Prices and Payment Policy
Our goal is to make our seminars accessible to more people and to help address economic inequalities. Therefore we offer a sliding scale for seminar fees, which includes full vegan meals and simple accommodation in a shared dormitory or group tent.
The solidarity fund helps make the seminars accessible to those from marginalized backgrounds. If you are in a position to offer support, we invite you to donate to the solidarity fund.
On this site, you can find all the information about our sliding scale, the Portuguese and Solidarity Fund, as well as our payment and cancellation policies.
Prices on a Sliding Scale: Pay according to your capacity
As a gesture towards economic equity we have introduced a sliding scale for our seminar fees. In the past we have seen that fixed prices hindered access for many who might benefit from the experience and knowledge we can offer. A sliding scale allows us to serve people from a wider range of economic groups while maintaining seminar fees as a reliable pillar of our economy / income.
The success of a sliding scale requires community collaboration. Ideally, it allows everyone to pay what they’re able to, while honouring the time and resources invested into the courses. The second lowest price of the scale reflects our best translation into a monetary sum of the time, energy and material we put into the courses; the highest end of the sliding scale balances the lowest one.
All of our prices include the daily cost of 35 € for full vegan board, simple accommodation and basic utilities.
More information about other options to stay can be found on Our Accommodations page.
How do I know how much to pay?
Knowing how to rate your capacity requires a moment of honest self-assessment. A complex web of income, wealth, class, race and other factors make up the realities of our ability to pay. In the best case scenario, everyone pays within their ability, with those paying higher prices supporting those paying at the lower end.
We invite you to follow these guidelines in choosing your price:
Invisible
Consider paying higher on the scale if you:
– own the home you live in
– have investments, retirement accounts or inherited wealth
– travel recreationally
– have access to family resources in times of need
– work part time by choice
– have a relatively high degree of earning power due to your level of education (or gender and racial privilege, class background, etc.). Even if you are not currently exercising your earning power, we encourage you to recognize this as a choice.
– are dedicated to supporting others’ access to an experience in Tamera
Consider paying lower on the scale if you:
– are supporting children or have other dependents
– have significant debt
– have significant medical expenses not covered by insurance
– have educational expenses
– receive public assistance
– have immigration-related expenses
– are a Portuguese national (more information below)
– are a senior citizen with a fixed income
Thank you for your participation. We ask you to assess yourself sincerely; we trust the choices you make and will not question your decision. After all, this is about shifting away from capitalist mindsets to communitarian, gift economy paradigms.
We also thank you for taking the time to read this and for your contribution to a community-based economic paradigm. We are grateful to Hammerstone School and Ride Free Fearless Money for the inspiration we took from their sliding scale models and articles.
Invitation to Portuguese Nationals
We are very grateful for the immense hospitality given to us by this country and want to cooperate with people from the region and the country who are working for system change.
We offer a 15€ per day reduction to Portuguese nationals who live and work here in Portugal.
This offer doesn’t apply to the reduced fee of the Community-Service-Program and the Hands-On-Times, however.
Also, Portuguese are welcome to pay the low end of our sliding scale. In case the respective amount is still challenging you are welcome to apply to the Portuguese Fund and ask for further reduction.
If you come from a higher-income background and wish to pay higher in the scale we’re happy to receive it.
Note: When you fill the registration form the 15€-per-day-reduction won’t show. It will be applied later.
Solidarity Fund
While we wish to address economic injustice through our new sliding fee scale, we are aware that this is within the reach of a small range of the economic spectrum and that we are writing from the context of the Global North. We know that the lower end of our fee range will still be too expensive for many and the higher end will be easily affordable for others.
If the lower end of the sliding scale is financially challenging, you can apply for a further reduction from our solidarity fund when you register.
If you’re able and want to support people from marginalized or low-income backgrounds to participate in our seminars just add your amount to the fee rate you choose as you pay.
The solidarity fund is also a community endeavor. We will be able to reduce our fees below the lower end of the sliding scale if we receive donations to support us to do so. We are curious about this experiment and trust that it will inspire the joy of giving to others.
If you wish to contribute, please let us know in your registration.
Registration & Payment Policy
Non-refundable registration fee
A non-refundable registration fee of €150 is required to reserve a place in a seminar. The registration is confirmed once this payment has been received.
After receipt of the registration fee, a confirmation email with further details about the stay will be sent. Travel arrangements should only be booked after this confirmation email has been received.
If the registration fee is not received within 2 weeks of registration, the place will be released and offered to someone else.
Full payment
The full seminar fee is due at least 4 weeks before the seminar begins.
If full payment has not been received by then — and no payment plan has been agreed upon by email — the place will be released and offered to someone else.
Cancellation Policy
Seminar cancellation
Cancellations made more than 4 weeks before the seminar start date receive a full refund minus the non-refundable registration fee of €150.
For cancellations made less than 4 weeks before the start date, the following refunds apply:
- Less than 4 weeks before: 80% refund of the course fee
- Less than 3 weeks before: 70% refund of the course fee
- Less than 2 weeks before: 50% refund of the course fee
- Less than 1 week before: 30% refund of the course fee
If a participant does not attend the seminar and has not cancelled in advance, the full course fee will be charged.
Accommodation cancellation
For accommodation bookings (Guesthouse, Visitor Hut, or other extra paid accommodation), the same cancellation policy applies to the accommodation fee.