Terms and conditions

Professional fee

Most of Christian Felber’s work for his political „twins“ Cooperative for the Common Good and Economy for the Common Good (ECG) is on a voluntary basis and therefore pro bono. In order to manage the numerous international inquiries – approx. 1 request per day for international appearances – and all kinds of tasks resulting from Christian’s public appearances and his involvement in the projects mentioned above, a team is in charge to support Christian in all aspects of his work: communication, PR, coordination of appearances, travel organisation, website, social media and finances etc. The finances for his team and himself base on the income for various appearances. At the same time, Christian has a limit of appearances to keep his health and life balance. The aim is to give less than 10 appearances per month on average. In 2017, Christian gave 150 speeches in total.

Christian Felber’s fees are lower than the usual market price for an internationally renowned speaker. However, we are aware that for some organisations the fees might not be easy to raise. Therefore, there are a limited number of reduced rates per month, depending on the possibilities of the corresponding organisation.

ONLINE APPEARANCES

We know that these standard fees may represents a major hurdle for some organizers, especially for online events.
We would be happy to talk about your options. Please let us know what is possible for you!

The standard fee applies to a on-site presence of approximately 2 hours.

€ 1.250,- New ECG chapter fee
This reduced rate is for newly established ECG local chapters – provided no sponsors or co-organisers can be found
excluding traveling expenses (trip + hotel) and value added tax (VAT).
€ 2.500,- Standard fee
excluding traveling expenses (trip + hotel) and value added tax (VAT).
€ 5.000,- Business fee
In order to be able to offer subsidised appearances, there is a category for financially strong companies, banks and associations.
excluding traveling expenses (trip + hotel) and value added tax (VAT).

TRAVEL EXPENSES, VAT, INVOICE

Travel expenses
For events in Europe, we charge a standard fixed travel expenses rate that amounts to 350 € (excluding VAT). This fix travel rate significantly reduces the bureaucratic paperwork for all parties involved. The fixed rate is offered to all European organisations, no matter the distance. We believe this is a fair systemic solution for all.

For legal reasons, some organisations require the original travel tickets. As an entrepreneur, Christian needs the original travel tickets for his own accounting. An additional reason for travels within Austria and Germany are the Österreich-Card (ÖBB’s yearly season ticket) and the BahnCard 100 (DB’s yearly season ticket). These cards do not require the printing of physical tickets, so we could not provide them anyways.

Value-added tax (VAT)
Christian is tax-registered in Austria and Germany and pays his income taxes there. In order to avoid double taxation, we can ask the local tax authority for an “entrepreneurship certification” or a “certificate of residence” for you. This procedure takes about 1-2 weeks, please let us know in due time. Regarding VAT: the “reverse charge” system applies to transactions between EU countries, meaning that the value added tax must be paid by the recipient of the service. In case the recipient of the service is no company and therefore does not have a VAT number, we would not charge VAT in the invoice.

Accommodation
We kindly thank you for organising Christian’s accommodation directly, by making the reservation and paying for the room beforehand (these costs are additional to the standard fixed travel expenses rate). 3-star hotels are sufficient, guesthouses are also fine. Please avoid bookings in 5-star hotels.
The following criteria are important:

  • Train station (Christian normally travels by train – he purposely does not own a car) and venue should be reachable on foot.
  • Location in the vicinity of a park, near a river or forest (as long as it is not in conflict with the above), so Christian can practice yoga in nature and/or swim during the breaks.
  • Private accommodation is principally ok, if the criteria mentioned above are fulfilled, especially if there is no dependency on travelling by car; privacy and possibilities of retreat at any time are necessary.

An eco-hotel that meets the above-mentioned criteria would be of preference.

Invoice
For tax-reasons we need to issue an invoice for every payment we receive, so we will send you a standard invoice automatically, containing all necessary information within a week after Christian’s appearance. If you need further information on the invoice, please let us know (ideally including this fact in our event form).

Download and contact

Agreement (ODT, EN)

Acuerdo (ODT, ES)

Event information (ODT, EN)

Event information (ODT, ES)

Contact (email)

Announcement texts and pictures

Q&A

Most of Christian’s activity is pro bono. He personally fosters the development of social innovations such as the Economy for the Common Good, Ethical World Trade or the Bank for the Common Good. For example, Christian is a member of the ECG’s international coordination team and he is on the supervisory board of the Bank for the Common Good. His personal team, which is legally and financially independent, and his pro bono work is mostly financed through speaking engagements.

Market prices for expert talks are significantly higher, although this is not a reference for Christian. On the other hand, most speakers have other main income sources and only additionally give talks; for example: university professors, receiving a fixed salary, can afford to give public talks at a lower fee or even for free. Christian Felber finances three people. Of € 2.500,- net, Christian himself gets approximately € 300,-, the rest is used to cover the teams salaries and other costs.  Christian’s income per hour is lower than of his team members (see common good balance sheet 2015/2016). Christian does not have any property (car, house/flat, savings), in his every-day life he mostly buys sustainable products and uses the public transport as much as possible.

For newly-founded local chapters that do not have (event) partners yet. There are also reduced fees for universities and other public/education organisations that cannot meet the standard conditions.

Since the company “Christian Felber” is financially independent, most of the income is used to finance the team. 10% of the work related to the ECG (books, speaking engagements, consulting, audits, teaching, etc) goes towards the movement; Christian accounts for his part in a yearly internal tax declaration towards the ECG.

For the first years of the movement, Christian has almost been the only visible face. This is changing, also due to his own efforts: In 2017, he was in charge of external communications for the movement and introduced the speakers hub, who represents the ECG in interviews and press relations. The speakers hub gathers international experts on the ECG, who can give speeches on the ECG at a lower fee category.

The Bank for the Common Good also has a speakers group, its members take most of the requests together with the board.

Christian has already been in a similar situation when he fostered the creation and development of the Austrian Attac group from 2000 to 2010. His role was key and he was widely identified as the face of Attac. Nowadays, Attac is an NGO with more than 5.000 members and half a dozen employees in the Vienna office.

This decision is made in the corresponding bodies in which Christian Felber is only one of many decision makers:

  • Member of the Supervisory Board of the Bank for the Common Good
  • Member of the international coordination team of the Economy for the Common Good