Join CSC
While embracing the Operating Principles, participants of CSC are undertaking its work and Mission with enthusiasm and determination. We still consider ourselves to be in the early stages of undertaking this work and will need many more hands and heads to convert our vision into a reality. 

Friends receive our monthly e-mails and other correspondence. They are invited to participate in activities, hands-on projects and functions of the CSC while donating time or resources when and where they can.

Associates  (click here to download Associates form)may choose to participate in all activities and meetings of the CSC and have a clear influence on how our organizational activities and business decisions are conducted. They have a say in what we do, participate in different projects and functions, and may serve on committees. An Associate pledges a minimum of 12 hrs. per year of their time and $120 in financial contributions ($10/month) to the work of CSC. (See Work/Pledge below.)

Members (click here to download Members form)participate fully in all activities and meetings of the CSC. They have the added responsibility of serving on and/or electing the Board of Directors. They help the Board make decisions on larger organizational and fiscal matters. A member pledges a minimum of 100 hrs. per year of their time (8-9 hrs./month) and $1000 annually ($80-90/month) in financial contributions to CSC and its work. (See Work/Pledge below.)

To be clear, we are not committing ourselves to an “organization” per say, but rather to “the work” that this organization has chosen to undertake.  We believe that the heart and soul of this work is the great work before us all as the human species on this planet at this time.

Work/Pledge
It takes both time and money to fulfill the work before us, therefore we encourage everyone to attempt to donate both.  However, due to circumstance, it might not be possible for some to donate time, for others gifts of money may be difficult.  Therefore, participants may increase their hours to minimize or eliminate their financial contribution, and vice versa. For example, a member can choose to donate 200 hours per year (about 4 hours/week) and make no financial gifts to meet the membership criteria.  An Associate from a long distance away might donate $240 and no time instead of $120 and 12 hours.  The comparison is currently based on a $10/hour rate of service.  Please decide what is best for you and let the Member Coordinator know of your intentions on the CSC Participation Form

Membership Coordinator
The Membership Coordinator keeps track of member and associate pledges and has the authority to work with individuals to meet the above options for participating. 

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Where to Donate Time to CSC
1)  Participation in CSC Co-operatives:  Our existing, or potentially new, co-ops are prime examples of people working together in community.  This year the garden co-op has consumed a lot of time and energy, as well as a lot of donated money.  In addition, the chicken, orchard and tool co-ops are continuing to explore new opportunities, and many of you are already involved in these important programs.  We want to invite all CSC participants to find opportunities in existing or new co-operative ventures under CSC’s non-profit umbrella.

2)  Intern Program: We need leadership to implement an effective intern program within CSC.  That means thinking through the details, making arrangements, screening prospects (we get applicants fairly regularly) and managing the program for two to three years.  We also need help hosting the interns, overseeing their work, and evaluating the program results to improve it in the future.

3)  Volunteer Coordinator(s): Several individuals who are not CSC participants show up and ask to help some how with the work without committing to become Associates or Members of the organization.  It would be very helpful to find someone with an interest in arranging, promoting and organizing activities of this kind.

4)  Membership Coordinator: This currently existing position has been filled by the Board who identified a “volunteer” to keep track of members, send out meeting notices (like this one) on request by a member(s).  Currently, we have identified an acting MC (Ed Homeier), but want to nominate and elect someone to fill that job at the next Annual Meeting (July 15).  Those called to be members and associates will do the nominating and electing.

5)  Volunteer Executive Director: Ed, as President of the Board, has carried this load this year.  However, we want to offer the possibility that someone else would feel called to step up to this job in the future.
There is a possibility that this could become a paid position, if the organization prospered.

6)  Open House Coordinator: The person assuming this position would select appropriate dates (monthly?), publicize, organize meals for, and help facilitate programs for these events.  This could include work with SCA and would involve a few hours that would include Stelle-CSC tours, and possibly brief programs on some aspect of sustainable living.

7)  Public Relations: We need some PR person(s) who handle correspondence, check the phone, check the email, suggest website updates, and assist the Open House Coordinator.

8)  Workshop Coordinator: We haven’t done workshops this year and have focused on only Earth Day and the Solar Tour.  There are other opportunities that could be explored in sustainable living and that would take someone devoted to identifying the event, finding experts to speak, helping with publicity, etc.

9)  Fund Raising Coordinator: CSC would certainly value someone interested in doing things to help CSC acquire donations of some kind or other.  That includes devising ideas, cooperating with others to achieve them, etc.  One example, from the past was a series of meals organized by Renee Trenda.

10)  Grant Writing Coordinator: Grants for promoting sustainable living are available, but applying for these moneys and administration of the funds once they are awarded is a big time activity that actually requires someone dedicated to the work.
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Preamble
The membership has wrestled with what kind of relationships we want to develop in this organization in order to accomplish our tasks. Some wondered if words in our vision statement like “willingly embrace” and “gladly commit” were too intimate or too demanding, but that prompted us to remember that these words are designed to help us find our way together to truly sustainable community.
To find that path, something very difficult and wonderful IS required, and that is a personal willingness and commitment to stretch ourselves beyond the defenses we all put up in the process of our living and working with each other.
The willingness to stretch ourselves beyond where we have gone before is crucial to the success of our working and living together, and is, in fact, an important aspect of the work of CSC.  Is not our primary question, “How do we go about being community together in a sustainable way?”  Our failures in our attempts to do that  usually result in our failure to accomplish the goals we have set for ourselves.
So, we concluded that the words in this Working Vision Statement ARE intimate and personal, because a personal commitment to the work of community is what will be necessary to accomplish it.

Operating Principles
CSC operates, cognizant of the benefits of consciously evolving and compassionate group work.  We who participate in CSC, therefore willingly embrace the following:

  • We understand that things may not always move the way we believe they should, so without diminishing others, we support the group decisions, while creatively working to change or create what we believe to be of the greatest good of all concerned.
  • We search for the deeper truth behind what appears to be happening on the surface, knowing that there are often several underlying layers in each situation, especially in our own feelings and thinking;
  • We hold each of our colleagues as well-intentioned, even if we should disagree with them;
  • We choose not to speak disparagingly of, or to, others.
  • We understand that we are the ones generating the emotions we are feeling—that our emotions are not “caused” by others.
  • We view our inner turmoil as a “friend,” indicating to ourselves an opportunity for personal insight or healing;
  • We trust in the results of the group process when we as individuals work from compassion, care, and respect.

    To better understand the above, we embrace the following guides: The Fires of Group Work, by Gloria Crook; The Four Agreements, by Don Miguel Ruiz; Non-Violent Communication, by Marshall Rosenberg; As a Man Thinketh, by James Allen; Creating a Life Together: Practical Tools to Grow Ecovillages and Intentional Communities, by Diane Leafe Christian.

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