Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: membership building

[Jim Snyder-Grant (jimsg]

At New View (Acton MA), we went through various stages in defining 
membership during the development process. After my wife and I joined, 
the group was at 11 households (out of 24, eventually). At that time, 
the group got a bit more explicit about membership requirements:

1) Attending 2 or more business meetings

2) Eating together with some New View households (This could be a 
potluck, or a restaurant meal, etc.)

3) The membership committee then consented to people's provisional 
membership, and then 3 - 6 months later, the whole group consented to 
full membership. (the difference was that full members were more 
financially committed: participation was the same.)

After we got clearer on the prices we were aiming for, we added a 
requirement of proving pre-qualification for a mortgage in the range we 
were expecting in order to enter provisional membership.

Most membership choices were self-selecting: by the time people sat 
through meetings & potlucks & saw the prices, the few remainders were 
usually fine hardy souls that the group welcomed. The gap between 
provisional and full membership allowed for a longer period to get to 
know people better, in case we found we couldn't work well together.

The formal details are spelled out in our development-phase bylaws, at 
www.NewView.org.

We grew slowly and shrank very slowly: almost no loss of members through 
the process, which really helped group cohesion. On the other hand, we 
probably pissed a few people off along the way for being slow or 
seemingly arbitrary in our membership decisions.  

-Jim

>
>A question from Karen Olson of Gallatin Valley Cohousing:
>
>We are in the process of defining what it means to be a member of our
>cohousing non-profit.  What were some of the critical issues that 
defined
>membership for other groups?  Financial commitment? Time? Participation 
in
>meetings? What was the turning point?
>
>
jimsg [at] hotmail.com
Jim_Snyder-Grant [at] NewView.org

Where the last of our 24 households moved in a year ago, we are in the 
middle of reviewing plans for the common house, and the leaves on the 
ground look so pretty, except that I think my work team will have to do 
a LOT of raking...

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