Our Mission
Co-create a peaceful and plentiful world through economic education and innovation.
Context: Kids today face overwhelming challenges — global warming, resource depletion, extreme disparity — all caused by winner-take-all ecomonics. We owe them tools to thrive in new ways.
Vision: PolyMoney sees a world invented by today’s children — a world in which different economic tools and types of currency work together to balance interests, build common resources, nourish our environment, and provide for future generations. We see a world of vibrant and resilient local economies supported and interconnected by different kinds of exchange. We see a world in harmony, where everyone participates and everyone counts.
Strategy: PolyMoney delivers innovative learning games and experiences that go beyond financial literacy to inspire new thinking about money and economics. Participants learn to see the impact of economic systems, regard currency as a powerful tool, and imagine how new economic tools can facilitate more inclusive, equitable, and sustainable economies.
Edge: PolyMoney games and programs are:
• Accessible, Affordable, Scalable
• Collaborative and Engaging
• Free of Advertising
• Free of Cultural/Gender Bias
• Free of Personal Data
Our Name
PolyMoney was the name of our very first game. It was designed by Stefanie Overbeck to 1) provide a collaborative alternative to winner-take-all games like Monopoly, and 2) demonstrate the benefits of using different kinds of money for different purposes. “Poly” means many, and “Money” means currency, or medium of exchange.
Today, all of our games and programs aim to illuminate the unintended effects of our economic system and inspire new thinking about money and economics.
Our Work
As children, we learn about money through experiences: finding a coin, earning allowance, or saving to buy something we love. Some develop their first impressions of money by playing games like Monopoly, where the goal is to dominate resources, accumulate money, and defeat everyone else. As we age, these thought patterns permeate society and affect our behavior toward each other and our planet. They also set the stage to perpetuate, rather than evolve, our winner-take-all economic system.
PolyMoney games, apps, podcasts, and meet ups are designed to create new thought patterns: that resources can be shared sustainably, money can foster collaboration and creative exchange, and different economic tools can be designed to support everyone now, and in future generations.
Local currencies can work with national currencies to uplift marginalized communities, support small businesses, and encourage stewardship of natural resources. Time banks can encourage community service and promote public health. Token systems of all kinds can strengthen connections, build cultures of kindness, and enhance our collective well-being.
Our Motivation
Fundamentally, PolyMoney is a catalyst for social innovation. We believe successful evolution of human society will require profound transformation of the systems that shape our behavior. Primary among these is our economic system.
Having emerged over centuries of competition and growth, our economic system serves as a catalyst for exploration, invention, commerce, and civilization. It is a system predicated on the pursuit of personal interests, which in many contexts, benefits society as a whole. However, the context of our economic system is changing rapidly.
In a world of finite and diminishing resources, a system rooted in competition and growth can sometimes do more harm than good. Regardless of economic paradigm (capitalism, socialism, communism.), money facilitates pursuit of personal or private interests without regard for competing or interdependent interests like global well-being. Ecological destruction, exploitation, and economic disparity are the unfortunate results.
Like many societal problems, the adverse byproducts of our money system disproportionately affect those already in need. Marginalized communities often lack the education necessary to gain access to the tools necessary to achieve economic success. PolyMoney delivers financial education in a way that transcends barriers of class, race, gender, geography, and other biases. We aim to not only empower people to access financial resources, but to imagine and design more inclusive systems.
Finally, technical advances like block chain represent a new set of building blocks for economic creativity. Currencies, token systems, and platforms for different kinds of exchange are suddenly possible and relatively easy to implement. Money, as a social construct, is ripe for reinvention. PolyMoney provides the learning tools and motivational context to make it happen.
Our Values
Inclusion: We believe everyone should have the knowledge they need to survive, contribute, and thrive. We provide accessible, affordable products and programs for everyone, especially for people in marginalized communities.
Empowerment: We provide the building blocks for financial literacy, including the systems thinking necessary to participate in, and help create, the future of society.
Innovation: We believe radical transformation of our economic system is both inevitable and necessary for human survival. Our products and programs prepare next generation leaders to design economic systems that include and empower everyone.
Interdependence: Our economic system is fueled by the pursuit of self-interest (or government interest), often without regard for the interests of others. We aspire to foster societal systems that account for interconnected interests, build common resources, and ensure stewardship of happy humans on a healthy planet.
