Hello!

Over the past 18 months, three parties consisting of four individuals, Divine Truth (Jesus & Mary), Catherine Spence & myself, have been financing an experimental initiative with a small number of God’s Way Ltd members and volunteers (volunteers in this post refers to both members and volunteers in the organisation).

This initiative closely follows what is commonly known as a crowd-funding model. It is an independent initiative between private individuals that want to support God’s Way organisation. This is an overview of the crowd-funding initiative, what is involved and why I choose to participate in it.

For those of you who may be visiting this website for the first time here is a little info on God’s Way Ltd.

God’s Way Ltd is a non-profit, member based organisation in Wilkesdale, Queensland Australia. The organisation was incorporated in 2016. As a brief explanation, the organisation is dedicated to finding & sharing God’s Way in relation to all things (to visit the God’s Way Ltd website (godsway.net) go to this link). In order to do this God’s Way needs to be discovered, acted upon, results measured, documented and shared with the world.

There is a company called Divine Truth Pty Ltd that is run by Jesus (AJ Miller)** & Mary Magdalene (Mary Luck) who share spiritual teachings about God’s Truth and living God’s Way. God’s Way Ltd uses teachings of Divine Truth, experiments and applies the teachings in practical, action based situations and documents the results to share with the rest of the world/humanity.

Overview of the Crowd Funding initiative

Crowd-Funding

This experimental initiative has begun to be implemented with a small number of God’s Way Ltd members. This initiative closely follows what is commonly known as a crowd-funding model.

The funders of this initiative are private individuals with a sincere desire to assist God’s Way Ltd to achieve its Vision and Objectives. They have sufficient personal funds available to contribute towards the living expenses of members and volunteers of God’s Way Ltd who wish to provide to their voluntary service on a full time basis. Any person in the world can become a funder of the initiative.

The receivers of the initiative are those members and volunteers who have a sincere desire to uphold the constitution of the organisation and work through their personal emotional condition in harmony with the goals of the organisation but who are not yet receiving sufficient personal donations to support their effort. The receivers of the initiative must desire to volunteer full time.

The funds provide a small amount of money per month to cover basic living expenses. The funds are not wages paid by God’s Way Ltd nor are the members employed by God’s Way Ltd. While receivers participate in the scheme, they are contracted by the funders of the initiative to provide services to God’s Way Ltd for free.

This is a temporary arrangement which is in place until the receivers have worked through their own monetary issues allowing them to receive direct donations from people all around the world in order to pay their basic living expenses.

The project is not a God’s Way Ltd project but was initiated by Jesus, acting as a private individual to further the interests of God’s Way Ltd without the organisation having to be responsible for wages or employment. He proposed the idea of crowd-funding members and volunteers who were demonstrating their passion and commitment to the organisation to enable them to volunteer full time while they are working through the issues associated with receiving donations from others around the world. A number of other private individuals decided to support this initiative and now give small monthly contributions to various receivers. The contributors themselves moderate the temporary initiative. This is designed to encourage participating members to be self responsible and begin to receive donations while they volunteer. Each person is now running their own business and is responsible for their own financial management and the emotions associated with their finances and money. They must provide their own business infrastructure, including insurance and superannuation, government fees and payment of income tax.

Written by Jesus (AJ Miller) & Mary (Mary Luck), 2018.

When Jesus proposed the crowd-funding initiative I wanted to be part of it and felt that it was an opportunity to support the people who volunteer full time for God’s Way Ltd. It was decided to run the experiment initially for a three year period and measure the results. After three years the initiative will be reviewed to decide if it is still financially viable for the funders to continue (the initiative has been running for a bit over 18 months so far).

I feel the crowd-funding initiative is a gift on many levels:

• It is contributing to supporting an organisation with a vision, that if it is acted upon and practically applied, has the possibility to change the world in so many wonderful ways. If you would like to read the objectives of the organisation here is a link to the God’s Way Ltd constitution.
• It leverages volunteers time so that they can work solely for the organisation, do not need to seek work elsewhere and work towards achieving the company’s vision & objectives.
• It gives the opportunity for volunteers to have time to work on their soul condition and emotional issues that arise during the God’s Way Ltd work period in order that they bring their lives into living in harmony with God’s Way (this is a constitutional requirement of the organisation).
• It gives volunteers the time and space without having to worry about their day to day living costs to work on their monetary issues and work through them so they become fully responsible for their own lives & livelihood.
• It demonstrates how cooperation, such as pooling resources and spreading costs can benefit many.
• It demonstrates how money was made to flow. For example: money is gifted to volunteers, volunteers use the funds in the local community and some of the funds find their way back to the organisation or other people who are involved in the organisation and so on.

What is involved

When the initiative started Jesus calculated the average monthly living expenses of the volunteers at the time (this covered rent, food and basic personal expenses). A monetary figure was then agreed upon, by the funders of the initiative, that would cover basic living expenses but also challenge the monetary injuries of the people receiving the crowd funding payment.

To cover basic living costs in the local area the cost varies and an amount between $1600 AUD & $2400 AUD, depending on weather the volunteer pays rent or not was chosen. The amount of funds given to an individual is calculated on a case by case basis. The figures given to volunteers fluctuated depending on if they paid rent or not, and how much income they were receiving from other sources. The funders supplemented the income volunteers were already receiving.

The funded amount for each individual is reviewed every three months and the crowd funders also assess each volunteer’s attitude and if they are aspiring to bring their lives into harmony with the company’s constitution.

Currently the funding is split in the following way; one funder pays 48% and the other two funders pay 26% to each individual volunteer. The cost for funders over the past 12 months (Dec 2018-Nov 2019), for 6-9 volunteers averaged out to be:

• 48% contributor:
  • $3,227 average per month
  • $38,724 average per year
• 26% contributors
  • $1,755 average per month
  • $21,060 average per year

Note: For the October to December 2019 crowd-funding period, the funders supported 6 volunteers.

The funders of the initiative feel it is important that volunteers do not become dependent or reliant on the crowd-funding contributors. As volunteers work through their monetary injuries I suspect they will receive funds from a wider pool of people to go towards living in their passions and desires, which would mean that they would no longer need to be supported by the crowd-funding initiative and someone else can be offered the opportunity.

When a volunteer leaves the organisation they no longer receive the funding. Volunteers who receive the funding will change with time; this will happen as they become financially independent, if they choose to leave, or are removed from the organisation, this is dependent on their attitude and desires and if they are in harmony with living God’s Way.

Funding God’s Way Ltd volunteers

The crowd-funding initiative is a great way to support God’s Way Ltd volunteers to achieve the objectives and aspirations of the organisation. Because the organisation values truth and transparency volunteers submit their financial figures every 3 months and if their income goes up and stabilizes over a period of time (they receive regular donations from other sources) the crowd funding payment will be adjusted to only supplement the shortfall to cover their basic living costs.

If you are interested in supporting God’s Way Ltd volunteers financially you can give funds directly to volunteers via donations.

Volunteers have their own websites or blogs with a donation page that has instructions on how best to donate funds to them personally. Current God’s Way Ltd volunteers are listed below along with some of the roles that they have within the organisation:

• Members:
  • Jesus (AJ Miller) (Visionary, advisor to the board of directors, general programme and project creator, instigator, manager, auditor and overseer. Branch Auditor: Construction, Legal & Finance, Special Projects, Environment; Branch Manager: Information Sharing, Environment, Construction; Programme Manager: Eco System Recovery; Computer and Network Systems Administrator & Webmaster, among other roles).
  • Mary Magdalene (Mary Luck) (Managing Director & Chairperson; Branch Auditor: Human Life; Branch Manager: Volunteer & Member Management; among other roles).
  • Catherine Spence (Director & treasurer).
  • Eloisa Lytton-Hitchins (Director & Secretary; Branch Manager: Legal & Finance; Programme Manager: Food & Soil, Accounting Services; Project Manager: Volunteer Selection).
  • Tristan Miller (Branch Manager: Human Life; Programme Manager: Parent Child Relationships: Life Stages: Project Manager: Mentor Family Assistance, Mentor Homestay Family Assistance, Parent Education).
  • David Walsh (corny) (Branch Manager: Construction; Project Manager: Shed Site Rehabilitation, Swale Repair, Waterway Recovery, Container Prototype).

• Full time volunteers:
  • Kate Eckersall (Takes care of Information Technology & Productivity Technology for the organisation; is Jesus’ computer programming assistant; God’s Way Ltd website manager; Information Sharing Branch editor).

• Part time volunteers:
  • Rahni Longden (Rahni currently volunteers 4 days per fortnight for God’s Way Ltd, and also chooses to work at another establishment).
  • Nicky Primetica (Has been fulfilling international visa requirements and will return to volunteering for God’s Way Ltd full time later in December).

Note: The volunteers on this list may be subject to change depending on their desires and the choices they make. This list is current as of 30th November 2019 and will be reviewed in January 2020.

Why I participate in the crowd-funding initiative

I love Divine Truth and God’s Way organisations and desire to support them in anyway I can to achieve their visions and objectives (e.g. via time, effort, resources & finances).

What I am learning from contributing to the crowd-funding initiative and listening to Jesus, is that a lot can be achieved when people co-operate in harmony with God’s Way. An example is pooling time, effort, resources & funds and sharing costs; If many people chose to donate funds or share costs in an initiative, e.g. giving a small amount of funds regularly to an organisation it can add up to generate large amounts of funds that could finance many beneficial programmes and projects, and the volunteers working on them without putting any one person out of pocket.

My personal contribution status

In regards to my personal contribution to the crowd-funding initiative (approx. 18 months into the initiative), I am choosing to fund the project until January 2021, as I want to ensure that I am being self-responsible in supporting myself financially as well as supporting others. At this time I have savings that I live off and contribute to projects, but unless my personal financial circumstances change***, I do not currently receive enough personal income/donations to cover my basic living & business costs and supply the regular crowd-funding contributions to others for longer than the next year. This may also be the case for other funders in future, depending on the amount of regular donations they receive and their recurring personal and company operating costs & expenditures over the coming years. The funders have been open and transparent and have shared this information with volunteers.

Having a team of dedicated people is a big help in order to achieve God’s Way Ltd’s constitutional objectives, (in saying this, a couple of dedicated people with the attitude of living God’s Way is more productive than a team of people with the wrong attitude).

I hope that many dedicated volunteers who desire to achieve the organisations objectives are attracted to God’s Way Ltd over the coming years and that the company survives in perpetuity to achieve it’s vision and objectives. The crowd-funding initiative is a way to support the organisation’s volunteers to achieve this goal.

God’s Way Ltd volunteers preparing terraces for seeding. Photos courtsey of the God’s Way Ltd website, November 2019.

Note: ** Jesus is the visionary and creator of God’s Way Ltd and is a valued advisor to the God’s Way Ltd board of directors, and the organisation’s members. He is a dedicated driving force behind the organisation and is the main creator, instigator and manager of the programmes and projects that God’s Way Ltd runs. Jesus also advises the organisation in the most important area of resolving the causes of issues, and how to live a life in harmony with Love, Truth and living God’s Way (as specified in the company’s constitution).

Footnote: *** I have specific monetry issues to emotionally work through in order to receive a greater flow of donated and gifted funds.