Instituto ReCivitas is a Brazilian NGO that ran the world's first privately crowdfunded village-scale unconditional basic income, paying residents of Quatinga Velho a small monthly sum from 2008, funded by citizen-to-citizen donations rather than the Brazilian state. In 2016 it converted the model into a "lifetime basic income" backed by a community-owned fund designed to pay out permanently.
None (fiat)
Citizen-to-citizen crowdfunding: donations from individuals worldwide, later supplemented by a capitalised fund whose returns finance the payments, plus contributions from beneficiaries themselves into a community savings account. Explicitly independent of the Brazilian state.
Instituto ReCivitas, a Brazilian non-profit, positioning the scheme as a citizen-to-citizen right rather than a state benefit; beneficiaries participate in the community savings structure.
Bruna Augusto Pereira and Marcus Brancaglione dos Santos (co-founders)
Phase 1 ran October 2008 to 2014/2015 covering around 100 residents of Quatinga Velho. In January 2016 ReCivitas launched a "Lifetime Basic Income" intended to be permanent, backed by an endowment-style fund (the ReCivitas Basic Income Fund). Current activity level is not clearly documented; no verified recent updates found for 2023-2026.
- Historically significant: the first sustained privately funded unconditional basic income pilot anywhere, and the direct ideological ancestor of later crowdfunded models.
- Amounts were small (~US$10/month) but meaningful relative to local incomes.
- Status marked unknown because no source found confirms payments are still flowing in 2023-2026; the owner may want to contact ReCivitas directly before marking it active.