Currently, membership of Co-operatives South West is free.

The most important reason for becoming a member of Co-operatives SW is to support our work on behalf of all co-operatives, including your own. We provide a voice for the sector, as distinct from other forms of social enterprise, to local policymakers and to the general public.

There are also tangible benefits for members such as:

• information on your organisation held on our website, with links to your own site;
• keeping you informed of news which might be of interest to you, as a co-operative in the south west;
• publicising your organisation at our Annual Meeting and other events.
• the right to vote at our AGM;
• putting you in touch with other members with whom you can share different ways of doing things within a shared ideology – in keeping with that sixth principle ‘co-operation among co-operatives’.

If you are a member, there are several ways you can use this site:  Post details of your events (Events page), courses (Business support and training page), special offers and promotions (Membership: Noticeboard) - just drop us a line with your news!  And if you subscribe to an RSS news feed, please link to our site and your publicity will appear on the Members' News page.

Why do we need you?

Our members can help shape our policy, rather than relying soleley on our steering group for direction.

Recently, Co-operatives SW has achieved the following and needs to expand its work further:

• Raised the profile of co-operatives through regular dissemination of information and contact with its members and policy-makers in the region
• Produced a leaflet called ‘the co-operative economy in the south west’ which demonstrates the size, shape and potential of the sector, which was circulated to local government and other policy-makers and opinion formers as well as all known co-operatives in the region.
• Encouraged mutual support, sharing of best practice, training and development opportunities between co-operatives and mutuals within the region, through its newsletters, Annual Meeting and other communications.
• Gathered an extensive database of its members and supporters in the region, and worked with Co-operatives UK to ensure the information is up to date.
• Improved its website and produced an electronic ‘introduction to Co-operatives SW’ to inform new members and others of its work.

We are working to a business plan which you can download and comment to us about, or offer to help us achieve.