NCPlenty 126 Justice Street Chapel Hill, NC 27516 (919) 942-9704 www.ncplenty.org ncplenty@ncplenty.org

Mission Statement NCPlenty, Inc. is a non-profit corporation working to promote local commerce, fair wages, environmental responsibility, self-reliance, and neighborliness through the implementation and support of a local currency, the PLENTY.

For NCPlenty's main page, click here.
For the current issue of the NCPlenty membership newsletter, click here.

What follows is the text of the President's Address at NCPlenty's 2nd Annual Meeting on October 4, 2003 at Wilson Park in Carrboro.

52 Saturdays ago right on this spot we gathered together and made the PLENTY a reality. We had taken the idea that local currency could promote local commerce, fair wages, environmental responsibility, self-reliance, and neighborliness. We printed this promise on paper, a visible reminder of the values of our membership and community.

34 Saturdays ago, the Board decided to survey the membership to see how well the currency was flowing. The PLENTY had only been in our community for about 4 months and like anything new it had to 'catch on.' The power of the currency is exercised each time it is spent, so the best way to fulfill the PLENTY's promise is to keep it really moving.

19 Saturdays ago, we sent a report to our members showing the results of the survey, and indicated that our campaign to invigorate the PLENTY and the membership of NCPlenty was coming soon. We had received our answers, with over half of you responding, but the numbers indicated the PLENTY was not moving the way we all wanted.

17 Saturdays ago, we launched a campaign to get our currency and our organization flowing. We set very ambitious goals, and then failed in each of them!

-We brought in 45 new members, instead of 120.
-We are running a deficit, instead of a surplus of $2000.
-We still have multiple roles per volunteer, instead of bringing in enough people to have a one-to-one ratio.

Yet I point to these 120 Days as a positive period in our evolving story. The experience of missing our goals, disappointing and even embarrassing as it is, can not overshadow the good things we did accomplish. We did not get 120 members, but we did double in size from last year. We did not get ourselves out of debt but we did have our first fundraiser and it was both successful and fun. We did not get down to one person: one role, but we did bring in some new people-they just happen to be working on projects we never had going before!

Not reaching our targets made us all take a needed step back to look at what didn't work and why. Prior to launching the campaign, I personally banked on an increase in membership volunteerism. That volunteers did not bang down our door was disappointing, but as I thought about why this might be the case I had a moment of clarity.

-We print and spend the PLENTY to derive economic, social, and environmental benefits.
-We reap those benefits only when the currency flows effectively.
-The PLENTY flows when it has a wide reach, meaning there are lots of goods and services you can buy with PLENTYs.
-Getting to the point that the PLENTY has this wide reach requires a great deal of support, namely volunteers who sign up and support members, and donors who fund these efforts.
-This support comes about when people feel the PLENTY is a positive part of their lives.

I was asking myself the question, "How can I convince our members that the PLENTY is a positive part of their lives?" I came to realize that I can't.

-It takes a sense of community surrounding the PLENTY for participants to feel it is part of their lives.
-This sense of community can come about in many ways, but in large part it grows organically from members and supporters simply being together.
-Members and like-minded volunteers being together only requires that we have a good reason (even a "good excuse") to be together.

I think back to the early days before there even was a printed currency, and I remember a vibrant series of meetings. There were many people involved at many times and places, and all shared in the conversation that was shaping the PLENTY and the organization that would support it. Through this process, things became much more formally organized-which was a necessary step to accomplishing our goals-and the currency was printed and released. Suddenly, there was a new urgency to making this endeavor work. The Board busied itself with what seemed our most pressing concerns, and NCPlenty as an organization accomplished a great deal. But with this new level of organization it was easy to lock ourselves into always working with the same people in the same ways. We lost sight of this simple truth: as a membership, we need to be together to feel together.

So it is 52 Saturdays later and we arrive where we have already been: gathered together. 52 Saturdays from now we will do this again and find we have discovered new things and continued in learning what we already knew.

In the coming year, let us find reasons to gather together just as we did today, whether tackling pressing agenda items or simply breaking bread. Let us find the ways we can fulfill the promise of the PLENTY while making our organization more like a movement of like-minded neighbors than a corporation. Let us make the PLENTY a gift to our communities that holds special importance because it represents our values and our work.

Thank you for coming out today and sharing your time. In a short while, we will have our first conversation of the second year of the PLENTY, and everyone present is encouraged to participate. You can even talk with your mouth full. Before you get up for seconds, please take a moment to introduce (or re-introduce) yourselves to the neighbors around you.

For NCPlenty's main page, click here.
For the current issue of the NCPlenty membership newsletter, click here.