Crowd funding ended – What’s next?
First of all the whole project team would like to thank everyone who supported “Village tests future”!
It was a wild, wonderful and above all instructive time until here. Above all, we got to know great people, which is priceless. And who knows, maybe it is not over yet?!
“Who does not want, finds reasons. Who wants, finds ways”.
The project to test an unconditional basic income raised great interest throughout the country and also worldwide. After more than half of the inhabitants of Rheinau had been reached with 770 registrations, the crowd funding to fund the trial started on October 16th. The money was intended to provide the participants with an unconditional basic income for one year.
The project team did it’s best to raise the money needed without having a budget or getting paid. It all happened because we all wanted to make a change!
By the deadline on the 4th of December at 14:26, the crow funding campaign had only raised around CHF 150,000. The declared target was around CHF 6.1 million.
We knew about the difficulty of collecting so much money in such a short time. Nevertheless, we dared, because it would have been possible and why not try. Sometimes you have to dare the seemingly impossible to make a difference. And a lot has moved.
Of course it’s a pity that it didn’t work that way. But it wasn’t “for nothing”:
The project “Village tests the future” has come further than many would ever have expected: In January 2018 I started with a simple website and the invitation to propose villages, which would be perfect to test a basic income. On the 5th of June the first miracle happened: it became public that Rheinau is interested to become the basic income-village. At the end of September 770 inhabitants (out of 1302) agreed to participate in the trial. That was the second miracle!
In addition, the project not only made the inhabitants of Rheinau discuss intensively about the basic income and what it could mean for them personally. Thanks to the press the news about the planned Swiss trial reached the whole country – and also got beyond the borders.
For now the project has ended. But who knows, maybe the journey will continue?
Either way, the project team, together with the local council, the science team and other parties involved, will analyse and evaluate the journey so far and the findings. We’ll keep you up to date as soon as there is news.
Many doors are still open. Many doors have only opened because of the crowd funding-failure.
“She who fights can lose, but she who does not fight has already lost!” Bertold Brecht
Thanks again for your support!
Rebecca for „village tests future“
