Book: H.e.l.f.a. - The Manual

Everything in life has a price. Is that really the case?

Everyone comes to a point in their life when they think about what is really important. These usually include family, friends, health, happiness, freedom and peace... a price tag could never express how valuable, for example, family or freedom is to each and every one of us - if not priceless. But only our heart can recognize the true value of these "things" so important to us, which cannot be measured in numbers. Love, for example, is priceless, and yet it is available to everyone free of charge in one form or another. What else is available to us free of charge? These are the things that we often take for granted, such as time, sun, flora and fauna, air, water, closeness to other people, faith, free will and freedom of choice.

So if the things that are really important to us cannot be weighed against money, then the things for which we need money should at least be allowed to move down the list of priorities.
Out of this consideration follows for us Helfas the conviction that we can give to each other everything that is important in life and that we need. And for everything that we cannot (yet) produce ourselves, there is the possibility to give money or to pay for things with the cost price within the H.e.l.f.a. community.

What does it mean to give a gift?
To give means to give a gift to someone for permanent possession in order to please the other person with it, without asking for anything in return. And isn't it true that not only the recipients are happy about such a gift, but also we ourselves? Giving from the heart triggers an intense feeling of joy and happiness on both sides. A feeling that connects us with the other.

And that is why at H.e.l.f.a. we do not barter. Because even in traditional barter (things for things) it can happen that I have something (e.g. a cupboard) and the recipient doesn't need a cupboard, What now? Thus, even barter of things or services represents an imbalance and a disadvantage if the needs do not match. Within the H.e.l.f.a. project, we give to the other what we can and want to give. Freely and without coercion or expectations. At H.e.l.f.a. all help and support is offered free of charge or at most at cost price.

We are aware that accepting a gift can cause a feeling of guilt and discomfort in some people with the simultaneous urge to give something back as thanks or compensation. At H.e.l.f.a. we would like to overcome these negative feelings and thus also relearn the "ability to accept". Because every person on this earth deserves to be given a gift.

We want to keep the hurdles of "giving and taking" as low as possible and give what we have and / or no longer need to someone who needs it at that very moment. What can be given as a gift is so incredibly diverse that a list cannot reflect this here. Therefore, when we give gifts, our main concern is to respond to people's needs in a holistic way.

What does the cost price mean?
In the case of repairs, it is often not only the work of one person that is required, but also spare parts, e.g. for the washing machine or for the car. In this case, costs are incurred for the procurement of parts. The donor can also give away these spare parts. If this is not possible for certain reasons, the person seeking help bears the costs in the form of the cost price.
This is one of many examples of what we at H.e.l.f.a. mean by helping at cost. Covering the cost of travel to receive help can also be included. Important for H.e.l.f.a. is that the money is not in the foreground and is considered again and again: How, and if so how, would it be possible to arrange helping without money?

Self-employed people and entrepreneurs can also contribute their talents to H.e.l.f.a. by making gifts to people with their skills or by helping at cost price. There are no limits to the variety of gift ideas. And this significantly reduces the need to think in terms of profit.

Reasons why it may be important to charge cost price:
If an H.e.l.f.a. member is self-employed, giving spare parts for a car, for example, could mean that helping involves a financial loss for the helper. This could mean that the self-employed person suffers economically and is then in turn no longer able to help. Once quite apart from the fact that he could possibly get into trouble with the old system (tax office). It can also mean that once money is involved, again the feeling of being "taken advantage of" arises and this weakens the trust relationship. We want everyone to feel comfortable with H.e.l.f.a. and to make the transition from the old system to a gift community smooth, gentle, and in the spirit of win-win situations for those involved.

However, the principle that is always at stake is to give gladly from the heart. There should be no coercion, everything is voluntary and without expectations. This is the only way to permanently get rid of old habits, such as self-generated pressure and dependencies from the old world.

The more people step out of the old system (little by little) and join in, the sooner the vision of a giving society will be able to sustain itself.

The safety of deanonymization and group structure.
Through the Internet, we have gained huge opportunities, but new dangers also lurk. For example, global networking has finally given us the ability to communicate across the globe. But through all this progress we have not dealt with human nature and have not had any discussion about what is technically feasible, but how we can best integrate it. So at the moment our actions are determined almost exclusively by profit.

For this reason, we have reconsidered this and have come to the conclusion that we want to use the network with all its advantages, but compensate for the disadvantages. Thus, man has a security criterion that not even money can outweigh: Getting to know each other in person. There is nothing safer than meeting and feeling with all my senses who my counterpart is. People who have forgotten this can learn it again. When we know each other, we can tell what we can or can't do. The better we get to know each other, the more trust can be built. This trust can be destroyed, but it still teaches us to improve our own strategy and to deal with our problems. Therefore, one of the most important principles is to get to know each other in real life. While the Internet is used as a communication platform, it should always be the second choice whenever possible. We call getting to know each other in person "deanonymizing."

Since we can't get to know everyone, we take people with their natural limitations and map them in the project:
The most important thing is to accept that no two people are the same. Each person has different talents, abilities and tolerances and that is why each Helfa group is autonomous - they decide for themselves how big they will grow and what they will do. However, there is a growth limit and they have set this to a maximum of 200 members per group. This is definitely not the optimum and the groups are welcome to take less. So far, it has turned out that the number between 80 and 120 is optimal - That may change at some point. This creates a "decentralized - centralized" structure where each group has its own center and is autonomous at the same time. This by the way is a strategy we will see again and again when it comes to Helfa. Because whether it's power grids, the internet, doctors, etc. a decentralized centralized structure has the advantages of both worlds ...

Moderators as node points of networking

Within the groups, everyone can decide how the groups want to set themselves up. For example, there are groups that need a leadership floor, others will prefer more of a balanced structure. Nevertheless, in order to guarantee a uniform structure, we absolutely need a few moderators who act as contact persons within the local group, but who are also representatives of the groups in the regional and supraregional groups. Regional and supra-regional groups are mergers of the local groups to solve larger problems or to share information. The moderators take over e.g. the task that the communication runs "decently" - all the same whether in the net or in the reality (moderator/mediator). They can also take care of the group's needs, if a party arises, if anyone needs something or if information is missing. The moderator does not have to handle everything himself, but he should know the group so well that he can pass on the information to others. However, he should also make sure that the group doesn't work too hard and put its health at risk - that's why it's important to relax in between and also have fun together. The moderator can have this overview because he knows the group.The moderator can have this overview because he knows the group.

So that this role is not exploited, a moderator is elected 1 time a year. For the sake of simplicity, we have set that he is elected from 1/1 to 12/31. If for some reason it is important that a different date is elected, this is of course feasible. If a moderator takes advantage of his position and the group is against it, a vote of no confidence can take place, where this person can justify his decision. Exactly how this proceeds is up to the group to decide. Whether they try to turn the tide with positive motivations or whether they impose "punishments" is up to the people in the group. We will try to show through seminars which possibilities there are, so that everyone finds his tool with which he can work best and which fits the situation.

The rules should serve man, not the other way around.
There are sets of rules or laws that a person can neither understand nor grasp because they are too complicated or simply too many. How is a person supposed to remember more than 100 laws or rules? How is a person supposed to grasp the constant changes if he or she doesn't even have a say in whether or not he or she wants the law? And then it's not even about the number ... but also about the understanding and interpretation. So judges sometimes decide differently because they interpret or even want to interpret the law a little differently. So that this doesn't happen, we have rules that each group can define itself, but should adhere to the principles of how rules are created.

For better comprehensibility, a positive and a negative example should be given for each rule, or the reason why the rule should exist and what is not meant by it. To keep the number of rules within limits, all rules have a start and an end date. The start date indicates since when the rule exists, the end date until when it is valid. If the end date is exceeded, it must be reconsidered whether the rule is still needed or not. If not, the rule can go away, if yes, it must be voted whether it is updated or not. Then a new end date is set.