ABOUT
A Cooperative Effort
Tackling child care challenges requires the combined efforts of community members, influential leaders advocating for policy changes, and a unifying platform. The Carefully Co-op aims to connect these critical components, fostering a cycle that continuously invests in the very communities contributing to our success.
We are committed to building a practical and thriving child care network that directly benefits individuals, local businesses, and co-op members. We serve parents, child care providers, and community builders through ownership, active participation, and profit sharing. This approach allows community members and workers to engage with, support, and influence the co-op's direction, leaving a lasting impact.
The Carefully community is supported by our mobile platform (available on iOS and Android), which enables families to organize and find affordable child care. It also helps employers and institutions connect their communities by offering child care benefits. Learn more...
BENEFITS
Why Join the Carefully Cooperative?
01
Earn
Profits
Share in the success of Carefully. As Carefully grows, your contributions are rewarded with a share of the profits, ensuring that our success is your success.
02
Have a
Voice
Every member's voice is equally powerful. Participate in voting on crucial business decisions, and engage more deeply through Circles to spearhead initiatives that matter to you.
03
Get Perks
and Discounts
Enjoy waived subscription fees for all accounts, including small businesses (transaction fees still apply). Be the first to access new features and services.
04
Connect with Your Community
Join the Carefully Co-op group to connect with like-minded members. Participate in exclusive in-person events (available in select locations) and step into community leadership roles to make a tangible impact.
APPROACH
Our goal is to protect what you care about most
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Families who use Carefully to build their networks for sharing and organizing child care.
Parents
Early child care educators who are using Carefully to support their home-based child care businesses.
Child Care Providers
Carefully’s full time, part time, contract workers
Workers
People who invest in Carefully
Investor members only vote on items specific to investor financial rights
Investors
Types of Members
BENEFITS
Strength that speaks for itself
Availability
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Efficiency
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Trust
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TESTIMONIALS
What our clients are saying
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Leah Yurfset
This is the space to share a review from one of the business's clients or customers.
Roy Gold
This is the space to share a review from one of the business's clients or customers.
Nela Yliuay
FAQ
You're probably
wondering...
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What is the Carefully Cooperative?A Co-op - We are a cooperative offering ownership and voting rights to our members as we seek to engage and reinvest in the communities we serve. Multi-stakeholder - Community Members, Workers, Institutions Investors, and founders are able to have ownership in our cooperative Platform - We are a technology platform for the caring economy C-Corp - for tax purposes, we are incorporated as a Delaware C-corp
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Why join the Carefully Cooperative?You want to utilize / benefit from the services and the platform that Carefully offers You want to have a voice in the direction of Carefully You want to share in the future success of Carefully You want to contribute your skills, experience and time to help build the organization so we can achieve our mission and goals You believe in our mission, vision, and values
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What is the governance structure of the Carefully CooperativeThe governance structure of the Carefully Cooperative is designed to ensure democratic participation and accountability: - Each member has an equal say, with a structure of "1 Member = 1 Vote". - The Investor Class has observation rights only and does not have voting rights. - The cooperative holds regular Community Meetings, including a Required Annual Meeting and Quarterly Meetings. - Board Elections are held to select leaders. - Founders serve an initial term of 7 years. - After the initial term, Board Elections are held every 3 years. - Additional Board members are added as the community grows to ensure representation.
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How much does membership cost?There is an initial membership fee of $100 and each subsequent year there is an annual fee of $100. Additionally, each member is expected to meet a minimum service contribution of 500 Karma Credits, which roughly translates to 5 hours. You can review the Patronage Activity Table to see a more complete view of how members earn patronage in our co-op.
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What is a Co-op?a cooperative is a business owned and democratically controlled by the people who use its services and whose benefits are derived and distributed equitably on the basis of use. The user-owners are called members. They benefit in two ways from the cooperative, in proportion to the use they make of it. First, the more they use the cooperative, the more service they receive. - The Service Contribution - Second, earnings are allocated to members based on the amount of business they do with the cooperative - The Patronage Refund - We recommend watching this video to get a quick overview of cooperatives Here are some additional resources: https://platform.coop/about/benefits https://www.rd.usda.gov/files/cir55.pdf https://ncbaclusa.coop/blog/co-op-101-how-to-start-a-co-op/ Greg’s 12 Bonus Tips for Co-op Management Success https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4d9Tlcnek6Y
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What are the benefits of cooperatives?Members share in both the business risks and the business profits. Each cooperative determines the level of financial participation that is required to establish membership status in the co-op. Members democratically control their cooperative by exercising the voting rights that come with membership. (one member, one vote) The key characteristics of a cooperative business include democratic control serving the interests of the members rather than maximizing profits.
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What is Patronage?Patronage is the distributions of profits paid by a co-operative to their owners. Patronage dividends are paid based on a portion of the profit the business makes. The exact dividend each member receives is based on how much they used the co-op's services or how much in products they purchased.
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What are the different types of Cooperatives?Below are a few of the main types of cooperatives: Service cooperatives are a type of "consumer cooperative" which help to fill a need in the community. They allow consumers the opportunity to supply their own needs, gain bargaining power, and share earnings. They are organized to give members more control over the services that are offered. Examples: service co-ops such as child care, health care clinics, and funeral services. Multi-stakeholder cooperatives are co-ops that are owned and controlled by more than one type of membership class such as consumers, producers, workers, volunteers, or community supporters. Stakeholders can be individuals or organizations such as non-profits, businesses, government agencies, or even other cooperatives. https://uwcc.wisc.edu/resources/multi-stakeholder-cooperatives/ Platform Co-op is a digital platform — a website or mobile app that is designed to provide a service or sell a product — that is collectively owned and governed by the people who depend on and participate in it. Where corporate “sharing” platforms extract value and distribute it to shareholding owners who seek a return on their investment, platform co-ops distribute ownership and management of the enterprise to its participants those working for the platform or those using the service. https://platform.coop/about/benefits/