The Burn BC Arts Cooperative operates with casual and informal process. We like minimal bureaucracy to foster playful creativity. We encourage collaboration and free rein on personal projects.
By legally incorporating Burn BC as a registered non-profit arts cooperative; we can leverage the benefits of incorporation to foster our goals.
Our direction is to develop a responsible organization with a small and focused membership who invite open participation from anyone willing to respect the project and it’s mandated goals.
If participants jive with the project and it’s direction we invite membership in the organization to help guide it’s development and collaborate with it’s overall success as a respectful community organization.
The Burn BC Arts Cooperative is a registered non-profit arts organization. As a non-profit cooperative, we support an fair and egalitarian relationships between the organization and it’s membership.
To qualify as a non-profit we do not issue dividends to shares. Other than that, the rest of the process is the similar to standard co-ops.
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Co-op Structure
(Source: BCCA)
Membership
The language of “membership” has become commonplace in the business world, but membership in a co-operative should not be confused with “membership” in some sort of price club. A membership sold by a company is just a product that profits a company owned by other people. It may grant you access to lower prices or promotional deals but, ultimately, your business profits someone else.
Membership in a co-op means you own the company together with other people in your community. With co-op membership you may gain access to lower prices and promotional deals as well, but you also have a say in how the co-op is run including the values that guide its operation, and your business profits you and your community.
Also, the membership you pay for when you join a co-op is refundable to you when you leave. Depending on the co-op, a refund of your share purchase may include interest, in addition to the amount you originally paid.
The Structure and Process
The basic structure of a co-operative is what fundamentally distinguishes it most from other forms of business and societies, and is why they are so much more responsive to the needs of communities.
A co-operative has members, and those members have a direct say in how their co-operative develops the products and services the co-op sells, and the prices that are charged. They do this by way of their voting power and control over the co-op’s Board of Directors.
Below is the basic structure of a co-operative, however variations on this model are common. For instance, a co-op may be so small that all of its members are on the Board of Director or, in the case of a small workers’ co-op, there may be no need for a management level. Another aspect of worker co-ops is that members occupy all levels of the structure, whereas that may not be the case with other types of co-op.
The structure shown above works like this:
Step 1
Members collectively elect the Board of Directors, and may individually stand for election themselves.
Step 2
The Board of Directors is responsible for governing the co-op, which includes setting its direction and hiring senior management (for instance, the Executive Director, CEO, etc.). The Board is accountable to the membership, and reports to them on an annual basis at a minimum.
Step 3
Senior management is responsible for operating the co-op, which includes hiring staff, program/business development, administration, etc. Senior management is accountable to the Board, and reports to the Directors at board meetings.