Official Announcements

Title Image that says "Join an Authentic Handmade Marketplace! Now Enrolling Members"" with an illustration of Brook the cooperative mascot chicken pointing to her fellow birds and friends and raising their hands to join the membership

Now Enrolling Members! Join an Authentic Handmade Marketplace

May 23, 2023April 2, 2024
25 Comments

Artisans Cooperative is now accepting its first members! In this post, we’ll share all the details about membership.

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

Our Bylaws & Board

May 20, 2023May 24, 2023
6 Comments

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.

Image of four wooden artist's figures (like from IKEA) linking arms around each other, with the two outside ones raising their free arms in celebration. They are standing on alphabet blocks that spell COOPERATION. Above is the title We're Officially Incorporated! Artisans Cooperative

We’re Officially Incorporated!

May 2, 2023May 2, 2023
3 Comments

We’re proud to announce that we officially registered as an Oregon Cooperative Corporation – and on May Day / International Workers Day!

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

May 2, 2023September 8, 2023
11 Comments

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.

Infographic from Sociocracy for All titled Sociocracy: a peer governance based on consent

Our Organizational Transition to Sociocracy

April 18, 2023December 18, 2023
5 Comments

Presenting an exciting update as we transition our co-op from idea to reality and embrace Sociocracy.

Start.coop Graphic, "Meet Our Entrepreneurs" with a group photo of 10 different cooperative representatives, funded by AARP Foundation

Artisans Cooperative Joins the Start.coop 2023 Spring Accelerator

March 30, 2023April 18, 2023
2 Comments

Artisans Cooperative has been selected as one of 10 start-up cooperatives to receive mentorship, skills, and a $10,000 grant by Start.coop. This spring accelerator was funded by the AARP Foundation.

Image of adorable illustrated chickens and a title that reads "Open House, March 2023 on Zoom"

March Open House Summary

March 28, 2023July 3, 2023
3 Comments

This March, we hosted our second Open House and it went wonderfully! We presented our Marketplace Tech Plan, our Handmade Policy, our Ownership Model, and what our next steps for the co-op are.

Hand dyed combed top in dusky rose and slate blue by Sycamore Fibers

Our Handmade Policy

March 18, 2023September 21, 2023
38 Comments

[UPDATED] With a careful checks-and-balances system of accessible onboarding, consistent labeling, incentivized peer verification, and swift action on community reporting. we believe our draft Handmade Policy will stop bad actors and encourage authentic artisans.

Artisans Cooperative Ownership Model Governance Model Explained in One Table Link to Google Doc

Our Ownership Model

March 14, 2023July 19, 2023
8 Comments

In this post, we’re presenting our ownership and governance model and explain how it was developed.

Our Marketplace Tech Plan

March 8, 2023August 19, 2023
5 Comments

In this post, we explain the details of our approach to the marketplace technology, summarize our research, present our plan to use Hosted E-commerce / Shopify, and our next steps going forward.