The Commons Society is Democratically Run
The Commons Society has a constitution that is made of rules.
A council is elected that has the power to amend, remove and add rules.
Some rules, particularly regarding the purpose and the internal asset-lock of the Commons Society, cannot be changed by the Council but require a substantial majority of all members of the Commons Society to agree in a full vote of all members. This is because the founders of the Commons Society believe certain things to be so important that they should only be changed should the world change so much that it becomes obvious to all that the change is needed.
In a separate election of the membership a Chairman is elected to lead the Council. The Chairman can form an executive team should that be necessary.
Elections are on a 7 year cycle.
There is a post of “President” which may be appointed by the previous incumbent or elected if necessary. This post has only one power, which is to dissolve the Council and force an election. In doing so they must leave their role and may not take it again. This role and self-sacrificial power builds in a pause for thought for difficult situations that may arise in the future, testing and stressing the community to the utmost.
What power does the Council have?
The principle tasks of the Commons Society are relatively passive – ensuring that the assets do not leach away, that there is consciousness around purpose and that there is transparency. Leadership of the organisations that belong to the Commons Society is clearly vested in those organisations. The Commons Society has powers to remove Directors in only the most extreme situations such as carrying out illegal activity. The Commons Society could NOT remove Directors who are making bad commercial decisions that are forcing an organisation into insolvency.
Therefore the Chairman of the Commons Society is not the same as the Chairman of a group of companies. The Commons Society is not a Group of companies. It is an Association of organisations that has a strong influence and capacity to cultivate a positive environment for human beings to find fulfilment in their work.
Perhaps the simplest way of summarising the role of the Council is that it manages the community space in-between the private spaces of the organisations themselves. The Council may form organisations that it directly controls in order to carry out its work in the community space.