User Member

A member of an organisation created with FairShares Model Articles of Association who by virtue of a qualifying contribution is offered user membership.

In a FairShares Company or Co-operative, User members are allocated User and Investor Shares, which entitles them to a proportion of the User Share and Investor Share of surplus.

User Members in a FairShares Association or Partnership have the same rights as User Shareholders in terms of governance, but are not allocated User Shares. In these legal forms, User members control a proportion of surplus (the User Share Fraction) and can make social investments with it, but they are not paid dividends directly.

User membership is a useful concept for associations that want to qualify as a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) / Non-Profit Organisation (NPO) in their country, but cannot implement the shareholding aspects of the FairShares Model

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