Non-residential membership

Membership

Membership to SLIC is not tied to what you can afford, but what you are interested in committing and offering to the community. The application for membership is here: https://forms.gle/tNQiQzdzCfLRwrdz5. The board will review your application and send a confirmation of your membership by email.
If you are able to support SLIC financially, please also consider a pay-what-you-can recurring donation per month per person. (Suggested $20+ per month per person.) You can sign up for recurring monthly payments here: https://www.sustaininglifeic.org/donate You may also choose to send more than $20 as a recurring donation to cover other SLIC expenses or projects. We greatly appreciate any and all help towards our mission!

Commitment

As a member of SLIC, we hope you will be able to participate in at least one community work event/weekend per year to feel the impact of the community you’re helping to build.

Perks of membership

Use of one-bedroom cabin
Member weekends
Helping to build a community from scratch!
Future
- Access to sustainably-powered hotspring on premises
- Access to Gail’s Way
- Use of community garden space
- Use of CSA
- Use of community facilities for hosting events
- Will continue to grow over time

Membership Application Voting Process (Updated 4.23.24)

Definitions
Voting Member = a person whose membership application has been accepted into the community as a member and who has been to at least one community event (including virtual events) in the rolling 12 months prior to the vote they are participating in

Voting Procedure
- All membership applications received before the 15th of the month will be voted on by all voting members with a deadline of the first of the following month.
- Membership applications that will be voted on will be sent by email to all voting members on the last day of the month.
- Membership applications will be accessed by voting members for the process of voting upon. After the voting is complete, membership applications will be stored for a minimum of 1 year with access by the secretary at the board’s discretion. This decision will be voted upon by all voting members in May of 2025.
- Vote will ask “Do you accept this person as a member of the SLIC community” with options “Yes,” “No,” and “Present.”
- Votes will be confidential and seen only by members of the executive board.
- All voting members who do not vote by the 15th of the following month will be counted as recused votes and not considered or counted as “present” in the final tally.
- A minimum of 3 people need to be present and voting for the vote to proceed. If less than 3 people vote, the vote will be repeated the following month.
- ⅔ of votes received will need to be a “Yes” for the person to be accepted as a SLIC member.
- People may re-apply to be a member every 6 months.

Residential Membership

Entry Process

Step 1: Advisory board proposal:
- Find a board liaison who is part of the community who will support your proposal. If you need help with this, please email: sustaininglifeic@gmail.com.
- Fill out the residential proposal document here. Please fill out the proposal in as much detail as possible.
Step 2: Advisory board will review the proposal and either reject, approve, or suggest any changes to the proposal and send back to the applicant.
Step 3: Once approved, approval letter with entire approved proposal will be sent to applicant and board liaison. Document must be signed and dated by both applicant and board liaison and provided to SLIC before residency begins.

During residency

Proposal Management Plan
- Step 1: Board liaison checks in once a month with resident about proposal milestones or at specified designated times per approved proposal.
- Step 2: Progress of sponsored proposals are brought up at appropriate advisory board meetings by board liaison.
- Step 3: If proposal milestones are not being reached, advisory board, resident, and board liaison will work together to determine what support or changes to the proposal might be needed for continuation of the proposal.
- Step 4: If renegotiated milestones are still not being reached, advisory board will meet to renegotiate or end proposal/residency or suggest alternative solutions on a case-by-case basis.

Exiting Community

This section applies to residents who choose to leave before the end of their proposed residency or residents who are asked to leave by the advisory board.
Expectations of leaving
- Be respectful and aim to maintain relationships with the community.
- Proposal retrospective meeting between board liaison and resident will discuss feedback and the conclusion of residency.
- Process for leaving (if being asked to leave by the advisory board) will be defined by advisory board in a letter, which will be signed by board liaison, resident, and member of the advisory board.

Events

Event Proposals

Step 1: Fill out the event proposal document here. Please fill out the proposal in as much detail as possible.
Step 2: Advisory board will review the proposal and either reject, approve, or suggest any changes to the proposal and send back to the applicant.
Step 3: If approved, approval letter with entire approved proposal will be sent to applicant. Document must be signed and dated by applicant and provided to SLIC in advance of event.

Approval criteria for events

Is the applicant a current active member of the SLIC community?
Does the event align with SLIC’s values and mission? (i.e. not political, etc)
Does the event require inordinate use of resources for event?
Does the event’s proposal provide an appropriate plan for exiting the land/community as good or better than arriving?