Community of Practice has launched and continues with a session for Bookkeepers and Accountants this March!
Our Community of Practice program has officially launched! Thanks to everyone who came out for our first session, this past January, for co-op curious lawyers. In the 90-minute virtual session they learned the basics of co-ops from a PACA Co-op Developer. And the majority of the session was spent with co-op experienced lawyer, Komal Vaidya, on learning the specific incorporation and formation needs of co-ops and how lawyers can best support them. Thank you to Komal for leading the session and to everyone who came out to learn and become involved in Philly’s solidarity economy. Our next session for lawyers will be in early Spring, stay on the lookout for more details. And you can submit your interest in joining those sessions via this form.\
We’re very excited for our next session, which will be for co-op curious bookkeepers and accountants. The virtual session will be on Thursday, March 16th, from 6:30-8pm. It will be the same format, of spending the first 30 mins engaging in a compact co-op 101. From there, we are extremely excited to say that social justice bookkeeper, Alex Fischer, will be joining us from the deeply respected A Bookkeeping Cooperative. About ABC, they are, “a worker-owned union cooperative dedicated to building solidarity economies. We develop the skills, systems, and confidence of people and projects working towards a just world beyond capitalism through bookkeeping, consulting, and financial education.”
In this session, Alex will introduce the key accounting practices of allocating Patronage & Dividends to coop members and focus on setting up internal accounts. We will look at both cooperative corporations & LLCs taxed as cooperatives. Bookkeepers and accountants are so critical for cooperatives’ success as we work to build just economies. We’re very excited to have ABC with us, and we hope you’ll join. Again, sign-up here!
More about Alex Fischer, “Alex brings a social justice perspective to financial management and believes that understanding finances is important to collectively managing resources at the individual, organizational and systemic levels. Alex is a self-taught bookkeeper and holds an MBA in Managing for Sustainability from Marlboro Graduate School in Brattleboro, VT. They bring games, fun and an innovative liberatory approach to financial management & education. They love supporting justice-based organizations through bookkeeping, consulting, budgeting & education/training. After running their own business, Open Bookkeeping, for eight years, Alex is thrilled to achieve a life goal of being part of a thriving worker-cooperative.”
[Image description:Image description: Cartoon jack russell terrier mimics a bookkeeper with glasses, a tie, a pencil, and a calculator. Information about the sessions surrounds the image.]
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