Credit: Rachel Parsley Photography

Representatives from #bekind descended on Manchester last week to promote The Stoke Model, a pioneering initiative focused on genuine community wealth building, and joined forces with the UK cooperative movement at the second #CoopHackathon hosted by Manchester Metropolitan University at the Manchester School of Art on May 8th and 9th. This collaborative effort aims to spearhead the development of the UK’s inaugural Platform Cooperative, marking a significant milestone in cooperative enterprise.

bekind’s participation in the #CoopHackathon fostered invaluable connections and alliances, laying the groundwork for the implementation of its innovative business model. The event provided the opportunity for #bekind to forge links with key stakeholders in the cooperative sector, paving the way for mutually beneficial partnerships.

During the hackathon, discussions centred around the creation of the UK’s first Platform Cooperative, leveraging the collective expertise and resources of cooperative enterprises nationwide, and how key elements of The Stoke Model could be financed innovatively. In addition, #bekind’s unique approach to genuine community wealth building garnered interest and enthusiasm from participants, positioning it as a vital contributor to this historic initiative.

Furthermore, #bekind seized the opportunity to establish potential collaborative ventures with Manchester-based individuals and organisations. By sharing insights and experiences, all parties stand to benefit from cross-regional knowledge exchange, driving innovation and fostering socio-economic development.

bekind’s engagement at the #CoopHackathon signifies a significant step forward in the advancement of cooperative enterprise in the UK. Through collaboration and partnership, #bekind is poised to play a pivotal role in shaping the future of Platform Cooperatives, empowering communities and driving positive change nationwide.

Today is May Day. International Workers’ Day or Labour Day. In Staffordshire it has been adopted as Staffordshire Day – 1^st May is the anniversary of Josiah Wedgwood establishing his first pottery business in Burslem in 1759 – as a celebration of all things that the creative county has to offer. And so it is perhaps fitting that #bekind has chosen May Day as the day to introduce The Potteries Pound to the world, and that the place where this will happen is Burslem. It had to be.

#bekind is a Community Benefit Society based in the Mother Town, established and run by volunteers and activists – including me – that is tapping into the Wedgwood spirit to build The Stoke Model, a pioneering approach to genuine community wealth building that is underpinned by a philosophy of creative collaboration.

#bekind launched The Stoke Model last year, and it has six key ingredients.

The first of those key ingredients is The War on Waste, and when we say waste, we don’t just mean stuff that you throw in the bin. We also mean wasted stock, wasted space, wasted heritage, and wasted potential. Don’t be a waster!

The second key ingredient is maximising opportunities from localised procurement opportunities for local sole traders, SMEs and the third sector, but in a very broad sense through establishing business-to-business relationships and collaborative partnerships. This is perhaps quite timely given the recent adoption of Stoke-on-Trent City Council’s new procurement code.

Thirdly, we have The Potteries Pound, more on this below.

The fourth ingredient is critical to the success of The Stoke Model, and this is the Stoke Anchor Institutions Network, something which #bekind is looking to build – we need you! We envisage that the network would act as issuers and redeemers of The Potteries Pound, but perhaps more importantly, will collaborate with #bekind in order to bring The Stoke Model to life.

The fifth ingredient is the development and establishment of Universal Basic Services, and what we mean by this is energy, water, food, shelter; everything that is critical to our existence. Obviously, this is a huge task and we cannot tackle this alone – collaboration with others is crucial. But where we can intervene, we will intervene, and both housing and energy are high on our agenda.

And the final ingredient is the Stoke Innovation Unit. #bekind launched this last year alongside The Stoke Model, and this is our think tank, our hub – currently virtual – and is how we develop our business, and the various strands of The Stoke Model.

But back to The Potteries Pound. This is what #bekind is launching this evening at the Burslem School of Art. Working in partnership with issuing and redeeming organisations, we have developed a community benefit token that rewards fellow volunteers and activists for investing their time in their communities. The Potteries Pound is designed to place a value on time and human potential that would otherwise be wasted, and the outcome is the generation of community social value that can be recorded and measured. At the School of Art, we will be producing actual Potteries Pounds! But moving forward, it will be a digitalised product via a platform that we are developing, functioning in a similar way to a rewards scheme. Think Tesco Clubcard, but with a wider social impact.

Not one single ingredient of The Stoke Model is more important than others; the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, and #bekind believes that the recipe as a whole is one that will make a positive difference to those that have been failed by the prevailing economic model that has been favoured and promoted for decades.

Inevitably some will say that this is too small to make a difference. But you have to start somewhere, and in any case, small is beautiful. And while this work is being pioneered here in The Potteries, imagine if it was adapted to local conditions in other similar left behind areas across the country. Small would become big very quickly, and the alternative would become the mainstream.

So today, we celebrate May Day and Staffordshire Day, work and innovation. Come and join us on the journey.

On the evening of May Day, Wednesday 1st May 2024, #bekind will be hosting its second Hackathon at the Burslem School of Art, where work and innovation will be celebrated with the launch of The Potteries Pound.

The Potteries Pound is central to #bekind’s approach to genuine community wealth building, and is designed to reward volunteers and activists for investing their time in their communities, and places a value on time and human potential that would otherwise be wasted.

#bekind will be joined by a host of people and organisations for the event which will run from 5-7pm, and will also see the production of Potteries Pounds on the night ahead of the establishment of a digital platform.

#bekind are in the process of planning a third Hackathon; register your interest through the Contact form on our homepage.