How does one build and maintain a co-op? Could anyone recommend a book on the subject, that covers a variety of nations or regions?
- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14135068
- https://electricembers.coop/pubs/TechCoopHOWTO.pdf
- Tech co-ops mailing list: https://npogroups.org/lists/info/tech-coop
I talked briefly with this co-op whose set up in Europe and seems to have members from all over, so they might provide good insight: https://camplight.net/
Also, talking to nonprofit founders, I've heard that starting a non-profit yourself can be pain in the ass. However, you can essentially outsource the management of the nonprofit to another nonprofit via 'fiscal sponsorship.' Web searching for that will bring up more details. For example, http://grayarea.org/incubator/fiscal-sponsorship/. I met the founder of this organization that started providing fiscal sponsorship recently as well: http://blog.hacker.fund/fs/
And finally, there are actually some co-ops that are trying to make this process easier. For example, this co-op alternative to kickstarter: https://snowdrift.coop/ and this co-op that makes software for making decisions within co-ops easier: https://www.loomio.org/