Somerset Co-op News Spring 2011

Featured Co-op: Go! Co-operative

GOCO is the trading name for Go! Co-operative Ltd, an Industrial and Provident Society registered with the Financial Services Authority. It was established in 2009. Our mission is to ‘reduce the social and environmental impacts of travel by providing mutually owned high quality inclusive transport services that encourage people to choose more sustainable options’.

This aim will be achieved primarily through the following business operations:

• Open access rail services on the national rail network

• Bus and light rail ‘feeder’ routes

• Car clubs and smarter travel networks

GOCO TRAIN, GOCO BUS, GOCO HUB and GOCO CAR are the names given to our modal services and are all initiatives focused on less reliance on the private car. Over the coming months you will see this new branding implemented on our marketing materials, and eventually, as the livery for our trains, cars and buses.

The Committee of GOCO brings together a breadth of expertise from sustainable travel and the co-operative movement. It includes people with direct knowledge of the rail and bus industry, and the sustainable travel approach to travel planning. Each year the committee is democratically elected by members at its annual meeting. You can find full details of the committee at www.goco.coop

The development of GOCO to date has been driven by the support of its investors. In spring 2011 we will present a major new investment offer based on helping to secure permissions to operate a new open access rail service.

• Become a Member - One-off membership costs just £50 + vat.

• Become an Investor - As we develop, there will be opportunities for large and small social investors to get involved. Please contact us if you would like to hear more about forthcoming share issues.

• Sign up for Swindon - If you have an interest in Swindon, please let us know. Whether resident, employer or visitor, you could play a very helpful part as we develop GOCO CAR and GOCO HUB. We need to know of people who would wish to use a GOCO CAR and those wanting to invest some of their time to support. These initiatives will only succeed through grass roots enthusiasm and activists.

For further information on any of the above or for any other questions or feedback, please contact:

t: 0845 458 1473 e: info@goco.coop www.goco.coop

Co-ops Fortnight

Co-operatives Fortnight 2011, the national campaign which unites the co-operative sector , will take place from 25 June to 9 July 2011 with the theme ' Yours to Share '.

With widespread concerns about wealth and fairness across the UK, Co-operatives Fortnight 2011 will highlight how sharing ownership and profits makes the co-operative alternative business model more relevant than ever.

The campaign will call on consumers to think about where they spend their money, ask government to recognise how co-operatives help build a more equal, fair economy and invite business leaders to learn how co-operation can help boost their performance.

Last year, through the enthusiasm and activism of co-operatives across the country, the Co-operative Fortnight involved 2.3 million people.

This year, by shouting out about the co-operative alternative business model , there is a unique opportunity to demonstrate – to customers, members, employees, business leaders and government – that co-operatives are different because they are ' Yours to Share '.

The key is co-operatives everywhere getting involved, using the Yours to Share branding, materials and messages to promote how they share ownership and profits.

Share your ideas and keep up to date with developments:

• Join the discussion on the Co-operatives Fortnight online group  

• F ollow @CoopsFortnight on Twitter

• Join Co-operatives Fortnight on Facebook

Here in Somerset we organised two co-operative business breakfasts last June, which we thought were a great success. Co-operators met up in Taunton and Crewkerne and networked and shared ideas about how we can build the co-operative commonwealth in Somerset. We could do this again, perhaps taking in other locations such as Glastonbury?

Other ideas include having a Somerset Co-ops Outing – hiring a minibus and visiting a few co-ops then having a picnic somewhere scenic.

Please have a think and let us have your ideas – we have started a discussion on our website, see the separate Co-operatives Fortnight item below.

SCS recruits new staff member

Somerset Co-operative Services was delighted to introduce our new staff member, Jodi Hibbard at the Glastonbury Grassroots Conference last summer.

Jodi was Funding Officer for Somerset Voluntary Sector Network, she successfully instigated and managed the Tatworth pre school expansion including securing funding, planning and legal agreements. Jodi has been approached by a number of charities to raise funds and provide advice on effective fundraising management.

Jodi’s role at SCS is to:

• Serve as a director of both Somerset Co-operative Services CIC and Somerset Co-op Land Trust Limited

• Facilitate the development of fundraising objectives by the co-operative

• Prepare and monitor the SCS fundraising strategy

• Write funding applications

• Manage the share issue for Somerset Co-op Land Trust

• Manage clients’ share issues as they arise

• Build database of potential tenants for SCLT

Grassroots Social Enterprise network

SCS were very pleased with the excellent attendance at the Glastonbury Grassroots conference which we sponsored and helped to organise last September. Thanks are due the The Co-operative which provided some of the funding, Somerset County Council, RISE, SECo & Malcom Allan for providing in-kind support. A report is available under News 2010

An important outcome of the Conference has been the Grassroots Social Enterprise network, which is being co-ordinated by Cascade. Somerset Co-operative Services is currently in negotiations with Cascade to participate in their new social enterprise support programme, Ethical Ventures, for which we will be providing trainers as well as a social enterprise business support service. See http://www.cascadetrainingplus.co.uk/ for further information.

Simply Finance

Money may make the world go round, but if you are trying to make the world a better place it can seem to be notable by its absence. So many would-be social entrepreneurs founder on this first step of securing the funds they need to launch a project.

Simply Finance, written by Alex Lawrie of Somerset Co-operative Services for Co-operatives UK will go some way towards easing that difficulty. There has been an enormous amount of innovation and development in the field of finance for social and community enterprises in the last decade, and it is about time the findings were brought together in an informative and practical way.

Simply Finance describes the tools that are available and offers beginners’ guides on how to use them. That means there is no longer any excuse for sitting on the sidelines, or leaving the field to profit driven business. You have here everything you need to get stuck in to revitalising your community.

Alex says: “So often, people say ‘I am keen to be involved in community enterprise, but I don’t know anything about finance / money / economics’. This is a real obstacle – it’s the one thing that every person involved in the running of a community enterprise does need to know a bit about. Let’s take the knowledge in this book and spread it around as widely as possible, to rebuild the confidence of the people rebuilding our society.”

Simply Finance is due to be published this Spring – keep an eye out for it at Co-operatives UK website: www.uk.coop

Getting to Yes – by Kate Whittle

I was on my way to a meeting I expected to be very challenging a few days ago, and as I got off the train and started walking I noticed my knees were feeling wobbly - and I understood - it was adrenaline - my body was getting ready for fight or flight ... (not really sure if wobbly knees are any use at all for either fighting or fleeing, but you get the picture ..)

So I started thinking about what can we do when our physical body is reacting to a real or perceived threat - by flooding our system with adrenaline. How can we find a way to acknowledge the signal that the body is sending us, but at the same time adopt a stance in the confrontation that is going to give us the strength to insist on a negotiated settlement, rather than run away or engage in physical or verbal fighting?

I believe that having a recipe - such as the one that the book Getting to Yes gives us - can help us find that strength, and help us behave in a way that is most likely to produce a satisfactory outcome.

The recipe has 4 ingredients:

1. separate the people from the problem - i.e. build trust, try to help them to see that you are not their enemy, but that you want to find a solution that will satisfy both of you

2. focus on interests, not positions - try to find out why they feel like they do, or want what they say they want. A great but simplistic example shows us what this can mean. A mother separates two little girls who are fighting over an orange. She cuts it in half and gives them half each. However one eats the fruit and throws away the peel, whilst the other throws away the fruit and makes marmalade with the peel. If the mother had asked them what they wanted to do with the orange, she could have given the peel to one child and the fruit to the other, a much more satisfactory outcome!

3. invent options for mutual gain - once you are working together on a solution, and you each understand where the other is coming from, it's much easier to brainstorm potential solutions that will satisfy both parties

4. insist on using objective criteria - it's important to use criteria that are independent of the will of either side, and find a solution based on principle, not pressure or power.

That's why the approach is called Techniques of Principled Negotiation - and this handy little book should be on the shelf of every co-operative or community enterprise. The first third of the book explains these four steps in more detail, with examples. However the rest of the book concentrates on what happens when people won't play - when they are more powerful, or if they use dirty tricks, the techniques are still useful, and will help you get as much as you can out of a difficult situation. 

• Getting to Yes – Negotiating an agreement without giving in, byRoger Fisher and William Ury, Arrow Business Books 1997

• from Conflict to Co-operation, a series of five cartoon booklets, by Kate Whittle, illustrated by Angela Martin, published by Co-operatives UK, and available for download from www.uk.coop/fromconflict2co-operation