6.3.3 Local strategies: Community regenerative finance

Finance shapes where resources flow and where they are blocked. In many small towns, rural areas, or informal settlements, banks charge high fees, demand collateral, or refuse loans if profit seems uncertain. Wealth often leaks away through outside investors who take returns far from the community.

Regenerative finance begins with this question: What does this place need to thrive? It takes a place-based approach, directing money to projects that meet local needs, respect culture, and care for the environment. This place-based approach is human-centred and rooted in relationships. It gives people more power over how value is created and shared and circulated in the local community, instead of leaving decisions to distant investors who extract value away.

Community-owned financial institutions (Europe, Africa)

Community-owned banks and credit unions are more formal than ROSCAs and ASCAs. They are legally registered and can manage larger sums over longer periods. Members elect leaders and shape the rules, while profits are reinvested locally instead of going to distant shareholders. Because their purpose is social wellbeing rather than maximum profit, they often serve people excluded by commercial banks and support regenerative projects such as farming, craftwork, or renewable energy.

Bioregional finance initiatives

Some initiatives link finance to natural regions such as watersheds or forests, called bioregions (Figure 4). Financial systems in these areas aim to reconnect money with the health of ecosystems and the long-term wellbeing of people. Bioregional Financing Facilities (BFFs) (Figure 5 and Section 4.4.4) fund local grassroots projects aligned with ecological and social needs in bioregions, like regenerative farming or reforestation. By raising funds from grants, impact investments, and local contributions, BFFs group and channel resources to initiatives that restore ecosystems and strengthen communities. This approach ties finance to local well-being, bridging local economies and ecosystems. For example, in the UK, networks are exploring bioregional investment in food systems and nature restoration. These efforts use money to regenerate living systems rather than extract from them. Section 3.4.3 also addresses bioregionalism related to business activities.

In today’s financial systems, debt often acts as a burden. Borrowers must repay on fixed terms, while risk and pressure fall mainly on them (Section 6.2.4). Indy Johar of Dark Matter Labs suggests redesigning debt to share risk and build resilience. His idea of Good Debt reflects many of the values found in other local finance systems.

Good Debt would work differently:

• Sharing risk: instead of leaving all the pressure on borrowers, risk would be shared. If a community faced a flood or heatwave, payments could pause or even reverse, with lenders carrying part of the loss until recovery.

• Flexible repayment: repayments could change over time, going down in hard periods and rising in times of surplus, or linking to outcomes such as energy savings in a housing project.

• Non-financial returns: restored ecosystems, stronger trust, or new knowledge could also count as value, alongside money.

• Commitment across time: rather than short-term contracts, Good Debt would act like a covenant across generations.

Although still at the idea stage, Good Debt shows how even familiar tools can be redesigned to reflect the core features of community regenerative finance. These systems are socially embedded, with relationships based on trust and cooperation. They rely on reciprocity, giving as well as receiving. They are governed by communities, which shape the rules. They keep value circulating locally, building community wealth instead of extracting it. And they can align with ecological limits, linking finance to the health of land and water systems.

The concept of Good Debt has much in common with principles of Islamic finance. Islamic finance avoids interest-based lending (riba) and encourages sharing through zakat, a required form of wealth redistribution. Instead of interest, it uses tools like mudarabah (profit-sharing partnerships) and murabaha (buying and reselling at an agreed profit) to support fair and responsible investment. These values shape systems that support fairness, mutual trust, and collective responsibility, rather than focusing only on making as much profit as possible, no matter the impact on others.

Together, these principles point to new ways of thinking about value, trust, and responsibility in the economy. Because of the relationships and trust involved, ‘good debt’ principles are probably more likely to be implemented at the local level.

Concept: Systems, Regeneration

Skills: Thinking skills (transfer, critical thinking)

Time: varies, depending on option

Type: Individuals, pairs or small group

Option1: Regenerative vs. extractive money/finance

Time: 40 minutes

Note: This activity should be directed by a teacher or another facilitator, who could also be a student.

Materials

Note: Use scraps of paper; green = assets, white = money is easiest to tell apart, but you can also just use white or brown paper and write ‘green’ and ‘money’ on them)

• 3 green cards per player (assets, like gardens, tools, land, volunteers - you can also just write ‘green’ on the card if you don’t have coloured paper)

• 3 white cards per player (money, any colour will work and you could just write ‘money’ on the card too

• A table for each group of 4-8 students

Setup

• Each table is a city. Put 4-8 students around each table. These are the residents, shops and local government officials of the city.

• Your goal: Make your city as green as possible, as quickly as possible.

• You could put the instructions for each Round and the debriefing questions on a slide to project in the classroom, or print out the instructions for each Round and the debriefing questions for each table.

Round 1: Regenerative money

• Goal: make the city as green as possible, as fast as possible. 

• How to green the city: place green cards (assets) into the city (centre of the table).

• How to place greens: you must buy someone else’s green card with your white cards (money). Then you place that green in the city.

• Start: each player gets 3 green + 3 white cards. Players can set any price. Trade quickly until all greens are in the city. Time how long it takes for the fastest group to finish, because this will be the benchmark for Round 2. But the other tables should not stop until their cities are greened.

Round 2: Extractive money

• Goal: make the city green AND meet the money rule.

• How to green the city: same as Round 1 (buy others’ greens, then place them).

• New rule: finish with 4 white cards or you are bankrupt.

• Start: reset to 3 green + 3 white each. Limit the time to how long it took to green the city in Round 1.

Debrief: After playing, discuss:

• What was different between Round 1 and Round 2?

• Which round made it easier to reach the shared goal?

• In Round 2, what choices did you face between helping the city and protecting yourself?

• How did the new rule about interest change your behaviour?

• What does this show about the difference between regenerative money (money as a tool for wellbeing) and extractive money (money as the goal)?

Option 2: Applying ‘good debt’ ideas to a local challenge

Time: 2 x 40 minutes

• Choose a challenge - Select a challenge in your community (or a familiar context): e.g. extreme heat in cities, affordable housing, biodiversity loss, youth unemployment, etc.

• Brainstorm traditional finance - Ask: How would this usually be financed with ‘normal’ debt? Consider how repayment happens, interest, who carries the risk.

• Reimagine with ‘good debt’ - Using Indy Johar’s principles of ‘good debt’, redesign the debt.

  • Sharing risk

  • Flexible repayment

  • Repayment in non-financial ways

  • Commitment across time

• Create a short pitch - Groups prepare a few sentences ‘good debt pitch’ for their challenge. It should explain what the money would support, the conditions and relationships involved, and why it’s regenerative.

• Share and discuss pitches:

  • Which designs felt realistic?

  • Which ones stretched the imagination but showed what a regenerative system could look like?

  • What barriers might exist (e.g. banks, laws, global investors)?

Option 3: Designing timebanking in your school

Time: 2 x 40 minutes

In small groups, think about how you would design time banking in your school.

• List possible needs: Think about what students, teachers, or staff might need help with in school. (Examples: homework support, language practice, IT help, setting up events, coaching, fixing equipment, or even dog-walking for teachers after school.)

• Decide the exchanges - pair up offers with needs: What skills or time could people offer in return? Remember: in a timebank, all hours are equal, whether you are helping with algebra or painting stage sets.

• Sketch your plan:

  • What needs does your timebank meet?

  • Who is involved? (Only students? Students and teachers? Wider community?)

  • How are hours recorded? (App, noticeboard, cards?)

  • What rules are needed to keep it fair?

• Prepare a short pitch: Present your school timebank idea in 2 minutes. Use drawings, icons, or a simple diagram to show how it works.

• Class reflection - Which ideas felt realistic? What challenges might arise (trust, fairness, organisation)? What could help a school timebank succeed.

Ideas for longer activities and projects are listed in Subtopic 6.5

• Timebanks.org - a platform promoting time banking, a system where communities exchange time and skills instead of money to build trust and strengthen social ties. The site provides resources, tools, and success stories to help individuals and groups start or join time banks. Difficulty level: easy

• The World’s Most Valuable Unused Resource - a Freakonomics podcast discussing timebanks. Difficulty level: easy

• The Banker Ladies - a short film (ca. 22 minutes) tells the stories of Ginelle, Aisha, and Mabinty, three Black women in Toronto creating diverse financial services for their communities through Rotating Saving and Credit Associations (ROSCAs).

• Grassroots Economics: Reflection and Practice - a book exploring strategies for commoning by Will Ruddick. The PDF of the book is available as a free download. Difficulty level: easy

• Cooperation is Possible and Happening - an article by Grassroots Economist Will Ruddick describing the way cooperation works at the Kibbutz Tzuba. He covers the history, governance in practice, the religious roots of the commoning, and everyday life. Difficulty level: easy

• Offers and Needs ‘Market’ - a website explaining an offers and needs ‘market’ where people in a community can come together to find out what each person can offer and what each person needs. The strategy makes it easier to set up systems of mutual benefit or local gift economies. Difficulty level: easy

• What services are exchanged? - a page from the Charlottesville, Virginia (USA) timebanking website listing the many kinds of services that people offer. Difficulty level: easy

• Mutual aid in Sudan: the future of aid? - an interesting article detailing many concrete examples of spontaneous mutual aid in Sudan in 2023, as the country plunged into civil war. Difficulty level: medium

• How to form a babysitting coop - An overview of how to set up a group to share childcare responsibilities without exchange of money. Caring for children using commoning can help shift some care from markets, benefiting families financially and helping to build more resilient households and communities. Difficulty level: easy

• Grassroots economics - the website of an organisation working on social commitment pooling, along with digital tools to support it. Difficulty level: medium

• Mutual aid is sweeping the world. Here’s how we make this anarchist way of organising last - an article about mutual aid during the Covid-19 pandemic and what Argentina’s experience demonstrates about how to make long-lasting mutual aid beyond crises

Barinaga. E. (2024). Remaking Money for a Sustainable Future. Bristol University Press. https://library.oapen.org/viewer/web/viewer.html?file=/bitstream/handle/20.500.12657/89799/9781529225402.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Bollier, D. (2024). “5. Many Galaxies of Commons.” Think Like a Commoner, 2nd edition. Gabriola Island: New Society Publishers. https://www.thinklikeacommoner.com/

Darby, D. (2025, May 12). Rotating savings & credit associations (ROSCAs). Lowimpact.org. https://www.lowimpact.org/posts/topics/rotating-savings-credit-associations-roscas/

Dark Matter Labs. (2025). Good debt: Reclaiming capital as systemic contribution (White Paper, Beta version 3.1). https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xwJXD2kc7ePL-A1lppg9Yk80ZopY4vbV/view?usp=sharing

Power, S., & Seefeld, L. (2024). Bioregional financing facilities: Reimagining finance to regenerate our planet. The BioFi Project; Dark Matter Labs; Buckminster Fuller Institute. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yznJ324biVX_RyVcTKNB96vNMqFbYUI3/view

Ruddick, W. (2024, February 19). “Commitment Pooling.” Grassroots Economics. https://grassecon.org/commitment-pooling

TimeBanks USA. (n.d.). How it works. https://www.timebanks.org/how-it-works

World Bank (2015, March 31). Brief: Islamic finance. https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/financialsector/brief/islamic-finance

Coming soon!