Community Currencies

In this blog, we describe the main features of our Cyclos solution for community and social currencies. More than just a product description, it will give you powerful insights on how to design and mold a currency for your community. 

Community currencies

Around the world, more and more communities organize exchanges of goods and services, connecting people and optimizing local resources, skills, and talents. They are based on trust, reputation, and relationships rather than traditional financial practices.

Community currencies are used to record exchanges and to transfer value from one participant to another. They create extra purchasing power and keep it circulating within the local community.

Our easy-to-use community currency apps help to engage or connect people and streamline the exchange of goods and services in the community in a secured and scalable framework, with minimum set-up and operational costs.

User management

First start with defining the purpose of the currency in alignment with the community´s needs. Discuss who can participate and benefit from the currency like individuals, families, businesses, or organizations, and under which conditions.

What kind of information are you going to collect from all the participants and why? We handle and store this data securely, and treat it according to privacy policies. 

Define how interested people should onboard: self-registration in the app or by a third-party? And what will be the initial member status on registration: active or pending approval by the community administrator?  

Make the onboarding as smooth and simple as possible. Our platform will send notifications to the applicant about his status and what will be the next action. You can also send a customized welcome package by e-mail upon approval. 

Finally, if needed participants can add multiple users to their account, with similar or different permissions (operators). This is useful for families, organizations, or local businesses.     

Currency management

Choose a culturally resonant and meaningful name for the community currency. Define the value: set it to be either pegged to the national currency, to a time unit (hour - quarter), or any other agreement.  What is the currency format you want to use: integer or decimal values?

All participants have a digital account (or wallet) in community currency. To facilitate the exchange of goods and services, members can receive a start available balance from the community: a welcome transfer, an (interest-free) loan, or a just negative limit.  Eventually, you can also give each member a positive limit for their community currency balance.

Participants can now transfer local currencies to other members with the mobile app or web application. For some communities, it might be useful to allow members to also send a request for a transfer in local currency (invoice or reminder).  

Market place management

We offer multiple features to promote and facilitate the exchange of goods and services within the community. You can choose your mix of strategies and adjust as you go!

Members can search for other members within the mobile app or web application or use geolocation. They can manage contacts, communicate, and message with each other.  

Ads are probably the most popular tool to share relevant information on the goods or services available in the community. Ads can be published by a member, with or without approval by the group. Other members can ask questions on the ad or send a private message. 

Larger communities can also use our tools to publish requests for or interests in certain goods or services. Other members can respond or indicate potential providers. 

Another useful tool assists members in posting their talents and skills. The whole community can then search the database and identify members with the required specifications for a job or task.

The community and its members can also organize and publish events or meetings (like trade fairs, trainings, and others). Events are visible in the community calendar and members can register online.  

Finally, the marketplace has a very configurable set of notifications to inform members of new offers, requests, or events. This helps members to stay engaged and connected! 

Financial management

The administration of the community can charge participants an initial fee or membership in the community and/or national currency. Annual contributions can be planned and charged automatically.  

Some communities charge transaction fees. They can be charged automatically to the buyer and/or seller, in community and/or national currency depending on the configuration.  

Some advanced communities decide to charge fees on positive balances to incentivize members to use their community currencies, while others reserve the right to charge interest on negative balances for members that do not take enough action within the community. 

Members can pay their fees in national currencies by using our integrations with secure payment gateways. 

All financial actions and transactions come with member notifications to promote transparency and avoid mistakes. 

Community Management

While members have access to the necessary tools to engage and participate within their community, it is important to have a management team of leaders and collaborators. Different permissions can be given to different administrator roles.

Group administrators are responsible for the management of members. They can activate, disable, and purge members. They can intervene in the marketplace, manage positive and negative member balances, or charge fees.  

There is also a community account where transaction fees or members' contributions are transferred. The community can use the balance to pay for expenses, reward volunteers, or organize events in local currency.

Our data analytics console provides the community administration with a live transaction wall,  powerful statistics and analytics, and actionable insights in one place. 

Our solutions have a built-in help desk and messaging tools for users to contact the administration, which can also post documents or share content with members (email, SMS, push notifications). 

Remember

Start small with basic features, collect feedback, and adjust before scaling.

Clearly explain the rules, value, and benefits of the currency.

Build trust and practice in the community, administration and digital tools!