Overcoming Financial Difficulty for Co-ops

[Editor's note: Cost containment is a big concern for every business, but especially for worker co-ops who almost never have the cushion of investor cash to fall back on when the numbers don't add up. In the two videos below, Ai Van Kok discusses her experience helping worker co-ops in financial distress using a tool called "The £1 Model." The model simplifies the traditional profit-and-loss statement in a way that makes a co-op's finances easy to understand and facilitates the identification of cost savings. The second video below goes into the nuts-and-bolts of using the model. Big thanks to Ai and PUNCHCARD for highlighting this valuable tool.]

In this episode of Punchcard, we speak with Ai Van Kok, formerly a financial worker at Leeds Bread Co-op. Ai Van joined the co-op at a critical moment—just months away from financial collapse—and played a key role in turning things around. Facing an urgent crisis, she turned to traditional business management literature for solutions, finding valuable insights in books like Profit First and The E-Myth Revisited. 

One of the most impactful tools Ai Van discovered was the £1 model. Financial documents make most people’s eyes glaze over, but the £1 model strips away unnecessary details and highlights only the key information. For the first time, members of Leeds Bread Co-op felt they could truly understand the co-op’s finances and were able to cut costs that saved the business. 

While Ai Van had to adapt these tools to fit a cooperative framework, her approach challenges resistance to learn from traditional business practices. By translating and repurposing these methods, she has not only helped Leeds Bread Co-op but also supported other small co-ops, including Loaf Bakery, The Bike Mill, and Footprint in strengthening their financial understanding and management.

Traditional financial documents can be overwhelming, leading to disengagement and uninformed decision-making. The £1 model simplifies financial information by stripping away unnecessary complexity and presenting only the most essential details, allowing every member to easily grasp the co-op’s financial position. This clarity empowers co-op members to actively participate in financial decisions, ensuring that budgets, cost-cutting, and strategic planning are truly democratic.

Support us by contributing as little as £1 per month at opencollective.com/workerscoop/projects/punchcard 

Listen, follow & rate Punchcard on workers.coop/podcast, Overcast, PocketCasts, RSS, Spotify, Apple Podcasts & Youtube or wherever you get your podcasts.