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

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

The 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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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/