Free Money Day

The behavioral attachment to money, and notions that one only exchanges money for goods/services or as part of philanthropy. In relation to this challenge, we're particularly interested in disrupting the philanthro-industrial complex with our communications (people are particularly shocked, for example, when people living on the streets are offering money to passers-by of apparent, significant means).

In action since 2011, Free Money Day (occurring each 15th September) is a project of the Post Growth Institute (PGI) that has involved tens of thousands of people, worldwide. Historically a voluntarily-supported initiative, in 2012 the Institute received a small amount of funding that enabled the assembly of a team, resulting in more than 130 events, across 30 countries, and garnered considerable media attention, including celebrity endorsements from Stephen Fry, Noam Chomsky, and coverage by major national news outlets. Without funding, the PGI is unable to invest the resources needed for this event to have a significant impact. Numerous Free Money Day events have occurred throughout the UK, but it would be particularly valuable to target the UK philanthropic sector, home offices, etc. with both invitations and social media tagging around the event, in the hopes of sparking some out-of-the-box thinking (in 2011, one person was so inspired by the concept that they gave away half of their farm).

The embodied attachment people have to money, as well as the wider public perceptions around money and its accumulation/circulation.