Re: Cooperatives' network

[MJ Ray]

Davi Leal <address@hidden> wrote:
> Any advice will help. We lack free advisers, so please introduce us to such 
> expert and/or documentation, for example, a charter template, or any legal 
> detail.

Locally to me, some charter templates are available in pages under
http://www.cooperatives-uk.coop/Services/memberBenefits/legalServices/co-operatives
and the general international principles are laid out in
http://www.ica.coop/coop/index.html

I'll ask if anyone is willing to advise - acquaintances first, then a
public call for help if needed.  I think generally the developer will
expect paying for some services at some point somehow, but I don't
really understand how they work, so I could be wrong.

> Following the introduction to the open _proposal_, it could consist for 
> example of:
>
>   * Independent cooperatives which use a common brand to make it easier
>     get customers.
>
>   * The cooperative set could be for example:
>        London
>        Paris
>        Mumbai
>        Roma
>        New York
>       ... add more along time, on demand ...

Who would be the members?  This sounds to me like it is some sort of
international secondary/marketing cooperative, with software
developers or development companies as members.  A hi-tech equivalent
of farm producer cooperatives like http://www.eostreorganics.org/

>     Each one is independent from the other but using the same brand,
>     similar to what franchises do.

I think there are some interactions between cooperatives and
franchises, which I don't remember, but hopefully an expert will know
more what is and isn't possible.

> IMHO the headquarters could be located at any one of the cooperatives which 
> form the organization.  Note that any cooperative would be independent, 
> except by using the common brand. [...]

That's possible.  Usually that member would be given some discount or
fee for hosting the organisation, as it's not free to do.  For
example, in addition to member communications and reporting, there are
various legally-required documents to prepare and file each year, as
well as the possibility of inspections, but that's not much different
to running any company.  There's a small extra in reporting your
ethical and other non-financial performance to members.

Forgive me if this is teaching a choir to sing, but www.leals.com
isn't very informative and I guess there are many other readers of
this.

I'll be back in touch once I've asked for expert help.

Regards,
-- 
MJ Ray http://mjr.towers.org.uk/email.html tel:+44-844-4437-237 -
Webmaster-developer, statistician, sysadmin, online shop builder,
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