Here’s a link to the Ontario Co-operative Association, whose resources and advice were particularly valuable when we set up. If you’re in Ontario, they’re more than happy to offer some initial assistance. If you’re outside, they’re happy to refer you to the group in your area who can help. We’ve become quite involved in the Niagara Regional Co-op Network which is closely connected with On Co-Op.
http://www.ontario.coop/programs_services/coop_development/starting_a_coop It’s a rich resource, but there’s still a lot of jargon. I’ll try to break our experience down in plain language. 1. We were already meeting as a jelly group for 18 months before we started with our space, so we had a core community from which to build. 2. As we were talking about the mutually-invested community we wanted to build, someone who was already working on a food co-op in our city asked if we had considered the model. 3. We looked at the resources at the link above and enough connected that we decided this was the model for us. 4. We filled out the incorporation forms ourselves. It took a couple of hours. (I can walk you through if you get to this stage) 5. The membership fees from the founding members gave us the capital we needed to create the corporation and get the initial paperwork filed. 6. Members pre-paid first, last and as many months as they could up-front so that we could build a nest egg. Some members provided member loans. 7. Our membership model also encourages participation that doesn’t directly involve the space, so we have a larger group of members than space users. (our current membership is 70, but less than 30 use the space 1d/week or more) 8. With that money in the bank, we were able to sign our lease, get our utilities set up, and hang our sign on the door. 9. We have a board of 8 directors, and they help guide the long term direction of the group. I’m still chief resident volunteer cat-herder/tummler, and we’re working on expanding our service offering so we can pay someone to be in this role. 10. Annually we have a meeting to review finances, vote on key changes in direction, and when we get to the point where we’re managing a surplus, the group will decide how that’s allocated. Next coworking meetup-type thing we do, I’d be happy to present this as a talk in more detail. -------------------------------------------- Trevor Twining Cowork Niagara http://coworkniagara.com <http://coworkniagara.com/> Home of Niagara’s independent workforce twitter: @coworkniagara, @trevortwining > On Feb 18, 2016, at 12:00 PM, Trevor Twining <trevortwin...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Thanks all, for your feedback so far. > > Sounds like I need a (few?) follow up post(s). I’ll also post some links > shortly to resources we used. In Canada, most co-ops are provincially > incorporated, so I assume that in the US each state will have its own co-op > legislation. > > I’ll share what we did here in Ontario, and you should be able to figure out > how that works in your province/state. > > I’m not sure how this works in other countries, but the co-op movement in > Europe generally is huge, so there should be some good resources on that side > of the Atlantic. > > -------------------------------------------- > Trevor Twining > Cowork Niagara > http://coworkniagara.com <http://coworkniagara.com/> > Home of Niagara’s independent workforce > twitter: @coworkniagara, @trevortwining > > > > >> On Feb 18, 2016, at 11:28 AM, Tony Bacigalupo <tonybacigal...@gmail.com >> <mailto:tonybacigal...@gmail.com>> wrote: >> >> Trevor, I think a lot of us are excited to learn more about how you pulled >> this off! >> >> I encountered early thoughts on this topic as well, but found it difficult >> to get a clear sense of how to go about in a way that would be viable. I >> think any more details you can provide on that would be helpful to others >> considering similar structures. >> >> Thanks! >> Tony >> --- >> Projects: New Work Cities <http://nwc.co/consulting> • Open Coworking >> <http://opencoworking.org/> • Cotivation <http://cotivation.co/> >> eBook: No More Sink Full of Mugs <http://nwc.co/mugs> >> Connect: Personal site <http://tonybacigalupo.com/> • Twitter >> <http://twitter.com/tonybgoode> • Facebook >> <http://facebook.com/tonybacigalupo> >> New: Preorder the Ultimate Coworking Toolkit >> <http://nwc.co/consulting/toolkit> >> >> >> On Thu, Feb 18, 2016 at 8:53 AM, Jenifer Ross <jeni...@watercoolerhub.com >> <mailto:jeni...@watercoolerhub.com>> wrote: >> Ditto. Can you provide more details on the financial structure? >> >> Sent from my iPhone >> >> On Feb 18, 2016, at 10:40 AM, Jacob Sayles <ja...@officenomads.com >> <mailto:ja...@officenomads.com>> wrote: >> >>> I'd love to know more about this. I'm certainly sold on the value alignment >>> but I don't have a sense for how it works. >>> >>> On Thursday, February 18, 2016, Trevor Twining <trevortwin...@gmail.com >>> <mailto:trevortwin...@gmail.com>> wrote: >>> Apologies. I used an internal link. </embarrassed> >>> >>> Here’s the real link >>> >>> http://coworkniagara.com/blog/2016/02/10/why-co-operatives-and-coworking-go-hand-in-hand/ >>> >>> <http://coworkniagara.com/blog/2016/02/10/why-co-operatives-and-coworking-go-hand-in-hand/> >>> >>> Trevor Twining >>> trevortwin...@gmail.com <> >>> 416-201-2254 <tel:416-201-2254> >>> twitter/skype/linkedin: trevortwining >>> >>>> On Feb 18, 2016, at 9:40 AM, Trevor Twining <trevortwin...@gmail.com <>> >>>> wrote: >>>> >>>> Hey everyone, >>>> >>>> When we were developing the business plan for our space two years ago, a >>>> prospective member asked us if we had considered setting Cowork Niagara up >>>> as a co-operative. We didn’t know what that was, so we checked it out. >>>> >>>> It was the best thing that we could have done. We’re the only co-operative >>>> coworking space in english-speaking Canada (there’s one other in Quebec). >>>> I’m now convinced that if more spaces use this model it will help create >>>> stronger, more resilient coworking communities. I’m sharing this in the >>>> hopes that it piques your collective curiosity. >>>> >>>> I wrote a post about it on our newly-launched blog. If any of you have any >>>> questions about this, feel free to ask. >>>> >>>> http://cowork/blog/2016/02/10/why-co-operatives-and-coworking-go-hand-in-hand/ >>>> >>>> <http://cowork/blog/2016/02/10/why-co-operatives-and-coworking-go-hand-in-hand/> >>>> >>>> -------------------------------------------- >>>> Trevor Twining >>>> Cowork Niagara >>>> http://coworkniagara.com <http://coworkniagara.com/> >>>> Home of Niagara’s independent workforce >>>> twitter: @coworkniagara, @trevortwining >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>> >>> >>> -- >>> Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com >>> <http://discuss.coworking.com/> >>> --- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >>> "Coworking" group. >>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >>> email to coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com <>. >>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout >>> <https://groups.google.com/d/optout>. >>> >>> -- >>> Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com >>> <http://discuss.coworking.com/> >>> --- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >>> "Coworking" group. >>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >>> email to coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com >>> <mailto:coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com>. >>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout >>> <https://groups.google.com/d/optout>. >> >> >> -- >> Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com >> <http://discuss.coworking.com/> >> --- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "Coworking" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com >> <mailto:coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com>. >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout >> <https://groups.google.com/d/optout>. >> >> >> -- >> Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com >> <http://discuss.coworking.com/> >> --- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "Coworking" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com >> <mailto:coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com>. >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout >> <https://groups.google.com/d/optout>. > -- Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. 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