Social Purpose Currencies Community Building: The most popular reason to start complementary
currency systems in neighborhoods where there are no major
unemployment or economic stress situations is community healing and re-
building. Various types of designs have been used for such purpose,
including Time Dollar systems, LETS, and Ithaca HOURS . The Balinese
Time Currency* could also be considered as a well established system of
this nature, operational for more than one thousand years.
Identity Reinforcement: One of the secondary reasons that some
complementary currencies were introduced was to reinforce the feeling of
belonging to a particular community or area. For example, the logo on
Ithaca HOURS bills proudly claims “In Ithaca we trust”, and most paper-
based complementary currencies feature prominently local features, plants
or history as a means towards local identity reinforcement.
Ecological: Applications of complementary currencies specifically for
ecological purposes have recently become more popular, particularly in
Japan. One example is the NU smart card system used in Rotterdam,
Netherlands, to reward ecological behavior (using public transport, buying
more energy efficient devices, buying a bicycle, etc.) charging ‘green-
points’ on a smartcard.
These points can be used in getting discounts in the same type of activities,
thereby creating a double incentive to behave in an ecologically responsible
way. A less successful model is the “Earthdaymoney” project in the
Shibuya neighborhood of Japan, started by a major advertising firm to honor
people who are contributing to the ecological sustainability of the area.
A whole family of Japanese complementary currencies are the “eco-
money” projects, but notwithstanding their name only a few of those
projects have specifically an ecological purpose. One large scale
demonstration project involving over 6 million participants was implemented
during the 2005 Aichi world fair.
Other Social Purpose: One could theoretically continue almost ad
infinitum a list of specialized social functions for which complementary
currencies could be implemented. Indeed, the whole field of complementary
currencies is sometimes labeled as “social money.” So the above list is
mostly indicative of projects that already do exist somewhere in the world,
rather than what could be designed in the future.
Mixed Social Purpose: One could of course easily combine several of
these social objectives, such as having the possibility to earn credits through
ecological support activities, and use them for obtaining baby sitting hours,
or other combinations of the above list.
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