Collectief Kapitaal

Livelyhood insecurity is much more than a financial construct

As a collective, Collectief Kapitaal makes itself hard for a fair distribution of money and means, but they are also geared towards uncovering, researching and changing the deeply rooted thoughts and convictions that are in the way. The point of departure is the collective, the community, because only if we act together, things can change.

Its origins
Collectief Kapitaal has been founded in 2020 by Denise Harleman. A proposition for a society in which nobody needs to fight for his/her living. It’s not just directed towards the symptoms of the failing system but also works on a new, concrete alternative. On a future in which everyone has a secure livelihood, and we see the big issues as common tasks again.
The project grew during the pandemic times when there was a lot of talk about being solidary which each other, and looking after each other. The questions of forming a solidary society, what that actually means and what is needed were the starting point for Collectief Kapitaal.
Soon after the idea for Collectief Kapitaal took root, Denise sent out a letter to 100 friends and acquaintances, asking whether they all would want to put in €400.  
With €40.000 they could help several people who had an insecure livelihood. It was an experiment for her, because it wasn’t only about giving money but also about the research into the functioning of solidarity and what such a project does with both the giver and the receiver.
Rachelle also received a letter and almost immediately offered to help. From her background as cultural fundraiser she hoped to contribute not only with financial means but also by bringing people together who initially don’t care about each other.
By now, Rachelle is the president of the board, formally working one day per week to build on Collectief Kapitaal.

Growth
Collectief Kapitaal has seen a considerable growth in recent years. It started in 2020 with 100 donators and now there are over 2000 of them, spread all over the country. Donating doesn’t necessarily mean to do a financial contribution, as it does mean to do any contribution at all. It means you directly become a member and participant. Collectief Kapitaal is, of course, a collective. Although the legal form of foundation has been chosen, it functions more as an association with members, work groups and local collectives. Collectief Kapitaal thinks it’s important to strive for a organization form in which everyone can find his/her place, contributing from his/her own talents and energy while still forming a whole together. 
At the moment there are different circles, including those for research, communication, strategy, open call, community building, finances and programming. All these circles have a certain authority to take certain decisions, so being an active member really does give you a chance to co-decide.

Financial construction
The group of people who suffer from livelihood insecurity is growing. In Rotterdam, one out of ten people calls him-/herself livelihood insecure, in Amsterdam that number is 1 out of 12. There are, of course, parts in town where this is less, but it’s a fact that many people can’t make end meet and don’t have a safety net may something go wrong. For a long time it was assumed that livelihood insecurity didn’t exist, since the secure and insecure were physically spreading over various neighbourhoods. 
With the energy crisis hitting the middle incomes as well, the problem enlarged and became more visible. Then we recognized it’s no longer a matter to ignore, it’s a common problem. 

It’s about having somebody to fall back upon, to ask for knowledge, advice and time when it’s necessary

Within politics livelihood security has often been seen as a financial construction. Others also think about having a roof above your head and access to education. Practical and very important things, because without it, often feelings of insecurity, stress and even danger can grow. However, by Collectief Kapitaal, Denise and Rachelle found out that livelihood security also has a social component. It’s about having somebody to fall back upon, to ask for knowledge, advice and time when it’s necessary. And it’s also about social and cultural images deciding the way we look at society and, therefore each other. Notions you might have as well, consciously or unconsciously. About success and failure. Power and say. Ownership and possession.

It is often believed that the person whose livelihood is insecure bears the responsibility for that situation. The person has done something wrong and now that problem must be solved by somebody else. Collectief Kapitaal tries to lose that thinking and look at the situation together. Collectief Kapitaal doesn’t have answers for everyone, but wants to make it a joined responsibility, and see who plays which role in somebody’s insecure livelihood. That could be unpleasant conversations. There’s not only a focus on the person in need, but also on the influence of the giver’s acting and thinking as well as the influence of the system on the situation. It’s a research into collectivity and shared responsibility.

Collectief Kapitaal shows similarities with the basic income, but there are differences.  
Of course, in both cases money is given away, but with the basic income the money comes from an anonymous government, while at Collectief Kapitaal it comes from other citizens. People who you can look right in the face. That way a true connection grows, an extra dimension which is important for the actual research into meanings we give to words such as trust, power, inequality, vulnerability and solidarity.

Values
Important values within Collectief Kapitaal are: unconditionality, dignity, autonomy and trust. That’s the basis and Rachelle realizes that’s much different than the system, than the society we are keeping up nowadays. For example, when you’re in welfare aid or receiving other allowances, there’s a lot of control. Control out of suspicion, because misuse is the standard assumption. There are a lot of unjust judgements.
The same goes for dignity. As soon as you’re in welfare aid, you’re getting looked at differently and judged differently. There’s clearly a lack of dignity there and that has to change. Dignity, among other means, means that you decide for yourself what you do with your money, the giver doesn’t give conditions, asks no questions. 
Of course, it’s good that there’s a government taking care of things, but it’s not enough Collectief Kapitaal tries to look at a different society, apart from the government. Starting something new on a small scale. A living lab from where learnings could be brough back into the system. According to Rachel it would be fantastic if Collectief Kapitaal wouldn’t be necessary at some point. If the system, the society, would by then also be based on dignity, trust, autonomy and unconditionality. But the question is whether we ever get there. Perhaps it’s important that there are places like Collectief Kapitaal, continuous living labs in loving collaboration.

Rachelle sees that it’s possible to change people and that gives hope, because if you can change people, you can eventually change the system as well.

From the bottom up
Despite the fact that Collectief Kapitaal experiments a lot, there are also collaborations on municipal and national level. Rachelle notices that there is no reluctance from the government. Everybody understands it can’t go on like this, but nobody know how it can. We built an intricate system, one that’s incredibly difficult to alter.
She also sees that it’s possible to change people and that gives hope, because if you can change people, you can eventually change the system as well. The power of citizen initiatives, of collaborating, lies in the organizing from the bottom up, not from within the system, but by common vision and solidarity. Solidarity is not about narrowing the gap, but about having people joining the rest, or helping each other in times of need. It is about building collective vigor, from the idea that something bad that happened to you, should not happen to anybody else. That starts with understanding the relationship between your own position and the other’s. Even though our lives differ, the system has got a hold on all of us. Collectief Kapitaal does a counterproposal, where we trust each other and accept each other as peers. We share, try new things, research and reflect, and go on the barricades for livelihood security in different local collectives.

Government
The first half a year Collective Kapitaal has been busy making sure that money could be given away to begin with. There are namely quite some laws which frustrate that. For example, it’s still not possible to give money to people who are in welfare aid. The intricate system of surcharges and controls makes it so.
At the moment, Collectief Kapitaal supports people who work but can’t make ends meet. The working poor. For those people it is important that the money they receive from Collectief Kapitaal is not being taxed as an income, or that it’s regarded as a lottery income, since Collectief Kapitaal works with a lottery system. These are all things that go wrong in the current system. The issues are being addressed by Collectief Kapitaal and, hopefully, changed soon after. A process of uncovering, addressing and changing.
In the end Collectief Kapitaal managed to gain a ANBI-status from the tax authorities. An ANBI is a charitable institution and this allows them to donate tax-free, as long as these donations are done according to the main objective. Besides that, these donations are designated as ‘gift’, keeping the receiver from the obligation to pay income taxes.

Meetings
In The Netherlands a lot is being given to charities but the way in which it happens is often quite aloof, and often people want to know what the donated money is spent on.
Giving feels nice and people are often eager to let others know when they do. An act of self-congratulation. The challenge, however, remains to give in dignity, without control and responsibility. Collectief Kapitaal organizes meetings for members in different cities They are convinced that getting members together is important in developing the project. Meeting one another, looking someone in the eye and getting inspired from equal positions. Meetings are, among other things, concentrated around limits and limitlessness of solidarity, trust and love. And how everyone take his/her own role in that regard. Of course, boundaries of trust come into play as well. Giving money away ‘just like that’, may sound naive, but is important with respect to your development in society, and the choices you want to make. Rachelle understands that there is some critique on this way of working, but she sees Collectief Kapitaal as a joint learning process in which you search for collectivity, and thinks it’s fine to be naive. Sometimes that’s necessary to make a change in the heart and the mind.

Registering
At the moment, Collectief Kapitaal is active in Rotterdam, Arnhem and Utrecht. Everybody can become member of the collective. One or two times a year, one specific postal code area in the each city is chosen. Here the redistribution of money will take place. Residents can register for a gift when they’re older than 18 and when they live on or under the livelihood minimum. Registrants decide for themselves whether they are livelihood secure or not. A lottery, then, determines who receives the contribution from Collectief Kapitaal, followed by a talk to discuss possible other subcharges, taxes and other practical issues.

Collective Kapitaal gives away €1000 a month for a period of 12 months. People receive that on top of the money they make with their work. Everybody receives the same, regardless the amount and the (in)stability of each personal earnings. A piece of steadiness. Sometimes it enable people to go to the dentist or to grow into another job. Sometimes it helps to gain confidence, to become a better parent or to feel more human. 

Income
Collectief Kapitaal generates income in two ways: The first one consists of donations from people all over the Netherlands. Some of them give once, others share on a monthly basis. 75% of these donations goes into the collective pot, which Collectief Kapitaal uses to give a monthly €1.000 to five people (or more if the pot allows it) in each city where they’re active. Out of the remaining 25%, they use 5% for maintenance and administration costs and the other 20% to cover up the costs for realizing this mission. For example, Collectief Kapitaal organizes an ongoing research, reflections and knowledge sharing. 

When the oil patch has grown big enough, it will be followed by a change of mindset, behaviour and heart, and then politicians and policymakers can’t stay behind.

Growth
In the beginning, Collectief Kapitaal grew mostly via-via, through networks of people who had already joined. Later, when Collectief Kapitaal received attention in the media a couple of times, a new boost came. And so Collectief Kapitaal, having started in Amsterdam, rolled out in Rotterdam, Arnhem and Utrecht as well. More and more people in different places helping out, co-deciding. Citizen after citizens, person after person. And each person has friends, works somewhere, is father of a child that’s in some school, goes to a sports association, et cetera. Places where the idea can spread. Everybody becomes an ambassador of his/her own. When the oil patch has grown big enough, it will be followed by a change of mindset, behaviour and heart, and then politicians and policymakers can’t stay behind. According to Rachelle, there are participants with Collectief Kapitaal who are policymakers by profession, or work the government otherwise. So the idea seeps into the system in that way, too.

It starts with believing in the love that is in every human heart. Like Charles Eisenstein and Bell Hooks, Rachelle believes in the human who wants to share and look after the other. We are really wired to live together. And so Rachelle believes in change and changing people’s minds. The challenge mainly lies in addressing people you normally don’t come to meet: getting likeminded people along is relatively easy. So the question is how you translate a rather abstract thought like this in order to make it mainstream. 

Four lines
Collectief Kapitaal has set out four lines to make change happen. The first is the line of collectivising. Building local collectives that share things. Everybody shares something with the collective by own choice. Together they manage whatever is in the pot -capital, network, ideas, labor, care, time. Local collectives also delve into other reforms and actions necessary to make a change of system happen. The second line is the actions which show what a different, loving society could look like. Through actions, determinant concepts in the thinking of Collectief Kapitaal are given a meaning. The third line is making agenda to get all the learnings into the system. 
In order to support those four lines, a participative research has been set up from the beginning. Everything is examined. Not just from the side of the receiver: the giver is just as well a subject to research. And so is the collective, because how do you organize yourself as a group? How do you build a properly working collective?

Endless possibilities
The basis of Collectief Kapitaal, gathering money to give away to people in need, is a very simple, logical and good idea. Personally, I can see this idea work for other purposes as well. For example, by making divisions within Collectief Kapitaal. On the one hand you keep doing what you’ve started, but what happens when people start donating money to Collectief Kapitaal in order to protect nature or to provide regenerative farmers with land?
Collectief Kapitaal is clear, powerful name. It could be a platform, like Voordekunst or other crowdfunding projects, to raise money for all things done and owned collectively. Collectief Kapitaal is a genius project and in my opinion the possibilities are endless.
When I ask Rachelle whether she has ever thought about deploying their project for other purposes, she says she doesn’t, although she finds the idea interesting. As long as it starts from those values of trust, autonomy, collectivity and dignity. According to Rachelle, it could be done.