Cohousing-L Mailing List: 501(c)(7) and leases, and decision-making

[Jonathan Reichel (jbreichel]

Hi All,

I recently moved into a coop household with 8 members--chores and cooking
dinners 5 x per week are shared among the members, and there's a house
meeting once per week.

I've got two questions for you all:
--The coop was registered as a 501(c)(7).  Our lease is up for renewal and
as novices, we're trying to learn whether we can propose listing the
corporation on the lease rather than individual members.  Does anyone know
whether this is feasible as a 5019(c)(7), and if so, have any of you done
it?

--We realized that we lack a solid framework for decision-making, and I've
taken the lead on researching different models (consensus, majority, etc).
A Google search returns a plethora of reading materials, and many
well-written descriptions of successful individual coop's strategies.  I
haven't, however, found an organized primer that provides a comparison of
the most common models used by coops so we can start with an overview and
consider pros and cons.  If any of you knows of such a primer and would
point me towards it, I'd be grateful!

Thanks!
Jonathan