Co-operation Birmingham Notes
2 Feb 2026
S, K, M, B
Four-tiered organisational model
-
This generally runs well. It hasn’t grown and developed though.
-
It is quite abstract as there are things that don’t fill into that - for example, we don’t have an “affiliate.” We can think about how we seed the organisational relationships in that model and see if it works. For example we need to see where punch up fits in that. Lets work with all the groups and see how they map onto the existing structure.
-
Equaliser: division
-
Punch Up: project (functions as a division because it is so autonomous - needs better separation of funds.)
-
0121 Do One: affiliate?
-
Solid Joy: affiliate
-
-
K: We could think about what benefits each group gets from joining different categories - as CB we are not particularly interested in rules/bureaucracy - we should think about what facilities/infrastructure we offer them and have them agree to a list of principles/code of conduct. They get x, y, z when they join. Let’s make this more specific. At the same time, we don’t need to think of every eventuality for the future. We just need enough to cover most bases and facilitate moving on with the things that matter.
- S: This feels relevant for affiliates but more complicated for projects.
-
Because we don’t have many groups with financial contributions, we are left with mostly affiliates. In some ways it’s the most defined grouping: you do your own thing, but you get access to the network of useful people, you can be sublimated to the coop brum set of policies so you don’t have to write your own, you can use the forum for decisions, but it’s not financial.
Membership
-
We need to be better able to track money and know who is paying subs.
-
We need a membership list
-
We need membership criteria > way to block
-
Onboarding process
Documentation
We probably want the following documents/policies, which together may form a constitution, but we need to check we’re not duplicating work with other groups such as care and justice.
-
Purpose & goals: probs produced by “what is coop brum” working group
-
Membership policy: what are the entry requirements and expectations? How do we ensure the right amount of “activation energy”? Probation period, vouching and planC model are mentioned but none seem ideal.
-
Code of Conduct: including safeguarding, accountability, conflict resolution etc. This may heavily overlap with the care and justice WG
-
Decision making process: original policy is hosted on forum but requires an update to make it scalable (eg. “2 blocks” isn’t the same with 100 members rather than 10)
-
Organisational structure: use Ben’s document as a basis, but requires an update. A schematic may be useful
Other things that may want to be included in the constitution: section on comms, possibly a primer on finances (liaise with the finance group for advice)
Action Points
-
Review what we have and see if its fit for purpose with what we’re doing, see if anything missing
-
We draft a proposal for above and pass it through membership for discussion