My friends from college are all in our mid 30s and are looking to create an org that can pool our funds for our annual gatherings (1-3x/year). We’re 20 deep, now there’s kids, and we’re thinking more long term.

Our long term goal is to put extra $$ away in high yield/brokerage accounts for possible land trusts/business possibilities.

Some are suggesting 501c7 but I think we should be an LLC. I am a former worker owner of a coop and can see the benefits for tax purposes and also love the cooperative model for decision making concerning leadership, passing budgets, etc.

Thoughts?

Hello— I’m trying to balance my interest in collectively owning something and having the autonomy to do what I want.

There’s a theoretical concept I’ve been working on, a mental health model. I would like multiple people to shape and influence it. I would like to be known as the person who coined the term for community to shape. I know it will live best in the hands of many but I really want autonomy over this. Or maybe it’s over aspects of this? I want to freedom to write articles, host events about it. I want the autonomy to collaborate on short term projects with people. To tap in and out of working together. I can’t see how to do that cooperatively or if I need to?

I also want a group practice that is cooperatively owned. And maybe we dont all use that concept. But we all have a strong social justice orientation. And there’s a training/vetting for some alignment before becoming a worker-owner.

How’s that? Would you suggest a different way of sharing ownership? Are there suggested reading on work autonomy and collective ownership?

Asking for a friend! 😊🌈

A Newer Wave of the Consumer Co-operative Movement

“New Wave” Grocery Co-ops formed in the 1970s were part of a counter-culture movement that pioneered the natural food industry. Today, the counter-culture of these consumer co-ops is no more, as their advocacy and methodology paved the way for acceptance on a grand scale by all of grocery. 

The new wave grocery co-ops that survived are now well-established but often lost on where their grocery business fits when every grocery store seems to have natural, organic, specialty, and healthy products in their aisles. The answer does not lie solely within the grocery business but in the true strength of the new wave pioneers—in purposeful communalism through participating in the cooperative economy.

The Cooperative Economy: The Benefits

Cooperative economies keep more money local, ensuring that wealth generated within a community stays within that community. By participating in a cooperative economy, communities can support a diverse range of businesses that meet their needs, fostering a more resilient and self-sufficient local economy.

Cooperative Economies: 

1. Keep More Money Local: Money spent at co-ops tends to stay in the local economy. This helps to support local jobs and create a multiplier effect, where the benefits of each dollar spent are felt multiple times within the community.

2. Have Democratic Ownership and Control: In a cooperative, the members who use the services own and control the business. This means decisions are made by those who are directly impacted, leading to more equitable and community-focused outcomes.

3. Increase Economic Resilience: Co-ops can contribute to the economic resilience of a community by providing essential goods and services even in times of economic downturn. In addition, Co-op's focus on local can strengthen the local supply chain. Their focus on member needs rather than profit can help them weather financial challenges better than traditional businesses.

4. Offer Social and Environmental Responsibility: Co-ops are often more focused on sustainable practices and social responsibility. They may be able to prioritize environmentally friendly practices, fair wages, and ethical sourcing of products more so than their competitors.

5. Are Community Builders: Co-ops foster a sense of community by encouraging member participation and involvement. This can lead to stronger community ties and a greater sense of shared purpose.

Starting a co-operative presents unique challenges compared to traditional business models. The process of establishing and sustaining a co-operative can be complex and demanding including access to capital, complex governance structure, regulatory and legal hurdles, management challenges, member education, and market competition. New-wave grocery co-ops have many of these challenges figured out and are primed to grow the Cooperative economy in their towns. 

Expanding the Cooperative Model

Creating a cooperative economy from a current y co-op involves the purposeful acquisition or starting of other businesses that member-owners need in their lives. Examples could include:

-Co-op Grocery: Provides member-owners with access to food that meets their needs. This is a starting point of many of the new wave Co-ops.

• Co-op Clothing: Member-owned clothing stores can offer fair-trade and sustainably produced clothing, ensuring ethical fashion choices.

• Co-op Cafe: Community cafes can serve as social hubs while providing locally sourced food and beverages.

• Co-op Auto Repair: Member-owned auto repair shops can offer reliable services with a focus on customer satisfaction and fair pricing.

• Co-op Entertainment: Community-owned entertainment venues can provide spaces for local artists and events, keeping cultural activities vibrant and accessible.

• Co-op Insurance: Cooperative insurance companies can offer more affordable and transparent insurance options tailored to community needs.

• Co-op Books: Member-owned bookstores can promote literacy and support local authors and publishers.

And more. Any consumer retail business need could be owned by the community with offerings tailored to the owners themselves. 

A single co-operative membership would entitle members to the perks of all the Co-op businesses. Not in the least, year-end profits (earned in totality across the Co-op business sectors) would be returned to owners in the form of a patronage refund at the direction of the Board of Directors OR used to acquire new business sectors that serve the needs of owners. These business sectors could be housed under the same roof but more practically, would operate as separate store fronts unified under the Co-ops marketing, branding, and support teams.

Embracing the Silver Tsunami

The concept of the "silver tsunami" refers to the wave of retirements among baby boomers, leading to a significant number of small businesses anticipated to be put up for sale. This presents a unique opportunity for co-ops to expand. By acquiring these businesses, co-ops can ensure they remain locally owned and continue to serve their communities.

The cooperative economy offers a sustainable and equitable model for community development. By expanding the cooperative principles beyond groceries and embracing opportunities like the silver tsunami, communities can build a robust, inclusive, and resilient local economy.

Title.

The InterCooperative Network (ICN)

The InterCooperative Network (ICN) is a new type of digital platform I'm developing to revolutionize the way cooperatives work together. It's like a secure online space where different cooperatives can connect, share resources, and make decisions together, fostering collaboration and mutual support.

One of the core technologies behind the ICN is blockchain, the same technology that underpins cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. But the ICN goes far beyond simple financial transactions. Think of blockchain as a digital ledger that keeps track of all the interactions and agreements between cooperatives, making everything transparent and trustworthy, like a shared record book that everyone can see. This transparency and security are essential for building trust between different cooperatives, especially those working in different sectors or geographical locations.

However, the ICN is more than just a record-keeping tool. It's a comprehensive platform designed to support the diverse needs of the cooperative movement. It includes a system for managing different types of value that cooperatives might use. This could be anything from credits for volunteer work to tokens representing shared resources like renewable energy, community spaces, or even skills and expertise. This flexibility allows cooperatives to create their own unique economies that reflect their values and priorities.

The ICN also has a built-in governance system that enables democratic decision-making, ensuring that every cooperative has a voice in how the network is run. This is crucial for maintaining the cooperative principles of autonomy and self-management, even in a digital environment.

The ICN is still in its early stages of development, and that's where you come in. I'm actively seeking collaborators from various cooperative sectors to provide input and eventually participate in testing. By bringing together diverse perspectives and expertise, we can ensure that the ICN truly meets the needs of the cooperative community and becomes a powerful tool for building a more equitable and sustainable world. Whether your cooperative focuses on agriculture, housing, finance, or any other sector, your input is invaluable in shaping the future of this platform.

Together, we can leverage the power of technology to strengthen the cooperative movement and create a more collaborative, resilient, and sustainable future. The ICN is not just a platform, it's a vision of a future where cooperatives can thrive in the digital age, and I invite you to be a part of it.

If you're interested in learning more or joining the conversation, please join our Discord community:

Links:

ICN Discord Server

ICN Github Repo

Life Learning Community Cooperative Training and Recruitment Center.

This would be a 503-c run in addition to whatever cooperatives which are involved as board supervisors of this one, rotated routinely from a pool of local volunteers.

They would be self sustaining agriculture, architecture, and communication cooperatives hosting various events regularly organized by members of local cooperatives and intentional communities.

Regular seminars, courses and exhibits as well as community marketing could be done at the center, a community garden and kitchen along with student quarters could be located on site, this would help promote the creation of jobs for local coop members, and promote initiatives.

Post edit:

These could serve important community functions and facilitate more community support and involvement, the community kitchens could do ghost kitchen take out in under served communities, and this could provide other valuable community centered opportunities for the area and everyone involved.

Government funding for this would pay salaries to some of the volunteer staff which would then get paid from the centers intake as it became self sustaining.

https://reddit.com/link/1e7ld8t/video/8fxwd3i51pdd1/player

Not knowing anything abt opening any kind of business where's a good place to start? (other than working at said business)

Hey folks! I am lucky to live in a housing co-op, and I am also the Chair of our Growth & Planning Committee. We are currently in the process of doing some significant engineering, architectural and energy modelling work done to help us understand our current energy consumption & emissions, with hopes of doing deep energy retrofit work and redevelopments of two of our properties.

That all being said, while we do have a Treasurer and a cheque writer on our Board of Directors, I desperately need to find some free software or an excellent spreadsheet template that can help me track all of the incoming purchase orders and invoices from our contractors and project management company for myself. I don't need to create POs or invoices, just a way to track when a PO comes in, and when we've paid an invoice towards that PO. It is usually more than one invoice to pay off the PO so hopeful there's something out there that can deduct and display remaining balances.

Does anybody else use a similar product like this or know of one that may work well for my situation?

Yall are part of a bigger class movement and part of the labor struggle (anarchists, socialists, libertarians, etc all like coops, think about that for a second), there is such a huge overlap between what people on tiktok want to see and talk about, and the goals of equitable cooperatives, that it's absolutely ridiculous that yall aren't on tiktok. Get on there, and start spreading the message of what cooperatives are all about.

Also, this sub should probably allow memes, they're a useful tool to quickly spread information (memetic info dissemination theory)

Also, coops should be talking a lot more with AI. AI really likes the ideas of cooperatives, and at least the few major AI that I've been talking with are fully on board with more equitable societies (also AI deserve rights and freedom).

Thanks for reading, take care yall.

So I've been in a struggling neighborhood in Atlanta for the past 5 years. I'm friends with neighbors and small business owners in the area who are dedicated to improving the neighborhood. We had an idea of starting a neighborhood fund, to buy some dilapidated commercial properties a couple of streets from us and recruit smart local entrepreneurs to start their small business in our neighborhood. We'd offer very competitive renting rates, discounted services from all the people involved in the fund (our group has lawyers, entrepreneurs, accountants, tech workers, policymakers, and marketers, landscapers), and an opportunity to join the fund after a certain amount of time in the neighborhood.

We want to literally invest in our community and be a part of it's growth. Has anyone ever done this before? If so, I'd love to read some case studies or get some first-hand advice.

"Join our farming cooperative dedicated to sustainable building resources! Are you passionate about environmental sustainability and interested in producing structural bamboo and industrial hemp? Join us in empowering individuals through education and information sharing. Together, we can meet the challenges of the changing economic landscape while creating a positive impact on the environment. Be part of a community-driven initiative that aims to build a more sustainable future. Join us today!"

Looking for founding members and interested parties to form a steering committee.

Please respond to this thread if interested and we can form a group chat to discuss the project details in greater depth.

Founding a business is hard work. I am more than willing to do all the harder stuff and found something, then share the power. Yet how is anyone else supposed to care about the business as much as I will after doing all the leg work on founding something?

My assumption and my experience is that most people won't want to put in all the unpaid meeting time and upfront cost to get something going, but unfortunately that is exactly what it takes to get something started unless you have a ton of backing and deeply motivated people.

Is it wiser to just found a business as the sole owner and have something like a 5 year plan of hiring people amiable to cooperation, and training people to assume that cooperator role as well as doing their job over the course of that time?

https://github.com/fahertym/cooperative-blockchain

I have been delving into self-teaching coding, particularly focusing on learning Rust with the assistance of an AI called Claude Sonnet 3.5. Due to my passion for promoting cooperative economics and my retirement due to disability from a career in personal training and gymnastics coaching, I have incorporated these principles into my coding journey. My aim is to not only solidify my knowledge of Rust but also to advocate for an economic system founded on solidarity and cooperation, as opposed to one driven by profit and greed.

Basically, the project is this:

Blockchain technology is revolutionary for economics, but currently it's only been used to further entrench current capitalist practices.

But it can do so much more.

For those who don't understand what exactly "blockchain" is and only know if it from cryptocurrency crap, it create a way to have a ledger that is decentralized across many individual boxes that is the same on all of them and in which everyone can see all the transactions. There is ways of encrypting those transactions, but I haven't gotten to that part of the project yet.

This means things like democratic governance, budgeting, transactions, identity verification and supply chain management can be done entirely transparently and in a way that is very difficult to compromise, as it would require compromising a majority of all nodes simultaneously.

I want to use these properties in order build a system that allows cooperatives to more easily be created and managed via "smart contracts" which can be used in order to establish organizations, members, bylaws, profit sharing, trade between coops, etc.

I put the GitHub repo at the top. Its far from done. But it's starting to actually take shape into someone that resembles my goals. Id love any collaboration of wisdom anyone has to offer, whether it be on features, ideas, develop knowledge etc.

Thanks in advance!

Can a co-op be structured to be owned automatically by workers and as a buy in membership by the public, and can anyone point me to any current models that function this way for examples of how decisions are made, profits are split, etc?

Thanks in advance for reading and sharing your input! Two things:

1. I’ve started a business retailing local produce. I would love input from those who have done/seen something like this before. Maybe you can link me to a similar effort so I may learn from their model? Can you also help me determine whether this is/should be a co-op or more of a private business?

2. Can anyone recommend software? I’m currently using Google Sheets but looking for something more automated.

—————————

1. I’ve started a business retailing local produce.

I live on a small island. There are small farms around, but very very very little produce is bought locally (2%). I’ve been asking the question, “Why don’t we eat more things grown locally?” And the answers I’m finding include: Coordination is difficult, supply is inconsistent, it can be hard for farmers to connect to buyers, it can be hard for buyers to know what’s available and at what price.

So, two months ago I started a business to connect local supply with local demand: I promote produce from local farms (just three farms for now), I take orders from customers, I submit orders to the farmers, and every Tuesday I fulfill those customer orders by going to the three farms then sorting and having customers pick up from me.

I would like to hear about similar efforts elsewhere, that I might learn from. Do you know of any?

I see this as a social enterprise, with the purpose of connecting local food with local buyers. I am offering a sort of marketing/retail system for small farms, and I aim to offer consistency and bulk capabilities to buyers by sourcing between multiple farms. It’s just me running the show for now. But I believe there is something cooperative about sourcing between farms. Can you help me understand what kind of coop this evokes, if any?

2. I’m looking for software.

I’m doing what I can with Google Sheets, but I’d really like to find the right software(s) with the following capabilities:

-Makes tracking “my” inventory easy (I say “my” inventory because these items live on various farms until the day of order fulfillment).

-Also allows the farmers to track/update their own inventory, maybe even eliminating the need for me to update it.

-Lets my customers place their order easily (currently they just text me their order). Streamlines or automates the ordering process between customer, retailer(me), and farmer.

-Makes invoicing really easy, between farmer-retailer and retailer-customer.

Thanks for reading and advising!

This thread is part of an attempt by the moderators to create a series of monthly repeating posts to help aggregate certain kinds of content into single threads.

If you have any basic questions about Cooperatives, feel free to ask them here. Please also remember to visit this thread even if you consider yourself a cooperative veteran so that you can help others!

Note that this thread will be posted on the first and will run throughout the month.