About us
Mission
and Activities
The Intentional Communities Desk (ICD) is a contact body connecting a wide variety of communities the world over - kibbutzim, ecovillages, co-housing, housing co-ops, spiritual communities etc etc.
The desk was established way back in 1976 and our modest headquarters are situated at the Yad Tabenkin Institute, on the outskirts of Tel Aviv, Israel. Yad Tabenkin is home to one of the most significant and comprehensive, if not the most significant and comprehensive, collections of publications and books about intentional communities in the world. This material is at the disposal of researchers, students and anyone who is interested. The material is in the process of being digitized in order that it may be accessed remotely.
Our magazine C.A.L.L. (Communities At Large Letter), is published twice a year, and includes articles and letters and other materials sent to us by communities from around the world. In addition, Kol is our Hebrew publication, published once a year.
The members of the Desk - our committee - all live in intentional communities, both rural and urban. Almost all of our work is voluntary and the few who are paid receive very little for their labour.
We are supported by the Kibbutz Movement, led by it's General Secretary, Leor Simha.
The lCD initiates meetings with members of communities from Israel and abroad. Our members also attend international communities conferences in order to connect with the wider communal scene.
We are a Registered NGO, so are legally permitted to receive tax-free donations. (Even a modest sum will be very welcome!)
Do feel free to contact us!
Anton Marks,
General Secretary of the Intentional Communities Desk (ICD)
Our supporters!
We have established mutually supportive relationships with several organizations that, like us, view community living as a crucial solution to the environmental, social, financial, and health crises facing humanity.
The Yad Tabenkin Institute
Yad Tabenkin, the research and documentation center of the Kibbutz Movement, is a registered association (NPO) whose vision is to preserve the history of the Kibbutz Movement, Zionist youth movements from across the globe, key aspects of the history of the 'Yishuv' and the modern State of Israel and to research its past and present.
The Kibbutz Movement
The Kibbutz Movement consists of kibbutzim, which are agricultural cooperative associations. The Kibbutz Movement encourages the growth, renewal, and development of the kibbutzim, promotes settlement, agriculture, industry, rural areas, and the preservation of open spaces, as well as population dispersal with a preference for the Negev and Galilee. The Kibbutz Movement operates based on universal values, including solidarity, social justice, the equality of human value, equal opportunities, the promotion of women, and the right to dignity and freedom. The movement leads and upholds mutual responsibility and cooperation as a value-based foundation for economic and social resilience, recognizes the diversity that characterizes the kibbutzim, and works with and for each one of them separately as an integrated network; seeing its members and kibbutzim as active partners in fulfilling its mission within Israeli society and among Jews in the Diaspora.The International Communal Studies Association has been formed to provide a common framework for a scholarly exchange of information on communes, intentional communities, collective settlements and kibbutz throughout the world. The organization will be multidisciplinary and shall strive for international representation among its members.
The International Communal Studies Association (ICSA)
The International Communal Studies Association has been formed to provide a common framework for a scholarly exchange of information on communes, intentional communities, collective settlements and kibbutz throughout the world. The organization will be multidisciplinary and shall strive for international representation among its members.
Foundation For Intentional Community
The FIC champions social, ecological, and economic justice and resiliency through the support and growth of cooperative culture and intentional communities. We envision a just, resilient, and cooperative world where everyone has the opportunity to thrive in community.