Practical Issues for Large Consensus co-operative
I am working with a co-operative which is intending to have consensus decision making and therefore to have all co-op members as directors (unless there is a legal problem for the member).
They have raised some practical problems which I hope some co-operatives with long standing non-hierarchical structures have already dealt with:
'Also, that for banks and grant funders we are likely to have to undergo identity checks on all directors (and therefore all members). Do you know of other organisations that have used the model of all members being directors? We hope to have as many as 20 members so thinking about the practical implications of that. '
Can you help with whether this is a problem and, if it is, what workarounds have you developed?
Matthew (Rhizome) Sat 2 Feb 2019 1:19PM
Hi Dave,
I'm not sure there's the direct link implied in your text -"intending to have consensus decision making and therefore to have all co-op members as directors". It should be possible to write mem & arts that give all members equal access to the decision-making process without them all needing to be directors. As long as the role of director is defined clearly (and this doesn't need to mean "power over" others), as is the decision-making process, it should be fine. Of course directors can be chosen by consensus.
Dave Hollings Sat 2 Feb 2019 1:31PM
The group has already gone through a long process looking at the options for how to run consensus decision making in the co-operative and this is the way that the group wants to handle it.
I don’t want to go back to the group and say they should reconsider without a very good reason.
Thanks
Dave
Martin Meteyard Sat 2 Feb 2019 1:29PM
Suggest you check with Suma and Essential. I think all members have the option to become directors in both. Maybe GreenCity too?
Mark Simmonds (Co-op Culture) Sun 3 Feb 2019 11:07AM
Only management committee members were Directors at Suma when I was there @martinmeteyard
John Niven Mon 4 Feb 2019 4:40PM
At Greencity all members are directors - just under 50 right now, IIRC. It's not been an issue in my (very limited) experience of making grant applications; I could ask around and see if anyone remembers back to when we applied for our current bank account but my gut feeling is that it wasn't an issue.
That said, @marksimmonds and @johnatherton raise interesting points below re: liability and training that I'll be raising with other members.
Martin Meteyard Mon 4 Feb 2019 5:55PM
Is your current bank account still with NatWest @johnn? In that case it predates even my time at GreenCity lol. However they did require a joint and several guarantee from members for the overdraft (do you still have one?) . I guess the key question is whether you include all directors in the AR30 annual return to the FCA.
John Niven Mon 4 Feb 2019 6:25PM
Ha! It is indeed with NatWest. No overdraft at the moment, and our Accounts department is applying a rod of iron to the rest of us to keep it that way!!! I'll need to check re: AR30 and get back to you @martinmeteyard
John Niven Wed 6 Feb 2019 3:47PM
Just confirmed with Accounts: we only include members of the (management) Committee on our filing with the FCA, and if we were to apply for an overdraft that's the approach we'd take (so Greencity's hypothetical overdraft won't affect my non-managerial credit rating ;) )
John Atherton Wed 6 Feb 2019 4:22PM
@johnn I hate to break it to you but if you rules states and all your members are acting as Directors then they all need to go on the filing to the FCA like Unicorn does
....
Simon Grant · Sat 2 Feb 2019 9:21AM
Cetis is an LLP, so there isn't a category of "directors", but a vaguely analogous distinction between ordinary partners and "designated" partners. We all (the maximum has been 12) are designated partners, and our decision-making is founded on consensus. I should add that we can agree, by consensus, that for particular, defined, projects or work areas one particular partner's decision will prevail!
Having said that, I am very aware that size changes the dynamic, sometimes quite radically, so 20 may feel quite different from 12.