SSCI Conflict of Interest Policy Request (COOP)

**I’m looking for a Conflict of Interest policy which incorporates following our solidarity economic model for sooperative values.

My group/organisation focuses on we are a non-profit running on a cooperative model. Our work invovles the incubation of worker and community service coops for racialized and migrant communities. We have a flat/hierarchical/membership-based structure. We have 21 active members and/or staff. Our members/staff are Our cohorts or cooperatives we incubate are led by our cooperative development team we also have a new governance model that gives responsibilities to home circles in the organzation to work on the different moving pieces of our organization, intake, and membership services (Business Services Circle, Community Services Circle, Financial Services Circle, we have an “executive branch” that overseas the more higher rulings of the cooperative called the General circle which includes a HR Lead, Operations, Strategic planner, Governance, and communications. Our annual turnover is 0-50k/50-100k/100k-300k/300k-500k.

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Thanks for the question @Shivneel_Reddy - I wonder if @Abbie_PeopleSupport has any ideas around this kind of conflict of interest policy?

Hi. I wouldn’t say it’s an area where I have any particular expertise, but I have been working on one fairly recently with a community co-op, I will see if it’s shareable. Co-ops UK has a free template to download here: Conflict of interest policy – template | Co-operatives UK

We adapted this template version and highlighted the role of mutual aid and duality of interest in the co-op movement.

I’ll copy the short intro paragraph here in case it helps:
We recognise that as a locally rooted community-led organisation, members and directors can hold multiple interests and connections which need to be considered for the transparent and accountable running of our organisation. We value mutual aid, collaboration, and shared resources while ensuring that decision making remains in the best interest of the co-op. Our intention is to provide a clear and transparent process to enable each of us to name our roles within the co-op movement and the local community to understand these interconnections. This is a key part of our commitment to always making decisions based on what’s best for the co-op as a whole.

The main thing is putting in a clear process and identifying the difference between a conflict of interest and a duality of interest; as well as checking your rules to see what they require. This co-op’s governing document specifically allows for the board to decide to authorise something that leads to a direct or indirect conflict of interest, where the board reasonably believes it to be in the co-op’s best interests to do so.

I hope that helps :slight_smile:

This is wonderful thank you so much!!! We also run a non-profit with a cooperative structure that helps incubates other coops so this is honestly a great asset!