Association News
NZCU Baywide joins
The Association’s newest member is Credit Union Baywide, which trades as NZCU Baywide. Established in 1971, it is a 100% New Zealand owned financial cooperative, and they joined the Cooperatives Association in April 2012.
‘Our ultimate responsibility is to our customers," they write. "Our funds are sourced from the community we serve and our lending supports individuals and families who works or reside in New Zealand.’
Rules change
A Special General Meeting of the Cooperatives Association on 23 April 2012 unanimously approved a new set of rules for the Association.
Following the 30 November AGM, full members will continue to elect an 11-person representative Council, which wil in turn elect a Board of no more than five directors to govern the Association. The Board will have the ability to co-opt one or two people onto it, and they are not limited to councillors and those eligible to be councillors.
The Chairperson will be chosen by the Board from among their number, rather than at the AGM as at present.
Click here for a copy of the Association’s new rules.
NewZealand2012.coop is now live
We’re pleased to announced that our IYC website, NewZealand2012.coop is now live. To go there, click on the banner below:
Blue Read on Morning Report
Blue Read, Chair of the New Zealand Cooperatives Association, was interviewed on Morning Report on 28 March 2012 about the launch of the UN International Year of Cooperatives. Listen from 3:20:
New Zealanders looking for honesty, integrity and high ethical standards, survey shows
Research conducted for the Cooperatives Association by Horizon Poll showed that 70 per cent of New Zealanders are now “less trusting” or “totally distrusting” of the honesty and integrity of businesses after recent finance company failures.
This was announced at the Parliamentary launch of the International Year of Cooperatives on 27 March by Association Chair Blue Read, who said that New Zealanders wanting an alternative need look no further than the cooperative model of enterprise, which is well-entrenched in our economy, was based on different principles to investor-driven businesses and had weathered the global financial crisis in relatively good shape.
To find out more, go to this website.
Canadian farmer Jack Wilkinson speaks out
The newest video on the Cooperatives Association’s YouTube channel features Canadian farmer Jack Wilkinson's outspoken comments on cooperatives, offered at the UN launch of the International Year of Cooperatives in New York.
Watch this video here first – it may well go viral.
The latest Cooperatives News is out
The February/March/April 2012 Cooperatives News is now available in the Newsletter section of this website.
To get onto the mailing list send an email to the Association office.
Minister of Commerce Hon Craig Foss launches the International Year of Cooperatives
The New Zealand launch of the International Year of Cooperatives took place on Tuesday 27 March 2012 in The Grand Hall at Parliament.
Minister of Commerce Hon Craig Foss launched the Year, sharing the cutting of a ceremonial cake with veteran West Coast dairy farmer John O’Connor. Other speakers included
- Cooperatives Association Chair, Blue Read,
- Rabobank Netherlands Executive Board Chair, Piet Moerland, and
- International Cooperatives Alliance President, Dame Pauline Green.
Radio New Zealand Ideas segment on employee-owned businesses
Radio New Zealand recently had a Sunday morning “Ideas” segment on the idea of employee-owned businesses.
The segment features Peter Cox, the author of Speden’s Partnership: The Story of John Lewis and Waitrose, who tells Jeremy Rose about the company owned by its 75,000 employees; Chris Laidlaw talks to Keith Orr, a manager of Golden Bay’s Tui Bee Balm worker cooperative; and Richard Aitken the chief of executive of BECA – New Zealand’s largest employee-owned business.
Listen below:
UN IYC 2012 featured in UN Youth New Zealand blog "UN+Censored"
Let’s not forget about the “UN” part in the UN International Year of the Cooperatives.
Here is a blog post in UN Youth New Zealand’s official blog UN+Censored about what a cooperative is, and why 2012 is the International Year of Cooperatives.
Haven’t we come a long way
The May 1996 issue of the newsletter of the New Zealand Agricultural Co-operative Association Inc is now available for download from the newsletter page.
Haven’t we indeed come a long way ... and yet how similar are the concerns of this Association today. Download it from here.
CRT Cooperative announces sponsorship of UN IYC 2012
We are well on track with fundraising appeal for the UN International Year of Cooperatives 2012 with great support from a number of members, but haven't quite hit the target.
Our thanks goes to CRT Cooperatives, who have just announced they will be providing sponsorship towards this fund. To find out more about the International Year of the Cooperatives, visit our IYC page.
AGM elects Blue Read as new Chairperson
At the 2nd December 2011 Association annual meeting, Taranaki dairy farmer Blue Read was elected Chairperson. More information is to be found on this page.
Held in Wellington, the meeting also, among other things, reviewed the year’s activities, looked forward to the UN International Year of Cooperatives in 2012 and elected a new Council.
Check the photos from the event on our facebook page.
Silver Fern Farms' Silver Sponsorship
A $200,000 fundraising appeal for funds to celebrate the UN International Year of Cooperatives was launched by the Cooperatives Association at the beginning of September 2011. Our thanks goes to Silver Fern Farms, who have announced that they will be providing Silver Sponsorship towards the UN International Year of Cooperatives.
Go to the IYC page for more details.
First steps in social media
A Facebook page, a page on wikipedia, a YouTube channel and a regular series of tweets on Twitter (@NZdotCoop) are the first foray into social media for the Cooperatives Association.
Check them out, "friend" us if you're a Facebook user, subscribe to the YouTube channel, and follow us on Twitter. In the run up to the International Year of Cooperatives you’ll see quite a bit of activity.
Watch this space!
Rabobank first donor to UN for IYC 2012
Rabobank has come forward as the first donor to the UN for the International Year of Cooperatives (IYC) and the UN’s work on cooperatives in social development.
In an effort to ensure the success of the upcoming IYC, Rabobank has earmarked US$200,000 for the United Nations fund to help finance the communication campaign and other activities focused on promoting and supporting the role of cooperatives in social development.
Headquartered in the Netherlands, Rabobank is one of the 30 largest financial institutions in the world, and is a cooperative governed by its members which provides a wide range of financial services.
UN IYC 2012 Fundraising appeal launched
A $200,000 fundraising appeal for funds to celebrate the UN International Year of Cooperatives was launched by the Cooperatives Association at the beginning of September 2011. “We’re confident we’ll get good support for this appeal,” said Executive Director Ramsey Margolis.
Go to the IYC page for more details.
Co-ops respond to the Feb 22nd Christchurch earthquake
New Zealand cooperatives and mutuals have both been affected by and are actively engaging with the recovery process.
For regularly updated news on this tragic event go to the Executive Director's blog "The View From Level 3" or click HERE.
Governing a Successful Cooperative Business
A two-day governance training course specifically aimed at directors and potential directors facilitated by Peter Harris and using The LEADing Board took place in Wellington on 24 & 25 March 2011.
To find out more go to the Education & training page.
Sunday Star-Times runs three articles on co-ops
The 30 May, 2010 Sunday Star-Times contained three articles on cooperatives by Rob O’Neill in its Business section that show how cooperative business is an integral and important part of New Zealand.
On the front page was an interview with Association chairperson Peter Macdougall with the headline “Call for an alternative Kiwibank future – as a cooperative”. It can be found online here.
“Co-ops fight to retain share assets” looked at the battle cooperatives around the world have been having with the International Accounting Standards Board over whether their shares should be classified as assets or liabilities. It can be found here.
The final article was an overview on the success of cooperative and mutual business during the recession. Entitled “Old fashioned set up has last laugh when the tough times hit”, it can be found here.
Ashburton co-op networking lunch meeting
The Association’s second co-op networking lunch meeting took place on Friday 21 May 2010 in Ashburton. Held at the Braided Rivers Restaurant, Burnett St, guest speakers were Philippa Stevenson and Venetia Sherson of JAG Media whose talk on how to get good stories about your co-op in the media went down so well at the first meeting in Hamilton earlier in the year.
Bringing together members, directors and senior executives from cooperatives and mutuals in Central Canterbury and as far away as Christchurch, the discussion was lively.
We are grateful to Ashburton Trading Society for sponsoring this lunch and bringing the speakers to Ashburton.
The Financial Services Providers (Pre-implementation Adjustments) Bill
Cooperative shares are not investments; they are the price of membership, enabling businesses and individuals to transact with a cooperative. The New Zealand Cooperatives Association gave the Commerce Select Committee this strong message in our written submission on this Bill on 23 March 2010.
Although not primarily aimed at cooperative and mutual business, the Financial Advisers Act 2008 and the Financial Service Providers (Registration and Dispute Resolution) Act 2008 are a potential nightmare for any co-op or mutual which has people in the field talking with non-members and encouraging them to buy from or sell to the cooperative, if this means purchasing member shares to do so.
Cooperative and mutual businesses consider it inappropriate that they should be subject to the requirements of these Acts as:
- cooperatives cannot cause the sort of “mischief” these Acts are designed to address
- cooperatives are disproportionately affected compared with similar investor-owned businesses, and
- the requirements of the Acts will result in significant compliance costs to cooperatives, and as no benefits will flow from the requirements, the compliance costs are unjustified.
We are continuing to look at the best ways that the Association and our members can let the Commerce Select Committee and MPs in general know in no uncertain terms that cooperatives and mutuals which are not involved in financial products should not have unnecessary compliance routines imposed on them, and so avoid the costs and considerable management aggravation that goes with them.
Download a copy of the NZCA’s submission here. Phone the Association office on 04 384 4595 or send an email with your questions and observations.
The first Co-op Networking Lunch Meeting
With room hire and lunch sponsored by Origin Agroup Ltd, twenty people turned up at The Narrows Landing at Tamahere near Hamilton on 29 January 2010 hear guest speakers Philippa Stevenson and Venetia Sherson speak on “Secrets of the media”.
Award-winning journalists, what they had to say went down well. The event was reported in the December 2009 Cooperatives News.
Clearly a well worthwhile event, the next networking lunch meeting will be taking place in Ashburton on Friday 21 May. To reserve a seat at the table, send an email.
Postgrad paper on cooperative and mutual business
Massey University is offering a paper on cooperative and mutual business as part of its MBA course.
With the title “Advanced Studies in Cooperatives”, information on the course can be downloaded here.
To find out more, write to Dr James Lockhart at the College of Business, Massey University.
Recent addition in the members’ area
- A 90-page report by the US National Cooperative Bank looking at how marketing and membership programmes which feature a cooperative advantage drive successful business outcomes.
