Gain the Wisdom of Communities

Smiling woman with long wavy hair in purple shirt leaning against brick wall.
Kim Kanney
  • April 24, 2019
  • Relationships
  • Sustainability
Book covers on community building and sustainability from the Foundation for Intentional Community.

Have you ordered your copies of the Wisdom of Communities 4 volume set?

Each volume can be purchased individually or buy the entire set at a discounted price.
Also available as an ebook!

What is Wisdom of Communities?

Since 1972, Communities magazine, published by the Foundation for Intentional Community, has been collecting and disseminating the lessons learned of starting, growing and living in intentional community. The best lessons and stories told have been distilled into a 4 volume book series called the “Wisdom of Communities.”

This series is intended to aid community founders, seekers, current communitarians, students, and researchers alike in their explorations. Each book is over 300 pages and features over 100 of our best articles.

What is in each Volume?


Volume 1 – Starting a Community: Resources and Stories about Creating and Exploring Intentional Community includes both general articles and on-the-ground stories from intentional community founders and other catalysts of cooperative efforts.

This book aims to increase the survival rate of attempts to start intentional communities (it’s estimated that currently just 10 percent move past the initial stages). Table of Contents

Volume 2 – Finding a Community: Resources and Stories about Seeking and Joining Intentional Community is a response to the reality that many searches for intentional community fizzle out due to lack of adequate information, guidance, or exposure to fellow travelers’ stories.

Authors share experiences, tools, advice, and perspectives that should help anyone searching for an intentional community—whether to visit or to live in—increase the likelihood of finding what they’re seeking. Table of Contents

Volume 3 – Communication in Community: Resources and Stories about the Human Dimension of Cooperative Culture includes articles about decision-making, governance, power, gender, class, race, relationships, intimacy, politics, and neighbor relations in cooperative group culture.

These areas are key for communities to address if they are to retain members and develop strong and healthy group connection. Table of Contents

Volume 4 – Sustainability in Community: Resources and Stories about Creating Eco-Resilience in Intentional Community focuses on food, water, shelter, energy, land, permaculture, ecovillage design, eco-education, and resilience in cooperative culture.

These areas will prove more and more essential in allowing communities to navigate changing circumstances on our planet, while growing into new, regenerative ways of living and thriving together. Table of Contents

How do I purchase the entire set?

Click here! Each printed volume is $30 per book. Digital ebooks are $20 each.
Buy the entire set here for an additional $20 off.

Add a Communities magazine subscription to glean all future wisdom.

And check out our Best of Communities series, 15-volume set.

Comments

Featured Blogs

Keep the conversation going with these pieces

Karin Iona Sundberg
Sat Sep 2013
  • Living in community
  • Relationships
Spontaneous sharing and even-handedness erupt in Lost Valley’s young “tribe.”
Laura Lasuertmer
Tue Oct 2018
  • Living in community
  • Relationships
Organizing and cleaning up after Midwest Catholic Worker gatherings can be hard work—but are more than counterbalanced by the inspiration, connection, and sense of greater purpose they provide.
Molly
Wed May 2008
  • New to community
The environmental news site, Grist, has a great article about how Cleveland is going green. The article highlights the Cleveland Ecovillage a “pedestrian-friendly neighborhood linked to mass transit”. The project is the brainchild of five local nonprofits, the city, the regional transit authority, p…
J McCune Porter
Tue Nov 2014
  • New to community
  • Membership Process
Community Bookstore Special Best of Communities ― The Cream of Our Crop Intentional Community Overview And Starting A Community by June, Community Bookstore Manager Best of Communities Vol. I Intentional Community Overview plus Starting A Community Digital downloadable compilation PDF …
Sky Blue
Thu Apr 2019
  • Living in community
  • Relationships
I got a little out of order, but to wrap up my first cross-country tour I wanted to share a little about Arcosanti. I only stayed there a night on my way from Taos to San Diego, but I’ve helped host a couple gatherings there the last two years and I really enjoy the place. It was kind of just a conv…
Sky Blue
Mon Jan 2019
National Cohousing Conference, May 30 – June 2, 2019 The FIC is a proud co-sponsor of the 2019 National Cohousing Conference, hosted by the Cohousing Association of the US. We’ll be providing workshops and running a conference Bookstore. Hope to see you there! Learn how living in community c…
Christopher Roth
Sun Mar 2010
  • Living in community
  • Relationships
Reviews of two great books on community living, one on life in a convent with surprising insights even for the most secular, and one on the history of utopian experiments in Oregon.
Saul Of-Hearts
Mon May 2016
  • Economics & Law
As interest in community living grows, it’s important that we make it easy and accessible for people to get involved with their local co-ops and coliving spaces. For many people, community dinners, art and music nights, and overnight stays are the ideal way to explore whether coliving is right for t…
Alex Daniell
Thu May 2014
  • New to community
  • Sustainability
An innovative self-governing village lifts spirits while modeling new ways to address homelessness.
Saul Of-Hearts
Thu Mar 2017
  • Sustainability
Curious about how you can apply permaculture principles in your community or ecovillage? There’s no better way than to visit a community in person and learn from hands-on workshops and immersion programs. Here are two very different programs – one an affordable “spring break” at a community in Wa…

Insights & Stories from the Communities Movement

Subscribe to our newsletter for fresh stories and community updates delivered to your inbox.

Join the Communiversity Community

Get unlimited access to courses, exclusive member events, and a supportive network of community builders

Unlimited Learning

Access all courses, books, and premium content

Community Network

Member-only workshops and community builders

Exclusive Events

Member-only workshops and gatherings

Update to a Public Profile

  • Log in
  • Go to your profile page
  • Toggle on the "Add my profile to the directory"
  • Save your profile

Information

Communities

A residential project: people live here as their primary home.

Organizations

An institution, business, network, or project that isn’t a residence (e.g. a learning center, farm, or network with no one living there full-time).

Plus Community Membership

  • Find people with Profile Match
  • Access to your community listing statistics
  • Create Discussion Groups
  • Access to our affiliate program
  • Member badge on your community profile
I am an official member of this community
Disclaimer
I affirm that my information is accurate and I am authorized to manage this listing
Foundation for Intentional Community FIC Member badge logo.

Free Plan

Free Membership
Free

Intentional Advertising

  • Subtotal

    {{ currencyFormat( pricing_summary.total_amount ) }}

Icon representing community connections and collaboration for intentional communities.

Plus Membership

We’re introducing new Plus features — including community reviews, Profile Match, and unlimited Needs & Offers posts — while keeping most of FIC free for everyone. Membership costs less than two coffees a month. 

  • Find communities with Profile Match
  • View detailed reviews about communities
  • Create free listings in Needs & Offers
  • Plus Member resources in CommUniversity
  • View communities detailed reviews
  • Plus Member badge on your profile