15. From 2 to 20:
a proposed co-operative development
action plan for the UK
16. o-op finance solutions to deliver co-op growth equitablethe guardianin&principlestake of the ICA statement of identi
Set S.M.A.R.T.the development ofCo-ops UK as investment education & 7
Support goals for co-op promotion & growth quality co-op lead promoter the lead on growing
Make high Co-op businesses 5,6
Supportreal &
17.
18. ask not what your
co-operative can do
for you - ask what
you can do for your
co-operative
Notes de l'éditeur
What is the Co-operative Enterprise Hub? National scheme funded by the Co-operative Group which provides up to 4 days advice and support to new and existing co-operatives Started in London in June 2010 London & South East regions merged in January 2012 11 delivery organisations co-operative development bodies who have had to demonstrate that they have experience of co-op dev and that they are CDB members of CUK
86 applications
54 applications in total 63% of the applications
Assessment – waiting to be assessed In progress – delivery has started Completed Withdrawn – client or assessor has withdraw – can be pre assessment, can be mid assessment Declined – not eligible – too pre start, not a co-op – we are seeing more of these who are private business/sole traders looking for support. In total 149.5 days of advice and training have been awarded – average of just about 3.7 per applicant (in progress or completed). In London 79 days awarded – average of 3.9 per applicant Types of advice include: the normal sorts of advice business planning, legal structures, finance, HR but also co-operative skills such as co-operative governance, what does membership mean, working together, consensus building
The group seeks to raise money through an IPS community finance vehicle, to install and operate RE generating capacity, to trade in power thus generated and not consumed on site to the grid, taking advantage of Feed In Tariffs; and to use surpluses for reinvestment, growth and community energy efficiency projects. In particular, its objectives are: To provide Renewable Energy in all its possible forms to the Streatham Community as a whole To provide a trusted corporate entity for investment in this endeavour. The reduction of CO2 levels in the borough To stabilise and reduce the cost of electrical energy To use all the funds generated for the advancement of the above objectives To use all funds created from the profitable exploitation of the installed renewable energy (RE) capacity exclusively for the benefit of the Streatham community first. To contribute to the eradication of fuel poverty in the borough. To use any additional funding beyond the objectives mentioned above for improvements made to the housing stock of the community where this concerns waste, efficiency, and matters of insulation and energy losses in general. The group’s striking and ambitious vision is to make Streatham (defined as the 4 Streatham wards within the Borough of Lambeth, although the group does not intend to be too restrictive) self-sufficient in renewable energy by 2050. To illustrate what this means, it claims this will involve the equivalent of installing an area equivalent to two and a half football pitches with Solar PV. Research existing successful community finance / IPS co-operative, bencom and hybrid models and rules; assistance with incorporation and registration; secondary rules, business planning – important for their share issue
RARA, The Redundant Architects Recreation Association, is a flexible project work space established in Clapton, London. RARA is an energetic shared infrastructure that provides affordable space to do anything and everything RARA offers affordable space for any creative use, and includes: -workstations -storage -large spill out space -groundfloor shutter access -a workshop with dust/fume extraction -use of tools The co-operative would rent workspace for sharing, and in addition purchase specialist modelmaking, joinery and other tools and equipment to be shared by the members. It would also act as a hub for joint projects, training and mentoring. The co-operative would collect rents and fees from its members, proportional to their use of the space. This income would be used to pay rents and operating overheads, and to invest in the purchase and maintenance of shared equipment. Any surpluses would be reinvested in the enterprise or used to fund outside projects. Members of the group already use some of their professional downtime to deliver community design projects. It intends to formalise and develop this aspect of the work, and sees co-operative incorporation and organisation as a way of opening doors and improving credibility as a social enterprise or public sector project delivery partner. What support Business and marketing Member development Choosing an appropriate legal model and governance support
: Holy Cross Centre Trust provides a community centre in the heart of Camden, a few yards from Kings Cross station providing activities such as art therapy. It operates a flexible care service aimed at people with personal care budgets. It operates a time-share bank to enable the local community to trade their time with each other. The organisation wishes to make the tricky transition from the charity sector to the co-operative sector. There are no substantial assets held within the charity, so a relaunch as some form of co-operative society should be possible though it would require questions over transfer of contracts and engagements and staff to be settled. The work required is to identify the best co-operative model, map out the route for registration and transfer of engagements to be followed, and to ensure that the initial membership and committee are properly informed of the basics of co-operative governance. Exit review of process and ensure onward action plan to deliver good co-operative governance is in place
Fantastic opportunity 1. first time we have seen a national programme of support specifically for co-operatives funded by the movement itself More than 1000 applications made nationally since the first pilots were launched in August 2009 and even if they withdrew or were declined they went away knowing more about the co-operative option Is cost efficient way to deliver a service, it is paid on a day rate for work delivered rather than as a pot of grant money therefore is very client focussed Has been the saviour of many a CDB up and down the country, thereby stemming the tide of closures and loss of knowledge and experience of advisers Since the withdrawal of the Business Link is one of the only face to face advice services available However it is only the start: No pre start work – therefore no resources to go out and promote the co-op option The budgets are become quickly constrained – we started with a budget of £120,000 in the region, approximately 80% of it has already been committed and we are only half way through the year. The result of this is that we in future will be restricting clients to 2 days support in future, is this really enough to get them up and running with everything they need to run a successful business Only really catering for the smaller businesses – how do we respond to and provide support for the co-operatives of scale
I looked for humorous picture of business advisers, accountants and solicitors but failed to find one so this is what we have. We need to make sure that the co-operative business model is being promoted alongside other models (a level playing field) We need people out there showing the strength and flexibility of the model robust model across many sectors We need to be better at explaining what a co-operative is
We need the model to be mainstreamed and so This is my current co-op champion For those of you who haven’t been watching Blackout on the BBC, he has been elected as Mayor and is advocating that the recycling and refuse contract should be given to the workers on a one member one vote democratic basis
And this is my current co-op badie who is standing in the way Citing reasons such as Why would you get up and clear the rubbish if you own the company can’t get the investment to buy the equipment
There will never be enough Doing the best that we can with the resources that we need be there needs to be more of a wrap around service
Scale? At a meeting of the CDB in January 2011 there was a discussion 2011 marks the 250th anniversary of the founding of the Fenwick Weavers co-operative, one of the earliest societies for which records exist. The subsequent 250 years of co-operative investment and activity have delivered a co-operative economy that is estimated at only 2% of GDP and around 5,000 co‑operatives in total. For example and by way of comparison, in 2005, the then government invented “community interest companies” or CICs. There are now 4,640 CICs, very few of which are co-operative. Meanwhile, the UK co-operative movement has failed to generate, sustain or grow anything like the Basques’ Mondragon Corporation (a worker co-operative founded in 1956 and reported to be now Spain’s seventh largest company) and has generated, sustained and grown so few Sumas, Phone Co‑ops or Foster Care Co-operatives that most of us can name them as the exceptions that prove the rule. Following that meeting ‘From 2 to 20’ was born as a challenge to the movement The mission: to grow the co-operative economy to 20% of UK GDP by 2100 We can’t validate the 2% nor the 20% just a hook generate the interest.
The plan had 6 actions in it, each of which is individually like trying to eat an elephant so put all 6 together and you’re trying to eat a herd of elephants! 1. When we in the UK use the term “co-operative development” we are really using it to cover two jobs: promoting co-operatives and growing the co-operative economy. These are jobs to be done and if we want to truly see some progress then, like with any job, we need to set ourselves some SMART goals, allocate lead responsibility and adopt and enact a plan working to managed milestones to make sure we make it happen- 2. The UK co-operative movement makes laudable investments in communities. However, we firmly believe that especially in these troubled times, the single best thing that could happen for our local and national communities in the long term, is the growth of the co-operative economy. To grow the co-operative economy, the co-operative movement needs to make equitable and equally laudable investments in growing the UK movement 3. we should support it to focus its efforts on leading the promotion of the co-operative values and principles as the gold standard for responsible business. As its members, we should then all work with Co-operatives UK to fulfil our responsibilities for growing the co‑operative economy. 4. We need to decide what we mean by co-operative education in the 21st century, we have some good starts with co-operative schools but what is next? 5. examples of this happening – The Co-operative Group funding the Co-operative Enterprise Hub; The Phone Co-op providing funds for loan finance; Co-operative and Community Finance and the Co-operative Loan Fund. The Co-operative movement in the UK needs to create an entrepreneurial mechanism or mechanisms to exploit the opportunities that are available to it. 6. On a large scale, financial co-operatives and mutuals should develop new sector specific models for co-operatives’ equity capital base, or co-operative pension funds that invest in co-operatives or housing co‑operatives, or the renewable energy sector.
In January 2012 at the Future Co-operatives conference looked at how we could start to eat those elephants. The response from the delegates has been phenomenal , both at the time and since. 3 common and cross cutting themes are evident. Co-operatives need to: Do more to promote what co-operative businesses are and the difference they make. Keep the movement’s wealth within the movement Finally, all co-operatives and all co-operators need to do all they can to encourage, create, support and grow co-operatives follow up from the conference – full report can be found on the Co-operative Futures website
