We began the year by saying, 'If we can respond to the call to deepen our understanding of money, we may yet find ourselves master rather than servant of money...  The medium, however, will be the way we understand and thus use money.'

We end with an issue focused again on the need to understand money, and in particular its more ephemeral aspects, on which its concrete expression nevertheless relies.

In Towards a True Money, E C Reigel strikes a permanent note when suggesting that money and accounting belong together. 'Ownerlessness : Investment without Responsibility' is the Sign of our Time which focuses on how anonymity opens the door to all manner of absenteeism, the basis in turn of money leading a life of its own. 'Not Money' is a version of an essay published by Arthur Edwards in the June issue of Economic Affairs, in which he marks the centenary of Hartley Withers, a contemporary of Rudolf Steiner. Aptly, the Friends' Page features a question about the nature of financial investment, while the AE Hero this month looks at the GoLocal project in Sonoma County, California as an example of how the kind of money Riegel describes might be provided. Accounting Corner ends the issue, as also the year, with its subtle consideration of spreadsheets and world money.

i) 13 Dec 09: Finance and Education lll - Public Benefit

Recent changes to charity law and the introduction of public benefit testing are aimed at getting rid of private schools. Initial rulings would create a default definition of 'public benefit' as the provision of a significant proportion of free places, an economic outcome that few if any Waldorf schools could survive. Can the case not be made, instead, that public benefit occurs whenever an individual takes an initiative in service of humanity? So that it inheres, for example, in the provision of socially beneficial education rather than wealth redistribution? See here for full details.

• The nature and rationale of recent changes to charity law
• The meaning of 'public benefit'
• Reviewing the relevance of charities
• Rethinking the financing of education (Is there a path between private and state funding?)

Based on working conversations that give rise to intuitions, one of three standalone but connected gatherings designed to take a hard and detailed look at three main areas of a practical nature that depend on spiritual insights. Summarised notes of the first two events are available on request for prospective participants. Contact chb [at] cfae.biz

13 December | Public Benefit

ii) Feb / Mar 2010 - The Colours of Money Seminar

UK: 5-7 February 2010
In the Bristol area, see here for details

USA: March (dates tbc) in Washington DC area