Democratic Nonprofits
Free Geek, a Computer Recycler: Testing the Limits of Reproducing Worker-Managed Enterprises
By Jim Johnson, GEO Collective
Since its founding in 2000, worker-managed non-profit Free Geek of Portland, Oregon, has supplied over 15,000 refurbished computers to individuals and community organizations, and has also ethically recycled 2,000 tons of non-reusable computer components (known as "e-waste"). Along the way, they've also successfully reproduced their organizational model, with nine similar organizations having taken root in the US and Canada. But they've also encountered some special challenges in propagating their model, and their experience offers some important cautionary tales for co-ops and collectives seeking to do the same.
A Snapshot & A Challenge: The Worker Co-op Movement
Worker co-ops, community organizing, asset-building, economic development, environmental sustainability. These connections came up again and again at the recent national worker cooperative conference, a co-op conference that was exciting to me in part for the number of people attending who weren't --as yet--in co-ops.
Support GEO - Buy a Printed Copies of Back Issues
GEO is a volunteer-run collective and relies on your generosity. We make our content free but also sell printed back issues in our store - each full of of grassroots documentation from activists and innovators.
The trailblazing GEO 8: Worker Cooperative Development Models is available in a special printed 36-page magazine format. Buy it in our online store, or contact GEO for bulk purchases or resale.
All purchases help fund GEO, a volunteer-run collective project of the Ecological Democracy Institute of North America.
