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Our Story
The majority of our society has been facing severe economic hardships since 2008, with Generation Y being at the forefront. According to the U.S. Census bureau, nearly 50% of Americans 16-29 are unemployed. Furthermore, outstanding student loan debt is expected to reach $1 Trillion in 2012. Our future generations are facing hard times as well with 1 in 5 children in America living in poverty.
In response to this crisis, our youth-driven, idea incubator co-op, The Illuminated Ventures Project (IllVP), has created The Build a New Economy campaign. The goal is to mobilize Generation Y and other concerned citizens to self-organize a sustainable economy and planet.
Our startup has been featured on the following sites
We're asking people....
"What would you strive to become and what kind of positive change would you pursue to create if financial barriers were no longer a problem?"
Then connecting them to the type of environment to make that happen.
This crowdfunding campaign is intended to create our first project, Producia. It aims to be a fun, barter-based marketplace with an ambitious goal...
"Help everyone become an impactful social entrepreneur to eventually self-actualize in a sustainable world"
It is designed for our members to create people-powered stimulus packages and revitalized local communities in a fun way.
It combines the features of a marketplace, social network, and startup incubator all-in-one. Just imagine a social entrepreneur focused Amazon, Bitcoin, LinkedIn, and Unreasonable Institute all rolled into one, and you'll get the idea of what we're up to.
It also implements a new strategy called gamification to incentivize local production, consumption, and social good within communities. Simply put, we help guide our members to give their talents to the community for the goods and services they need and want.
The organization will be structured as a not-for-profit worker/member hybrid cooperative.
Ultimately, this project will provide the infrastructure for people to self-organize a sustainable economy and planet.
We are creating a pilot project (our alpha phase) of this model in Richmond, Virginia starting in May 2012. We will begin our beta phase at the largest university in Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, on Labor Day 2012. We will document these phases in a weekly web series for the world to see!
To gain a better understanding of this project, please read our blog post, "Build a New Economy for the Cost of a Cup of Coffee?!"
The Impact
Based on the past and current success of the features that's incorporated into our model, our hypothesis is that Producia has the potential to...
- End Poverty, Unemployment, & Money-Related Crime
- Create A Sustainable World
- Empower The Youth
- Infuse Diversity
- Make Everyone A Passionate Social Entrepreneur
- Weave Communities Back Together
- Bring The Economic Power Back In The Hands of The People
Our first year projections:
10,000 Jobs Created
1.8 Million Hours of community service rendered
1.8 Million Hours of community service rendered
10 Millionin Community Currency Exchanged
(those numbers are projected, at minimum, to triple each year!)
Read Our 31 Page PDF Business Plan (Diagrams and Producia Demo Video on Last 2 Pages)
View Our Presentation
We are at a point in our society where we have to start trying alternatives to the current system in place. This project is meant to fill in the gaps left by our current system, to expand our local economies.
In fact, here's a good analogy. Our economic system is like a caterpillar. During this process of its life, it eats everything in its way. But eventually it must transform into a butterfly. We liken Producia as the "Butterfly Economy". It's an evolution, not a revolution. One of the most important things to remember is "A revolution can be stopped, an evolution can not."
The ultimate goal of this movement is to help humanity live creative, purpose-driven lives in a sustainable world; to have humanity self-actualize into what we were meant to be while living in harmony with the planet. All of the resources are available to make this happen but we can't depend on 3rd parties to do it for us. We have to take action ourselves. This project provides the infrastructure to make that happen.
What We Need & What You Get
Our goal is to raise $15.2 Million mainly through the sale of our multimedia book, The Producism Manifesto, to launch the new economy in 10 cities throughout America. ($1.52 million per city)
- One third of the funds raised will go towards startup costs
- Another third will go towards seed funding our members’ startups
- Another third will be donated to partner non-profits located within the 10 cities of our launch.
Our partner nonprofits will have a focus on one or more of the following: self-sufficiency, helping the youth pursue their passions, or implementing a new economy. We will have 10 partners in each city, leading to a total of 100. Our goal is to distribute $50,000 to each partner organization ($5 Million in total). We are currently in the process of enrolling them.
(IndieGoGo has an initial fundraising goal limit of $5,000,000. However, we can surpass this limit to our goal of $15,200,000.)
$1.52 Million per Area
- 500k for Startup Resources
- 500k for Seed Funding for our Members' Startups
- 500k for Partner Non-Profits & Occupy Wall St. Movements
- 20k for Indie GoGo Costs
The first 10 areas:
Richmond, VA
New York, NY
San Francisco, CA
Austin, TX
Washington, DC
Atlanta, GA
Chicago, IL
Seattle, WA
Durham, NC
Portland, OR
Every $1.52 Million raised means Producia will be in a new city in the order stated above.
Perks
The main perk for contributing to our crowdfunding campaign is....
The Producism Manifesto is a multimedia book that will share the blueprint of the new economy in text, image, and video form. (Book/DVD-Web Video Combo) It will also include interviews (video and/or audio & text-based) from thought leaders, social entrepreneurs, and active participants in the new economy. You can learn more about the book here.
Crowdfund supporters will save 50% off the regular price of the book and get lifetime digital updates on future revised versions!
The book is set to be released in May 2012.
Other perks are merchandise, co-op membership, seminar tickets, and exposure on our website and in the book!
We can easily reach our goal by having 10,000 people purchase the ebook at $3, and referring 3 others to do the same. Then, those 3 people refer 3 others. That process has to only happen 8 times in order for us to reach the goal.
If the event arises that we don't reach our goal, supporters will still receive their perks.
Other Ways You Can Help
Join our community, Producism Nation. On the site you will be able to show your support for Producism by publicly endorsing the idea, spreading the word to friends and family, contributing your talents by joining a working group, learning about the new economy via the blog, and much more.
