The Channel Islands Co-operative Society

The Channel Islands Co-operative gives back. We are the bedrock of our community. We keep money in the local economy. We are on show - every day. £8,000,000 returned to members, £200,000 to local causes, £11,000,000 to local suppliers. During the last year we: 1) Created Co-operative Medical Care, celebrating patient focused, high quality healthcare at an affordable price. A strategic response to a broken market with patient governance and honesty at its heart. 2) Guided our colleagues and our community through the difficult debate on local warehousing and food security, winning strong support for our plans at a special meeting of members. 3) Anticipated and responded to changing consumer habits, successfully defending our market leading position. 4) Sustained a member dividend of 4% during the most turbulent trading conditions in a generation. 5) Diversified into community pharmacy, laying firm foundations for future growth.
We have a clear focus on the customer. We foster an environment that dares and cares. We harness modern communications to engage and develop trust. An unwavering belief in community, fanatical about local and a deep confidence in the potential in people. Because, at the end of the day, we bet on people not strategies. And we play to win.

East of England Retail Co-op

This co-op supports local food producers, and its locally sourced trading has increased enormously. It has won awards for food supply chain, environmental awards, and has supported more than 100 local food producers to create jobs. It has kept the same dividend at a very difficult time, and it has just announced it has got the Fair Tax Mark. They supported ‘Students for Co-operation’ this year. Interesting that they have a co-operative leadership team, not a CEO, the only large retail co-op to do this. At their AGM this year, they pointed out that the Board of Directors’ genders are 50% female and 50% male, without any special methods to achieve it. I attended the AGM and was impressed with how members motions were discussed in detail. I am a member of the East of England Co-op and I really like what they have been doing over the last year. They ought to share their latest advert "pop to the co-op" it is just a wonderful reminder of what co-ops are for The East of England Co-op seems to be different from other large co-ops, and not afraid to try new ways of doing things.

FC United of Manchester

The last 12 months has seen supporter-owned co-operative football club FC United of Manchester have their best season ever on and off the pitch and continue to be a beacon for cooperative values nationally and internationally. Champions of the Northern Premier League this season, a best ever run in the FA Trophy, a double-winning women’s team and expanding and impactful community work would be achievement enough, but add to that the club’s impending move into their new, purpose-built £6.3m stadium and community facility and you see a football club on the up and up. They are also a club that actively promotes collectivism and co-operativism to a wide audience and sets new standards for member engagement along the way. This year FC United became the largest, with 4,200 members, supporter-owned football club in the UK. A record-breaking community share issue saw the club’s members raise more than £2m towards the cost of their new ground. Regular general meetings of 300+, an average attendance of 2,100 at matches that would put many higher league clubs to shame, and a high national and international media profile shows that supporter ownership and cooperation works.

The Foster Care Co-operative

The Foster Care Co-operative (FCC) has been recruiting and expertly training foster carers for the last fifteen years, which has provided vulnerable children with safe, caring and loving homes throughout England and Wales. Making a difference to children’s lives is at the heart of FCC; this year they have been given opportunities to excel in their creativity with short story competitions and art exhibitions on national platforms, alongside continued educational support. As a not for profit organisation, children are placed with foster carers based on their needs (which are often complex or challenging), rather than to reach a financial target which happens elsewhere in the sector – which has meant the stability of placements within FCC is nine times higher than the national average. Any surplus income is re-invested to provide more foster care support, recruiting more foster carers and more training – which so far this year has included new topics such as ‘The Benefits of Social Media’. Over the last year member participation at training, support groups and events - such as Family Activity Days - has increased, making a difference to the children’s lives. FCC is a child focused organisation and will continue to be local, loved and trusted.

Jamboree

Worker co-op owned and operated by adults with learning disabilities commissioning their own support and running CafeH2O at the Key IQ visitor centre on the Malvern Hills. Jamboree are a great example of how co-operation works for all without boundaries and overcoming barriers. Great team and tea! Follow the Malvern Geopark Way, sustained by a co-operatively crafted scone or sandwich.

Midcounties co-op

Midcounties Co-operative Society was formed 10 years ago and quickly established itself as a positive model of business operating to co-operative values and principles. Some of the achievements: 1) BITC CSR score of 4.5 - the highest gained by a co-operative society 2) Featured in the Times top 25 employees - 2011-2014 3) Recycling - currently 83% (from 18% in 2006). No waste goes to landfill; Energy consumption use has been reduced by 10% since 2009. Recognised by receiving the Queens Award for Sustainability 4) £1.4million has been raised for charity partners since 2008. 5) £11.9m has been invested in communities over the last 10 years (average 9% of profits) 6) Since 2006 234000 volunteering hours (29000 days) have been provided. 7) 10,000 community groups supported in 2014 8) Connecting with co-operative schools and supporting pupils via the Green Pioneer project - enabling self help and self responsibility and concern for community through education, training and information. 9) As pioneers of Fair Tax and one of the first organisations to be reaccredited Midcounties demonstrates openness and honesty and social responsibility in its operations
Midcounties Co-operative is an exemplar of co-operation and deserves to be Co-operative of the Year - if not the decade!

Oikocredit UK

This year the cooperative Oikocredit International is celebrating its 40th anniversary. This cooperative has been active in the field of responsible and sustainable finance, long before the term was invented. As an investor, and indirectly member, of this cooperative my money is used to fund organisations, other cooperatives and fair trade businesses in developing countries. Oikocredit is also one of the key-supporters of UK social enterprises like Divine Chocolate and Cafédirect.

The Phone Co-op

For over 15 years they have been showing that a co-op can still be vibrant in involving its members, fair to its community (through the fair tax mark and its amazing co-op development fund), providing an excellent service whilst still being a profitable business and returning a dividend to its members. It sits as an example to co-operative businesses across the world and with its recent venture into the PAYG and Fairphone markets, its growth and successes shows no sign of waning.

The Phone Co-op has posted an 11.5% increase in sales year-on-year in the first half of 2014/15 and continues to operate with Co-operative values at its core. Examples include: 1) £420,000 invested in new and expanding co-operatives, e.g. local renewables, community pubs/sport, Student Housing Co-op. 2) 91% of business miles travelled using less environmentally damaging transport. 3) Reducing dependence on conflict minerals in mobiles through Fairphone partnership. 4) 93% Customer Satisfaction allowingcontinual membership and share capital growth. 5) Living Wage Employer.
The Society has no borrowings and all operations are financed from retained profits and members' share capital which demonstrates how businesses can empower people to make their desired changes in the world through collective action.

Unicorn Grocery

As a member, director and customer, I would like to nominate Unicorn Grocery as Co-operative of the Year following the exciting developments of 2014. Situated in South Manchester, the Unicorn Grocery worker co-operative has far surpassed the scale of most independent wholefood shops, with 1,250m² premises, 5,000 regular customers and a turnover of £6 million. As a worker co-operative, the shop is controlled, directed and owned by its workforce. Even as we approach 60 members, we maintain flat pay, fortnightly meetings, consensus decision-making, and shared manual and administrative tasks. Key aspects of our business model include: 1) Quality produce at affordable prices 2) Good supplier relations with direct/bulk buying 3) Ethical sourcing 4) Dedicated member-workers with shared principles 5) Customer loyalty
Last year’s sales increased by approximately 10% for the fourth year running. We credit hardworking members who cultivate Unicorn’s reputation as a trustworthy shop with competitive prices and exceptional produce. Increases in sales and profits gave Unicorn the opportunity for significant reinvestment in 2014, namely improvements to our thermal envelope and a new commercial kitchen. We also worked with Moss Brook Growers and GMCV to connect to the grid and install over 60 solar panels on our 21-acre agricultural land near Leigh. Our co-op's growth and ever-improving worker wages mean our charitable funds (calculated as a proportion of our wage bill) have grown to £54,960 in 2015, distributed as members choose, to local and international projects. Unicorn's support for new and expanding co-ops was consolidated with the publication of our free Grow a Grocery guide and continues in the form of shop visits, talks and workshops.