The dotCoop Global Awards for Cooperative Excellence Announced

5 June 2008 - Rome, Italy

Today, at the conclusion of the ICA Extraordinary General Assembly in Rome, Paul Hazen, President of dotCooperation LLC announced plans for the dotCoop Global Award for Cooperative Excellence to be awarded for the first time next year (2009) at the ICA GA in Glasgow, Scotland in October.

The award criteria seeks to encourage cooperatives from all sectors to examine their processes in order to compete for the award and will provide other cooperatives the opportunity to understand how cooperatives can use their differences to impact their business and their communities. Awards will be categorized so that cooperatives from different sizes, sectors and locations will be able to compete successfully for the recognition to be accorded to the Award winners. Current global awards focus on individuals that have positively impacted the co-operative community. This award will recognize the cooperatives themselves and promote co-operatives as businesses that are successful because they are co-operatives.

Although details of the award criteria and process have not been finalized, initial information is provided below for co-ops to begin consideration of how they will be able to participate in the Award process.

Although there are other Awards specifically for individuals who embody the spirit of cooperation and also awards within specific sectors, the dotCoop Awards will seek to identify excellence without regard to size, sector or geography.

Look for more details on //http:www.coop in the coming months!

Draft Criteria:

• Identify activities of your cooperative that highlight your understanding and inclusion of each of the cooperative principles in your business activities including:
  • Voluntary and Open Membership
  • Democratic Member Control
  • Member Economic Participation
  • Autonomy and Independence
  • Education, Training and Information
  • Co-operation among Co-operatives
  • Concern for Community
• Identify successful business practices that incorporate cooperative values. Include positive results associated with these practices.
• Identify and describe specific business practices that contribute to your success that are enabled by the cooperative business structure. Include results associated with these practices.
• Identify and describe initiatives that your cooperative has undertaken that have allowed it to successfully address cooperative business structure differences.
• Provide information on how your cooperative has used the Internet or other media to promote your cooperative and its products to your co-op members and the general public.
• Provide examples of how your cooperative identity has been used to contribute to your business success.
• Provide financial information that illustrates the success of the cooperative business model for your cooperative.

Planned Submission Process

• Submissions will be accepted starting on 1 January 2009.
• All submissions will be made through our award web site. For up-to-date information, check the www.coop site.
• Promotional materials including photos, web sites and other media will be encouraged as part of submissions.
• The current submission deadline is anticipated to be 31 May 2009 to be eligible for the Global Awards to be presented in October 2009 at the ICA General Assembly in Glasgow, Scotland.

Planned Categories

• Less than USD$1million in revenue or assets
• USD$ 1million to USD$ 50 million in revenue or assets
• Greater than USD$ 50 million revenue or assets

Continental Awards:

Potentially 1 award will be given in each category from each continent depending on the number of submissions. Continental winners will compete for the Global awards.

Planned Awards

Awards will be provided in each category both globally and for those cooperatives selected at the Continental level. A .coop domain name with supporting services will also be provided by dotCoop. The domain name can be used by the selected cooperatives or can be donated by them to a cooperative of their choice to help expand awareness of cooperatives on the Internet.

Planned Selection Process

Preliminary plans call for awards to be selected by an internationally representative panel. Panel members will be nominated by sectoral and national organizations that are members of the International Cooperative Alliance. Current plans call for final voting to be by members of the International Co-operative Alliance via the web site for both Continental and Global Awards.

Note: All information on Criteria, the Submission Process, Categories, Awards and the Selection Process is preliminary and is subject to change. Please check back on www.coop for current information.

Questions?

For current information, please contact:

Carolyn T. Hoover, CEO
DotCooperation LLC
1401 New York Avenue, N.W., Suite 1000
Washington, DC 20005
USA
T: +1.202.383.5453
F: +1.202.347.1968
Email: support@nic.coop

Published on 05 June 2008