Complicating the ability of co-ops to raise capital outside their membership is the fact that co-ops operate outside of the public stock market – in part based on the historical recognition of the primacy of members.
Finance Models
I had the opportunity to attend the Social Investment Organization Conference in June and a few things struck me about the traditional investment industry's potential relationship with co-operatives.
In the past two years, the popular press, for good reason, has railed against the lack of regulation, systemic failures, and rampant conflicts of interest that led to the recent financial crisis. Securitized products, and derivatives of those products, have been featured prominently as analysts, academics, and legislators assign blame for the bank failures and the market turmoil of the past two years.
One of the biggest struggles in the social enterprise industry is the fact that it is still in its infancy. Thus, although remarkable new ideas and enterprises are entering the space by the day, there remains a significant lack of tangible examples and standards in place to clearly define which people and enterprises fit into the realm of social enterprise.
I'm pleased to announce that SocialFinance.ca will be helping to coordinate the social media coverage of the Social Capital Markets 2010 conference in San Francisco on October 4th, 5th, and 6th. For those of us north of the U.S. / Canada border, SoCap represents an annual opportunity to check in with our dynamic neighbours to the south as well as many of the movers and shakers in social finance internationally.
Jeff Mowatt on Three Business Models for the Bottom Billion
Sep 03, 2010