At the same  time, we have a deep joy in and commitment to making NVC available to all people, regardless of their financial means.  We are aware that some people do not approach us with their needs regarding finances and choose instead not to participate in our programs.  We're sad about that, since we're longing for trust in our commitment and passion for sharing this work freely.  We have chosen to elaborate our approach to money in detail, with the hope of supporting everyone in building trust that their needs matter and that we fully wish to include them.  Hoping to live out of trust and care for all, we ask that each person contribute no more than they are able to give with peace of mind and joy.  This last request greatly contributes to meeting our need for pleasure in receiving your gift.

We are excited about this approach, because we predict that, over time, it will contribute to meeting all of our needs for learning and for moving toward a society in which everyone's needs fully matter.  At the same time, we can only continue to offer this if our needs are held with care, and if each person does their utmost to contribute at the top of their financial ability. 

We hope you will engage with us in our journey to shift our relationships to money.  Our goal is to enable you to consider the variety of needs that exist within your relationship to money, and to arrive at an amount that reflects your financial reality, grounded in an awareness of all the needs you're desiring to meet.  We hope, furthermore, that you engage in this process as an opportunity to grow in awareness, conscious choice, and trust that everyone's needs can and do matter.

Q: What are some questions I can consider in order to determine my contribution?

A: Below are some questions that participants in other NVC classes have found useful as they consider what to contribute and how to hold all needs with care.  We hope you will engage with these questions as part of your process of determining your contribution and the value of our contribution of NVC training.

• What considerations are going into your choice about how much to contribute?

• What needs of ours are you aware of?

• If you contribute more, will that have an impact on your choices in other areas of your life that are essential for you? In what way?

• If you contribute less, what impact will that have on your needs?

• Have you considered raising funds to cover the program costs or to increase what you are able to contribute? If yes, what are your plans?

• If you are choosing not to raise funds and are not able to cover the program costs, what needs are you attending to by making this choice? Would your choice change if we could offer you more support with strategies for fundraising?

Q: How do your sliding scales work?

A: We offer sliding-scales in order to create a wider comfort zone for contribution.  We offer the low end of our sliding scale to support people who are struggling financially, and who otherwise might not be able to attend.  For most people, we are hoping for contributions around the middle of the scale, which is set to cover our anticipated costs, including our investments of time and energy.  If everyone paid at the low end of the scale, this would not be sustainable for us.

Q: It's not sustainable for me to make the financial contributions that are requested.  What are my options?

A: There are four main options you can consider:

1) Extended payment plan

2) Volunteering time and skills

3) Tuition scholarships

4) Fundraising

Q: How does a volunteering (or work exchange) plan work?

A: There are several aspects to answering this question.  At the outset, we want to emphasize that, while we are grateful to receive offers of your time, we only want people to make such agreements if they are connected with a desire to contribute to us in this way.  For this reason, we prefer to speak of volunteering rather than exchanging - we want to move out of the paradigm of exchange and into the paradigm of giving from the heart.  For this reason, too, we embrace offers of volunteering from ALL - those who pay below, within, or above our requested amounts. 

We generally want to receive as much time as you are comfortable and happy to give - not more.  Depending on the type of program you are participating in, volunteer arrangements can range from short, one-time stints to concentrated amounts of time for special projects, to longer-term and more regular agreements (for example, to support administrative work at the office). 

Types of volunteer opportunity might include administrative work (making copies, data entry, etc.), graphic design, working on word and excel documents, organizing events, and fundraising.