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Solidarity Commons Protocol

Cooperative Governance

Cooperatives matter here because they make ownership and governance operational. The International Cooperative Alliance defines a cooperative as an autonomous association of people meeting shared needs through a jointly owned and democratically controlled enterprise. That definition is a software constraint, not just a values statement.

Basic Pattern

Section titled “Basic Pattern”

A cooperative usually has members, bylaws, a board or equivalent governing body, and rules for economic participation. A worker co-op, consumer co-op, producer co-op, housing co-op, purchasing co-op, or credit union may give different rights to different member relationships.

Some co-ops go further. The UW Center for Cooperatives describes multi-stakeholder cooperatives as co-ops owned and controlled by more than one membership class, such as workers, consumers, producers, volunteers, community supporters, nonprofits, public agencies, businesses, or other co-ops.

Why It Matters Here

Section titled “Why It Matters Here”

Cooperative governance creates records that ordinary account software usually treats as side notes:

  • Who is a member, applicant, worker-owner, resident-member, supporter, delegate, or organizational member.
  • Which class, role, bylaw, policy, or agreement gives someone authority to act.
  • Which decision rule applies to a vote, consent process, board decision, committee decision, or delegation.
  • Which economic participation records matter for patronage, contribution, or benefit.
  • Which federation, secondary co-op, or shared service relationship links one co-op to another.

Those records need the validation discipline described in Validation and Integrity because other domains depend on them.

What Software Should Not Flatten

Section titled “What Software Should Not Flatten”

Cooperative democracy is not one generic voting widget. Membership eligibility, quorum, class voting, board duties, patronage, conflicts of interest, employment law, securities law, housing rules, and cooperative statutes can all change the meaning of a decision.

Community software can preserve member-facing records, provenance, decision history, and local rule checks. It should not pretend to replace legal advice, filed bylaws, employment systems, audited financials, or public registries. Boundaries and Bridges names that split.

Section titled “Read Next”