Membership Terms for Joining The Community Data Cooperative

 

These Terms, along with our Rules, set out the rights you have when you join as a Member.

It’s all a bit formal but needs to be done.

 

1. How to become a Member of The Community Data Cooperative

It’s very easy. The best way is go to complete the membership form here or follow the links you find on our social media platforms, which will take you to the same form.

You may also see some paper application forms around which you can fill in and send back to us by post to:

Membership Team,

Data Co-op,

PO Box 92,

Cockermouth

CA13 3BD.

 

Becoming a Member is open to anyone over 16 years old but you do have to buy one share in the Co-op for £1. We will not ask you for your £1 now but deduct it from your first dividend payment to keep things simple. Your share is really important and gives you the right to 2 things:

 

• Voting on important issues, such as the Board of Directors (yes, if you don’t think the management are any good you can change them every year!). However you do have to be 18 to be a Director yourself.
• A share in the profits of the Co-op every year, providing we have made some.

 

When you apply to become a Member we’ll ask you for some personal details which we will keep safe and only use them as outlined in our privacy policy, which can be found at www.communitydatacoop.co.uk/privacy-policy

 

Anyone who is 16 or older can become a Member but for anyone aged 16 or 17 we will need your parent or guardian contact details too. Rest assured, you’ll have exactly the same rights as a Member who is aged 18 or over apart from you can’t be a Director until 18 years old.

 

2. How will we share the profits when we do well?

Each year the Directors of the Co-op decide how the profits of the Co-op will be allocated in one of 3 ways:

 

• Back into the Co-op to support the growth of the business going forward.
• Payment of dividends to Members in a manner which recognises the relative contribution made by each Member to the business of the Co-op.
• Our Wellbeing Fund which will distribute the cash for social, well-being or community purposes within the community served by the Co-op.

 

3. How will the dividend mechanic work in more detail?

A Member’s relative contributions to the business of the Co-op will be determined by how many research projects they voluntarily take part in whether that’s responding to a survey we send in an email or text, going along to a local research group, joining an online chat or some other way we haven’t thought of yet!

 

The more research projects a Member participates in, the greater the share of the pie, sorry profits, they can receive. For every completion of a survey project a Member receives 1 point and every year Dividends will be paid at 4 levels based on points:

 

• 15 points or more will pay a Top Dividend
• 10 – 14 points a Middle Dividend
• 5 -9 points a Fair Dividend
• 0-4 points the “Could Try Harder” Dividend!

 

We cannot predict how much a dividend will pay or even if there will be one every year but we’d hope that when there is one, it’s likely to be between £50-100 and payable in early December, so it at least makes a contribution to Xmas dinner!

 

Ideally, we will want to pay your dividend in the form of a voucher which you can redeem at selected shops and service providers or if you provide us with your bank details, we can pay it directly into your bank account. However, we won’t ask for a decision on which method or bank details until we know we’ve made a profit and are paying dividends.

 

When we declare a dividend, we will also ask you whether you’d consider donating it to our Wellbeing Fund, so for charitable causes. If you say “yes” we will also ask you to tick a Gift Aid Box for your donation to be treated as Gift Aid. Lots of asks but this means that for every £1 you give, the charity will be able to reclaim a certain amount from HM Revenue & Customs, helping your donation go further, which is good news for the Wellbeing Fund.

 

Sorry, bit of legal clarification now required here - for your donation to qualify for Gift Aid you must be a UK taxpayer and pay enough UK Income tax and/or Capital Gains Tax to cover all your charitable donations in that tax year. If you pay less Income Tax and/or Capital Gains Tax in a tax year than the amount of Gift Aid claimed on all your donations it is your responsibility to pay any difference. You don’t have to pay income tax on payments we make to you through the scheme. If you complete a self-assessment tax return you don’t need to enter any payments we make to you through the scheme. Phew!

 

4. Cancelling your Membership

You can cancel your Membership anytime, although we hope you don’t. We’d prefer you to get your friends to sign up instead! If you do want to cancel simply contact us by:

Email: cancel@communitydatacoop.co.uk

Or

Telephone: 01768776048

Or

In writing to:

Membership Cancellation,

Data Co-op,

PO Box 92,

Cockermouth

CA13 3BD.

 

5. Changes to these terms

We have the right to change these terms for legal, regulatory, business or policy reasons and will give you reasonable notice of any changes made.

 

6. Your rights

The constitutional rights you have as a member are governed by our Rules, which can be amended in accordance with our governance arrangements. Again, we will, of course notify you of any changes.

 

These terms (and any non-contractual obligations arising out of or in connection with them) are governed by English law and English courts have non-exclusive jurisdiction to settle any dispute arising out of or in connection with these terms (including disputes around any non-contractual obligations arising out of or in connection with these terms).