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Policies & Plans

Blog Post cover graphic. Background of three honey-themed handmade mugs made by StellaNCWorks. The graphic features the title of the post "About Print-on-Demand (POD)" and the subtitle "What Print-on-Demand Is, and What Our Handmade Policy Says About It" and gives author credit to Valerie.

About Print-on-Demand (POD)

Print-on-Demand (POD) is a hard-to-explain manufacturing outsourcing process that is growing rapidly in popularity – and controversy. In this post, we’ll try our best to explain what POD is, and how and why we’ve allowed it with careful limits in our Handmade Policy. 

Word graphic with a photo of a person working on a chart on a computer at their desk. Title says Our Data & Points Tracking Plan, Blog Post by Olga

Our Data and Points Tracking Plan

In this post, we’ll share information about our data tracking systems and how they were developed in the event that our membership, broader audience, or other cooperatives (P6 baby!) are interested in learning more about the weeds in which we’ve navigated and the considerations we had at each step.

3 folk art marionette puppets in a store window. Photo by Aysegul Yasi on Unsplash.

The Policy Trinity Supporting Our Co-op

Three intertwined policies – a trinity – form the foundation of our unique, multi-stakeholder, community-owned business structure. As any woodworker knows, a 3-legged stool is the strongest design. In this post, we take a moment to explain how the Ownership Model, Handmade Policy, and Points & Tiers Policy interact with each other to incentivize, empower, and engage our community. 

Join Our Founders Circle Before July 31st

We’re offering special perks – including a lower sales commission – for the first 25-100 artisans to join our Founders Circle. Let’s take back control from big marketplaces together!

Cover photo for blog with picture of pink desktop, calculator and desk tools, and title "Bylaws and Board"

Our Bylaws & Board

In this post, we’re sharing our rules of engagement: our cooperative bylaws. In enacting the bylaws, we also had to appoint an interim board and create a plan for board elections.

Cover photo for blog with picture of hands typing on keyboard and title "Marketplace Development Plan"

Marketplace Development Plan

In this post, the Tech Team willl break down how we’re going to build the website on Shopify in phases before October launch.

Blog post cover image with the words Our Points & Tiers Policy and a picture of Brook the Artisans Cooperative chicken mascot tucking into a slice of blueberry pie

Our Points & Tiers Policy

In this post, we’re presenting the details of our innovative Points & Tiers policy. The purpose of the Points & Tiers system is to incentivize member engagement, equitably value and reward all kinds of contributions (not just cash), and help the co-op be successful.

Line graph showing our fundraising plan with time on the horizontal axis and money on the vertical. Includes a combination of donations, grants, member investments, and lending before sales revenue - with title block

Our Funding Plan

We’ve built the tools we need to develop a cooperatively-owned handmade marketplace. In this post, we’ll discuss how we’re going to pay for it all with our 5-stage fundraising plan.