Almost Basic: Unconditional Cash Made Easy

Here are some programs we are engaged with and/or exploring. Our goal is to learn from these programs to develop solutions that can be packaged and adopted in other communities. We encourage you to get involved with these, or find a new community to build with.

Opportunity Pods

Check out this draft of our first official program, to be launched soon.

two.fifty.four Teen Center

We are in the middle of a Rooted Schools program with 11 high school students from two.fifty.four.

We are now a distribution partner for Capitalists For Shared Income.

Refugio Rafael

two.fifty.four has developed a relationship with a community center near Cochabamba, Bolivia, and we are in the early stages of designing a cash transfer program to support students graduating from this program. Here is more information on Refugio Rafael.

Motherful

32 single moms from the Motherful collective received $500 per month from a local basic income program. Furthermore, this nonprofit has given a significant portion of their donations over the years directly to single moms. This group knows the value of a cash transfer and how it lets members engage in a way that lifts everyone up.

Comingle

Comingle is coming at this problem of scaling generosity from the other side. They are beginning with the financial tools to share resources and then adding the community component. We encourage you to follow the progress of this country-wide program and plug in as it scales.

Your Community

Do you want to give this a try? Please reach out! If you know of folks blocked from a community you care about simply because of financial needs, let’s work together to solve the problem. The model depends on several concepts:

  • Exploitation, coercion, and paternalism are to be avoided. Some strings are inevitable when resources are limited, but trust is the goal.

  • Life is random. If you teach or believe that living right means you won’t have financial problems, this isn’t for you.

  • Community is key. This is not just about cash transfers. Cash transfers might let people survive, but they are not enough to allow them to thrive. We add cash to support survival and engagement and look to communities to do the rest.