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Catalyzing worker co-ops & the solidarity economy

How to Run Collaborative Projects That Don't Fall Prey to Bureaucracy

 The Occupy Sandy Project Council successfully managed hundreds of thousands of dollars through a consensus-based process that, while sometimes contentious and stressful, actually succeeded in allocating funds to impactful projects in transparent ways that won the respect of myriads of people — from city officials to direct action organizers. I've been trying to translate this "project spokescouncil" approach to other types of organizations ever since, with some success.

Here's how I've been applying these principles:

  • Instead of creating an "organization," create a charter that explains how to run a network.

  • Instead of figuring out all the things you want your organization to do, find people already doing these things and invite them to join your network.

  • Instead of creating a central administration to run the network, encourage projects to commit to performing the various functions needed to sustain the network, including administrative ones.

One of the great features of the project spokescouncil approach is that participating projects don't have to agree on anything more than a charter. For-profits, nonprofits, cooperatives, coalitions, grassroots projects, and other groups can all coexist without forcing their processes on each other.

 
 
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