Cultural
Organizations rooted in service to the community, a professional event calendar, and the handling of philanthropic and micro-investment funding alongside ordinary commerce.
A CFAE program
Healthy communities, thriving businesses.
A community-rooted, human-centered e-commerce platform that directs consumer focus back to local organizations and businesses — and weaves together cultural, economic, and rights spheres into a healthier social form.
Local Commons is a program of CFAE, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit established in 1982. It is a community-rooted, human-centered e-commerce platform built to facilitate a more purposeful union of business commerce and cultural organizations within the interweaving of society. Its systems architecture is designed to direct consumer focus back to organizations and businesses within their respective communities — weaving together a meaningful working connection through affiliations, associations, and commerce that strengthens the bond between the cultural and economic spheres. Local Commons works as an alternative e-commerce platform focused on the person, the community, and humanity — where profits start to flow outward instead of just upward, and the greatest freedom of determination can be made by the many instead of the few. To participate as a business or organization, or to join one of the core working groups (employment processes, investment profile, user experience, messaging, or web design), write localcommons@cfae.us.
The three spheres
A threefold methodology.
Local Commons keeps the cultural, economic, and rights spheres each accountable to its own purpose — rather than collapsing all three into a single market logic.
Economic
Both product and service businesses, with their efforts and aspirations represented. Commerce as the focal point — products and services sold to the public.
Rights / Governance
Governance and policy of Local Commons and its community-reinvestment programs worldwide. Accreditation as the foundation for a new business method rooted in a threefold methodology.
Our aims
- Foster small-business creation and growth.
- Build strong alliances between businesses and cultural / nonprofit organizations.
- Facilitate investments back into people.
- Develop clear distinctions between the needs of Society and those of the Economy and Rights.
- Create a duplicatable business model that allows society to "live to work" rather than "work to live."
Participate as a business or organization
Local Commons welcomes businesses and organizations — nonprofit or otherwise — who want to be part of the rollout. Write us with your name, location, type of work, and main focus.
Write usJoin a core working group
Active working groups: Employment & Business Processes (threefold methodology), Investment Profile, User Experience, Messaging / Advertising, and Web Design & Coding.
Core Group inquiry