The mandatory share is 100 EUR. This is the minimum amount you have to invest to become a member, plus 20 EUR of entrance fee. The maximum you can buy is up to 200 shares.

In order to create a solid financial basis for the cooperative, the aim is for each member to take on three to five or more shares. In order to allow people with limited financial means to become members, it is still possible to join with only one or two shares.

You can read this below in §4 of our statutes:

§ 4
Share, Obligation to Make Additional Contributions, Entry Fee
(1) The share shall amount to € 100. It must be paid in full immediately.
(2) Members may take up to 200 shares.
(3) The members are not obliged to make additional contributions.
(4) The entrance fee shall be €20. It shall be allocated to the reserves.

Regarding the rights and duties, our statutes provide the following:

(1) Members are entitled to,
a) to use the services of the cooperative in accordance with the provisions made for this purpose,
b) to participate in the General Assembly
c) request, at their own expense, a copy of the annual financial statements, the management report (to the extent required by law) and the report of the Supervisory Board in good time before the adoption of the annual financial statements by the General Assembly,
d) to inspect the summarized result of the report on the audit by the auditing association,
e) to participate in requests by one tenth of the members to convene the General Meeting or to announce items for resolution,
f) to inspect the minutes of the General Assembly; and
g) to inspect the list of members.

(2) The members are obliged
a) to make the prescribed payments on their shares,
b) to promote the interests of the cooperative in every way,
c) to comply with the statutes of the cooperative and to implement the resolutions adopted by the organs of the cooperative,
d) to use the facilities of the cooperative to an appropriate extent, and
e) to notify any change in their address, account details and e-mail address within 14 days.

In addition to the rights and obligations described above, as a member you have the opportunity to buy your coffee subscription at the member price.

We also hope that the cooperative will become a platform where all members can contribute their ideas and help shape co.hilo together. Our statutes provide for the formation of working groups that can address a variety of issues. We can name a few things we have needed help with so far, and this may expand in the future:

• Packing packages for shipping;
• Local deliveries in Leipzig;
• Organizing and participating in events;
• Translation of content into different languages (English, German, Spanish);
• Support with specific knowledge (accounting, law, finance, IT);

To become a stable company, we need to turn over between 600 and 700 members and 16 tons of coffee per year in the next 4 to 5 years.

In order to establish the cooperative, we need to have our financial plan reviewed and approved by the Cooperative Association. We are currently working on this and this plan will also be available to our members. The money will be managed according to the cooperative’s management structure, with the Board of Directors responsible for decisions and execution, and the Supervisory Board reviewing and advising. At the General Assembly, the members will also vote on important decisions. The cooperative shares are a part of the equity capital for financing the cooperative. With this money, the cooperative makes investments in long-term/essential business activities.

There are also detailed regulations in our statutes on the points described above.

Some of the money from the memberships is used to prefinance the coffee harvest, and some is used as collateral. You can get your money back if you cancel your membership, or you can also sell your cooperative shares to someone else – either a new member or an existing member. The cooperative has up to 2 years to repay the full amount if you cancel. This is a long time, but it is to ensure that the existence of the cooperative is not threatened by a sudden withdrawal of many members – even though this is very unlikely, it could happen. If the money is needed urgently, this can of course be discussed and arranged on an individual basis. From our statute:

§ 6 Termination

The period of notice for termination of membership or individual, voluntary shares is two years to the end of the fiscal year. Notice of termination must be given in writing.

§ 7 Transfer of the credit balance

(1) Each member may at any time by written agreement transfer its share capital in whole or in part to another person and thereby terminate their membership without dispute or reduce the number of its shares, provided that the transferee becomes or is already a member of the cooperative and the share capital to be transferred together with the previous share capital does not exceed the total amount of the shares with which the transferee participates or is permitted to participate.

Yes. Membership gives you the right to buy a coffee subscription at the member price – this means no price increase compared to current prices. Non-member prices will increase in 2023. If you don’t want coffee, you can still be a member, participate in other activities and develop the co.hilo network.

When co.hilo is founded as a cooperative, we are accompanied and examined by the ZdK. So we have experienced support in this process. We hope that in the next step we will be able to inspire many members for co.hilo. The more members, the more financial stability. The cooperative law rules are very concerned about protecting members’ money and building up reserves. Our statutes follow these standards and are used by many other cooperatives with slight adjustments. In the event of dissolution, the assets are divided by the members’ shares. That means that there’s a risk involved in the investment, but it is relatively low.