## **UK Society for Co-operative Studies** (Registered charity, number 1175295) **Annual report and financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2025** ## **Page Contents** |1-9|Trustees’ annual report| |---|---| |10|Receipts &payments account| |11|Statement of assets & liabilities| |12-13|Notes to the accounts| ## **UK Society for Co-operative Studies** ## **Trustees’ annual report for the year ended 31 March 2025** **Full name:** UK Society for Co-operative Studies **Organisation type:** Charitable Incorporated Organisation **Registered charity number:** 1175295 **Principal address** Holyoake House Hanover Street Manchester M60 0AS ## **Trustees** Ian Adderley – Secretary Francesca Gagliardi – Trustee Stephen Gill – Trustee (Co-opted, May 2024, elected September 2024) Ruth Hall – Vice-Chair Janette Hurst – Membership Secretary John Maddocks – Treasurer Elisavet Mantzari – Chair (from October 2024) Nick Matthews – Trustee Colin Talbot – Trustee (Co-opted, January 2025) Mike Wistow – Chair (until October 2024), resigned, January 2025 Anita Mangan – Ex-officio (Editor in Chief of the _Journal_ ) Gillian Lonergan – Ex-officio (Production Editor of the _Journal_ ) ## **Governance and management** The UK Society for Co-operative Studies (the Society) is operated under the rules of its constitution adopted 1 September 2017. Trustees are all members of the Society and apart from ex-officio officers are appointed by members at the Annual General Meeting (AGM). The trustees may also co-opt members to the board during the year. Co-opted trustees must stand for election at their first AGM following co-option to confirm their appointment. ## **Objects and Activities** The Society’s objects are to advance the education of the public concerning all aspects of the co-operative movement, and co-operative forms of structure, and, in particular, to assist, 1 commission and/or identify and publish research into the aforementioned areas, and to promote the exchange of information and experience on co-operative studies and research. The main activities of the Society include production of the _Journal of Co-operative Studies_ , supporting study networks, organising seminars, online conversations and hosting a conference. ## **Annual General Meeting** We held our Annual General Meeting (AGM) as a standalone event at 1pm on 3 September 2024. We presented our annual report and accounts for the year 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024, and held trustee elections. ## **Membership Type and Contact with Members** On 31 March 2025, we had 117 Individual Members and 7 Organisational Members. The Constitution allows for a ‘grace period’ of six months between subscriptions falling due and Membership being terminated. Members have received email updates throughout the year, been invited to events, and received copies of the _Journal of Co-operative Studies_ . ## **Public benefit statement** The trustees confirm that they have complied with the duty in section 17 of the Charities Act 2011 to have due regard to the Charity Commission's general guidance on public benefit (PB1, PB2, and PB3). ## **Summary of the main activities undertaken for the public benefit:** Main activities during the financial year included: - Publication of the _Journal of Co-operative Studies_ - Hosting a Lecture - Organising the annual Co-operative Studies Conference - Hosting the Co-operative Conversations Series - Supporting other events across the Co-operative Movement ## **Summary of the main achievements during the period** We are grateful to our members for their continued support and additional subscribers to the society’s _Journal._ In particular, we recognise the many hundreds of hours put in by volunteers across all aspects of the activities described below. 2 ## **Publication of the** _**Journal of Co-operative Studies**_ The _Journal of Co-operative Studies_ is published three times a year. It is a journal that accepts both peer-reviewed articles from academic contributors and short articles from practitioners. It is distributed in Canada in co-operation with the Canadian Association of Studies in Cooperation (CASC) and in Ireland in co-operation with the Irish Society for Co-operative Studies. While one role of the _Journal_ is the dissemination of the results of research, we remain keen to ensure that its contents also reflect the role of the Society in acting as a bridge between theory and practice in advancing knowledge and understanding of co-operation. 2024-25 has been another busy and productive year for those of us involved in the production of the _Journal of Co-operative Studies,_ with one open issue and two special issues. Last year we moved to green open access (without the six-month embargo) and to add DOIs to all new papers. Both of those developments have been monitored throughout the year, giving the team some new insights into user visits and popular papers. This year we updated our social media presence with a LinkedIn profile and BlueSky account, while continuing our Mastodon account. We are continuing to promote the _Journal_ through our website and social media channels and to improve access and visibility both for those publishing in the _Journal_ and to potential readers and subscribers. The Society’s website has received 25,707 views (22,931 in 2023-24, a 12% increase) from 127 countries over the year (116 in 2023-24). There has been an increase in traffic for all countries in the last year. The _Journal_ pages remain the most popular first visit with 2,045 file downloads of current and past issues of the _Journal_ , and related material (1,751 in 2023-24). Volume 57 was the first full year of green open access without an embargo period and with DOIs on all papers. The open call Summer issue (Vol 57, No 1) showcased the variety of cooperative research being undertaken, featuring articles about Europe and Australia, written by both academic and practitioner authors. Topics included a macro-level analysis of the factors that could influence a person’s motivation to joining a co-operative, accountability among farmers who are members of an Australian agricultural marketing co-operative, and a history of co-operative housing in Germany. The Autumn issue (Vol 57, No 2) was a special issue on Co-operative Education, which was guest edited by Esther Gicheru, Malcolm Noble, and Cilla Ross. The special emerged from an online workshop held in September 2023 and it showcased co-operative education both as a global practice and radical response to capitalist permacrisis. Themes included a history of cooperative education, the signature pedagogies of co-operatives, the essence of co-operative learning, psychosocial approaches, building co-operative education into the co-operative 3 journey, and experiments in empowerment. Examples came from the UK, Chile, France, and Malawi. The Winter issue (Vol 57, No 3) was also a special issue, but it was unusual in that it consisted of editor reviewed extracts from Ian Adderley’s (2025) _Co-operatives: Linking practice and theory_ , a text that introduces people to co-operatives by offering a comprehensive overview of the field. The seven topics uses in the issue were a summary of the UK co-operative movement today, contextual material, co-operative governance, legislative history, cooperative economics, co-operative ideology, and the relationship between co-operatives and social responsibility. During the year, we also issued calls for papers for special issues on imagining co-operatives (scheduled for Summer 2026) and co-operatives and co-operative principles in sport (scheduled for 2026-27). All the suggestions from the last AGM on potential contributors / contributions were gratefully received and have been followed up for inclusion in future issues. Finally, thanks go to all contributors, and everyone involved in reviewing, editing, proofing, printing, and distributing both the online and hard copy editions of the _Journal_ . ## **Reference** Adderley, I. (2025). _Co-operatives: Linking practice and theory_ . Co-operative Press Limited/UK Society for Co-operative Studies. 4 ## **Hosting a Lecture** Co-operative housing expert, Blase Lambert, delivered a lecture titled: ‘Co-operation in housing’. The event took place online on 8 October 2024. Blase Lambert is the Chief Executive of the Confederation of Co-operative Housing, and is a board member of both Co-operative Housing International, and the International Co-operative Alliance. ## **Organising the Annual Co-operative Studies Conference** Our 56[th] conference took place on 21 and 22 February 2025 in Belfast. It was a joint conference, with the Society for Co-operatve Studies in Ireland. The theme of the conference was _‘Co-operation among co-operators: The Irish-British connection”._ We were pleased to welcome Northern Ireland’s Minister for the Economy, Dr Caoimhe Archibald as a keynote speaker. You can read more in reports from the conference. ## **Hosting of a Co-operative Conversations Series** We continue to run our ‘Co-operative Conversations’. This hour-long evening event involves interviewing a member of the co-operative movement about their personal history and contribution, supplemented by broader discussion amongst members. During the year _Conversations_ have been held with: - April 2024 - Patrick Doyle (Chair of the Society for Co-operative Studies in Ireland) and Peter Couchman (former Chief Executive of the Plunkett Foundation), sharing insights from Ireland, which became the genesis of the 2025 joint conference - July 2024 - Richard Irving (Secretary, Football Supports’ Association), focusing on cooperation in sport as a precursor to a forthcoming edition of the _Journal_ - July 2024- Kate Still (Chair, CEO, and former national social enterprise lead), talking about her wide experience across public, private and third sectors - November 2024 - Natalie Bradbury (Writer and Researcher), reflecting on the role of women’s periodicals as an educational space for co-operative women, including – topically – specific content on the role of the Co-operative Women’s Guild in the promotion of the White Poppy - February 2025 - Matt Otridge (Chief Operating Officer of the Music Venue Properties), on community ownership of, and wider support for, grassroots music venues - March 2025 - Colin Talbot (Academic and Adviser), exploring why and how humans cooperate and reflecting on the lack of wider recognition for this instinct in the UK’s public realm political economy. These conversations have not only provided spaces to bring people together to share knowledge and understanding but have acted as catalysts for other educational activity. 5 ## **Supporting other Events across the Co-operative Movement** This year, the Society has actively worked with other organisations in the co-operative movement in support of its charitable objective to advance the education of the public concerning all aspects of the co-operative movement, and co-operative forms of structure, and, in particular, to assist, commission and/or identify and publish research into the aforementioned areas, and to promote the exchange of information and experience on cooperative studies and research. In particular, this year has seen successful joint-working with the Society for Co-operative Studies in Ireland. 6 ## **Indication of Reach** Google Analytics is attached to our website. It collects basic information from the site and helps us by providing a snapshot at specific times or over time into how the site is being used, how people find us, what they are interested in, and the country from which they are visiting. The information we use is high level data and does not identify individuals and individual demographics. |demographics.||| |---|---|---| |**Measure**|**Number**|**Comment**| |**Number of users**|7,955|This refers to the number of discrete users. It is a
35% increase on the numbers recorded last year
(↑2064).| |**Total views of pages and**
**screens**|25,707|There has been increased engagement and
interaction with the website over the year. Of the total
of 82,187 interactions (page click, form submit, scroll,
file download, etc), just under a third were more
active visits and interaction with specific pages.| |**Top 5 pages viewed**
Journal of Co-operative
Studies
UKSCS
UKSCS/Home
UKSCS Conference 2025
About us|4000
2849
2531
967
635|The top 5 pages as first entry/main viewing have
remained the same although the ‘traffic’ to each has
increased. Most (especially new users) find us
through a general web search although a third of
users use a direct page URL. Just over 10% come
through a link provided through another medium (e.g.
LinkedIn)| |**International reach**
**(users)**
United Kingdom
United States
Germany
China
India|2,575 (32.45%)
1,531 (19.29%)
385 (4.85%)
349 (4.4%)
336 (4.23%)|Individuals from 127 countries engaged with the site
– viewing and downloading information. UK, US, and
India remain in the top 5 countries where visitors
come from and this year there has been increased
interest from individuals in China and Germany. The
first may link to the Robert Owen special issue and to
a call for papers for a special issue; the latter may
link to the ‘push’ via social media of the popular
article listed below in file downloads.| |**File Downloads**|2151, in total|As we get more of the journal archive online, the
number of downloads continues to increase. A big
difference to last year has been the introduction of
digital object identifiers (DOIs), which provides a way
of finding and tracking individual articles, as shown
below.| |**Top 5 downloads**
1 and 2: UKSCS / SCSI
Conference 2025 | Co-
operation among Co-
operators: The Irish-British
Connection|A =199
B= 81|A=Conference announcement/initial information
B=Follow up call for papers/conference programme| |3. Journal of Co-operative
Studies, 57(1), 39-53|62|Pfatteicher et al. (2024). Housing co-operatives in
Germany: 160 years of evolution and resilience.
https://doi.org/10.61869/GCSP6342| |4. Journal of Co-operative
Studies, 57(1), 7-23|50|Sala-Ríos, M. et al. (2024). Co-operatives’
significance in Europe: Assessing the influence of
social, political, and economic factors.
https://doi.org/10.61869/TTAT3512| |Submission guidelines|50|Guidelines for authors who may be considering
submitting an article to the Journal.| This is in addition to our presence on social media – including Instagram, BlueSky, and Mastodon. In January 2025, we closed our account on X (formerly Twitter). 7 ## **Trustee Attendance at Board Meetings** We held four meetings during this reporting period. Three took place online. A strategy day was held in person on 18 October 2024. |**Name**|**Possible**|**Actual**| |---|---|---| |Ian Adderley|4|4| |Francesca Gagliardi|4|3| |Stephen Gill|3|2| |Ruth Hall|4|3| |Janette Hurst|4|3| |Gillian Lonergan|4|4| |John Maddocks|4|3| |Anita Mangan|4|4| |Elisavet Mantzari|4|4| |Nick Matthews|4|2| |Colin Talbot|0|0| |Mike Wistow|4|4| ## **Valuing our Volunteers** Volunteers organised and participated in setting up, running and reviewing a variety of activity and events during the year including: - the AGM - production of the annual report - editing and producing the _Journal_ - administering and fulfilling _Journal_ orders - planning and running the Conference - administering membership - keeping Members informed through the website, e-mails, Co-operative Conversations, individual conversations and the many small interactions which keep any membership organisation running - managing funds - bookkeeping and financial management - liaising with partner organisations - secretarial activities associated with facilitating and supporting board meetings - managing our website and IT infrastructure - running our social media channels. We could not function without the generous support of our volunteers. 8 ## **Financial Review** The Society achieved a surplus for the financial year ending March 2025, with net receipts of £8,599. There were, however, liabilities of £3,001 at year end, which mostly related to the annual conference held in February 2025, and included monies owed to the joint conference organisers as well as conference speaker expenses. The Society’s main income sources continue to be a mix of grants, membership fees, events, and journal orders. One noticeable change in income was the additional funding secured for the annual conference, which helped keep conference ticket prices relatively low. Overall the Society continues to find itself in a sound financial position due in no small part to the contribution of volunteers in developing, organising, and sustaining the various activities of the organisation. ## **The Society's policy on reserves** We have three unrestricted designated funds established to support the activities of the charity: - _Operating reserve £8,000 (to cover up to 12 months core activities)_ - _Journal production and distribution fund £5,000 (to meet commitments)_ - _Conference bursaries fund £2,000 (to offer free or discounted places)_ ## **Thank you** Thanks to all the society members and trustees for their support and work over the year. Also, thanks to funders, the co-operative societies and all with whom UKSCS have worked over the year 2024-2025. Signed on behalf of the Society's trustees: Elisavet Mantzari, Trustee and Chair Date: 30/11/2025 9 UK Society for Co•operative Studies Receipts & payments account for the year ended 31 March 2025 2024 2025 Total Unrestrlctod Restrlcted Funds Fund8 Total Fund8 Note Receipts Grants & donations Membership Joumal receipts Conference receipts Other events Sundry receipts Total re￿[Pts 2,0(Ki 3,170 120 3,870 1,CK)O 3,680 172 4,600 3,CQO 4,000 3,680 172 4,6 3.000 12,452 Paymonts Volunteers, expenses ccxjnting software & support Bank charges Office expenses Intemel & web site Joumal Conference Other events Sundry payments Total before transfer of funds 138 403 319 540 TT8 232 138 403 319 540 778 1,232 287 324 222 1,054 1,837 1,656 144 1,￿0 287 156 5,777 2,566 1,287 3,853 3.383 30.624 Not rgcelpts Cash funds at start of this period Transfers between funds Cash funds at end ofthis period 1.713 8.599 34.007 34,(￿7 34.007 40.893 1,713 42.606 io UK Society for Co-operative Studies Statement of assets and liabilities at 31 March 2025 2024 2025 Cash assets Bank accounts Cash in hand 34,C￿7 42,606 34,C(J7 42,606 Other monetary assets Debtors Shares 10 10 10 10 Assots rolalned for the charlty's own uso The Charity does not have any items of equipment or other assets retained for the charity's own use Llabllllles Crediiors Advance re￿IPtS - joumal orders 2,881 120 3.001 120 120 These financial statements are accepted on behalf of the charity by.. Signed Elisavet Mantzari, Trustee and Chair Date 30111125 li UK Society for Co-operative Studi•s Notes to the accounts for the yéar 6nded 31 March 2025 1. Recelpts & payments accounts Receipts and payments accounts contain a summary of money received and money spent during the period and a list of assets and liabilities at the end of the period. Usually. cash received, and cash spent will include transactions through bank accounts and cash in hand. 2. Grants & donatlons UnreBtrlctad ReBtdctad Total Ccpoperative Group 3.000 4.000 3. Funds analysls Oponlng balance Rec•lpi• (Payments) Tran5fern Chxlng balanco Restricted funds Joumal Conference 1.000 2,000 3,000 {1.C*JO) 287 (1,28T) 1,713 1,713 Unrestricted designated funds Operating reserve Journal Conference 8,OCQ 5,0(Ki 2,0(Ki 15,000 2,000 15,000 12 UK Soclety for Co-operatlve Studles Notes to the accounts - continued 4. Volunteers, expenses Volunteers, expenses amounting to £138 arose during the financial year. These expenses were a reimbursement of travel expenses to a trustee attending a UKSCS trustees meeting held in Manchester. All olher trusteesl meetings held during the year look place online using Zoom. 5. Debtors There were no debtors at year eThJ. 6. Shares The shares are in Cowoperative Press Limited and have a nominal value of £10. 7. Creditors Conference - Speakers expenses Conference - SCSI O'oint Conferen￿ organisers) 581 2,881 8. Trustees, remunoratlon None of the trustses were paid any remuneration during the period. 9. Glossary of temis Advance receipts: These are amounts rer*ived by the chariiy in the accounting period, for use in a future period. Credltors: These are amounts owed by the charity, but not paid in the acojunting period. Debtors: These are amounts owed to the charity, but not received in the accounting period. Restricted funds: These are funds given to the charity, subject to specific restrictions set by the donor. but within the general Obj￿ of the charity. Unrestrlctsd doslgnatod funds: These are unrestricted funds set aside by the trustees for specific purposes. 13