The ways in
Techne is owned and governed by the people who use it, and there is more than one way to use it. Four classes of participation stand, on two tracks: an access track you can join today, and a patron track you grow into. Start wherever fits, and step deeper as it makes sense. Nothing here asks for ownership on day one.
The access track · open now
Two classes enroll openly: no invitation, no buy-in, cancel on reasonable notice. Both are ways of belonging to the workshop without the obligations of governance, and time spent here counts. Co-working participation accrues Patronage is participation the cooperative counts: the work, presence, and custom a member brings. In a cooperative, benefit follows patronage rather than capital. Program Patronage credits from the first day of an executed agreement.
Community Participant
- Community access and participation
- Hub space access at Footing and above
- Full hub access at Standing
- No vote on governance, no patronage allocation
Co-working Member
- Full desk and hub access
- Patronage credits tracked toward conversion
- No vote on governance, no capital account
- No Schedule K-1; not a partner
How co-working becomes ownership the conversion pathway
A Co-working Member who reaches a board-established patronage threshold may be invited to apply for Cooperative Member status. Upon Board acceptance, the member executes the Membership Agreement, pays the $100 one-time share, and moves fully to the patron track. The credits earned as a Co-working Member inform the invitation; the threshold and the credit methodology are set by board resolution and specified in Schedule A of the Participation Framework.
The patron track · by invitation
Ownership. A Cooperative Member holds one vote, a A capital account is your stake in the cooperative, opened at $100 by the one-time share and grown by the allocations the members retain. On withdrawal it settles at its balance, not at par. Program Patronage, and a share of what the work earns, allocated by patronage rather than by capital. An Investor Member contributes capital without a governance voice: a stake, not a vote.
Cooperative Member
- One vote on all governance matters
- Patronage allocation, proportional to participation
- Capital account; annual Schedule K-1 is the tax form a cooperative issues each member for their distributive share of its results. The cooperative covers the estimated K-1 tax liability by its Tax Distribution policy, adopted June 24, 2026. with tax distribution
- Full financial information and inspection rights
Investor Member
- Capital account with allocated returns
- Annual Schedule K-1 on capital allocations
- No vote, unless co-held with Class One
- No patronage allocation; returns follow capital
Control follows people, not capital: capital gets a stake, never a voice. One member, one vote is the cooperative's first rule, and the investor class is built to honor it.
The member curve
The path most people walk, from first visit to member-owner and, if it comes to it, out again. Nothing on this curve is a trapdoor; every step is reversible on notice.
The instrument governs
This page presents; the ratified framework decides. Costs, rights, and admissions above are drawn from the Participation Framework adopted by board resolution on June 24, 2026, and from the Membership Agreement and Bylaws ratified July 2026. Where this page and an instrument differ, the instrument is right and this page owes a correction.