Building a Socially aligned Platform: balancing Cooperative Control with Necessary funding
Creating a truly member-owned platform in today’s landscape presents unique challenges. It’s not simply about if you can secure funding, but how you do it while staying true to your core values.We’ve approached this with complete clarity, actively involving our members in every step of the process and welcoming their feedback from the very beginning.
Our solution at Subvert involves a novel legal structure – a combination of a cooperative and a public benefit corporation. This dual-entity approach allows us to leverage the strengths of both models while mitigating their individual limitations. Essentially, the cooperative owns the public benefit corporation, and investors contribute capital to the latter.
Let’s break down why this matters to you:
* full Member Control: The cooperative operates on a strict one-member, one-vote basis, ensuring you directly govern the platform and its operations.
* Access to Capital: The public benefit corporation structure opens doors to funding opportunities that a traditional cooperative might not access.
* Strategic Innovation: We’re actively pioneering this model, as dedicated funding sources for cooperative enterprises are still developing.
Ultimately, building something impactful requires navigating difficult compromises. For us, maintaining cooperative control is non-negotiable. Investors will never be able to overrule the decisions made by the cooperative membership. However, we also recognize the importance of fairly compensating our team and ensuring enduring growth.
This is a delicate balancing act. We’re tackling a core problem: the often-dissonant relationship between capital and organizational values. Many companies struggle with inconsistent messaging stemming from this dynamic.
here’s how we’re addressing it:
* Prioritizing Values: We’ve clearly defined our boundaries – what we’re willing to compromise on and what remains sacred.
* Obvious Operations: We believe in open interaction and actively solicit input from our members.
* Sustainable Growth: We’re focused on building a financially viable platform that aligns with our social mission.
Successfully navigating this landscape requires a commitment to both principle and pragmatism. It’s about finding a path where you, as a member, retain control while enabling the platform to thrive and deliver on its promise. We believe this innovative structure is a significant step towards achieving that goal.