Loomio
Mon 25 Jan 2021 2:38PM

Approve ChangeLab's application to join CoTech

HR Harry "Outlandish" Robbins Public Seen by 77

We've had an application to join from https://www.changelab.io/

I believe they meet the criteria for membership and should be admitted on the basis that:

  • they clearly state that they are a worker co-op on their website

  • they have confirmed in writing to me that they support and abide by the seven co-op principles

  • they work in the tech sector designing and building campaign tools for progressive organisations

They have not formally incorporated the co-operative principles into their company articles, but I've sent them the example from uk.coop and they are looking at how to incorporate them. I believe they would benefit from the support of the network in this area.

They are not against joining the fund, but want to understand more about the network before committing

G

Graham Mon 25 Jan 2021 3:25PM

Someone might tell them their website is dodgy. Take a look at the bottom of https://www.changelab.io/contact-1

G

Graham Mon 25 Jan 2021 3:31PM

Also, assuming this is them: https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/11449760 they appear to be a bog standard share capital company, and not capable of doing maths effectively (they state they have 4 persons with significant control, each holding more than 25% of the share capital - go figure).

SF

Shaun Fensom Mon 25 Jan 2021 4:51PM

We should put what Graham says to them - better if they were a CLG or a society

CLF

Chris Lowis (Go Free Range) Tue 26 Jan 2021 10:14AM

Just a friendly reminder that this forum is publically visible, I believe.

CLF

Chris Lowis (Go Free Range) Tue 26 Jan 2021 10:16AM

Go Free Range (my co-op) are ltd by shares (that was our form before we converted). We're members of Co-ops UK. We might be able to offer ChangeLab a bit of advice on how we converted and the things we thought about.

There's nothing in the CoTech constitution that mandates what form a members articles should have (perhaps there should be?). I'm hugely in favour of encouraging anyone who wants to join to join and helping them as best we can.

HR

Harry "Outlandish" Robbins Tue 26 Jan 2021 10:55AM

Fully agree that we should support them with their articles/governance once they join

SF

Shaun Fensom Tue 26 Jan 2021 11:38AM

a) Indeed, you can be a coop with a share company. But not ideal.

b) I really don't think these votes on Loomio should be publicly visible, which does appear to be the case. Can we change that?

AC

Autonomic Co-operative Thu 28 Jan 2021 1:00PM

They seem to be working on good stuff. Did they state that they are looking to adopt a more co-operative legal structure?

HR

Harry "Outlandish" Robbins Thu 28 Jan 2021 5:14PM

@Autonomic Co-operative yes, they said they'd look at how to incorporate the model articles into their own articles. I dare say they could do with a bit of help and I think @Chris Lowis (Go Free Range) has offered to point them in the right direction.

HR

Harry "Outlandish" Robbins Thu 28 Jan 2021 5:15PM

@Shaun Fensom I'd have thought that having these discussions in public is a good thing and support the goal of "open membership" - e.g. because people can see that objections are raised with reference to our stated goals and requirements rather than for personal or other reasons. Why do you think they should be private? (not dead against, just curious at this stage)

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