Why are we here?
As a team, we’ve been doing some brainstorming recently and discovered that we really do have a lot in common in terms of why we have come together…
It was really quite exciting when we had our first ‘Vision Day’ (it was really just an afternoon) a month or so back now, here in our Christchurch office…
We’ve decided that with our net profit which we earn each year we will put aside 25% to expand and grow the company, we will share 50% between all our team members ‘equally’ based on the hours worked by each team member and the remaining 25% will be used for outreach activities…
We also decided that we, Transparency Group, would not just be a design-build consultancy offering build, architectural, engineering and information technology services but that we would diversify so that our people could also pursue their ‘hobbies’, ‘passions’ and ‘interests’ as either fee earning or altruistic activities within the company…
I guess being honest about it we’re really following a ‘Robin Hood’ vibe… 
We will make money doing what we do – and we love doing those things – and we will benefit from that but then with the surplus, we can invest in those who otherwise wouldn’t have the opportunity to get the training towards fulfilling their potential in life and we will make a difference in our sphere of influence…
For any built ‘goods’ (think the Efficiency and Enigma ranges for now) which we sell we will apply a margin of 20% (no less, no more)…
For any architectural, engineering or information technology consultancy services which we offer we will base these on a time writing charge (for 2018 this has been set at NZD125+GST/hour)…
For any other goods and services offered (think food sold at the cafe or piano lessons) we will just endeavour to charge a fair price based on the current market prices which would be paid elsewhere locally…
Our hope is that there will be sister offices/communities established in various cities around the world and that these offices will replicate and transplant so to speak our vision into their cities – a message of hope to the world…
What have we got in mind?
So far we’ve had the idea of establishing a center where we can have an office, we can adopt orphans and widows who can live on site with some of our team, we can have a sports venue (NBA sized basketball court), we can have a gymnasium, we can have the performing arts, theatre productions, concerts, a workshop where we can build our Enigma range (and any other 3-D modular range we sell in the future), a church, a house of prayer, sports coaching, music lessons, a cafe/restaurant, a space for community gatherings, a community garden, a recording studio, a child care centre, an indoor rock climbing wall and other offices for other companies who feel comfortable to be in the same building with us…
Our idea is to form a campus where our infectious vision of benefiting the lives of anyone or any group who is or who are keen on living by design can come and glean from what we’re experimenting with, the way we are doing things, learning together from them in terms of what they are doing so we could experiment with that and sending them back to wherever they are based ‘pumped up’ that there’s someone else doing life (and business) this way, i.e. that they are not alone, or keen to implement some of the ethos of what we’ve been experimenting with in their location, in their own unique local context and based on the unique passions and interests of their own team members…
Basically, we want to ‘share the love’…
The complex or center will be partly funded by the ‘paying public’ choosing to use our facilities as they would any other gymnasium, cafe, restaurant, child care center, recording studio (or whatever else from our list above) and the remainder of the complex will be funded through our 25% net profit set aside for outreach activities with some of our 25% set aside for the expansion and growth of the company also thrown in as we start up to establish a presence…
Outreach Activities…
We want to be able to offer to certain people or groups who are passionate about it and genuinely couldn’t otherwise afford it, free sports coaching (including individual sports coaching), free music lessons (for example piano lessons – which is one my passions), free use of our sports facilities for sports practices, possibly free sports uniforms (maybe with our logo on them somewhere), free drama lessons and coaching, free voice lessons, free use of our recording studio to record their original music, giving away left over food at the end of each business day from the cafe and restaurant to those who genuinely don’t have anything to eat (finding other organisations who already distribute food to partner with us if they’re keen)…
A Sense of Belonging…
One thing which I am personally very passionate about is a sense of belonging…
I feel a strong leading and passion to adopt orphans and widows into our Transparency family…
I have no idea how we will practically achieve this from a legal standpoint but ‘where there’s a will there’s a way’…
I believe the single greatest benefit to society which Transparency can provide is to provide a place where those who want to be involved can genuinely have a sense of belonging, a place where they are accepted unconditionally, where they are not accepted on the basis of their performance but where they are freed to perform out of a confidence that they are already accepted…
The greatest form of acceptance anyone can have is to be adopted into a family who you know have chosen to love and accept you unconditionally…
This is true for us all – whether we’ve been born into a family originally who love and accept us unconditionally or whether we haven’t (our truly family is not necessarily always our blood family)…
This is especially true for those who are orphans and widows…
There is a special place for them in my heart…
They are the most treasured and vulnerable – and they have a lot to offer once they are ‘sewn in’ to a community of unconditional love and acceptance…
An Intergenerational Community…
Where we all help each other – the passion and vigour of youth and the wisdom of the aged…
I want Transparency to have a place on campus where those of us who feel so led can live – in separate units – on campus – under one umbrella – and call the campus our home…
Adopted orphans, widows, families, couples, single people – whoever…
Whoever wants to live with us (who is not an orphan or a widow) – who shares our vision – they can pay (whatever is fair) but for those who can’t afford to pay (who aren’t orphans or widows) but still want to partner with us in our vision – we would love to offer them work helping out with our outreach activities in return for room and board on our campus…
Progressive Revelation…
This is a progressive vision – what I’ve shared above is just a taste, just a download of what we’ve seen to date, I believe there will be more coming as we – those keen on living by design – living holistically with all of life considered a continuum – with our greatest fulfillment being to bring fulfillment not only to ourselves, to those in our sphere of influence – living in community – but to be freed to be the fullest and most liberated expression of ourselves that we can be so that we can – in partnership – truly enjoy life – space to live…
Andrew J Horton
29 May 2018
Enjoyable read!
Thanks Olly! Glad you enjoyed 🙂 We are very passionate about this vision and cannot wait to see it come to fruition.