work right here and,
then you need to join the San Francisco Urban Alliance for Sustainability!

We're a dynamic group of committed entrepreneurs, friends, visionaries, neighbors, and pragmatists working to create an organization of sustainability activists right here in San Francisco. We've been hosting mixers and networking events for several years now to catalyze a movement for sustainability, and have met with much enthusiasm and encouragement in the process. The next stage of development is upon us. We see the potential for an organization, which develops sustainability support services for individuals and businesses in San Francisco, to be not just successful but revolutionary in nature.

If not us, who? If not here, where? If not now, when?

Invest in SFUAS so that we all can invest in sustainability together.

Our vision is to build an organization which is also an alternate economy regulated in the interest of local sustainability. Our members will develop the vision and help to execute it, and we will have staff to coordinate the execution and to fill in the gaps created when organizational demands exceed membership supply. The basic commodity to be exchanged in this economy is not cash, but the skills and energy of individual members of the SFUAS community. "What do you have to share" is the basic question you should ask yourself when considering what role you will play in SFUAS. However, in developing a concept around which a membership organization can be built, there is always a recourse to and need for cash, and so the default membership fee is expressed in dollars, and is expected to be paid in dollars for new members while the value of their contributions can be evaluated.

Organizationally, there are several basic functions to be performed by the various parts of SFUAS. The members will need to provide feedback to questions of priority and value in order to do the regulating of the local economy. So, one basic function, performed by or coordinated by the staff, is information gathering and processing. Another function of SFUAS is to help individuals and businesses to go about their daily business in continuously more sustainable ways. This is service providing, and does not stop at membership, though by the very nature of membership members will be able to better benefit from services which require SFUAS to have information about the recipient of a service in order for the service to be administered effectively.

The framework is still developing, and this is really just the initial membership drive. Our brainstorming has produced the following results for membership packages with associated services. Whether or not you think it's the perfect solution for you right now, we ask that you make the investment in the system. With your help and participation, we hope to provide real value to the members of our community. See which package is right for you. All costs are negotiable, provided as guidelines to help you understand how much energy SFUAS will be putting into your success as a member of the sustainability community. In kind contributions are acceptable (think barter and volunteer time, with receipts.) Talk to us about it.

All memberships are tax deductible pending our 501c3 determination, so hold on to your receipts for FY 2006 tax returns! We are currently fiscally sponsored by Global Exchange, so if 501c3 is required by your organization, you can send your money that way (which we have established for preliminary grant requests) though it would cost us 7% of your membership dues to do so.

1) Introductory Membership

Benefits:

Access to our resource sharing networks
Priority access to our work- and play-shops: designed to help you learn how to live more sustainably
Personal consultation and assessment services of a sustainability organizer
Membership in SFUAS buyer's club at 10% above cost
Voting rights in SFUAS decision making process
Access to SFUAS discussion forums
Access to skill development/job training programs
Full access to our online searchable resource guide
Limited participation in resource allocation decisions
Personalized sustainability maps
Cost:

$5/mo. or $25 for 6 months
some of your time and knowledge,
participation in prerequisite programs
2) Committed Membership

Benefits:

As introductory membership, plus:
Membership in SFUAS buyer's club at cost
Personalized Resource Guide
Possible Health Insurance with participation in preventive health programs
Negotiated reduced waste removal fees with participation in waste reduction and redirection programs
Access to SFUAS organizational development and business meetings
Priority access to skill development/apprenticeship/job training programs
Intensive Personalized Sustainability consultations and assessments
Cost: $25 per quarter = $100 per year

3) Associated Business Membership

Benefits:

Membership in SFUAS buyer's club at 10% above cost
Provide basic support services
Provide high quality referrals for job openings
Limited promotion through SFUAS literature and on website
Ridesharing organization/transportation plan for employees
Neighborhood Sustainability map for your employees and your business
Priority consideration in Convergence Center designs
Cost: $15 per month or $80 per six months

Note that one benefit is also a cost, and not optional: you must open your business practices up to the scrutiny of the SFUAS assessment team. Both as a tool for your business to improve the sustainability of its practices, and as a screening mechanism for would-be sustainable businesses whose sustainability doesn't hold up under scrutiny, the assessment processes is crucial to SFUAS's credibility and effectiveness. The results of the assessments will be publicly available, but will not contain trade secrets or such which seriously undermine the competetiveness of an individual business.

4) Invested Business Membership

Benefits:

Membership in SFUAS buyer's cooperative at cost
Intensive Personalized Sustainability Consulting Services
Provide advanced support services, including volunteer recruitment, apprenticeship program development, legal advice, technical advice, etc.
More intense promotion through SFUAS lierature and events, and on website
Access to Convergence Center development meetings and priority placement in Centers
Cost: $80 per quarter = $320 per year

5) Free Membership: the services we will strive to provide to the community at large

Benefits:

Emergency help in times of crisis (housing, finances, medical care, social support)
Support local arts and culture
Support of collaborative project development
Limited access to free resource guide - online and print
Develop an effective framework for advancing Sustainability in SF (SFUAS!)
Access to SFUAS networking events and mixers!
Promotion of sustainability events
Limited access to resource sharing networks
Promotion of sustainable behaviors and resources (free stuff and Sustainability Service Announcements)
Creation of media supportive of sustainability
Support for urban gardening/permaculture projects
sustainability helpline

Also in there, Networking and group building services (domestic groups, tribes, etc.) as well as poling of resources for collective project work, and effective civic participation facilitation (rating and comparing the activities of organizations, governmental agencies, and corporations in our area and providing a framework to collectively address concerns we have with the picture that develops).

So, membership is about services, but services go beyond membership.

I hope this isn't posted too hastily... hope it provides a good jumping off point for discussion. I'll revisit and summarize later.

Jeff