Membership

Knowledge Pavilion
1

The Meaning of Membership

More freedom than a traditional job, more secure than freelancing

Pavilion is a co-operative made up of members, not a company with employees. Being a member has some superficial similarities to applying for a job; you make an application to become one, if you’re successful you go into a three-month trial period, and you work on projects and products that are sold to clients and customers. However, it’s also quite different from a traditional job. Here are a few ways it’s different.

Independence

Pavilion members are all independent workers, not employees. When members work on a project for a client, Pavilion acts as their agent, not their employer, and takes no cut; the members on a project get 100% of the client’s fee.

Equality

Any profit of Pavilion itself, such as from Pavilion’s own products, is distributed equally amongst the members. The work you do with Pavilion builds value for its owners, however, all the members are equal owners, including you.

Flexibility

You’re completely free to work on your own projects or in other jobs. There’s even a membership type, the quarter member, that’s designed for people who want to spend most of their time working on other things. All that matters is whether, at the end of the day, you’re pulling your weight in the co-operative according to your rights and benefits.

Benefits

  • Freedom to work on anything you’re able to. You can choose which skills you want to focus on, and which projects you want to apply them on.
  • Keep 100% of what you earn on projects and never pay any fees or commissions.
  • Pavilion gives you the structure to work on bigger projects with a team of peers, while letting you keep your independence.
  • Easy invoicing and project administration.
  • The member dividend smooths out the feast and famine cycle.
  • You’re supported by a community of your peers

Responsibilities

  • You support the shared work of the co-operative.
  • You handle your own taxes, insurance and medical.
  • You’re responsible for your own income above any cooperative dividends.
  • You’re responsible for maintaining your skill set and domain knowledge.

Membership Types

There are currently three types of membership in Pavilion.

Worker

  • Access to any project you have the skills for
  • Member dividend
  • Shared work requirement
  • Shared work review 4 times a year
  • Vote at general meetings

Quarter Worker

  • Access to 25% of average monthly member earnings on projects you have skills for
  • Quarter member dividend
  • Quarter shared work requirement
  • Shared work review once per year
  • 1/4 vote at general meetings

Reserve Worker

  • Access to work if no other qualified member is available
  • 1/8 vote at general meetings
  • Access to private member resources and meet ups
  • No shared work requirement
  • No shared work review
  • No member dividend

Becoming a member

How you become a member depends on what type you want to be. For each type (worker, quarter worker or reserve), becoming a full member takes a minimum of four months, across two phases: application (up to 1 month) and trial (minimum of 3 months).

Application

Any individual, or any group (see “Group Applications” below), can apply to join Pavilion. There are no formal qualification or experience requirements. Whether your application is accepted is entirely determined by a vote of the existing members.

Applications may be submitted in the first three weeks of February, May, August and November. This timing means that the members will have at least three weeks to consider your application before voting on it in the general meeting held 2 weeks after the end of each quarter.

The application asks you a series of questions about how you or your group will add value to the co-operative. In your responses, you should focus on:

  • how your skills can add value to Pavilion’s business
  • how you can bring new business to the co-operative; or
  • how you can bring existing software or other materials that can grow Pavilion’s business

Your application will be shared with all current members of the cooperative who will vote on whether to accept your application. The members may ask you questions between when you submit your application and the meeting.

A simple majority (50%) at the general meeting is required for the application to be accepted. You will be informed of the outcome of the vote and can ask follow-up questions to the members about how you can improve if you are unsuccessful and wish to apply again.

You can apply twice in a year. If you are applying to become a reserve member, you become one as soon as your application is accepted, and you have signed the confidentiality and agency agreements.

Trial

If your application is successful, you enter a trial period for a minimum of three months when you can do all the things a member of the type you applied for can do, but you are not yet a full member. While in trial, you’re assigned a buddy. A buddy is an existing member with relevant experience for your focuses.

All paid work you do during your trial is paid to you as normal, however you cannot receive a dividend until you become a full member. As you are working on projects, you are required to sign the co-operative’s confidentiality and agency agreements prior to starting.

Projects you work on during your trial will be reviewed by your buddy. When you’ve completed at least one project, had it reviewed by your buddy and at least 3 months have passed since you joined, you can apply to become a full member of the cooperative.

Once you’ve submitted your application, the other members will vote on whether to make you a full member, with a simple majority required for the vote to pass. If the vote passes, you become a full member of the type you applied for. If the vote doesn’t pass, you can apply again after completing another project.

Group Applications

People may apply to join Pavilion as a group if they are working together on a project, for example a group of people associated with an existing open source software project with a business model (or proposed business model). The group may apply for different member types for different members of the group.

Aside from the joint application, the process is the same. Each member of the group will be assigned a different buddy and will need to pass an individual vote at the end of their trial to become a member. If they are accepted as a member, they have the same rights and duties as any other member of their type. Like any other member, they are free to work on what they like, according to their skills. They do not necessarily have to keep working on the project under which they initially applied.

If a group of people wish to work on a new project (with a proposed business model) within Pavilion, they can also apply as a group, however the new project will need to pass a separate Project Proposal vote after the group’s members become members of Pavilion. Project proposals and membership applications cannot be bundled because members can’t be obligated to make specific project proposals or work on specific projects. Essentially, a new project would need to demonstrate a substantial opportunity to form the basis of a group’s proposed benefit to Pavilion’s business.

General Meetings

There are four general meetings of members in the year, in the last month of each quarter: March, June, September and December. The calendar for the meeting schedule is maintained on Pavilion’s Discourse.

The meetings are used to decide the following

Format

Meetings are held asynchronously on Pavilion’s Discourse over the course of a week. Meetings are facilitated by the organisation team.

Voting

Unless otherwise noted, any motion is passed by a simple majority (50%) and anonymous. All members with voting rights are required to vote.

If you are unable to vote during the meeting window, share the reason with the other members as soon as reasonably possible. If you miss voting in multiple general meetings, this will be considered in whether you have met your baseline in your Shared Work Review.

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