Imelda Havers - Time to order the Scaffolding: Creating a Structure for YoCo
We’ve all been dreaming about the YoCo vision in the past few months: What a community-led neighbourhood could look and feel like, and how we connect the neighbourhood to the rest of the City. To help start to build an organisational structure to make it happen, we ran a public workshop recently to explore options and ideas. As usual, we had an interesting and wide ranging discussion which got us off to a great start and provided much food for thought.
Courage, connections and virtual scaffolders
It was only to be expected that a YoCo structure would not be any normal structure. We need to have courage to create new ways of living, relating and building local prosperity; to make connections with each other, and between spaces. In a time of spatial distancing, we must become virtual scaffolders - building a robust framework for YoCo lightly and well to last long into the future. What we create must be flexible enough to be adapted for new purposes as plans for YoCo develop. Most of all, it must be welcoming to all, through diversity of age, ethnicity and circumstance. Our structures need to reflect and support how we treat each other, the language we use, as well as being practical to use.
Why do this?
We agreed that a structure is necessary to provide an open approach to supporters, investors, funders and the local community. It needs to give YoCo its own team roles, identity and way of operating, including owning and managing assets. It needs to reflect the wide range of people living, working and spending time in the area. And of course, it must reflect our values and approach.
The options
We looked at three potential organisational structure types, which can be used independently or in conjunction with other structures:
Company Limited by Guarantee
A basic structure which gives scrutiny and accountability to a new community group. There are no shareholders, and the company is governed by its guarantors and benefits the community.
Community Interest Company
A specific type of Company Limited by Guarantee (which can also be Limited by Shares), which is governed by its guarantors / shareholders and acts in the community interest. It is distinguished from a Company Limited by Guarantee / Shares in that it must have both a) A Statement of Community Purpose and B) An Asset Lock, retaining assets for the benefit of the community in perpetuity.
Community Benefit Society
Set up for the benefit of its community. Run by its shareholding members who can be anyone within the community of benefit. Can raise funds through a range of mechanisms, including the sale of Community Shares.
The discussion went into some detail on all of the above, and the preference emerging was for the most simple option - a Company Limited by Guarantee - which will be explored further, though no final decision has been made. Whatever option is chosen, we are determined to avoid excessive bureaucracy and any whiff of hierarchy.
What next?
We agreed that a smaller group would meet soon to work up ideas in more detail. This will involve more activities, and we promise to make it fun! What we need now is for more people to come on board, so if you want to be part of this emerging organisation, or to find out more about it and contribute to the debate, please do get in touch. We’ll be sharing details of our future activities very soon, but in the meantime here’s a visual to show our basic approach. Okay. No scaffolding. But we’re working on it.
