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Deriziotis
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More than half of jobs in UK solar industry lost in wake of subsidy cuts https://t.co/jcPIVRoiZV / @guardianeco
/r/cooperatives FAQ
This post aims to answer a few of the initial questions first-time visitors might have about cooperatives. It will eventually become a sticky post in this sub. Moderator /u/yochaigal and subscriber /u/criticalyeast put it together and we invite your feedback!
What is a Co-op?
A cooperative (co-op) is a democratic business or organization equally owned and controlled by a group of people. Whether the members are the customers, employees, or residents, they have an equal say in what the business does and a share in the profits.
As businesses driven by values not just profit, co-operatives share internationally agreed principles.
Understanding Co-ops
Since co-ops are so flexible, there are many types. These include worker, consumer, food, housing, or hybrid co-ops. Credit unions are cooperative financial institutions. There is no one right way to do a co-op. There are big co-ops with thousands of members and small ones with only a few. Co-ops exist in every industry and geographic area, bringing tremendous value to people and communities around the world.
Forming a Co-op
Any business or organizational entity can be made into a co-op. Start-up businesses and successful existing organizations alike can become cooperatives.
Forming a cooperative requires business skills. Cooperatives are unique and require special attention. They require formal decision-making mechanisms, unique financial instruments, and specific legal knowledge. Be sure to obtain as much assistance as possible in planning your business, including financial, legal, and administrative advice.
Regional, national, and international organizations exist to facilitate forming a cooperative. See the sidebar for links to groups in your area.
Worker Co-op FAQ
How long have worker co-ops been around?
- According to most sources, the first true worker co-ops emerged in England in the 1840s. See the Rochdale Principles for more; these ideas eventually gave birth to the Seven Cooperative Principles.
Roughly, how many worker co-ops are there?
- This varies by nation, and an exact count is difficult. Some statistics conflate ESOPs with co-ops, and others combine worker co-ops with consumer and agricultural co-ops. The largest (Mondragon, in Spain) has 86,000 employees, the vast majority of which are worker-owners. I understand there are some 400 worker-owned co-ops in the US.
What kinds of worker co-ops are there, and what industries do they operate in?
- Every kind imaginable! Cleaning, bicycle repair, taxi, web design... etc.
How does a worker co-op distribute profits?
- This varies; many co-ops use a form of patronage, where a surplus is divided amongst the workers depending on how many hours worked/wage. There is no single answer.
What are the rights and responsibilities of membership in a worker co-op?
- Workers must shoulder the responsibilities of being an owner; this can mean many late nights and stressful days. It also means having an active participation and strong work ethic are essential to making a co-op successful.
What are some ways of raising capital for worker co-ops?
- Although there are regional organization that cater to co-ops, most worker co-ops are not so fortunate to have such resources. Many seek traditional credit lines & loans. Others rely on a “buy-in” to create starting capital.
How does decision making work in a worker co-op?
- Typically agendas/proposals are made public as early as possible to encourage suggestions and input from the workforce. Meetings are then regularly scheduled and where all employees are given an opportunity to voice concerns, vote on changes to the business, etc. This is not a one-size-fits-all model. Some vote based on pure majority, others by consensus/modified consensus.
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France becomes first major nation to ratify UN climate deal https://t.co/0PKvRJaz0U / @guardianeco
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What’s the story with EV superfast charging? https://t.co/1RUI1mSTi4 / @cleantechnica
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I'm looking for feedback on a startup idea...
I'm going through a discovery phase to see if this is a good idea. I would love honest feedback.
I've coined it TeamGive and have created a quick landing page, www.teamgive.net.
The idea is to build a modern consumer grade platform (think Betterment) that allow companies (or any self organized group of people) to sponsor verified and participating nonprofit organizations. Employees then can band together to make small monthly donations ranging from $5-$50/month. The system would be voluntary, and companies would simply offer the option to their employees.
For example, a hospital or doctor's office may want to sponsor "Doctors Without Borders". The employees can rally behind the cause and see how much the raise together each month. Another example may be a small real estate office where all the employees are animal lovers and the band together to support the local animal shelter. The company could optionally make matching contributions. Otherwise, there would be no costs for the companies (or self organized groups).
I'm leaving a lot of details out, but I'm curious on how people see this idea. Do you think companies would implement such system just for the social good (and maybe PR)?
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Question about a cooperative model: Given the current ridesharing business model...
...where companies like Lyft and Uber use, as they put it, "contractors" to provide the service; if you were to organize this model under a cooperative structure, could it count as a worker co-operative, or would it just be a marketing co-operative? (Marketing cooperative similar to Land-O-Lakes or Tillamook, etc.)
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World Humanitarian Forum reveals gulf between government priorities and global issues https://t.co/Iynhr3DCln / @global_sharing
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EU dilutes proposal to halve air pollution deaths after UK lobbying https://t.co/O7kSlNg58C / @guardianeco
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Value of eco crimes soars by 26% with devastating impacts on natural world https://t.co/q6mY6c1DaM / @guardianeco
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A platform under development to improve the giving user experience.
We're a team of grad students based out of Yale University working on an online platform to significantly improve the charitable giving user experience. Let us know what you think.
http://charityvest.org/founded-startup-yale-improve-charitable-giving/
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I've been working with Nonprofits & Technology for 10 years. AMA
Hi Everyone,
I'm currently a Salesforce admin for a national NPO and have been working with nonprofits and technology for the past ten years. I've either worked for nonprofits or consulting firms who focus on nonprofits. I'm also one of the new mods on this subreddit.
My primary focus has been implementing and managing Salesforce databases, but as any who's worked for nonprofits know, your work always goes well beyond your job description. I've set up, managed, and integrated a wide variety of fundraising, donor management, marketing, and office applications. In the past couple years I've been handling some of the hardware side as well.
While I'm not an expert on every single system, I'm happy to answer any questions and share my experiences.
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Cooperatives 4.0 – a ‘fair trade' alternative to the exploitative gig economy?
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Why Google Play Music All Access beats Spotify hands down
DeriziotisI have to agree. Spotify's developers aren't doing very may interesting things. The desktop app is getting more and more bloated and the playlist folders are still only really half-baked.
Winamp, the media player of your college years, is shutting down next month
Winamp, the AOL-owned mp3 player of yore, will close up shop for good on December 20th, which means you have exactly one month from today to use the service -- if you're still using it, that is. In addition to shutting down Winamp.com, AOL and co. will no longer offer downloads of the media player. It's hardly a surprising announcement, but it's a slightly glum one considering Winamp's popularity in the late nineties and early aughts. Go ahead, you have our permission to get nostalgic for a moment or two.
Filed under: Internet, Software
Via: Ars Technica
Source: Winamp.com
The uncomfortable racial preferences revealed by online dating
Deriziotisbaha, everyone loves the asian ladiez :P
Are We Related?
Deriziotisit's really a shame that i feel uncomfortable posting this stuff to facebook, damn, maybe i should throw propriety out of the window
Pogoplug's new Safeplug anonymizes all your home's web browsing for $49
It's easy to worry about internet privacy these days, but it can be a pain to set up a Tor connection that keeps the snoops and thieves at bay. Pogoplug wants to simplify the process with its newly available Safeplug adapter. The peripheral connects to most any internet router and uses Tor to anonymize all web requests that pass through, saving the trouble of launching a special browser every time you want to keep your data secret. It can also join the Tor network to help safeguard others' information, if you're feeling generous. While the Safeplug won't be much help when you're away from home, it's relatively cheap at $49 -- a small price to pay if you don't want anyone tracking your web surfing habits.
Filed under: Peripherals, Networking
Source: Pogoplug
Bill Gates condom challenge 'to be met' by graphene scientists
Deriziotismmmm, unprotected sex /drool
Software patent reform just died in the House, thanks to IBM and Microsoft
Deriziotisanother reason to hate Microsoft
In A Landmark Legal Decision, Google Wins The Right To Scan Pretty Much Every Book Ever
Deriziotis8 years in the court system to finally figure out it was okay after all..
Why Politics Fails
Nothing will change until we confront the real sources of power.
By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 12th November 2013
It’s the reason for the collapse of democratic choice. It’s the source of our growing disillusionment with politics. It’s the great unmentionable. Corporate power. The media will scarcely whisper its name. It is howlingly absent from parliamentary debates. Until we name it and confront it, politics is a waste of time.
The political role of corporations is generally interpreted as that of lobbyists, seeking to influence government policy. In reality they belong on the inside. They are part of the nexus of power that creates policy. They face no significant resistance, from either government or opposition, as their interests have now been woven into the fabric of all three main parties.
Most of the scandals that leave people in despair about politics arise from this source. On Monday, for example, the Guardian revealed that the government’s subsidy system for gas-burning power stations is being designed by an executive from the company ESB, who has been seconded into the energy department(1). What does ESB do? Oh, it builds gas-burning power stations.
On the same day we learnt that a government minister, Nick Boles, has privately assured the gambling company Ladbrokes that it needn’t worry about attempts by local authorities to stop the spread of betting shops(2). His new law will prevent councils from taking action.
Last week we discovered that G4S’s contract to run immigration removal centres will be expanded, even though all further business with the state was supposed to be frozen while allegations of fraud are investigated(3). Every week we learn that systemic failures on the part of government contractors are no barrier to obtaining further work, that the promise of efficiency, improvements and value for money delivered by outsourcing and privatisation have failed to materialise(4,5,6). The monitoring which was meant to keep these companies honest is haphazard(7), the penalties almost non-existent(8), the rewards stupendous, dizzying, corrupting(9,10). Yet none of this deters the government. Since 2008, the outsourcing of public services has doubled, to £20bn. It is due to rise to £100bn by 2015(11).
This policy becomes explicable only when you recognise where power really lies. The role of the self-hating state is to deliver itself to big business. In doing so it creates a tollbooth economy: a system of corporate turnpikes, operated by companies with effective monopolies.
It’s hardly surprising that the lobbying bill – now stalled by the Lords – offered almost no checks on the power of corporate lobbyists, while hogtying the charities who criticise them. But it’s not just that ministers are not discouraged from hobnobbing with corporate executives: they are now obliged to do so.
Thanks to an initiative by Lord Green, large companies have ministerial “buddies”, who have to meet them when the companies request it. There were 698 of these meetings during the first 18 months of the scheme, called by corporations these ministers are supposed be regulating(12). Lord Green, by the way, is currently a government trade minister. Before that he was chairman of HSBC, presiding over the bank while it laundered vast amounts of money stashed by Mexican drugs barons(13). Ministers, lobbyists – can you tell them apart?
That the words corporate power seldom feature in the corporate press is not altogether surprising. It’s more disturbing to see those parts of the media that are not owned by Rupert Murdoch or Lord Rothermere acting as if they are.
For example, for five days every week the BBC’s Today programme starts with a business report in which only insiders are interviewed. They are treated with a deference otherwise reserved for God on Thought for the Day. There’s even a slot called Friday Boss, in which the programme’s usual rules of engagement are set aside and its reporters grovel before the corporate idol. Imagine the outcry if Today had a segment called Friday Trade Unionist or Friday Corporate Critic.
This, in my view, is a much graver breach of BBC guidelines than giving unchallenged airtime to one political party but not others, as the bosses are the people who possess real power: those, in other words, whom the BBC has the greatest duty to accost. Research conducted by the Cardiff school of journalism shows that business representatives now receive 11% of airtime on the BBC’s 6 o’clock news (this has risen from 7% in 2007), while trade unionists receive 0.6% (which has fallen from 1.4%)(14). Balance? Impartiality? The BBC puts a match to its principles every day.
And where, beyond the Green Party, Plaid Cymru, a few ageing Labour backbenchers, is the political resistance? After the article I wrote last week, about the grave threat the transatlantic trade and investment partnership presents to parliamentary sovereignty and democratic choice(15), several correspondents asked me what response there has been from the Labour party. It’s easy to answer: nothing.
Blair and Brown purged the party of any residue of opposition to corporations and the people who run them. That’s what New Labour was all about. Now opposition MPs stare mutely as their powers are given away to a system of offshore arbitration panels run by corporate lawyers.
Since Blair’s pogroms, parliament operates much as Congress in the United States does: the lefthand glove puppet argues with the righthand glove puppet, but neither side will turn around to face the corporate capital that controls almost all our politics. This is why the assertion that parliamentary democracy has been reduced to a self-important farce has resonated so widely over the past fortnight.
So I don’t blame people for giving up on politics. I haven’t given up yet, but I find it ever harder to explain why. When a state-corporate nexus of power has bypassed democracy and made a mockery of the voting process, when an unreformed political funding system ensures that parties can be bought and sold, when politicians of the three main parties stand and watch as public services are divvied up by a grubby cabal of privateers, what is left of this system that inspires us to participate?
www.monbiot.com
References:
1. http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/nov/10/gas-industry-employee-energy-policy
2. http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/nov/10/planning-law-changes-help-bookmakers-minister
3. http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/nov/08/g4s-expand-contract-freeze-government-work
4. http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/05/privatisation-public-service-users-bill
6. http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/jul/22/disabled-benefits-claimants-test-atos
7. http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/nov/07/government-outsourcing-problems-g4s-serco-a4e
9. http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jan/09/financial-transparency-privatised-nhs
10. http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/nov/04/rail-privatisation-train-operators-profit
11. http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/feb/07/public-sector-outsourcing-shadow-state
12. http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/jan/18/buddy-scheme-multinationals-access-ministers
13. http://www.theguardian.com/business/2012/jul/24/lord-green-hsbc-scandal
14. http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/assets/files/pdf/our_work/breadth_opinion/content_analysis.pdf
15. http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/nov/04/us-trade-deal-full-frontal-assault-on-democracy
Google to block Windows users from installing browser extensions not in Chrome Web Store
DeriziotisI like how they're only doing this on Windows :) It's almost as if Windows users aren't happy *unless* they're locked in..
GIMP flees SourceForge over dodgy ads and installer - The Register
Deriziotissourceforge is dead