Principles of Nonviolent Financial Models

First published on LinkedIn

After speaking today with my good friend and fellow FEST member Alyona Yuzefovich, I felt inspired to finally write down the principles of Nonviolent Financial Models. A more specific version of these principles has long been articulated in the main governance document of the Evolutionary Funding Collaboratory, but we’ve never written them down in a more general form, even though we’ve discussed them with nearly every hosting team or project team we’ve assembled in recent years.

The wording is still raw but it is grounded in many years of practice that shows these principles work in real life. Not in all contexts, not for everyone, and not fully or perfectly every time, but they have been very helpful in guiding the high-context, trust-based, translocal work of the Evolutionary Futures Lab. 

Nonviolent financial models are grounded in the recognition that economic arrangements can produce coercion and harm. Economic violence is violence. These models therefore seek to minimize that violence by aligning with the following principles whenever possible:

1. Trust in the giver: No one is expected to contribute financially beyond what feels fully comfortable and sustainable in their unique circumstances, acting from genuine care for themselves and others.

2. Trust in the receiver: Everyone is invited to request compensation that feels fair and comfortable for the value they bring, acting from genuine care for themselves and others.

3. Separation of money and belonging: Access and participation are never restricted or judged based on how much someone gives, requests, or receives.

4. Flexibility of structure over financial pressure on people: When contributions and requests do not align, the model adapts creatively by redefining scope, rethinking scale, adjusting timelines, expanding participation, or diversifying financial streams and forms of capital.

At its core, this approach treats money not as a mechanism of control, but as a tool for coordination and care.

Examples of financial models that closely follow these principles include the Thought Leadership for Systems Transformation program we ran in 2021-2022 and the Evolutionary Funding Collaboratory (EFC) that funds transcontextual action learning for systems transformation. Here is a recent FEST community call in which I share a bit about how EFC works:

Of course, there are many other versions and examples of financial models inspired by the values underpinning these principles. Some of them are described in the Funding Governance for Systemic Transformation Blueprint, written by Ben Roberts and colleagues for r3.0 in 2022. The principles I share here are by no means novel or unique, but, in the spirit of #BubbleSharing, there is value in sharing them in the form that emerged from our specific practice.