Scaling Cooperation
Image from Raphael Idrova Espinosa
Summary
Kin Cooperative is an online app that allows individuals to create money saving groups easily with people they trust. Each member becomes a member of Kin Coop through giving a small contribution per month for the running costs of the platform.
Its uniqueness lies in the autonomy each group can have in setting its own rules for how it governs itself and handles its money, and how it can become a hub for new cooperatives to emerge. The inspiration behind Kin is deeply rooted in older alternative economic systems that have been circulating in marginalised communities for hundreds of years across the globe.
The Problem(s)
Sustainable Transition Economically Impossible within profit-driven Capitalism
Inequality, domestic and global - driven by capitalist financial markets and asset managers intensifying political divisions
Hyper-individualisation - lost sense of community and imagination to envision alternative economic realities
The Scape
"It is easier to imagine an end to the world than an end to capitalism"
Imagine in the not so distant future, citizens in the UK and beyond have started to think differently about money. In 2032, over 50% of the UK's population are using Kin to make money saving groups instantly. A crisis is emerging in the banking industry, as current account users and profits plummet for shareholders and greedy asset managers. Many citizens no longer cripple themselves with high interest rate loans and unsustainable mortgages, as a national awareness around alternative economic systems for housing, energy and food security emerges. Driven by disillusionment with banks, rising wealth inequality and crumbling social services, a consciousness shift has occurred where citizens no longer leave their money in banks, but with the people and communities they trust the most.
In Ruskin Park Community Garden, the members have decided to make a group on the online platform Kin Coop. But how does Kin operate? Like a shared piggy bank, an online group allows members to securely pool money together to help fund future investments in the maintenance, upgrades and events at the Garden. To begin, members agree on the rules within the group, such as a traditional rotating fund model or a minimum monthly contribution. They then usually establish group admins to run day-to-day logistics, money distribution, and vote gathering. Although the Garden Group move the money and formalise the votes online, they organise a bi-weekly in person meeting to discuss people's concerns and recommendations. They even formally count votes on pending investments. With each membership having one equal vote, everyone acquires and embodies an increased sense of agency in the decision making within the community. Although Maggy the hairdresser from Camberwell Green does not go to the garden every week, the governance model gives her more confidence to voice her opinion. Instead of spending time on scrolling on TikTok on a Tuesday evening, she starts attending the bi-weekly meetings to connect with the group. After making 2 new friendships at a recent vote on solar panels for the garden shed, Maggy starts to feel less lonely and more empathetic to people's viewpoints and aspirations.
This increase in empathetic confidence has inspired her to join a local citizen assembly that uses AI governance platform Polis that gathers, analyses and understands what large groups of people in her wider borough think in their own words. Meanwhile Amal, a young freelance photographer - after discovering the platform through her membership with the Community Garden Group - soon creates a savings group amongst friends to provide mutual aid and interest free loans.
Yes, that's right, there are thousands of reasons to use Kin. By actively using the app, you become part of the wider non-for-profit Kin Cooperative, paying a minimum fee for the maintenance of the platform. As time goes on, citizens learn that by removing £10 from a bank reduces a bank's lending power by £100. They realise that banking works by gatekeeping the flow of money. They do this by ensuring that everyone has an individual relationship with a bank and NOT with each other. This is where Kin has stepped in alongside the wider cooperative movement. Since its inception in 2025, Kin has helped take money out of banking system into direct community ownership, disabling the wealth inequality pump and building community wealth. The increased collective and individual economic agency Kin has fostered inspires more renewable energy projects to be hyper-localised, community owned and 100% renewable in a circular economic system that manages waste efficiently.
The UK's Prime Minister proudly announces that the cooperative movement played a pivotal role in reaching their legally binding target of net zero by 2050. Furthermore, the increase in empathy, community resilience and reduced inequality has seen a drastic reduction in political polarisation throughout large swathes of the UK. Although the UK is still aiming to change its centralised governance model in an age of rapid technological advancements, the Kin groups have become sites of experimentation for different coop governance models. From sortition (randomly selecting decision makers), deliberation, and rotation, Kin is continually pushing the boundaries in how communities can look after each other in the metacrisis. Kin users have become more democratically engaged in their communities, workplaces and friendship groups as participatory governance models have become more inclusive, scalable and resilient.
Downstream Value Creation
Reduced Polarisation - people's basic needs being met & stronger community ties
Increased Collective/Individual Economic Agency & Resilience & Awareness
Reduced Banking Sector Influence
More equitable / just energy transition
Digging Deeper…
Join Kin Now To Create Your Own Money Saving Groups - https://www.kin.coop/
