Co-op News. May 2021

enough, we hope to compile examples of principle
six past and present.
Bringing co-operators around the world
together to share examples and develop new
ideas is one of the core activities for the organisation,
alongside organising to implement,
replicate and scale these practices.
Co-operation between co-ops is most
common among those in the same industry. A
great example is CO-OP Financial Services, a
US service organisation set up as a co-op and
co-owned by credit unions across 50 states,
operating one of the largest ATM networks in
the country.
But too often co-ops operate in silos rather
than co-operating across sectors, and we want
to challenge this - and there are some great
examples to follow. For example, many agricultural
cooperatives have a strong relationship
with the consumer-owned grocery co-operatives
that sell their goods and the co-operative
banks that finance them. A more specific
example is VME, a worker-owned co-operative
that provides point-of-sale software
for most independent retail co-operatives in
the UK.
We believe great potential lies in well-established
co-operatives, operating in sectors
where co-operatives are common, nurturing
new co-ops in fields where they are yet to gain
a foothold. This is especially the case when it
comes to emerging industries - for example,
co-ops could easily switch from Zoom to The
Online Meeting Cooperative (meet.coop - see
more on p40).
In the US, several well-established co-operatives
supported the creation of Start Coop, an
accelerator programme for unique and innovative
early-stage co-ops. The first cohort included
eight co-ops that were given mentoring and a
no-strings-attached grant of $10,000 each.
One of the ventures, Savvy Cooperative, an
online platform owned by its users who earn
money or gift cards by taking part in medical
research projects, went on to become the
first co-op in US history to receive venture
capital investment. Another, a conglomerate
of worker co-ops called Obran, also made
history by acquiring a conventional company
and converting it into a worker co-operative
- another US first. The programme is being
repeated and has recently accepted a new
cohort of co-operatives. Eventually, successful
co-operatives from the programme will help
fund future programmes.
WHAT IS THE AIM OF MEMBERS FOR
COOPERATION?
The inaugural campaign of Members For Cooperation
put forward a member resolution to
the AGMs of the Co-op Group and Nationwide
Building Society to replicate a similar accelerator
programme in the UK, which would require
a diminishingly small portion of their surplus.
While we did not achieve enough signatures to
put our resolution on the ballot at either AGM,
it was never our expectation or the main goal.
We had over 100 ordinary members join us,
which makes future campaigns easier. We want
a series of simultaneous campaigns to build a
shared list of ordinary members that share the
desire for co-operation between co-operatives.
Members For Cooperation will also generate
new ideas through discussions on how co-ops
can best work together for mutual benefit. For
example, we have established a fund to help
credit unions give out gift cards, coupons, and
vouchers that can be used with other co-operatives.
It's not uncommon for credit unions to
offer their members discounts and gift cards
on a range of businesses - what Members For
Cooperation wants is to see this work with
local co-operatives.
Hopefully, we will see this fund be used for
the first time soon to support a new early-stage
tool-sharing co-operative in Rhode Island, PVD
Things. Our goal is to approach local credit
unions that could receive support from the
fund to give out gift cards that could be used
to rent tools from PVD things to their members
who take out home improvement loans.
Eventually, we hope credit unions will
experiment with general "Cooperative Gift
Cards" that can be used in a range of co-operatives.
Compared to top-down grant funding,
this finance mechanism would see support
allocated by members based on the ability
of co-ops to offer the goods and services
they need.
We're certain there are better ideas out there
but the most important thing is to bring co-operators
together to systematically think about
proposals to put principle six into action.
The organisation will be democratically
governed, and we will be deciding on governance
structures in the next month with the
100+ people who have already joined.
If you want to be part of that conversation
or just follow our work as an observer, you
can find out more at
members4cooperation.org.
MAY 2021 I 39