Excerpt from January 2005 sample article (PDF)

Money That Builds Community

An interesting experiment in community development is underway in Toronto. It’s called Toronto Dollars. The Toronto Dollar Community Projects initiative was launched in December 1998 by
a group of forward-thinking individuals who wanted to build community spirit while funding charitable projects. The group chose the neighbourhood around the St. Lawrence Market as their starting point, and have built up an impressive relationship with community merchants. Today, you can shop at the
market, enjoy a meal in a nearby restaurant, or buy your groceries at a Food Basics supermarket with paper money printed and issued by the Toronto dollar group.

Under the Toronto dollar model, shoppers convert Canadian dollars to Toronto dollars at par: one CA$ buys one T-dollar. Ten cents of every T-dollar goes into a fund to support charitable projects
in the neighbourhood, while the remaining 90 cents is held in a trust account until the bills are redeemed at a 10% discount by participating merchants. Administrative costs are covered by the interest earned on the trust fund, and there is no cost whatsoever to the consumer.

I visited Toronto on a Saturday in mid-March to experience T-dollars first-hand. Market vendors readily accepted the local currency from me for 100% of my purchase price (only three businesses in the market do not participate). All gave me change in Canadian dollars, although it would have been
in their interest to return Tdollars to me. The Toronto dollar project is based on the premise that
local currencies, because they must be spent locally, build community. Since community currency can’t earn interest, there is no incentive for individuals to hoard it, while shopkeepers who receive the
funds have an economic incentive to spend it back into the community at par instead of cashing it out at a 10% discount. In theory, both consumers and businesses will keep the money in circulation, buying and selling goods from each other at the local level. It’s a no-brainer for the consumer, a low-cost marketing tool for the participating merchants, and, to date, it has been a big win for at least 37 local charities.

Whether you live in Toronto or plan to visit the city this summer, I encourage you to demonstrate your support for an experiment that is attracting attention from all over the world and adding to
our understanding of community currency systems. For more information, visit the Toronto dollar website at www.torontodollar.com or speak with the volunteers at the T-dollar booth at the St. Lawrence market on Saturdays.