How is POD run?
POD is set up as a Community Benefit Society because this is a form of co-operative, the main purpose of which is to serve the interests of our local community – the Calder Valley. The Society is registered by the Financial Conduct Authority as Calder Valley Shared Transport Limited, registration number 9379 under the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014.
POD has been set up as a Community Benefit Society because:
- its main purpose is to serve the interests of our local community (the Calder Valley);
- it is a co-operative;
- it is a member-led organisation;
- it is democratic: one member, one vote, regardless of the size of investment;
- it can raise investment via community shares;
- profits are put back into the Society or used to benefit other community activities.
POD is a co-operative – the Society has adopted the International Co-operative Alliance’s co-operative principles of:
- Voluntary and open membership
- Democratic member control
- Member economic participation
- Autonomy and independence
- Education, training and information
- Co-operation among co-operatives
- Concern for community
What does this mean?
Membership – Anyone who invests in POD becomes a member of the Society. Membership means that you have a say in the organisation and what it does and can put yourself forward for election to the Board of Directors. Membership is separate from being a user of POD’s services: you do not have to be a user to become a member/invest in the Society.
Democratic – POD is a member-led organisation. Each member has an equal say and vote, for example at general meetings, regardless of how much they have invested in the Society. A key vote at general meetings is when members elect a Board of Directors.
Community Shares – community shares are a specific type of share only available to co-operative and community benefit societies. They are ideally suited to the needs of community businesses and entirely different to shares held in companies/traded on the stock market.
- When you buy shares in POD you become a member of the Society (Calder Valley Shared Transport Limited).
- Shares are withdrawable, not transferable. This means that you can only sell your shares back to the Society. In addition, the Society can only allow withdrawals if it has sufficient trading profits and the Directors believe that the Society can afford to pay its debts at the time of the withdrawal and for a year after that. So, there are no guarantees on when or if you will be able to withdraw your share capital.
- Your shares do not go up in value: if you invest £200 now, they will still be valued at £200 as and when you want to withdraw your shares.
- The Society, subject to a member vote, is able to make interest payments to shareholder members who have invested in the Society. Interest payments are an operating expense and must be at the minimum level required to obtain and retain the share capital needed to run the business.
Simply put, investing in POD is not a ‘get rich quick’ scheme! It’s a social investment in a business that has been set up to benefit the local community. Full details of our business plan, including anticipated interest payments and withdrawals, will be provided when we publish our share offer.
If you want to find out more about community shares, have a look at this short video and/or The Community Shares Handbook, published by the Community Shares Unit.
Profit – The basic principle is that all the profits a community benefit society makes must be used to benefit the community. This is often achieved by re-investing profits back into the Society’s activities. Other ways of using profits might be to make donations to other organisations with the same or similar objectives or to invest in other co-operatives.