Lifeboat Academy Business Model

Overview

1. The Lifeboat Academy is something between:

   1. An apocaloptimist resort community - like a timeshare in a homestead

   2. A demonstration regenerative agriculture research facility.

   3. A peer-to-peer learning centre.

Income Streams

2. The Lifeboat Academy includes multiple income streams relative to each aspect:

   1. Income from guests farmstays 

   2. Income from farm produce

      1. From farm-gate sales

      2. To guests as meals (value-added)

   3. Income from educational activities including:

      1. Those focused primarily on creating collaborative team cultures

      2. Those focused primarily on practical resilience skills

      3. Those focused primarily on personal (emotional) resilience skills

Transformations Over Time

3. The business model transforms over time as:

   1. We develop accommodations.

   2. We develop food production capacity.

   3. Commoners gain more equity in the commons.

   4. The global environmental / economy changes.

4. The expected contribution from different income streams vary over time.

   1. We expect farmstays to provide the strongest income potential to start off. 

   2. Food production income will take time to develop and also we expect it to become more valuable over time as food resources continue to become more dear. 

   3. As commoners gain more equity in the commons, we expect farm stay income to fade in importance. However, it should be matched by a general reduction in the financial needs of the enterprise and the commoners.  

5. Financial goals also transform over time

   1. Initial goals seek to guarantee covering overhead and start up expenses

   2. Second phase goals seek to build commoner equity / pay off any “mortgages”

   3. Third phase goals focus on reinvestment in the commons (both at Spalding Valley and potentially supporting other ventures). 

6. Initial Business Model

   1. The initial business model is centered on the idea of the Lifeboat Academy as retreat / research / education centre with the only full-time residents being the farmer-caretakers responsible for managing the “common enterprise.” 

      1. This model is aligned with current zoning and ALR (agricultural land reserve) policies.

      2. This model also allows a low-risk way of proving the carrying capacity of the land.

7. Initial Share Structure

1. In essence, social mortgage holders could be considered a special form of sponsorship, where the holder expects to have their shares purchased by farmer-caretakers or future timeshare croppers. In this model, social mortgage holders are sponsoring spots for farmers and for future time-sharecroppers. 

2. Time-sharecroppers are also “sponsors” in that they agree to allow their spots to be used by paying guests if they don’t use their allotted time.  

8. Future “Hamlet” Possibilities

   1. There is a possibility that the “time-share resort” model could morph into the “Farm Hamlet” model, with more full-time residents housed on the property. Before this could happen, farmer-caretakers would need to:

      1. Prove the “carrying capacity” of the property including adequate water, food production, and 

      2. Provide safe 4-season retreat accommodations for 16 people (or whatever the final capacity proves to be) simultaneously, proving adequate infrastructure and a general fit with the character of the environment. . 

   2. Once capacity has been established, individuals holding at least 100 shares will be able to submit a proposal to the Stewardship Council for full-time residency. 

      1. Proposals must prove no negative impact on the food production capacity of the property. 

      2. Proposals must also address zoning or other legal requirements.

      3. Proposals must also ensure that the permanent occupancy doesn’t place any financial burden on the common enterprise. 

   3. Prior to proven capacity, individuals with at least 25 shares can submit a proposal to the Stewardship Council to construct a tiny house on site. 

      1. Proposed structures must conform to current zoning and building requirements (i.e. 10 square meter floor area or less or a tiny home on wheels).

      2. Structures must be sited in a way that creates no negative impact on the development of the food production capacity of property.

      3. Share holders are responsible for the cost and labour of building the structure.

      4. The structure becomes the property of the Lifeboat Academy and share holders are compensated with 6 shares (comparable to the budget allotted for building bunkies)

      5. The structure is made available for other guests of the Lifeboat Academy when not in use by the share holder - within the terms and conditions set out in 13.c. 

The “Common Enterprise” vs Special Projects

9. The “Common Enterprise” includes the basic elements of the model:

   1. Providing and hosting guest accommodations including preparing meals

   2. Managing the farm guilds - chickens, goats, gardens, compost, pigs, etc.

   3. Providing regular On-site “Lifeboat Offerings” - 

      1. guest on-boarding and orientation to sociocracy processes

      2. “Gumboot bootcamps” and 

      3. Lifeboat circles

10. The founding farmers (Ben Kadel, Roland Maurice, and Ronnie Gelman) are responsible for recruiting, vetting, and onboarding new farmers in consultation with the Stewardship Council. 

11. The Farmer-Caretaker team works with the Stewardship Council to set the agreement for what activities are included in the “common enterprise” based on experience about reasonable workloads. The agreement is reviewed and refined every year. 

    1. Farmer-caretakers are primarily responsible for the overhead costs of the “common enterprise” but these costs are the first things to be reimbursed for work performed. 

12. Any shareholder can propose an activity to use currently unused commons resources as a special project.

    1. The Stewardship Council is responsible for making sure the new project causes no conflicts with existing elements of the “common enterprise” or other special projects. 

    2. The Stewardship Council negotiates a balanced exchange of energy for the new project and establishes the “earning your keep” amount and the profit sharing arrangement beyond that. 

    3. Project instigators must own at least one share in the commons and participate in the Coordination Circle. 

Shareholder Rights and Responsibilities

13. Shares come with both rights and obligations.

14. The rights and responsibilities vary depending on share type. 

    1. Class A and C Shareholders (Timeshare-croppers and farmer-caretakers, respectively) have annual dues equal to the total overhead of the enterprise divided proportionally by number of shares held2. 

    2. Dues can be reimbursed if:

       1. The shareholder or farmer “earn their keep” (provide the proportional equivalent of 25 hours / wk of effort on the shared enterprise - 13 hrs a year per share.)

       2. The enterprise makes enough income to at least cover overhead and expenses. 

    3. Class A shareholders can occupy guests accommodations proportionate to their shares at no additional cost, based on availability

       1. They are charged for a meal plan while on the campus, which can be waived for work performed. 

       2. Shareholders allow any unused time to be used by paying guests.

       3. ?? Shareholders are allowed to make use of any unbooked accommodations for free (plus meal plan fee).  

Key Roles

15. The business model accounts for 6 types of engagement / involvement:

    1. Farmer-caretakers (tied to Social Mortgages)

    2. Interns

    3. Time-sharecroppers

    4. Guests

    5. Social Mortgage Holders

    6. Fairshare Sponsors / Space Sponsors

16. Farmer / caretakers are the core of the model. 

    1. They form the core staff of the enterprise.

    2. They are farmers, researchers, educators and hosts. 

    3. They are expected to work at least 25 hours / week in the common enterprise, in exchange for their “dues” to be reimbursed provided the enterprise makes enough to cover expenses. 

       1. They are eligible for profit sharing for enterprise income earned beyond farm expenses. 

          1. The Stewardship Council will determine what percentage or amount of profits are retained for reinvestment in the commons. 

          2. Profit sharing is based on hours contributed to the common enterprise beyond 

    4. They are working in part to earn equity in the commons. 

       1. They are expected to pay off their mortgage within 10 years.

       2. Until their mortgage is paid off, a percentage of their profit sharing is automatically put towards mortgage payments, generally proportionate to the unpaid balance of the mortgage, up to a certain limit (say, 10% of the total footprint). So, for example, if they still owe 50% on their mortgage, the first 50% of their profit sharing is retained to pay down their mortgage, up to $16,000. 

       3. Farmer-caretakers are free to choose how they use their time and effort beyond the first 25 hours. 

          1. For reference, $16,000 (one tenth of a full footprint) can be earned in 15 X 52 X 20, or 780 hrs @ $20 / hr or $15,600. 

          2. To earn this amount for 6 farmers in the common enterprise, we would need to earn about $100k over expenses. 

17. Timeshare-croppers are described in section 13 above. 

18. Social Mortgage Holders own shares in the enterprise with the expectation that they will be purchased back from them on an agreed upon schedule. 

    1. They may specifically be holding shares for farmers to purchase, or for future time-sharecroppers, or either.

    2. They don’t owe any dues and have full guest privileges.

19. Fairshare Sponsors own shares in the enterprise with the intention of holding them in perpetuity and make the “footprint” (or portion thereof) it represents available for another commoner to make use of it. 

    1. Fairshare Sponsors may stipulate the desired uses. For example, a Fairshare Sponsor could make a spot available for Indigenous people or for farm interns.

    2. Spot Sponsors can decide if they want to cover the dues for their shares or require that guests using those spots cover dues (which could be paid for in labour). 

Phases of Development 

1. Phase 1 – “Soft Open” - April 2023 thru September 2023

   1. Seek and secure investors to purchase Spalding Valley Farm.

   2. Begin core farm activities

      1. Initial kitchen and market garden - up to X beds

      2. Pigs raised with conventional feed

      3. Chickens for eggs with natural flock expansion

      4. Goats for clearing  

   3. Begin recruiting fellow caretaker-farmers

      1. Secure at least 2 new interns with potential to be farmers

   4. Set up rough accommodations 

      1. 2 bedrooms

      2. “Family room”

      3. RV

      4. 2 Tents

      5. Studio as potential overflow

   5. Host first guest / learners on a donation basis

   6. Build first bunky as test project. 

   7. Continue to build online educational offering – aka The Lifeboat Network

   8. Stretch goal: Host permaculture design course

   9. Stretch goal: Build farm workshop / barn

2. Phase 2 – Foundation Building - October 2023 thru March 2024

   1. Purchase Spalding Valley Farm

   2. Build additional bunkies (for a total of five) 

   3. Build farm workshop

   4. Augment kitchen / shared space to provide space for 6 caretaker-farmers and up to 10 guests

   5. Produce detailed farm plan

      1. Introduce dairy goats

      2. Expand gardens

      3. Expand chicken flock

      4. Introduce additional elements

   6. Continue recruiting time-sharecroppers

   7. Promote and expand guest / learner opportunities. 

   8. Continue to support the development of the Lifeboat Network and the establishment of 100 new Lifeboats with a goal of XX lifeboats in the network. 

3. Phase 3 – Proper Launch - April 2024 thru October 2024

   1. All systems in place to gather baseline information for year 1 production. 

   2. Begin to implement detailed farm plan. 

   3. Establish targets for guests / learners with action plan. 

   4. Continue to augment food production while reducing overall footprint. 

   5. Continue to support the development of the Lifeboat Network and the establishment of 100 new Lifeboats. 

4. Phase 4 - Ongoing November 2024 and beyond. 

   1. Aim-Act-Reflect-Refine. See 

   2. Continue to augment food production while reducing overall footprint. 

   3. Continue to support the development of the Lifeboat Network and the establishment of 100 new Lifeboats. 

   4. Continue to expand guest / learner opportunities.