Membership Classes - Definitions and Info from other Co-ops

[Mary]

Membership Classes

Producers
Growers in the region who sell produce, meat, or dairy

Producer Groups
Agricultural businesses in the region that aggregate and sell produce,
meat, or dairy

Processors
Businesses from the region that make value-added products

Distributors
Businesses from the region that transport agricultural products

Buyers
Institutions and retail operations in the region that purchase product
from the Co-op

Workers
Employees who contribute to the Co-op’s success through their labor

Information from the Multi-Stakeholders Manual

User Membership Classes

Consumers: Consumer cooperatives are perhaps the most common kind of
cooperative in the world, reaching millions of members worldwide.
Cooperatives that are typically organized along consumer lines include
grocery stores, credit unions, healthcare and housing cooperatives.
Consumer focused cooperatives have the advantage of a potentially very
broad reach (all of us are consumers to one degree or another) but the
attendant disadvantage of an interest level or knowledge base among
members that is potentially quite shallow (we can all belong to lots
of different consumer co-ops operating in lots of different industries
without actually knowing very much about how any of these businesses
are run). Since the role of consumer is inherent in any supply chain,
from a market perspective consumers bring a vital piece of knowledge
and commitment to the cooperative, that of the eventual purchaser of
goods and services.

Institutional Purchasers: An important sub-set of consumers is that of
institutional purchasers. In some cases, such as hospitals, nursing
homes, or even restaurants, the purchaser of food products is
different from the person who will be ultimately consuming it. In
these instances, it may be important to craft a membership category to
represent the interests and perspective of institutional buyers
because of the profound effect they may have on the chain of supply
and demand. In the Producers & Buyers Co-op profiled on page 32, for
example, a local hospital played a pivotal role in helping to rebuild
the local food system by putting its substantial buying power to work
through a cooperative organized with local producers. Not only were
the hospital’s purchasing dollars important, but the clout of having
such a well-regarded local institution as a founding member of the
cooperative helped to raise their profile in the local community and
convince other healthcare and educational institutions to get involved—
something that producers on their own would have had a much more
difficult time achieving.

Producers: Another major class of traditional cooperative user-members
is producers. Most often, producers’ cooperatives have referred to
agricultural producers, who band together to process and/or market
their goods. Producer cooperatives can also be formed by groups of
artisans, however, or anyone one else for that matter bringing a
particular good to market. Similarly to the way consumers bring the
perspective of the “demand” side of the market equation to the table,
producers bring the “supply” perspective, including their intimate
knowledge of sub-markets, supply channels, production parameters and
the actual cost of taking something from idea to reality. Producers’
commitment and investment in the cooperative can vary from intensive
to fairly superficial, depending upon the number and ease of their
alternative distribution and sales channels.

Groups of Producers: Depending on the industry, some multi-stakeholder
cooperatives create a different membership classification for groups
of producers or aggregators of product as opposed to individual
producers themselves. Picturetank, for example, a French multi-
stakeholder photography cooperative profiled on page 30, has
membership classifications both for individual photographers, and for
collectives of photographers who work together.

Intermediaries: Processors, Distributors etc.: Another group of
players that may warrant a seat at the cooperative table are those
individuals and businesses which help bring consumers and producers
together by processing, distributing, or otherwise handling product in
important inter mediary stages. Some cooperatives would simply hire
such functions out, as they would many other tasks in their production
process. In other cooperatives however, these intermediary functions
are viewed as vital elements of local infrastructure necessary to
build producer capacity and enhance the entire supply chain.

In such cases, having representatives from each element of the supply
chain at the same table would be deemed critical to the cooperatives
success. Fifth Season Cooperative profiled on page 40 is an example of
a co-op where processors and distributors are each a separate
membership class.

Worker Membership Classes

Workers: In places like Quebec which has specific enabling legislation
for multi-stakeholder cooperatives, workers are singled out as a
special class of Stakeholder because of the central role they play in
the execution of the co-op’s vision and implementation of its
strategy. **Worker Representative sits on the board – WR is elected
by all the employees.** Worker members can bring their experiences
from the sales floor and a retail store, so having worker members
represented brings more perspectives to the board room. It’s no
longer just a job or a place of employment, but more connected to what
we do for the community, consumers and workers.

Supporter Member Classes

Community Members: Many multi-stakeholder cooperatives make a place in
their structure for supportive community members to participate. While
these individuals do not play a specific role in the day-to-day life
of the cooperative the way that employees, consumers or producers do,
they are often willing and able to invest money, volunteer time and/or
specific expertise to help the co-op succeed. The ability to attract
additional start-up funds is the main reason that many multi-
stakeholder cooperatives chose to add a community supporter category
to their membership classification. Another often cited reason for
including community members is the “political capital” they can bring.
Well regarded local players can bring their existing networks and
relationships to bear for the benefit of the cooperative, helping to
raise the co-op’s profile in a positive way and giving immediate
credibility to the enterprise. Bringing business or industry expertise
to a new or struggling co-op is another advantage of a community
membership class. Particularly if the other members of the co-op have
limited business or governance experience, the addition to the board
of one or two local community members with business acumen and
discipline can add a dose of perspective, balance and reflection to a
board that would otherwise be made up of a single class of members.
Solidarity multi-stakeholder cooperatives in Quebec are the fastest
growing kind of new cooperatives and many organizers specifically
chose this structure in order to take advantage of the supporter
membership classification. Supporter members, as the name implies,
are involved in the cooperative in order to support the primary
membership base. As such, they often take a back seat to the other
member classes in terms of governance seats and surplus distribution
rights etc. At the same time, members of the supporter class are seen
to be an important element in the success of the co-op, vital enough
not to be treated as silent partners, but given a real role in the
business. The PACE cooperative profiled on page 35 uses its supporter
member category to provide a role for individuals who have graduated
from its employment services to keep an active connection to the co-
op. Black Star Co-op Pub and Brewery in Austin, Texas (p. 44) added
this category to both raise capital and solidify its relationship to
the local community.

Here are links to the membership applications I pulled from 5th Season
Coop:

http://www.oklahomafood.coop/producerapp_food.htm

http://www.oklahomafood.coop/producerapp_nonfood.htm

http://www.oklahomafood.coop/producerapp_prepfood.htm

http://www.oklahomafood.coop/producerapp_procfood.htm

I think these are definitely examples we can use for our co-op.

Growing Circles Co-op places the following requirements on their
member classes:

Consumer Members - Must make at least one purchase from the co-
operative in each fiscal year.

Producer Members - Must supply at least one product to the co-
operative in each fiscal year.

Worker Members - Must work at least twenty hours per week for at least
32 weeks in the co¬-operative retail store in each fiscal year.

Each class can determine what to do with its surplus; however, there
is a provision that 30% of the co-operative's total surplus must be
retained as equity. The Growing Circle's Rules require that 30% of
any surplus be retained as equity, and cannot be changed without a
special resolution. However, the remaining surplus is distributed
according to Board policy and can therefore be re-evaluated in the
future and changed to accommodate new circumstances. Each member class
can decide what it wants to do with its surplus; for example,
consumers could distribute their surplus back to members based on
patronage, producers could direct theirs towards a group certification
project, while workers could decide to reinvest in the co-operative
through self-directed RRSPs.


I hope this information helps.