Vibrant pink and orange roses blooming in a community garden setting.

Compersia

  • Communities

About the Communities

  • Established
  • Social
  • Urban

Founding year

  • 2013

What we do

Compersia is an intentional community located in the heart of Washington, DC. More than just a group house(s), we are founded on a deep commitment to sharing our labor, resources, and lives – together we can achieve more than any of us could individually. This manifests in many different ways; as a community we are fully income-sharing, with a single joint bank account. We reject the rigid market system and value all community-oriented labor equally, whether it’s working a salaried job, doing housework, freelancing, or community organizing. We are dedicated to the principles of inclusion, feminism, anti-racism, and anti-discrimination. We strive to be egalitarian in all respects, and make decisions transparently and by consensus. We place high value on open, respectful, genuine communication, and desire a healthy, productive, and sustainable world for all people regardless of circumstance or nationality. If you resonate with these ideas then we’d love to hear from you. Our world is your world … let’s join forces!

Our Mission

We are an egalitarian, income-sharing, intentional community located in the District of Columbia.

  • Purpose
  • Social
  • Community type
  • Commune

Commemorative dates

  • January 1, 2013
  • Started planning
  • January 1, 2016
  • Started living together
  • 4 Total members
  • Open to new members
  • Open to visitors
Total
9

How to join

People who are interested in membership should get to know us by writing or talking with us, joining us for dinner and social events, then writing a formal application for membership and living with us for up to a month. Applications are reviewed by the whole community and applicants complete a clearness with all members (a check-in about their relationship). Membership decisions are made by consensus. If accepted, the applicant becomes a provisional member. They can apply for full membership between 6 and 12 months later.

Basic expectations or agreements for members

Write us an email or call and leave us a voicemail. We’ll exchange messages, talk to you on the phone, and invite you over to visit… maybe join us for dinner! We have a meet-the-commune dinner once a month.

Primary decision-making authority

  • All Community Members Together

The whole membership decides collectively.

Decision-making process

  • Full Consensus

Everyone must agree before moving forward.

Governance structure

  • Collaborative/Horizontal

Power and responsibility are shared relatively equally among members.

Economic model

  • Complete Income-Sharing

All member income goes into common pool for community use.

Economic scenarios for this community

  • There is a labor obligation

Additional economic information

Labor: Yes (50 hrs/week)
Members with pre-existing debt: allowed

Shared resources and amenities that are accessible to everyone in the community

Common House, Garden(s), Vehicle Share, Library, Workshop, Fire pit, Swingsets & play areas, Gym or sports area, Internet

Frequency of communal meals

  • 2-5 times per week

Dietary restriction

  • People can cook and eat what they want in their own residence

Substance use culture

  • Substance use appears in public spaces but no pressure
  • Substance use occurs primarily at celebrations or ceremonies
  • Religions
  • Buddhist

Gender composition

  • Roughly balanced (no group over 60%)

Age demographics

  • Multi-generational (all ages well represented)

Property status

  • Privately owned

Property owner

  • By a Land Trust, Home Owners Association, or corporation

Setting

  • Urban

Within city limits with access to urban amenities and infrastructure.

Community type

  • Commune

    Communal living with shared resources, property, and often income or work responsibilities

Self-produced energy

  • Over 66%

Energy sources used

  • Wind

Self-produced food

  • Up to 33%

Local, organic, or fair trade food

  • Up to 33%

Food systems

  • Community garden
  • Land area size
    0.08264463 acres

Guest Book

Written reviews are available for plus members. Click here to upgrade.

Location

  • District of Columbia, United States

Compersia

Needs and Offers

Connecting people and communities through an intentional online marketplace

  • Events
3 weeks ago

Restoring Choice - free online practice group, from Australia

Restoring Choice – free sessions and a practice group Many of us are less practised at three things than we realise: making clear requests, saying no when it isn’t a full yes, and hearing no without something getting damaged. These aren’t personality traits. They’re capacities that were trained out of many of us by ordinary structures – families where some needs were allowed and others weren’t, workplaces that reward overstretch. They can be trained back. Why this might interest people here Most communities teach communication after people arrive, once conflict has already surfaced. This works the other way round – building capacity first, and finding out what a group can do when most people already have it. What’s running Free 60-minute introduction, online. Same session each time; come to whichever suits. Register for intro session below: https://events.humanitix.com/reclaim-your-power-with-restoring-choice Four-week practice group, Tuesdays from 15 September, 6:30-8:00pm. One session a week, and at least one short written entry a day about a real situation in your own life. The writing is the actual work; the sessions support it. Sign up by Sunday 13 September. Register for practice group below: https://events.humanitix.com/restoring-choice-practice-group Everything is free. Times are Australian Eastern 6:30pm here is the early hours in most of the Americas. Worth checking before you register. Who it’s for No prior experience needed. It isn’t therapy, and I’m not a therapist. Many people find that looking honestly at how well they ask, decline, or hear a no is less flattering than expected. That’s common, and it isn’t a verdict on anyone. Run by Glenn Russo – 13 years practising this material, seven years co-facilitating an NVC practice group in Castlemaine. If you’re already living in community and would rather share what you’ve learned than join anything, I’d like to hear from you too.
Need
  • Forming Communities
3 weeks ago

Looking for: people building relational capacity, with a view to community

What’s here now: An intention, a framework developed over five years, and a programme running in central Victoria to find people to build with. No land, no group, no timeline. The question this is organised around: What makes a community of people living together sustainable over decades – where people enjoy being there, conflict is low, and the conflict that does arise gets handled in ways people value. The distinctive premise is capacity before formation. Most communities form first and build relational skill afterwards, usually under pressure. This one proposes doing it the other way round: people build the capacities first, and the group forms from people who have them. That includes a working idea about collective capacity – that a group has a ratio, and below some threshold it can’t metabolise its own conflict and starts consuming itself. Roughly: in a group of twenty, perhaps three or four with high capacity, most in the middle, and very few without. Untested, and something this project exists to find out. Governance: Sociocracy, with the intention of testing it meaningfully at scale rather than adopting it nominally. What’s actually happening: A three-week residency at a property near Castlemaine, and a practice group running before it. The medium-term aim is twenty to forty people at a rented facility. The long-term aim is a support hub sharing the framework more widely. What I’m looking for: People who want to build this capacity seriously, and who might eventually want to build something together. Not necessarily people who want to live here – the current property probably isn’t the long-term site. Happy to hear from anyone this resonates with, including people already in community who’d rather share what they’ve learned than join anything.
Offer

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

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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).

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