Developing a Social.coop cohesive budget
Nathan Schneider
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This is a thread to discuss the idea of developing and passing a comprehensive budget for Social.coop.
In the Finance Working Group, one observation we've had is that our income as a co-op exceeds our spending significantly. Some past efforts to encourage more spending have not been successful. They have been ad-hoc and focused on particular expenses—which, in general, is not great practice for organizational budgeting.
I propose that the Finance Working Group should include in its scope the goal of proposing, revising, and implementing an annual budget for the co-op as a whole. This could include a process like so:
Gather requests from various working groups
Assemble a comprehensive budget to include them wherever possible, including appropriate reserves
Propose the budget to the membership for approval
Once approved, ensure that the budget is implemented
Thoughts?
Andrew Escobar (Andres) · social.coop Finance Working Group Mon 21 Aug 2023 2:03PM
my counter argument in favour of an annual budget:
If we are growing quickly enough (financial contributions, membership, internal governance engagement, social.coop usage) to consider becoming a legally recognized, incorporated cooperative, then we should equally consider our annual budget and the decision making process that supports it.
Do others believe that these are related questions?
Nathan Schneider Mon 21 Aug 2023 2:50PM
I actually don't. Legal incorporation is a legal/jurisdictional matter, while budgeting is an operational matter. I don't see why they need to be linked.
Aug 21, 2023 8:04:01 AM Andrew Escobar (Andres) (via Loomio) :

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Andrew Escobar (Andres) commented in: Developing a Social.coop cohesive budget ( https://www.loomio.com/d/wRZ9K2As/comment/2965454?discussion_reader_token=ixeaJHmESKvfqVuuADftF5LM&utm_campaign=new_comment&utm_medium=email )
my counter argument in favour of an annual budget:
If we are growing quickly enough (financial contributions, membership, internal governance engagement, socialâ.coop usage) to consider becoming a legally recognized, incorporated cooperative, then we should equally consider our annual budget and the decision making process that supports it.
Do others believe that these are related questions?
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Reply to this email directly or view it on Loomio ( https://www.loomio.com/d/wRZ9K2As/comment/2965454?discussion_reader_token=ixeaJHmESKvfqVuuADftF5LM&utm_campaign=new_comment&utm_medium=email ).
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Andrew Escobar (Andres) · social.coop Finance Working Group · Mon 21 Aug 2023 1:53PM
While social.coop has been around for many years, the growth and addition of new members (👋) is still rather recent. In this early stage, perhaps an annual budget is not what’s need but something more fit for purpose? Whatever we land on, here are some of the questions I believe we need for a shared understanding of finances:
What are our current monthly expenses?
What are our current monthly contributions and how are they projected to decline/grow?
If contributions were to decline precipitously, how many months do we have to act?
A shared (and transparent) spreadsheet and projection model inform these three answers, and those answers quickly inform members on the financial health of social.coop.