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October '01

Circle news

In the AVNews # 908, October 13th, 2001, the following note was published:

Dear Circle Members,

We are in the process of writing a newsletter to inform the members of the circles and the community at large about the recent developments. This will follow in next weeks' News.
The present situation in the circles requires our awareness and greater active participation.

Over the past six months the circles have experienced considerable freedom in their spending. We have accumulated a minus of approximately Rs 7.5 lakhs, out of which Rs 6 lakhs were covered by the Ts 1-lakh per month buffer donation for this experiment by Maroma. This leaves us with a minus of Rs 1.5 lakhs.

The Financial Service has requested the coordinators to reduce the over expenditure so as not to exceed the 1-lakh-per-month buffer, since the Central Fund itself does not have the funds to cover the excess expenditure.

This has taken form as a two-fold process;

1. Generating more income

Different circle members have come up with ways to generate more circle income and we hope that others will follow. A funding proposal has also recently been written and is in the process of being refined.

2. Decreasing our over expenditure

• The circle coordinators reviewed the accounts and caps (limits) were put on those people who are consistently spending considerably more than they put in. The caps express the amount that the circles can afford at this point in the experiment. Most of you have understood this measure and we appreciate your goodwill in this regard.

• We understand that expenses differ greatly and that it is extremely difficult for another person to question how far they are justified yet we have to be clear that at the present time we do not have enough income flowing into the circles to cover all our needs.

• We have devised a budgeting form to assist participants in being more aware of their expenditures and to give us a clearer picture of people's basic needs and to what extent we are able to meet them. If you have not yet completed this form we ask you to please contact your coordinators for a copy.

• To be in a Circle means that we are aspiring to change our consciousness in regards to the way we handle money. Although we all hope this will manifest as a collective movement towards the kind of economy Mother wanted Auroville to have, at the present stage it is a psychological work of each individual to be more transparent with money. In order to keep this aspiration alive we encourage you to use the circle forum and the communications network that is now in place to create, initiate, share and exchange.

To summarise, the overall situation necessities all our best efforts to increase our sustainability. We as coordinators are offering our time and energy (in addition to our other regular work) in a spirit of service, and invite a more people to become involved.

Circle Coordinators

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