Equitable Wage Guide

This guide was created in response to a reoccurrence of CoLab contributors not knowing the best rates to charge for their work. This document was created by the Capacity+ team to help guide people towards arriving at a fairer monetary value for their time, and to give people more confidence in their ‘rate’.

It was further amended in 2025 by Daniel Mello Mattos and reviewed by Next Steps Contributors: Aimee Fenech

This document is being published on the CoLab website as its usefulness is organisation and network agnostic.

Feedback on this document has identified that it is quite complex and long… and we acknowledge this issue but want to publish it despite this it is deemed a useful reference document in its current form. Feedback and suggestions are welcome by email to contact@perma.earth or in the #general-circle CoLab Community Space.

Feel free to use or adapt this guide with the following license;
Equitable Wage Guide © 2022 by International Permaculture CoLab is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

Core goals of this guide

People Care – arrive at an hourly rate which is at least enough for you to pay for enough food, shelter, clothing, basic needs, with dignity, and if an individual manages their budget they can break free from the cycle of poverty.

Fair share – if you experience privilege you don’t take more than is necessary, therefore leaving more for those with less privilege. Likewise if you have less privilege this is compensated by an increased pay rate.

Earth Care – creating and promoting realistic career pathways and livelihoods which increase environmental restoration & regeneration efforts amplifies the transition to an ecologically prosperous future.