How do we scale up solidarity economy ideas and solutions?

Capitalism says that bigger is better. What kinds of scale do we really aspire to? Yes, if we want to meet the needs of everyone in our communities, we need our grassroots solutions to grow beyond one place or community. But does scale mean large, powerful organizations with global reach, or does it mean networks of many small projects, powerfully organized? When does it make more sense for projects to stay small or local, and when should they be bigger? How should we support and plan for projects to evolve as they scale?

Nancy Neamtan, a founder of Le Chantier de L’économie Sociale, a membership organization that exists to promote and grow Quebec’s solidarity economy, talks about coordinated enterprise as a crucial aspect of scale—if multiple organizations work toward a collective goal, scaling up our efforts becomes more attainable. In a business that is struggling, owners can easily lose sight of their social mission as they make compromises to stay afloat. But if that project is part of a larger network, it can lean on others for support in hard times, and more easily expand and take risks when there are opportunities.

For Hanan El-Youssef, who served as director of strategy at the International Cooperative Association, including all members in governance processes should be considered a way to achieve scale, not an inhibitor of it. Thoughtfully adopting new digital tools like online voting and discussion can build widespread commitment in ways that closeddoor meetings among elites cannot. Julia Ho, of Solidarity Economy St. Louis, finds that scaling up becomes more possible when an organization repurposes tools that already exist in a community grounded in values and history; participation will spread more easily when it is based on what people already know.

There are a number of tools people have employed to manage the operation of solidarity economies at a larger scale while keeping real power at the local level.

One of these tools is the formation of federations, or umbrella organizations that are owned and run by smaller, more local groups or organizations. This happened in the English cooperative movement during the 1840s, when consumer-owned cooperative stores joined to form a national federation. The federation purchased and even manufactured goods for the stores at lower prices than they would pay on their own. They had national power together, grounded in local ownership. This model has been successful across the world.

Another pathway to scale is through networks. Networks are often democratic and participatory and tend to be less hierarchical and centralized than federations. Groups can usually come and go as they please, as long as they meet the core values and criteria of the network. Whereas a federation works best with a clear, specific purpose, networks excel at connecting diverse independent projects to support various collaborations. Networks are excellent ways for clusters of businesses and organizations to coordinate across sectors of the economy.

Finally, whether we’re talking about federations or networks, it’s important to note that we’re not only talking about economic coordination.Yes, these forms of group governance help our solidarity economy enterprises reach larger economic scales. But they can do much more. Successful networks and federations make it possible to build collective political power beyond the scale that any one project could reach alone. They can also help solidarity economy groups form alliances with other social and political movements. By coming together across sectors and movements, we can assert our power in ways that can change laws in our favor, like changing the tax code to make it easier to convert existing businesses into worker cooperatives. Some cooperative federations even form their own political parties that develop platforms and candidates for office.

Ultimately what’s needed for effective economic and political coordination will differ from community to community, but if we want to change society, we have to find ways to coordinate and share power across locations, sectors, and movements.