FairSpirit is exploring several approaches to launching basic income initiatives. Key elements of these efforts include a bottom-up strategy and the potential for large-scale expansion.
Current projects
Basic Income Groups
Using digitial currencies such as GoodDollars, FairSpirit distributes basic income to specific groups. At the moment we have three such projects running.
- In collaboration with Compassion for Humanity we are running a project in Ghana.
- Together with the Friends of Usambara Society we are running a project in Tanzania.
- In cooperation with the Grassroots Economics Foundation, we provide pooled basic income to the Kiriba Chama community in Kenya.
We are actively seeking partnerships with other development organizations to explore the creation of additional basic income groups.
Binc money with local currency in Utrecht (NL)
With the Binc money project (Binkgeld website in Dutch), we’re starting with a mini basic income in The Netherlands: a small group of people receives a modest basic income of 2 euro per day for several months. The first round is run in cooperation with the local currency “Utrechtse Euro” in the city of Utrecht.
Basic income raffle UBI4YOU
Inspired by UBI4ALL and Mein Grundeinkommen, we will distribute a small basic income to a random selection of people who sign up. They will receive one dollar per day (about $30 per month), streamed to their digital wallet for three months using GoodDollars.
Anyone can sign up at UBI4YOU. But to make sure nobody is signing up twice we need to make sure that you are a unique person. For that we use the GoodDollar wallet (GoodWallet). To be able to use that GoodWallet you need to verify that you are a unique person. Read more about it the UBI4YOU website.
Projects under development
GoodDollar by Country
GoodDollar enables the distribution of basic income at the country level, see the demonstration projects of GoodDollar on the GoodCollective website. The GoodCollective platform allows for the allocation of GoodDollars to targeted groups. FairSpirit is monitoring the development of the platform to see how we can use it for our projects.
Circles Seed Groups
Circles offers a unique approach to basic income. Users can create their own Circles within the app—one per hour, up to 24 Circles per day. These can be exchanged with trusted contacts and used as a form of payment. Circles is developing a new version of the system that will introduce Groups, making it easier to scale to larger numbers of participants. The new version also allows Circles to be exchanged for other currencies, supporting broader adoption.
Birenga Seed Chain
With Birenga, we envision a pay-it-forward setup. The idea is to start with a small basic income for one person for three months (e.g., $1 per day, totaling $90). After three months, the participant can choose, with motivation, either one or two new participants to receive the next round. The total amount increases to $100, so either one participant receives $100 or two receive $50 each. The motivation is crucial for this approach. This should follow the principles of flow funding.
Basic Income Seed Fund
A sustainable approach involves creating a fund that distributes its profits as basic income, similar to the Give for Good model that has a broader charitable focus. Also, there is a small-scale experiment, Ubiquitus, operating in the United States. We are seeking funding sources for such a fund. Income will come from donations, sponsors or for instance a share of company profits.
A notable example is the Alaska Permanent Fund, which is financed by oil and mining revenues and uses its returns to pay dividends to all Alaska residents.
