Leading Lives is the largest social care workers co-op in the UK. We are based in and around Suffolk.
What do we do?
We provide a range of support to adults with learning disabilities and autistic people in and around Suffolk, enabling them to lead the lives they choose.
As an employee-owned company, Leading Lives is a democratic organisation.
Eligible employees can become members, each member has one share, one share equals one vote.
At any one time around 90% of our eligible employees are shareholders.
All shareholders can vote on key issues relating to the delivery and development of the company at Annual General Meetings (AGM’s) or SGM (special general meetings when called.
The business is managed by a Board of Directors who are elected by the members to be their voice on bigger decisions. The Board can have up to 16 members including 2 ex-officios, 2 non-executive directors and 2 from our shareholder council.
Where did we come from?
Leading Lives spun out of Suffolk County Council in July 2012. We were formed without assets in the bank, without lots of equipment or resources, but what we had was a team of over 300 committed, well trained and experienced staff.
Why are we a co-op?
The decision for an employee-owned company was based on our realisation that the employees will always be our most valuable asset, with the real value of services to the customer being based on the expertise and commitment of the support staff. Through this structure, the commitment of valued staff can be recognised and connected to the needs of the business. Employee members within co-operatives can be the most loyal and enterprising individuals as they work within an organisation they own.
Lessons learned
For anyone just starting out on their co-op journey we would say that it’s helpful to have a positive attitude to learning, and to encourage employees to use any mistakes as opportunities to learn. This keeps us all open and moving forward rather than getting stuck in a blame drain! We’d also say to reach out to other Co-ops, we’ve learnt some brilliant things from other co-ops and it’s great to be part of such a collaborative movement.
We’re a creative, women-led agency making animation, film, graphic design and digital media. We work only with charities, co-operatives, social enterprises and the public sector. Our studio is in Glasgow and we work across the UK and sometimes abroad.
What do we do?
We create campaigns, training & education materials and communications for social justice. We specialise in co-production: giving non-professionals a real creative role. We’ve picked up a few awards for our work.
We believe in equality so we all get the same rate of pay, and all cooperative members are directors of the company. The team meets at the start of each week to plan our work. We take formal decisions like reviewing and approving accounts at quarterly Board meetings. We have clearly defined roles on the team for project work, and a dedicated finance manager, but otherwise share out responsibilities.
Where did we come from?
We started in 2004 as a group of media professionals from broadcast TV, journalism and community video. We knew each other from volunteering on community projects and campaigns. We noticed a lot of flashy corporate video done for charities pro bono, usually with an authoritative male voiceover; or community video with great engagement but poor production quality. So we decided to set up a non-profit media co-op specifically to partner with third and public sector organisations and to blend supportive participatory processes, which foregrounded the voices of ordinary people, together creative, technical and editorial excellence.
Why are we a co-op?
It’s both egalitarian and motivating for us as workers to lead the co-op together.
Being a co-op means challenging a top-down model of social change where profits are deployed to shareholders or to make a business look good rather than to raise up the whole workforce as the company flourishes. Co-operation is an authentic, ethical and practical alternative to individualised social entrepreneurism and philanthropy.
We’re proud to be an established part of Scotland’s third sector for over 20 years.
Lessons learned
Setting up as a co-op seemed the obvious route for us: it fitted with our values and is based on democratic ownership and control.
If you’re a tart-up spend time working out how you want to work together as a group and what’s important to you. Test out scenarios. Model how you’ll work in practice. Then select the governance model that best suits who you are. We were advised to set up a ‘marketing’ co-op (as it used to be known) as freelancers but soon realised that in practice we were operating more like a workers co-op and should be employees. So we changed our governance. It’s not hard to do, and we only lost a couple of years’ trading history, but the hassle could have been avoided.
Being a co-op has plugged us into a vast international family of co-ops of all shapes and sizes and sectors. There’s a real sense of solidarity in knowing that together with other co-ops around the world, we’re working towards the same goals of a better society for everyone. That is amazing.
We are a small worker-owned agency that helps people make small changes that shift big things through research, facilitation and design. We are based in Glasgow, Newcastle and Manchester.
What do we do?
We carry out research that allows clients space to step back and see their programme, service, strategy or policy from different points of view. We are multi-disciplinary researchers and engagement practitioners who use mixed methods and our practice is based in principles of equity and participation.
As facilitators, we make space for the conversations that need to happen. We help people have meetings, workshops and gatherings that are purposeful, generative, and offer everyone the opportunity to participate. We also provide critical friendship for individuals and teams to apply equity-centred principles, frameworks, and theories to actions that help them shift and navigate systems.
Our workshops are designed to support different ways people think, process information, and work with others. Our facilitation styles are inspired by tabletop games, emergent strategy, anti-oppressive facilitation and collective decision making methods.
Quick facts
Website
https://fractals.coop/
Industry
Other
Founded
Feb 2022
Turnover
£50,000-100,000
Workers
4
Members
4
Who are the members?
Employees
Governance
Sociocracy
Pay
Equal pay
Legal form
Company
How do we operate?
We are flat, small, a little scrappy, responsive, and operate under the mantra of “good enough for now, safe enough to try”. Our formal decision making process is by consent [Sococracy 3.0] and our informal decision making is through frequent discussion.
Where did we come from?
Some of us met through academia and some of us met through the Design Justice Network but we all bonded over shared practices and mindsets grounded in equity. Each of us had an existential need for different ways of working, a desire for community and a desire to move away from lone working.
Why are we a co-op?
We want to work in a flat, democratically controlled organisation that prioritises our wellbeing over grind. We often talk about fractals as an act of care for ourselves- we knew that in order to have what we want, we need to create it. And, being true to our name, we bring slower, kinder and more relational ways of working into our client work.
Lessons learned
We deliberately built up our foundations over a very long time- moving slowly has been the right thing for us
Budget for paying other people to do the bits you don’t like to do
Get to grips with marketing and the time it takes to do it
Unlearning practices and behaviours from our previous working lives can be difficult and confusing
Earnestly sharing our journey with other people has helped those close to us see that other ways of working that are possible
Focus on the relationships in your co-op- it’s not all setting up payroll and securing contracts- spend time with each other to know what you need, how you work and how you’ll deal with things when friction comes
Co-ops are not exempt from early startup cashflow problems
Suma is a vegetarian wholefood collective founded in 1977 by a liberally-minded group of people who believed there was a better way to do business, and actively set out to create it. We’re also the largest equal pay co-op in Europe. We’re based in West Yorkshire.
What do we do?
As a wholesaler, we deliver vegetarian and vegan, organic, free-from, natural, healthy and responsibly sourced products to businesses and communities across the UK and internationally. We also sell our own range of food, hair and body care and home cleaning and paper products. Everything is eco-friendly, fairly-traded, sustainable and always cruelty-free. Our products are carefully sourced and guided by our ethical buying policy and extensive sustainability plan.
We are one of the largest equal pay worker owned co-ops in Europe, working together to improve our society and support our suppliers and customers. As a worker-owned co-op, everyone has an equal say in what we do and how we run our business. Additionally, we advocate for worker co-operation and build connections with other social movements.
We’re a worker co-op, a business owned and run by our members. We don’t have any bosses or shareholders. We, Suma’s employees workers, set the direction of the business. While we have a Board of Directors, day-to-day management and operations are organised through our Area Leaders and their teams.
Where did we come from?
We were founded when the wholefoods delivery business was taken over by 7 workers who went on to set up Suma as a co-op. Some of our founding members still work at Suma.
Why are we a co-op?
Suma was born from a passion for wholefoods, organics and veggie food. Today 90% of our products are vegan, and we supply healthy ingredients to thousands of customers across the UK and beyond. We envisage a world where everyone has access to fulfilling, meaningful, and sustainable work, achieved through a connected and inclusive worker co-operative movement. The equal pay model works – and we’re proof of that!
Lessons learned
We’re 300 regular people, in a small and often wet Yorkshire town running a warehousing and distribution operation. If we can make a success of this business model, there’s no reason other groups of people can’t do something similar and take control of their own business and lives.
We help people in Bradford and Leeds grow more fruit easily.
What do we do?
We have a tree nusery where we grow fruit trees to sell. We manage an old orchard that produces lots of fruit for greengroces and juicing. We work with lots of schools and community groups to manage and use public orchards. We run training courses for people to learn to prune and propogate fruit trees and bushes. Lastly we prune trees for customers.
We have regular business meetings where all the workers make decisions.
Where did we come from?
The two founders met apple juicing after lockdown and started a small community orchard planting service. We took over the shell of a co-op legal structure. We’ve grown steadily and specialise in everything fruit related.
Why are we a co-op?
We believe in democratic control of businesses and workplaces. We are a social enterprise that wants the Bradford and Leeds areas to be more edible.
Lessons learned
We are stronger from holding hands with sister co-ops in Sheffield and Manchester.
We are a bookshop, printing and bookmaking studio, and exhibitions and events space based in the centre of Glasgow.
What do we do?
We sell independently and self published books with a focus on visual arts, graphic design, sound and music, experimental writing and literature. We also have a print service specialising in risograph printing and short run book making.
All cooperative members are directors and we make collective decisions about how the business is run. Responsibilites are allocated to different members of the team such as bookbuying, accounts, printing, events management and stock management. We make decisions by consensus at monthly meetings.
Where did we come from?
Good Press was founded in 2011 as a bookshop, and ran by a shifting team of volunteers for ten years before forming as a cooperative. We began the bookshop as a place for independent and self publishing in the arts, with a focus on supporting the production and distribution. We maintain an open submission policy when it comes to stocking publications to try promote access to small publishing.
Why are we a co-op?
Although Good Press was run as an informal group and managed by a sole trader in its early years, decisions were always made among the collective, so it made sense to incorporate as a cooperative when we were able to do so and share ownership of the business among its workers.
Lessons learned
We should have incorporated many years earlier, as it was difficult to detangle the finances after having been managed as a sole trader for so long. It can be difficult, and is still an ongoing concern (!) to define what is a group responsibility and what is a responsibility for an individual member, so would advise spending time among coop members when starting out to get that nice and clear.
Autonomic is a hive mind of 11 people around the world turning gentle chaos into websites, infrastructure and design. We share 1 email inbox, we make decisions using consensus and we all get paid the same. Although we are registered and based in the UK, we have members across four continents.
What do we do?
We build technologies and infrastructure to empower users to make a positive impact on the world. All of our services reflect our commitment to our core values of sustainability, transparency and privacy. We use technologies from the best free and open source software projects available. Your data under your control.
All members have an equal share and say in decisions. We have three tiers decisions, with a Large Decision requiring full consensus.
We organise in circles which can make their own decisions. Circles feedback to other circles as required. We are pragmatically influenced by the latest advanced in liberatory cybernetics, sociocracy and practices of care.
Where did we come from?
The idea for Autonomic were discussed back in 2017 at the Chaos Communications Congress. We came from a loose nit community of fellow travellers both online (primarily Fediverse and Secure ScuttleButt) and in person (IWW union, co-op scene).
We were mostly alienated workers from either the tech or hospitality sectors sick of exploitation and burn out looking for a better way.
Why are we a co-op?
We treat each other with a level of respect and kindness that many of us have not experienced at work before.
We’re also really proud of our welfare fund which provides money to members (no questions asked) when they need it most.
Lessons learned
Finance admin and basic business skills are essential.
Never compromise your principles. If you stay strong you may have less but if you do compromise, you’ll ultimately have nothing.
We are a live-work cooperative in Gwynedd, North Wales, working to establish a viable and sustainable agroecology model for local vegetable production.
What do we do?
We operate a veg box scheme, farm shop, bakery and wholesale supply to local shops and caterers. We also provide a training garden for a local secondary school and run a popular traineeship program. We have a reputation for quality, value, being friendly and collaborative.
All worker members are directors. Decisions are made by consensus using sociocratic decision making. Working groups have delegated decision making powers and are accountable to the Board. All employees are members and there are 14 members currently.
Where did we come from?
With initial director loan funding, the co-op took on the management of the farm in 2015. Once it was more established Tyddyn Teg purchased the farm in 2021, after raising funds through issuing loan notes. In 2023 the co-op launched a share offer to fund investment and to start repaying the loans. The first phase of the share offer has exceeded its target, with the second phase to be launched in spring 2024.
Tyddyn Teg brought together a motivated group of people with backgrounds in farming, community development, agricultural research, environmental management, retail and hospitality. The aim has been to bridge the disconnect between food, land and people, while developing a viable, sustainable and reproducible model for local food production.
Why are we a co-op?
Hierarchical management is very much the norm in fruit and vegetable production, frequently resulting in poor quality jobs, where the expertise and experience of workers is not valued. We prioritise worker wellbeing and the importance of everyone having agency and the opportunity to learn new skills. The result is a very high retention of staff, despite low incomes and frequently cold and wet working conditions.
Lessons learned
In our first year we elected someone to be the overall manager. This resulted in conflicts that were resolved as we moved to policy driven, sociaocratic management with a horizontal management structure. This made it possible to refine our shared vision and work as a structured organisation driven by strong process, rather than strong personalities.
What do you need to consider first, if you’re thinking of setting up a new worker co-op? Here’s a really short introduction.
Find the right people
Since the worker co-op system is not well known – at least in the UK – it’s important to test your founding group’s expectations, particularly if you come from a background in the private, voluntary or state sector. For instance how would you feel about working in a business where everyone has equal rights and voice? Would you be happy with sharing ownership and control? What do you feel about people having equal wages and in-work benefits?
Be realistic about your capacity – and keep track
In the start-up process, it’s useful to set yourself a timeline, keep a register of decisions, and track how many hours you’re spending on it all. The members of your founding group will have different limits on how much unpaid work they can do, even if you plan to compensate yourselves through ‘sweat equity’ when the co-op can afford it.
Test the concept
Before writing a long business plan, test your basic business idea. What would be your products and/or services? Is there an effective market? In other words, while you may believe there is a need for it, will people pay for it? If so, who are they and how much? Does it stack up? At this stage it’s important to pitch your idea to potential customers, suppliers and critical friends.
Define the membership model
In a worker co-op, the primary beneficiaries are the workers. So how do your workers become members? What does membership mean in practical terms, and how exactly will the members benefit from the activity of the co-op? Worker control and worker benefit should not be at the expense of your local community, wider social causes, or environmental action. Most worker-led businesses are also responding to wider social needs and aspirations.
Work out how you will make decisions
Small co-ops often have a flat management structure, but there’s a range of democratic models and tools you can use, based on the changing needs of the business and its members. While ‘collective management’ might be right for a small organisation, you may decide to adopt elements of sociocracy or even ‘democratic hierarchy’ as you grow. Check out some of the different models worker co-ops use, in our Worker Co-op Code.
What will you do with your surplus?
You’ll also need to decide if you constitute yourself as ‘for-profit’ or ‘not-for-profit’. In other words, can the workers receive an annual bonus? Or will it all be reinvested back into the business? How much – if any – money will be set aside to support external causes?
Pick a legal structure
If you decide to legally incorporate your co-op in the UK, you can use one (or more) of several legal structures. You can incorporate as a Co-op Society – the most traditional form; a Company Limited by Guarantee or Shares – the most common; or even a Partnership. The choice of legal form will depend on your financial and trading model.
You will also need to create your governing document. This is a constitution for an unincorporated body, ‘articles of association’ for a company, ‘rules’ for a Society, or ‘agreement’ for a partnership. Then you’ll need to create ‘secondary rules’ and policies that set out in detail how your high level governing principles are going to be applied in practice.
Fundraising & finance
If you’re starting from scratch, you’ll need some level of start-up money to pay for premises, wages, supplies, or other business costs while you’re waiting for sales revenue. In some cases, your founding group may be able capitalise the business through member shares or loans from their own savings, or even be able to crowdfund. But quite likely you’ll need your business plan to convince a bank, loan provider or grant-giver to support these early costs.
Talk to as many people and co-ops as possible
Take the opportunity to talk to as many people as possible doing the same thing as you. Whether this is other co-ops in the same industry or small businesses with similar ethos, the more examples of ways of doing things you can garner the better. This will help you think through how you want to run your co-op, what things you’d do the same or differently. Contacting by phone or email is helpful, but visit in person if you can. You’ll pick up tips from others doing the same thing, for example what to expect with suppliers or typical spends on staff wages, that will feed into your profit loss projections.
Write the plan
Start by looking at the business plans of organisations you like. Whatever your sector, you’ll find inspiring blueprints from others, which you can adapt. A business plan is your ‘manifesto’ – to yourselves, your community and to potential partners and investors. The plan should set out the co-op’s goals, its composition and structure, your products, services and marketing strategy; ‘inputs’ and ‘outputs’; short and longer-term projections for your income and expenditure. You’ll also set out your staffing and recruitment model, identify your potential supply chain, and outline your initial financial needs.
This short guide is adapted from a piece we originally wrote in collaboration with our member Stir to Action, which is published in their ABCs of the New Economy. Let us know if you think it could be improved.
This document is a reference guide for how workers.coop Limited organises itself. This document like this organisation is a democratic work in progress. If you spot something that can be improve let us know.
workers.coop is a new kind of member-driven organisation that unites worker co-ops, individual workers and supporters. We mobilise, educate and organise with the aim of spreading worker cooperation and strengthening the worker cooperative movement.
The purpose of the Cooperative is to carry out its function as a cooperative and to abide by the Cooperative Values and Principles, as defined and modified by the International Cooperative Alliance from time to time, in order to build a world where: a) everyone has access to rewarding, meaningful and sustainable work; b) the worker-controlled enterprise system is well known, easy to grasp, and a viable option for workers; c) capital serves labour, rather than dominating or exploiting labour; d) people retain the fruits of their work, and wealth is distributed equitably and fairly; e) working relationships are characterised by true equality and mutual accountability; f) people are able to collectively take control of their work, creating opportunities for skills and personal development, and for a better life balance; and g) the production of goods and services is integrated with democratic community development, and respects ecological limits.
OBJECTS The objects of the Cooperative shall be to carry on business as a cooperative and to carry on any other trade, business or service and in particular but without limitation to: a) act as a sectoral federation to unite, defend and advance the shared interest of worker cooperatives and other worker-led or worker-owned enterprises; b) be the recognised voice and network for worker cooperation in the UK; c) provide access to specialist development advice, cooperative support and other shared services for worker cooperatives; d) strengthen worker cooperative culture by mobilising cooperators and supporters of the worker cooperative system through industrial networks, knowledge sharing and social movement alliances; e) participate in international workers’ and cooperative networks, and actively promote worker internationalism; and f) Make the system of worker control and collective ownership accessible and relevant to new groups and generations of workers, refining our offer and organising models in the process.
The new federation’s vision and identity will be set by members, but we expect it to embrace the basic ideas set out in the CICOPA Declaration on Worker Co-operatives, and endorsed by the ICA
Principles
Building on the ICA and CICOPA declarations, we expect our members to shape and agree the guiding principles and practical governance of the organisation. This will inform our strategic priorities, structure, and decision making process. The following points offer a sense of what these might include, and suggest the sort of organisation we could become:
Movement building Organising methods are at the heart of everything we do. Wherever possible we use or build the assets of worker co-ops and cooperators in our network. Using their skills and capabilities; developing new capabilities – and worker co-ops – where they don’t; working with partners and allies where we need to rely on external resources.
Inclusive Proactively seek out, involve, and learn from diverse groups in society. Create a genuinely egalitarian culture and space for people to reach their potential and flourish.
Lean and decentralised Keep overheads and bureaucracy to a minimum. The services we provide need to be self-organising, scalable and financially sustainable. Decision-making to be both highly delegated and accountable. Day-to-day activity to be designed as far as possible by those who carry out the work.
Fair and equitable An expectation that everyone contributes, but everyone should also benefit, at least in proportion to their contribution.
Reward and recognition A culture of celebrating and rewarding those who make a positive impact for our movement, being mindful not to focus on those who shout the loudest or have the most free time.
‘Good enough for now, safe enough to try’ A bias towards action over deliberation. Getting full buy-in from all members is desirable, but not at the expense of moving forward, even if that means taking calculated, properly-understood risks.
Making alliances and partnerships Orienting towards, and working with, other organisations groups and currents that share our goal of social emancipation through democratic ownership and control of economic activity.
Governance
We are incorporated as a Co-operatives Society with the FCA.The rules are available here. We have clauses for not-for-profit, common ownership and one-member-one-vote. workers.coop is a democratic, member-led organisation with two types of member:
Worker co-op enterprises,
Worker members – who contribute their labour through one of our working groups.
There is also a wider circle of supporters.
We are incorporated by law as a Co-operative Society. Our members make the highest level decisions – such as changes to our Rules – in General Meetings. They elect a board, which is the legally responsible group. Traditional one-member-one vote democracy is used to govern these aspects.
The board looks after ‘the mission’, and delegates most of its powers to groups of volunteer and paid workers. These Working Groups decide their own composition, manage their own budgets and determine their own work, within agreed strategy and policies. On this operational side, we use the principles of sociocratic democracy, featuring consent-based decision making, feedback and formal links between the different
Governance Diagram
Movement Group – Every individual who is part or a worker co-op member, worker member or supporter. The largest Group and able to take part in other Groups whether formally part of the governance structure, or created as member interest groups or peer networks through our forum.
General Group (AGM) – A Group of all “voting members” able to vote on the big decisions, set high level strategy, policy, funding etc and once a year operates as the AGM.
Co-ordination Group – A place for all the other groups to share information and co-ordinate so we know know what each individual group is doing.
Board – Seven Directors democratically elected by the General Group against a role profile. These roles to be on three year terms. The Board can also co-opt one more place to fill a skills gap. This group will act as the Directors, but with the specific function to focus on overall strategy/direction.
Working Groups – These Groups are agreed by the Coordination Group, and resourced from the General group. The primary focus is to feed into or deliver specific activities of the federation.
Member interest groups/Peer Networks – These groups are more informal to help organise and support people with similar interests or roles. The goal is to help members connect, learn and co-ordinate with each other. Most will be self-organising but supported through the infrastructure of the federation.
Working Groups
Using Sociocracy for inspiration we are delivering work through self-organising teams called groups. Each group will have a defined purpose, domain (what a group has authority over) and membership with defined roles. Guidance on how to start and run groups can be found here. Below are a list of active groups.
Purpose: To be accountable to, and make decisions in the interest of members. To oversee the strategic direction, good governance and financial sustainability of this federation. To support and effectively hold to account for delivery all working groups and worker members.
Domain:
Setting and overseeing the execution of a strategic plan
Ensuring financial responsibility and long term sustainability
Managing risks and ensuring compliance with the law
Cultivating and reflecting our members co-operative values
Ensuring an active, democratic membership and good governance
Maintaining connections with external organisations, particularly within the UK and global co-op movement.
Members: Currently un-elected as founding Board, used to be Co-operatives UK’s Worker Co-op Council Cath Muller (Footprint workers co-ops), Ross Hodgson (Suma), Stephen Gill (VME), Debbie Clarke (Unicorn Grocery), Sion Whellens (Calverts), Leigh Galletly (Green City), John Atherton (Exec Director)
To shape and deliver both strategic and operational communications on behalf of workers.coop. To ensure we have a compelling and consistent narrative and brand. To promote both our new federation but also play a leading role in how we talk about worker co-operation and any future campaigns
Domain:
Brand, name, style guide and imagery.
Key messages and copy writing for website and other core comms
Support for and oversight of all communications channels, including mass emails and social media
Members: Sion (Calverts), Louise (Media Coop), Debbie (Unicorn), Ben and Row (Creative Co-op), John Atherton, Sam
Purpose: To educate people to start, strengthen and grow great worker co-ops.
Domains:
Design and oversee a range of learning opportunities for workers and supporters within our membership, increasing their skill and capabilities to meet the needs of their co-ops.
Support the mobilisation group with the creation of induction resources to on-board new members and supporters of workers.coop
Design and oversee our “Co-op clinic” or other services to connect members with problems to solutions or supporters who can help.
Make starting or converting to a worker co-op, well known, easy to grasp, and a viable option.
Members: John Atherton, Mark Simmonds, Nathan Brown, John Bevan, Doug Belshaw, Caleb Elliott,
Purpose: To lead on the mobilisation of our workers.coop members and other supporters so that we have a motivated, capable and coordinated group of people able to deliver the work of the federation. This is to support both the internal running of the organisation and also galvanising a mass of people to carry out campaigning actions, or participate in our peer learning and events programmes.
Domains:
Design, implement and oversee the infrastructure, systems and processes needed to recruit, onboard and organise people to carry out the actions within the federation strategy.
Create defined roles and actions people can carry out on behalf of the federation and then run campaigns to recruit and engage members and supporters to take part.
Create and run reward and recognition activities to celebrate successes and motivate people to act.
Members: Cath (Footprint), Louise (Media Coop), Caleb (Principle Six), Matt (York Collective), Matt wilson, Michael (Unicorn), John Atherton, Sam, Consulted: Alex bird,
Purpose: To oversee the internal systems, policies and processes within the federation, and to support the cultivation of a healthy, co-operative culture.
Domain:
Oversee and regularly review the policies of the federation, which remain the final responsibility of the Board .
Oversee the functioning, implementation and evolution of the internal governance of the federation.
Developing systems and processes to support a healthy, people-centered, co-operative culture within the federation
Developing systems and processes to support diversity, inclusion, equity, power sharing and justice within the federation
Members: Kiri Langmead (People Support Co-op), Leigh (Greencity) Olga (Leading Lives) Yuliy (Rad Co-op), John Atherton
Alternative names: The Federation Federation of Worker Coops
Tag lines (for now): Liberating work Motivate, educate, organise
Explainers
How are we funded?
workers.coop’s basic funding comes from the subscriptions of worker co- op enterprise members. The subscription amount for a co-op is 1/1,000th (0.1%) of its total labour costs for the previous year, so that it reflects as much as possible the strength of the co-op. In 2023, it added up to about £40,000.
On top of the Member subscriptions, workers.coop raises money – either without strings, or tied to projects and work streams – from foundations, individual supporters and sponsors. For instance, DotCooperation sponsored our Autumn Assembly, and Civic Power are supporting us to grow our organising capacity.
It’s important for workers.coop to raise as much as we can from our members and supporters, so that we don’t become reliant on the type of external funding and partnerships that drag us away from our mission.
Policies
Can be found on Nextcloud: workers>General>Guide and Hanbbook>Policies
