Approach
A different way
The gathering aspires to embody the economy it seeks to grow. As a co-created undertaking, its needs and costs will be met through the voluntary offerings of everyone who gathers. Participants from Bhutan and around the world, and all whose care and work make the week possible, will each offer what is theirs to give. The week’s experience will be shaped entirely by what is offered. In Bhutan, this way of providing for something together has living names: Zhabtog, selfless service; and Jinpa, free-hearted generosity.
There is no blueprint for providing a gathering this way. Our aim is to practice the economy we are convening to discuss, learning as we go.
Tradition
In Bhutan’s tradition
The week will be created by offerings of two kinds — work and funds — given by everyone who gathers.
The gathering as service
Some offerings take the form of work. Participants bring knowledge, relationships and time; organisers, facilitators, hosts and drivers bring the care and skill that will hold our days together — some freely given, some fairly paid, all part of one undertaking. This is Zhabtog as Bhutan lives it: the selfless service by which monasteries are kept, festivals are held, and communities sustain their shared life.
The gathering as gift
Other offerings take the form of funds, providing the venue, experiences and hospitality we will share. This is Jinpa as Bhutan practises it: free-hearted generosity, the first of the perfections on the Buddhist path, embodied in the jinda — the sponsor whose offering allows a festival or a communal feast to be held for all. Tradition holds that the worth of a gift lives in the freedom and intention with which it is offered.
Practice
How offerings work
- Freely chosen
- Whether to give, and the measure of your gift, are wholly yours — by tradition, the measure of a gift belongs to the giver alone. You may wish to consider the shared budget, your own circumstances and what this endeavour means to you.
- In your own time
- Offerings may be made before, during or after the gathering, and more than once — whenever suits you.
- With equal regard
- Every participant receives the same week. Individual offerings remain private; the combined total offerings, and how they are used, are openly reported for all participants to see.
- In many forms
- Knowledge, time, introductions, facilitation and practical support are offerings too. Please write to game@fourthsector.org.bt to discuss an offering or ask about the shared requirements.
Clarity
The shared budget
We will share what resources the gathering requires, what has been offered and what remains to be enabled — including support for participation across the group, such as Bhutanese hosts and counterparts — updating the budget as arrangements are confirmed, with a full summary of how funds were used after the gathering. We will shape the gathering’s shared elements to the resources available, so that our time together lives within its means.
The shared budget can be viewed by everyone who gathers, and is available in Your Gathering
Funds offered so far toward the $42,500 the gathering requires, updated as offerings arrive. Only the combined total is shown.
Stewardship
Where offerings go
Offerings, and registration payments for shared meals and transport, are received by The Fourth Sector Group, Inc., a nonprofit organisation registered under section 501(c)(3) of the United States tax code, and applied to the gathering through Fourth Sector Group Bhutan or paid directly to the hosts and providers whose work makes our time together possible. Should offerings exceed what the week requires, the remainder will be applied — reported openly with the budget — to carrying the gathering’s work forward.