From local currencies to time banks, more and more people and organisations are setting up new forms of exchange in a bid to tackle the social, economic and environmental problems they see in their communities.
But are they working? Things are still a little hazy in the community currency (CC) world when it comes to impact. Just like any other kind of grassroots innovation, the demanding day to day running of CC projects makes it easy for impact evaluation to slip right off organisers’ list of priorities.
This may sound trivial, but the resulting overall lack of properly evaluated CC projects is bad news on several counts: it makes it tricky for organisers to learn from other projects, for instance, or win more funding, credibility and media attention for what they are doing.
That’s why today NEF is releasing ‘No Small Change’ – a how-to guide for community currency organisers looking to effectively evaluate the impact of their project. The guide highlights the value of pausing to ask what your currency project is aiming to achieve, and how this can be measured – and offers practical advice on going about it.
Click here to download No Small Change.