Patronage in Worker Cooperatives

Patronage in Worker Coops against the background of a nebula with Cosmos Financial Education for Other Worlds logo

Offered once per year. Sign up for our mailing list to be notified when the next one is announced for 2027!

(2-hour workshop over Zoom)

As worker cooperative members, we own and self-manage our coops and share in surpluses and losses together. In this session, we’ll develop collective understanding about this key part of worker coop finances. We’ll define terms like internal capital accounts, member equity, and patronage and the factors that go into calculating them. Along the way, we’ll model ways you can share these concepts with other coop members as part of ongoing education to support full member participation. 

  • increase understanding of what patronage is in a worker coop
  • build confidence in asking finance questions
  • build skills for sharing this information with all coop members
  • have fun!

2-hour online workshop using Zoom with at least one break per session

Cosmos workshops are participatory and we will invite you to engage in several ways: video on (when possible and comfortable), interacting with a shared slide deck, using reactions, and answering or asking questions in chat or aloud.

Zoom automatic closed captioning will be enabled.

ASL interpretation, CART, and/or advanced copies of the slides are possible if requests are received at least 2 weeks in advance of the first session in the series. Please note on the registration form anything that would make this series more accessible to you.

**Workshops will not be recorded, however resources and slides with an overview of the main topics covered will be shared with attendees.**

Cosmos public workshop tickets are available on a sliding scale in an attempt to distribute resources more equitably. We invite you to select a ticket level that corresponds with your access to resources using the guide below.

There are a limited number of tickets available. If your level is sold out, we encourage you to sign up for our mailing list linked here to get updates on future workshops.

Cost is 1 ticket per person attending.  

Refund requests accepted up to 1 day before the event with a 5% payment processing fee.  

Level 5-Redistribution: $480

  • If your organization is paying for your participation and has an annual budget of $1M or more.
  • If you’re an individual paying for your own ticket and some of the following may apply to you: your salary is over $100K; you have inherited or expect to inherit wealth; you do not need to work in order to meet your basic needs; you do not have any debt.

Level 4-Full Cost: $295

  • If your organization is paying for your participation and has an annual budget below $1M.
  • If you’re an individual paying for your own ticket and some of the following may apply to you: you consistently cover your basic needs + some extras; your salary is over $75K; you have some debt that you’re able to make regular payments on: you have higher education degree(s); you have family with assets such as a home or retirement fund)

Level 3-Solidarity: $160

  • If your organization is paying for your participation and meets the following criteria: A) Has an annual budget below $200,000 AND B) Is majority owned or governed by people who are: of color, immigrants, disabled, LGBTQIA2+, working class, and/or poor AND C) focused on solidarity economy or collective liberation work
  • If you’re an individual paying for your own ticket and some of the following may apply to you: you consistently cover your basic needs + occasional extras; your salary is between $60-75K; you have some debt that you’re able to make regular payments on: you have higher education degree(s); you have family with assets such as a home or retirement fund

Level 2-Solidarity: $86

  • If you’re an individual paying for your own ticket and some of the following may apply to you: you consistently cover your basic needs; your salary is between $45-60K; you have some debt that you’re able to make regular payments on: you have higher education degree(s); your income supports people other than yourself

Level 1-Solidarity: $25

  • If you’re an individual paying for your own ticket and some of the following may apply to you: you struggle to consistently meet basic living expenses; you do not have savings; you are unable to make payments on debts; you have not had access to higher education (e.g. college or graduate school) or you may be one of the first in your family to go to college; your income supports people other than yourself

The above are guidelines and are not prescriptive. We recognize that some individuals and groups might have specific situations that don’t fit neatly into a single category and we welcome you to select based on your own assessment of your resource access.

Before emailing us, please see answers to some Frequently Asked Questions linked here.