Our Gift Economy Approach

At Peace Talks, all of our services (our courses, workshops, programmes and individual sessions) are all offered on a Gift Economy basis. This means that rather than setting a "market price", we invite you to contribute an amount you are willing and able to give. This page gives more detail about how we offer our services, and what this means for you.

What is the Gift Economy?

What would the world look like if the principles of care, compassion and awareness of human needs that are at the very core of Nonviolent Communication (NVC) were integrated into every part of our lives...including our economic interactions with each other? Which of our many current world crises (e.g. poverty, inequality, polarisation, the climate crisis, wars) might be resolved if the world’s resources flowed to human needs rather than to those who have the greatest advantages of birth or more savvy business strategies?

At Peace Talks, we are committed to taking concrete steps to creating a world where we can truly care for each other, operate from connection to community and give and receive from a generosity of heart. We want to live the change we want to see in the world (or, as Yoram Mozenson puts it, “live the needs we want to see in the world”) by bringing our values into every aspect of our lives, including how we give and receive financially.

Instead of considering “what is the price?” (as in a typical economic exchange) a gift economy approach asks you to consider your needs and our needs together: What do we each need? How does this financial exchange impact us both? This isn’t always easy; but it is very powerful, and potentially life changing.

A gift economy is an attempt to recreate a world where, even in our economic transactions:

we can all care for each other;
we acknowledge that our well-being is inextricably tied up in each others’;
where our focus is on need (not greed).

"The gift economy represents a shift from consumption to contribution,

from transaction to trust,

from scarcity to abundance and

isolation to community"

~ Charles Eisenstein, Sacred Economics.

Why do we operate this way?

Our gift economy approach transforms the moment of economic exchange into a relational moment - your wellbeing and ours are brought together into shared consideration. We are brought into awareness of our inter-dependence, our shared humanity and our mutual longing for trust and cooperation: “I” and “you” become “we”. It creates a tiny microcosm of possibility; a world where we care for each other, where the implications of our economic choices are a little more visible to us, and where we are able to use our daily financial decisions as a way to meet needs and support each other. We do it this way because we want to:

Create systems where resources flow to needs.

We want the support, care and guidance that we offer to flow in the most direct way to anyone who needs that support, care and guidance, regardless of their financial circumstances.

Care for integrity and alignment with our values.

The values of connection, care and compassion that are at the heart of NVC are the guiding principles of our lives, not “add ons”. The gift economy allows us to offer our services in a way that integrates our values and moves us towards a world where resources flow to people's needs.

Model a new way of being, grounded on NVC teaching.

We want to share an alternative vision for the world, so that the people we work with have a powerful experience of what NVC can look like in the “real world”, not just at the level of inner consciousness or in their relationships with loved ones, but at the level of the systems that govern our lives and how we operate with each other in the world.

“I think that everybody carries in their hearts the knowledge that a more beautiful world is possible.

Children feel it.

Teenagers especially feel it very strongly, and we call it idealism.

But many forces conspire to tell us:

'That’s just youthful idealism...you’ll grow out of it.' ”

Charles Eisenstein

Our Gift To You

All of our courses and services are offered as a gift. We put a lot of heart into creating our courses, including a large amount of time, energy and passion. In this day of online separation, social media and AI, it is sometimes hard to know what you are getting when you register for a course. We would therefore like to explain some of the less visible, “behind the scenes” elements that go into our offerings:

♡ Expertise and experience

We both have extensive training and expertise that underpin everything we teach. We are both internationally certified in Nonviolent Communication, and have years of training, qualifications and experience in nonviolent communication, psychology, mediation, neuroscience, research, community building and writing. This is our passion, our life’s work and our love. (Learn more about Sally and Jorinde).

♡ Research and development

We put hundreds of hours each year into researching, planning, creating, writing, filming, editing, and developing materials for each of our courses. We live and breathe the question of how to create more peace and connection in families and communities, and everything we learn, we put straight back into our offerings.

♡ Lived practice and Integrity

We conscientiously practice what we teach, daily working to bring nonviolent communication into every aspect of our lives. As a participant in our courses, you can be confident that anything you hear from us is something that we actively use in our own lives with our children, our relationships and in our communities. We actively practice nonviolent communication in our communities, friendships, families, business practices and in our work with each other.

♡ A fierce commitment to what actually works

Our aim in all of our work is to use our skills, expertise and training to create something that will genuinely contribute to your life. Our courses are not just theory; they are carefully designed using pedagogical principles, cognitive behavioural techniques and community and individual support to help you to make lasting changes in your life. We are constantly refining our courses in line with the feedback we receive to make them as useful and engaging as possible.

♡ Authenticity

Every word you read or hear from us was written by us. We research, write and create all of our own courses, newsletters, emails, blogs, materials, resources and even advertising. We have a deep commitment to authenticity, because we believe in the life-changing power of real, imperfect, heartfelt human communication. This commitment can sometimes take a lot more time than “more efficient” modern methods (like using AI to write articles and courses....yes, this is now a common practice!) but we trust that you will feel that difference when you engage with our work. You can always be sure that if

♡ Support and Care

We put a lot of care and individual attention into supporting people through our courses. All of the participants in our courses are human beings, not customers. We take great care to actively engage with the people we work with, including through individual email, phone, text contact and one-on-one check in sessions.

Sam, Invercargill

"Thank you ever so much Jorinde and Sally. You make such a wonderful team, and I'm so grateful to you both for introducing me to this way of parenting. It really is such a life changing gift. You are doing such valuable work which the world needs so much more of! Keep it up beautiful people!"

How Does The Gift Economy Work?

Supporting parents and families to bring more peace and connection into their lives is our passion, and we are committed to finding ways for this support to be available to anyone who need support, no matter their financial situation. This is a very different way to contribute - so we have answered some of the common questions we receive about how to contribute to help acquaint you with this way of offering our service.

How much do your services cost?

Does this mean all of your courses are FREE?

I really want to do this, but I do not have the financial means....

I don't have time - I just want to pay something

How do I decide how much to give?

How do you come up with your recommended ranges?

What is a Gift Economy and why do you offer your courses this way?

At Peace Talks, we want to take action towards creating a world where we can truly care for each other, operate from deep connection to community and give and receive from a true generosity of heart.

We want to live the change we want to see in the world (or, as Yoram Mozenson puts it, “live the needs we want to see in the world”) by bringing our values into every aspect of our lives and our work, including the question of how our families meet our basic needs.

As a concrete step towards living the change we want in the world, we have been using a “Gift Economy” approach through our work at Peace Talks. This is a whole new way of operating in the world, is a little uncertain and maybe even uncomfortable at times, and yet, one that we have found to be rewarding, exciting and hopeful.

Simply put, a gift economy approach is an attempt to recreate a world where we care for each other, where we acknowledge that our well-being is inextricably tied up in each others’, and that we have some agency in creating a world that is focused on need not greed.

The gift economy is an attempt to reimagine how we might be able to bring about the kind of deeply caring world we long for while also acknowledging the current reality of the economic system we are embedded within.

The gift economy harks back to our traditional, ancient roots when we lived in interconnected communities and each of us cared for all of us. (If you are interested in more background in the gift economy approach, see Charles Esientien, Miki Kashtan, Genevieve Vaughan among others).

This is very different from the world and economic system we currently live in (which rely on widespread ideas and beliefs like “deserving”, punishment and reward, power over or the use of violence in order to function). We therefore choose to live our lives to reflect these values as much as we are able to. Our wish in using this approach is to:

Create systems where resources can flow to needs. We want our offerings to be accessible to a wide range of people, regardless of their ability to pay. In other words, we want the support, care and guidance that we offer to flow in the most direct way to the people who need that support, care and guidance. We want this course and all of our teachings to be accessible no matter their financial circumstances.
Integrity and alignment with our values. The values of connection, care and compassion that are at the heart of NVC are the guiding principles of our lives, not “add ons”. The gift economy allows us to offer our services in a way that integrates our values and moves us towards a world where resources flow to people's needs. The Gift Economy approach offers a way for us to explore a radical economic paradigm of integrating and embodying the connection and needs-based lens that we share in our teaching into every aspect of life (including economic decisions).
Modelling a new way of being, based on NVC teaching. We want the people we work with to have a powerful experience of what NVC can look like in the “real world”, not just at the level of inner consciousness or in their relationships with loved ones, but at the level of the systems that govern our lives and how we operate with each other in the world. We are passionate about sharing an alternative vision for the world, and therefore choose to offer many of our services using a gift-based economy.

Offering a gift economy approach is our way of moving towards these goals.

A gift economy approach transforms the moment of economic exchange into a relational moment - your wellbeing and mine are brought together into shared consideration. We are brought into awareness of our inter-dependence, our shared humanity and our mutual longing for trust and cooperation: “I” and “you” become “we”.

It creates a tiny microcosm of possibility; a world where we care for each other, where the implications of our economic choices are a little more visible to us, and where we are able to use our daily financial decisions as a way to meet needs and support each other.

Do you want to support our vision?

At this tender stage of Peace Talks development, we are inspired to explore a new step of building a much needed “Circle of Support” for us, to offer financial and other kinds of support that would hold us with loving and caring arms as we do the same for the people we care for.

We are inviting people who are passionate about the gift economy approach, alternative economic systems, sharing Nonviolent Communication (NVC), or who are simply interested in supporting our work. This suport might include:

Financial support (e.g. regular contributions)
Support sharing our work
Offers of skills or practical assistance (e.g. skilled assistance with editing, social media and marketing assistance, accounting support)
Mutual learning, networking and collaboration about the gift economy
The act of simply taking time to understand the how of our work (a deeply meaningful contribution for us).

We can imagine ourselves being inspired to reach out to this group through periodic writing and sharing about the gift economy and our work through an email newsletter (separate from our Peace Talks Reflections).

If you feel moved to take part in this group, we would be so excited to welcome you into this early conceptualising stage of our Peace Talks Circle of Support. We don't know what form this will take yet - it is collaborative and emerging, but for now, an interest in understanding and enthusiasm for this vision are the only prerequisites. Please sign up below if you are inspired to hear more.

Join the Peace Talks Circle of Support