Foundation for Intentional Community

The FIC publishes Communities magazine, the Communities Directory,[1] Journal of Cooperative Living, FIC Newsletter and the Intentional Communities web site.[4] It also sponsors and presents periodic Community gatherings, including annual gatherings at Twin Oaks and Art of Community events in various locations around the US.[4]

The history of FIC began in 1937 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, which still has one of the largest concentration of intentional communities per capita.[2] The group/network of 19 student-run houses in Ann Arbor had formed The International Cooperative Council (ICC), a forerunner of FIC.[2]

The Fellowship of Intentional Communities was founded as Inter-Community Exchange in 1940 by Arthur E. Morgan (1878–1976) for communication and exchange of goods between intentional communities.[5] During World War II, some of these communities served as refuge for pacifists.[5]

Alongside the aforementioned co-sponsorship with Twin Oaks Community, Virginia, some of the members of the "Inter-Community Exchange" were Hidden Springs in New Jersey; Tangy Homesteads in Philadelphia; Tuolumne Co-operative Farms near Modesto, California; Skyview Acres at Pomona, New York; Parisfield near Brighton, Michigan; Kingwood in New Jersey; Quest near Royal Ark, Michigan; Canterbury outside Concord, New Hampshire; May Valley near Seattle; The Valley near Yellow Springs, Ohio; St. Francis Acres/Glen Gardener in New Jersey; Koinonia Partners near Americus, Georgia; and the Bruderhof (Society of Brothers).[5]

In 1952, FIC created the Homer Morris Loan Fund — which has subsequently provided over $200,000 in small loans to intentional community businesses and associated enterprises. When the FIC's activities decreased in the 1960s, the loan fund continued separately as the non-profit Community Educational Service Council, Inc. (CESCI), and the FIC held annual gatherings of communitarians in conjunction with CESCI's board meetings.[6]

In 1954, FIC began holding annual conferences at Yellow Springs, Ohio and the Pendle Hill Quaker Center for Study and Contemplation in Pennsylvania.[7]

Then "Inter-Community Exchange" gradually weakened and was dissolved in 1961; a major reason for this was withdrawal of the Bruderhof (largest and most prosperous member).[5] The Bruderhof is still listed on the FIC website.[8]

It was revived under the name Fellowship for Intentional Community[5] and incorporated as non-profit organization[9] in 1986.

In the mid 1980s, inspired by the earlier FIC and other regional community networks, a number of community activists sensed that the time was ripe to organize a continental communities network. The FIC is a nonprofit, tax-exempt charitable educational organization. Participation has been expanded to include most of North America — the Fellowship now includes a wide range of individuals, well over a hundred intentional communities, and various support organizations.[10]

In 2018, at the Fall Meeting at the Twin Oaks Community in Virginia, FIC rebranded itself as the Foundation for Intentional Community because the aversion to the traditional masculine connotation of "Fellowship".[11]

• Ecovillage
• Intentional community

• Christian, Diana Leafe (2003). Creating a life together : practical tools to grow ecovillages and intentional communities. Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers. ISBN 9781550923162. OCLC 232159819.
• Communities Directory : the guide to intentional communities and cooperative living. Rutledge, Missouri: Foundation for Intentional Community. 2016. ISBN 9780971826496. OCLC 967852447.
• Gurvis, Sandra (2006). Where have all the flower children gone. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 9781604731422. OCLC 221695125.
• Hahnel, Robin (2013). Economic Justice and Democracy. Routledge. doi:10.4324/9780203952160. ISBN 9780203952160. OCLC 844923026.
• McLaughlin, Corinne; Davidson, Gordon (1985). Builders of the dawn : community lifestyles in a changing world. Shutesbury, MA, US: Stillpoint Pub. ISBN 9780940267015. OCLC 681460208.
• Morris, James; Kross, Andrea L (2009). The A to Z of utopianism. Lanham: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9780810863354. OCLC 435767628.
• Sreenivasan, Jyotsna (2008). Utopias in American history. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9781598840520. OCLC 469879708. OCLC 313462457, 469879708.
• Veysey, Laurence R. (1973). The Communal Experience; anarchist and mystical counter-cultures in America. New York: Harper & Row. ISBN 9780060145019. OCLC 1058619007. See the Wikipedia article on this book at The Communal Experience.

• Official website
• Foundation for Intentional Community on Facebook