***Free Webinar***
Starting out in social enterprise? What legal structures are possible?
Hosted by: The Social Enterprise Legal Models Working Group
When: 18th February, 2015 Time: Midday (Sydney time) for one hour
A recording will be made available shortly.
Cooperative or company limited by guarantee? Legal entity choice is a key element our study of small-scale initiatives in Australia that mix elements of social activism and social enterprise in an effort to respond to environmental challenges. Entity choice determines precise roles and responsibilities, as well as financial flows. These demarcations often need to be revisited by emergent groups who are tackling such large challenges as democratising food and energy distribution monopolies. Turning to experts is often counterproductive. Legal expertise is often provided based upon familiarity with entities (particularly Pty Ltd) rather than from dialogue about goals and values.
Professor Morgan and Dr. Kuch have been grappling with these complexities by participating in The Social Enterprise Legal Models Working Group (LMWG). The LWMG was originally convened by the Centre for Social Impact as part of the “Social Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Alliance” (SIEE) and has been operating as a working group chartered to investigate the issue of social enterprise business models/legal structures. The coordinator of the group has been Alan Greig, a Board member of Employee Ownership Australia. The Group’s Chair is Malcolm Rodgers, PSM, a former Director of Market Regulation in the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and an expert on corporations law.
The LMWG has now produced a draft report with a number of recommendations regarding the need to approach legal structures for social enterprise as a strategic business issue, particularly with regard to accessing adequate capital. You can access a copy of the report here.
The report also considers – and extensively reports on – the range of social enterprise structures being legislated for in other countries, including the “community interest company” (CICs) in the UK and the “for social benefit corporation” in the US. For example, there are nearly 8000 CICs in the UK following the introduction of this legislation in the UK in 2005.
Australia is far more limited in the choice of social enterprise entities than these jurisdictions. On this, the LMWG has produced a “Summary” of legal models applying in other countries, which you can see here. The group has also produced a useful matrix breaking down the key differences between the legal models available in Australia, available here.
About the speakers:
Malcolm Rodgers – Malcolm is a former Executive Director of Policy and Market Regulation at ASIC and was awarded the Public Service Medal for his work on Corporations Law reforms. He has had a long standing interest in social enterprise since working in the cooperative sector in the 1980s.
Alan Greig - Alan is Director of Ownership Strategies at The Mercury Centre Cooperative Ltd, a cooperative development agency and social enterprise that specialises in building collaborative enterprises through consultancy, research, information, advice and training. He is also a Board member of Employee Ownership Australia Ltd.
Associate Professor Fiona Martin – Fiona is Associate Professor of Taxation and Business Law in the Business School, UNSW Australia. Her research interests are in the area of taxation issues relating to charities and not-for-profits. She has recently published ‘Income Tax, Native Title and Mining Payments’ (Wolters Kluwer, 2014).
Starting out in social enterprise? What legal structures are possible?
Hosted by: The Social Enterprise Legal Models Working Group
When: 18th February, 2015 Time: Midday (Sydney time) for one hour
A recording will be made available shortly.
Cooperative or company limited by guarantee? Legal entity choice is a key element our study of small-scale initiatives in Australia that mix elements of social activism and social enterprise in an effort to respond to environmental challenges. Entity choice determines precise roles and responsibilities, as well as financial flows. These demarcations often need to be revisited by emergent groups who are tackling such large challenges as democratising food and energy distribution monopolies. Turning to experts is often counterproductive. Legal expertise is often provided based upon familiarity with entities (particularly Pty Ltd) rather than from dialogue about goals and values.
Professor Morgan and Dr. Kuch have been grappling with these complexities by participating in The Social Enterprise Legal Models Working Group (LMWG). The LWMG was originally convened by the Centre for Social Impact as part of the “Social Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Alliance” (SIEE) and has been operating as a working group chartered to investigate the issue of social enterprise business models/legal structures. The coordinator of the group has been Alan Greig, a Board member of Employee Ownership Australia. The Group’s Chair is Malcolm Rodgers, PSM, a former Director of Market Regulation in the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and an expert on corporations law.
The LMWG has now produced a draft report with a number of recommendations regarding the need to approach legal structures for social enterprise as a strategic business issue, particularly with regard to accessing adequate capital. You can access a copy of the report here.
The report also considers – and extensively reports on – the range of social enterprise structures being legislated for in other countries, including the “community interest company” (CICs) in the UK and the “for social benefit corporation” in the US. For example, there are nearly 8000 CICs in the UK following the introduction of this legislation in the UK in 2005.
Australia is far more limited in the choice of social enterprise entities than these jurisdictions. On this, the LMWG has produced a “Summary” of legal models applying in other countries, which you can see here. The group has also produced a useful matrix breaking down the key differences between the legal models available in Australia, available here.
About the speakers:
Malcolm Rodgers – Malcolm is a former Executive Director of Policy and Market Regulation at ASIC and was awarded the Public Service Medal for his work on Corporations Law reforms. He has had a long standing interest in social enterprise since working in the cooperative sector in the 1980s.
Alan Greig - Alan is Director of Ownership Strategies at The Mercury Centre Cooperative Ltd, a cooperative development agency and social enterprise that specialises in building collaborative enterprises through consultancy, research, information, advice and training. He is also a Board member of Employee Ownership Australia Ltd.
Associate Professor Fiona Martin – Fiona is Associate Professor of Taxation and Business Law in the Business School, UNSW Australia. Her research interests are in the area of taxation issues relating to charities and not-for-profits. She has recently published ‘Income Tax, Native Title and Mining Payments’ (Wolters Kluwer, 2014).
Sustainability, social enterprise and sharing: what’s law got to do with it?
March 20th, 2015
Hepple Room, School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, University Road, Bristol BS8 1SS
This half-day workshop will engage you in talks, debate and collaborative sessions on different ways in which sustainability, social enterprise, and sharing can be linked together and supported by creative legal and regulatory frameworks. We will also explore how such frameworks sometimes construct barriers and hurdles, but in the spirit of working towards positive directions to achieve reform..... more
March 20th, 2015
Hepple Room, School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, University Road, Bristol BS8 1SS
This half-day workshop will engage you in talks, debate and collaborative sessions on different ways in which sustainability, social enterprise, and sharing can be linked together and supported by creative legal and regulatory frameworks. We will also explore how such frameworks sometimes construct barriers and hurdles, but in the spirit of working towards positive directions to achieve reform..... more