FairShares Brand

Introduction

The FairShares Model is a brand and concept advanced by The FairShares Association to assist the creation of [[FairShares Enterprise" FairShares Enterprises]. At the heart of the brand is a definition of social enterprise established by Social Enterprise Europe Ltd based on:

• Specifying the social purpose(s) and evaluating the social impact(s) of a trading organisation;
• Conducting ethical reviews of product/service choices and the way they are delivered;
• Integrating [[Primary Stakeholders" primary stakeholders] into ownership, governance and management.

If you prefer to read a PDF document, you can download Media:V2-0 - FairShares Model - Branding Guidelines.pdf authored by Rory Ridley-Duff and Nicci Dickins.

Central to the brand is the FairShares approach to power and wealth sharing through organisation design and intellectual property management.

TableOfContents

On Ownership, Governance and Management

A FairShares Company / Co-operative Society / Consultancy will:

• recognise founder members and enfranchise them through Founder Shares
• recognise providers of Labour and enfranchise them through Labour Shares
• recognise users/customers and enfranchise them through User Shares
• recognise creators and providers of financial capital and enfranchise them through Investor Shares or Investor Accounts.

You can find out more about when, why and how each type of share is issued using the following two documents:

On Intellectual Property (IP)

A FairShares Enterprise will:

• give individual and group recognition to members who create IP
• agree a Creative Commons licence for the use of members' IP
• prevent the transfer of IP ownership from members to the Company or Co-op Society except where this is the express wish of the IP creator(s).
• manage members IP as an Intellectual Commons

Brand Variants

All FairShares Enterprises issue Founder Shares. All FairShares Enterprises manage members' IP as an Intellectual Commons.

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• A FairShares social enterprise also issues Labour Shares, User Shares and Investor Shares (under Company Law)
• A FairShares social co-operative also issues Labour Shares and User Shares, and creates Investor Accounts (under Co-operative or Society Law)

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• A FairShares "employee-owned company" also issues Labour Shares and Investor Shares (under Company Law)
• A FairShares worker co-operative also issues Labour Shares, and creates Investor Accounts (under Co-operative or Society Law)

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• A FairShares user-owned company issues User Shares and Investor Shares (under Company Law)
• A FairShares user co-operative issues User Shares, and creates Investor Accounts (under Co-operative or Society Law)

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FairShares consultants give advice on the variant most appropriate to a client’s operating context.

If neither Labour nor User shares are issued on an open membership basis, the enterprise does not conform to the FairShares Brand.

Brand Principles

The brand can be used by FairShares Companies, Co-operative Societies and Consultancies to communicate:

• wealth and power sharing with primary stakeholders;
• ethical review of the choice of goods/services offered;
• ethical review of production and retailing processes;
• specification of social purpose(s) and auditing of social impact(s);
• a social democratic model for the ownership, governance and management of capital.

Brand Identity

Logos for printed and electronic use are available in PNG and JPG formats.

Brand Value and Auditing

To use this brand, a FairShares Company / FairShares Co-operative / [[FairShares Consultants" FairShares Consultancy] should be able to provide full answers to the following six questions during a social audit:

1. Who are the enterprise’s primary stakeholders?
2. What is the social purpose of this enterprise?
3. How is the social impact of this enterprise assessed?
4. What values and principles guide the choice of goods and services offered?
5. What values and principles guide the production and resale of goods and services?
6. How do the ownership, governance and management systems ensure equitable distribution of wealth and power to primary stakeholders?

Creative Commons Licencing

The FairShares Model is licenced to the FairShares Association by Rory Ridley-Duff and Cliff Southcombe using the following Creative Commons licence:

© FairShares Association Ltd, 2013, Creative Commons 3.0: Attribution, Share Alike

All variants and adaptations of the FairShares Model must acknowledge the FairShares Association using the above copyright notice, and new adaptations must carry the same Creative Commons licence.