September 15 is Free Money Day. But this is not a holiday as such, but a kind of social experiment that was launched in 2011 to popularize such a type of financial activity as the sharing economy. The main goal of Day – is to instill in people the correct attitude towards money, which should work all the time, being the life force of any economy, and not settle somewhere as a dead weight.
Therefore, the main event of the holiday is to distribute your money to strangers wherever possible. But there is a – rule that a person must give half of the amount received to someone else. Some protesters come up with their own forms of transferring funds. For example, cafe owners offer visitors free coffee, and ask them to give money for it to a stranger. By the way, if you are not sure that you want to personally give money to someone, then you can leave it in a prominent place or transfer it online. Moreover, there are no rules about the amount of the transferred amount; everyone chooses the size and methods of transferring funds.
The initiator of this unusual holiday was Donnie McLurkan – co-founder and one of the leaders of The Post Growth Institute (PGI) – of an international non-profit organization that develops ideas and programs for economic development. And he chose the date of September 15 due to the fact that on this day in 2008, one of the world's leading financial conglomerates, –, the American investment bank Lehman Brothers, declared bankruptcy. This event became one of the loudest in US economic history and hit thousands of middle-income investors hard. Therefore, when establishing the holiday, McLurkan wanted to show that – money is not only a means of accumulation and competition, but also an instrument of exchange and cooperation.
Free Money Day was first held in 2011 and has since become famous in many countries around the world where activists hold various events. By the way, this may not just be a distribution of money. For example, you can invite strangers to listen to their music for money, distribute your company’s products to clients for free, organize a free scientific lecture or a master class on your favorite hobby…
According to the official Free Money Day website, more than 300 events have been held in 35 countries since 2011. Moreover, these are only official data.
It is also important to say that the attitude towards Free Money Day events in society is ambiguous. A person who tries to give you his money is more distrustful than positive. According to activists of the action, this is due to the attitudes prevailing in modern society that free cheese can only be found in mousetraps, and you have to pay for everything in this life. Therefore, not everyone makes contact right away. But the organizers of the Day do not despair; they are confident that such actions develop not only people’s thinking, but also the global economy. After all, whatever one may say, money affects our lives and our world.