Fill out the registration form and choose an account id for your business.

Choose your account id with some care. An account id is similar to an internet address but you and others will use it frequently, and often write it out by hand. It is best to use just a few letters, and to choose an id that other people can easily associate with your business. (E.g.. abcpr, overw, bcpl, mabels etc.) Please offer several preferences.

To test whether community money can indeed increase your business by 10% or more, you first prime the system to that level by your donations of $cw, and then see how it comes back to you.

We advise business to donate $cw equal to about 10% of overall staff costs in each of the first three months, as increased business generally increases staff loads and costs.

Choose a scale of donation between $200-$400 (or more) in $cw per full time employee per month - ask the cw office if you want advice on this.

Select the currencies you will use. To get the most out of the trial, we recommend you begin with both the Vancouver regional $cw and the $cw most local to you, and donate the same amount in each.

You are obliged to participate in any particular community way program only until you recover the $cw you have issued in that system. However, you can continue to receive $cw for as long as you like.

The enclosed list of applications for funding specifies a name and # for each individual project or program.

On the contribution form, enter these names and # to specify exactly how you want your $cw donations directed.

Total your contributions, and sign. This form is now an order to the cw administration to transfer $cw from your accounts as you have specified.

Make a copy for your records, and send the original to the cw office.

At the outset it's best to treat the $cw as equivalent to discount coupons.

Set your initial % acceptance in $cw so that each sale earns sufficient "normal" $ to meet all the hard costs of that sale - $ outgoing on stock, materials, taxes, - NOT counting the overheads - money already gone on staff, rent, utilities, etc.

Thereafter tune your terms of acceptance to suit your business. Balance your ongoing level of $cw spending (including further donations) to match your income.

For example, a restaurant may exclude certain times of the day or week, and goods such as alcohol or sale items may be excluded from your offer to accept $cw.

Counting extra money is better than having none to count. The simplest method to keep track of $cw is to account each currency as an additional bank account, or as another account receivable.

You will receive a statement of all your donations and income in $cw every month, or more often if needed. If you or your bookkeeper have any questions, please call the cw office.

Revenue Canada DOES consider a $cw equivalent to a federal $ for tax calculations. Revenue Canada DOES NOT consider a $cw equivalent to a federal $ for tax payment.

Where PST and/or GST apply to a sale, the tax is calculated on ALL the income, and should be collected from the customer in "normal" cents. (see 3c above) General business expenditures in $cw are as tax deductible as any "normal" $.

You may choose not to keep formal records of $cw income, and consider them as discounts. Then there are no tax requirements, and all the charities you support and customers you serve will be happy - BUT - if you don’t process credits to your accounts, you won't have any $cw to spend, and that's really the point of the exercise.

You should also consider –

Sales figures, particularly records of $cw income, will show the results.

You decide whether the increased sales justify the expense incurred to continue with the program.