Tool for internal organisation: Cooperative

Abstract:
Cooperative. A cooperative creates a legal framework for the
organisation of a collectively owned business - a tool that can
facilitate the transition of loose temporary user networks towards more
permanent organisations

Co-operatives
are an established organisational framework for businesses. It could be
particularly appropriate where a more formalised set up is either the
consequence or precondition for the running of a business, combining
the collective and shared dimension of many temporary user groups while
introducing commercial mechanisms.

Members:
A minimum of 7 people is required to found a co-operative

Basic capital:
optional

Setting up a co-operation:
- Definition and official approval of main statutory framework
- Election of members and documentation in writing
- Official registration (obligatory)
- The co-operation is obliged to keep records

Management board administration by at least three members of the co-op (can be delegated to third parties)

liability
- the co-operation and its property (not its members) are liable
- the statutory framework of the co-op can declare the following:
1. Subsidiary personal liability through members of co-op (limited)
2. Nachschusspflicht (limited)

taxation
- turnover and capital of the co-op will be taxed
- members of co-op according to their shares will be taxed as personal property, the profit shares will be taxed as salary.

Employment-Oriented Co-Operatives.
Many
small co-operatives set up other business areas that go beyond the
purchase and renovation of their premises. Cultural, business-oriented
and social activities are often flourishing and expand once a
co-operative is established. Such effects could be characterised as an
alternative, solidarity-oriented development of employment where the
classical distinction of employer and employee is blurred - one of the
reasons why co-operatives enjoy a new renaissance.

Co-operatives
and temporary useThe high unemployment figure in many European regions
is the consequence of the structural change that characterises the
transition from industrial to the service-oriented post-industrial
economy. Shrinking employment produces the vacation of former
employment sites that contributed significantly to today�s vast stock
of disused urban areas in most European cities, which, in many cases,
have become a breeding ground for many forms of temporary use.
Co-operatives proof to be a flexible organisational frame that can
absorb and consolidate such loose temporary user networks into lasting
economies. If integrated into urban planning at an early stage,
co-operatives could fulfil a useful pioneering role based on local
needs and local initiative, and could become catalysts for further
development.

resume
Temporary use has proved to be a rich
source and catalyst for the setting up of businesses in the areas of
culture, social work, service and low/mid-tech production.
Co-operatives offer an appropriate framework for the transition from
temporary use to settled business, which characterises many of these
start-up processes, mainly for the following reasons: Co-operatives
preserve social networks and non-monetary elements while creating a
professional and market oriented organisational framework.
Co-operatives can thus utilise the specific potentials inherent in many
forms of temporary use and offer new perspectives for local and
regional economies.

Collaboration sought:
Information exchange/Training

Source of support:
CEC

Contact person:

Organization:
STUDIO URBAN CATALYST

Name:
OVERMEYER
,
Klaus

Address:

Position:
Researcher

Straße des 17. Juni 135
D10623
Berlin
DEUTSCHLAND

Region:
BERLIN

Tel:
+30-31479728

Fax:

Email:
Contact

URL: