Understanding Investor Membership
If you are no longer a worker-owner Member of the cooperative, but still want to participate, you are eligible to become an Investor Member in the Cooperative!
Investor Membership Shares
Worker-owner Members will always maintain majority control over all of the cooperative's assets and business activities. Worker-owner Members will always receive the majority of the economic (financial) benefit from our business. However, we also realize that you might not remain with the cooperative as a worker-owner for your entire career, and that is okay!
We also anticipate that from time to time, we will need to raise capital outside of the cooperative in order to finance new projects and to grow. Investor Memberships are a type of membership that offers little voting power but allows you to participate in the financial returns of the cooperative.
Who can become an Investor Member?
Anyone (subject to the Cooperative's Board of Directors approval and following the correct securities offering) can become an investor member as long as the cooperative complies with all local and federal regulations around offering securities. That said, the majority of Investor Members are former worker-owner members or advisors—we call these "Founding Investor Members." You can read more about becoming an investor member in the Cooperative's Bylaws.
What can/can't an Investor Member do?
Investor Members have limited voting power within the Cooperative. Investor Members vote based on the amount invested. In this way investor memberships act a lot like "normal" stock. In general, Investor Members will be limited to voting on the following three issues:
Any merger, dissolution, or sale of the cooperative or a sale of all or substantially all of the cooperative’s assets;
Electing up to two directors or one third of the total number of directors, whichever is smaller; and
Any issue put to them from time to time by the Board of Directors.
For more information on Investor Membership rights, please refer to the Cooperative's bylaws or reach out to a member of the Governance Committee.
How much do Investor Members Make?
As a Founding Investor Member you can expect to make the the greater of the following which will be sent to you in cash on an annual basis:
Five percent (5%) of the original purchase price paid for the Founding Investor Member interest, or
Per each thousand dollars of the original purchase price paid for the Founding Investor Member interest, a portion of aggregate gross revenue of the Company and all of its subsidiaries for that fiscal year, according to the chart on the next slide, calculated as described on chart below, and as illustrated by the examples on Slide 26 of the Cooperative's Bylaws.
| ||
Revenue | % Revenue Per $1,000 Invested | |
Greater than | Up to | |
$0 | $1,000,000 | 0.00571% |
$1,000,000 | $5,000,000 | 0.00429% |
$5,000,000 | $10,000,000 | 0.00214% |
$10,000,000 | $100,000,000 | 0.00143% |
$100,000,000 | --- | 0.00071% |
It is important to note that you are only allowed to sell your investor membership back to the cooperative or to another existing investor member. This means that you cannot "trade" Obran investor memberships like you can a stock on the stock market.
How do I become an Investor Member?
For those members that are leaving the cooperative and wish to become investor members, please reach out to Joseph Cureton (joseph@obran.org) to discuss your eligibility.
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