Membership and Application

Want to become a member of GEN Europe?
On this page you’ll find full information on our membership fee structure, the application process and frequently asked questions.

Apply to become a member today!

Application process

  1. Submit the Membership Application Form & send the signed Statement of Tolerance to membership@gen-europe.org
  2. Within max. 3-4 working days you will hear back from the Membership Manager to confirm the approval of your application form or/and to clarify any outstanding questions should your application not meet the criteria.
  1. Find and connect with a buddy community/network for an initial mentorship call
  2. Submit the Membership Application Form & send the signed Statement of Tolerance to membership@gen-europe.org
  3. Send the written endorsement by your buddy community and optional send a screenshot of your completed ecovillage impact assessment to membership@gen-europe.org
  4. Within max. 3-4 working days you will hear back from the Membership Manager to confirm the approval of your application form or/and to clarify any outstanding questions should your application not meet the criteria.
  1. Contact us and we will send you the full membership application form.
  2. Fill out and submit your full membership application form latest 6 weeks prior to the General Assembly (GA). Please note that you have to be an aspiring member when applying for full membership.
  3. Send the renewed written endorsement by your buddy community/network to membership@gen-europe.org 
  4. Send a screenshot of your renewed ecovillage impact assessment to membership@gen-europe.org (optional, but appreciated)
  5. The full membership application form will be presented to the council of GEN Europe by the Membership Manager. Wait for approval from the council and if questions are raised the council may decide to have a meeting with the applicant or/and his buddy community /network and make a site visit when possible. Upon council approval, the aspiring member has access to the membership benefits of sending up to 5 delegates to the GA and Gathering.  
  6. Participate in the GA and give a presentation to the members and council. After this the council and buddy community/network will recommend the approval of full membership of the applicant to the GA, from which there needs to be 0 objections. 

  1. Fill out and submit your membership application form
  2. Send the signed Statement of Tolerance to membership@gen-europe.org
  3. Send the written endorsement by your buddy network to membership@gen-europe.org 
  4. The full membership application form will be approved/rejected by the Membership Manager and the member will enter a year-long aspiring/trial National- and Transnational Network membership.
  5. In the following year, the full membership application form will be presented to the council of GEN Europe by the Membership Manager 6 weeks prior to the GA. Wait for approval from the council and if questions are raised the council may decide to have a meeting with the applicant or/and buddy network 
  6. Participate in the GA and give a presentation to the members and council. After this the council and buddy community will recommend the approval of full membership of the applicant to the GA, from which there needs to be 0 objections

Please note that prior to being approved as a full National- and Transnational Network member at the General Assembly, (GA) our National- and Transnational Network members go through a year-long aspiring National- and Transnational Network membership. All full membership criteria, as listed below, do already need to be met in the year-long aspiring membership, but this way we ensure for new National- and Transnational Network members to attend the General Assembly at least once as observers prior to voting. The only difference in membership benefits compared to full membership is that for the first GA, you will only be able to send up to 3 delegates and attend as an observers.

Buddy Communities/Networks

Buddy Networks/Communities work closely together with the Membership Manager to provide a facilitated access for new members to initially become an aspiring and eventually full member. They will check on the basis of the statutes, if you meet the aspiring membership criteria and whether you are aligned with the values of GEN.

Prior to the aspiring membership application, they will also hold at least one mentorship call with you to exchange about GEN Europe’s vision & mission, to introduce you to the structure of GEN Europe and engagement opportunities, give advice and offer support so that information about GEN Europe is passed on within the new community and eventually provide a written endorsement on the result of the mentorship call which will be submitted with your membership application. 

Please find here the complete Infosheet for all details.

All of our full members (both networks & ecovillages) can become your buddy.

You can find them listed here on our Map and see which one might speak to you the most. You might already be connected to them and are welcome to reach out to them directly, otherwise please reach out to us at membership@gen-europe.org and we will be able to connect you with the member and their buddy contact person.

Membership Fee Structure

*We define low-, middle- and high-income countries using the World Bank’s country classification by income level based on the GNI (gross national income) per capita for 2022

Member obligations

  • Pay your annual membership fee at the beginning of each calendar year
  • Attend the annual General Assembly online or in-person (optional for ecoproject members)
  • Provide a reliable contact person and email address to respond to emails, and pass on information to your community or network
  • ***For aspiring/full members only *** Maintain and nourish the relationship with your buddy. To honour the time they invest in supporting and mentoring your community, we also encourage our aspiring members to give back to their buddies in their own and creative way (e.g. by giving them free access to some services/goods offered by their community…) only relevant for aspiring/full members
  • Inform GEN Europe in the case of changes within your community that result in you no longer fulfilling the membership criteria. In such case, the Membership Manager and the member will discuss how best to proceed and whether the membership should be cancelled, changed to another category and/or what other measures should best be taken to support and realign

Statement of Tolerance

Ecovillages & Ecoprojects come in all shapes and sizes, and can be found across the world: from traditional villages using age-old techniques, to modern settlements built with the latest in ecological innovations. 

Each ecovillage/ecoproject is unique however, there are some groups that are not ecovillages or/and ecoprojects, including…

  • Families living together: family may often feel like community – but the intentional process of ecovillage creation goes beyond the nuclear family.
  • Religious groups: an ecovillage might have different religious beliefs, but this is not what defines them as an ecovillage.
  • Sects or cults: a cult may have charismatic and unaccountable leadership and be based around coercive practices. In contrast to this, participation and shared leadership are defining elements of ecovillages.

Our statement of tolerance shows that we are tolerant of the diversity of viewpoints within our movement; however, we condemn and distance ourselves from any group or individual that (un)intentionally harms, or promotes harm to, other individuals or groups. We ask you to sign the statement of tolerance to reassure that your values align with ours.
Please view the statement of Tolerance here for download.

Membership Payment & Renewal

The membership lasts for one calendar year from January until the end of December.
Though when you sign up at the end of the year any time after October, it will already count for the next and full calendar year.

To renew your membership, you will be asked to pay the membership fee at the beginning of the year, and in order for all full members to retain their voting rights their membership fee needs to be paid prior to the General Assembly the latest.

When applying to become a member, we will send you all instructions on how to pay your membership fee upon the approval of your membership application form.

To renew your membership, you can pay through our web page via PayPal or Stripe or via bank transfer to our bank account:

Payment details: Postbank Berlin, bank code 10010010, Account no. 7681105, IBAN: DE 11100100100007681105, BIC: PBNKDEFF

IMPORTANT: Make sure to state the reason for the transaction: Membership fee x year.
If you need an invoice before you pay, please send us an email stating the sum you intend to pay, and we will send it to you.

Delegate Tickets

Delegates are the heart of our network and therefore, you get a special discount for the Gathering. In order to redeem your delegate ticket, we will share a special Gathering registration form via the Moon Cycle News.

  • Ecoprojects: 1 delegate ticket **
  • Aspiring ecovillage members: 2 delegate tickets *
  • Aspiring network members: 3 delegate tickets*
  • Full ecovillage members: up to 6 delegates tickets*
    (3 for the first 10 members, 4 for up to 30 members, 5 for up to 40 members, 6 for up to 50 members)
  • Full network members: up to 10 delegate tickets*
    (5 for the first 10 members, 6 for up to 20 members, 7 for up to 30 members, 8 for up to 40 members, 9 for up to 50 members, 10 for up to and plus 60 members)

*Under the condition one of the delegates attends that years Annual General Assembly as a representative from the Ecovillage/Network concerned.

**The delegates attendance at the years Annual General Assembly as a representative from the project concerned is not obligatory, but strongly recommended

General Assembly

Core Circle (Voting Delegates)

  • Full Ecovillages and Transnational- & National Network Members

Inner Circle (non Voting Delegates)

  • Ecoprojects and Aspiring Members

Outer Circle (limited number of Silent Observers, non-voting)

  • The number of silent observers (SO) is decided by the GEN Europe Council prior to the General Assembly.

Full members can propose any agenda items.
Aspiring members and ecoprojects can propose agenda items for discussion (not decision-making), based on the precondition that they are present in the General Assembly and have been a member for at least a year. Those must be submitted 30 days prior to the General Assembly.

Voting delegates of all full ecovillage & network members can be nominated for the Council based on the precondition that they are living in an ecovillage.

Financial Support

GEN Europe offers the opportunity to reimburse up to 33% of travel costs as travel assistance for one Voting Delegate from full members attending GEN Europe’s annual General Assembly . Though please note that it is capped at a maximum of 200 EUR and that we will not reimburse more than 75 % of the received membership fee. This particularly applies to full members who only pay the recommended minimum.

We encourage members to utilize this service only if truly necessary, as the membership fee is primarily intended to support and grow GEN Europe’s activities. Additionally, financial assistance for members’ projects and national network meetings may be available based on needs and GEN Europe’s financial situation.

Become a member today!

Still wondering if membership of GEN Europe is right for you?

Contact our Membership Manager Franziska Reißig, if you can’t find what you’re looking for!

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