As much as possible, each common good bank will look and act like a single organization. However, due to legal and regulatory complexities, the common good bank will actually consist of several independent organizations, formally collaborating at arm's length:
Society to Benefit Everyone, Inc. (the "Cooperative Sponsor") is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit whose mission is to promote sensible and compassionate decentralized democratic economics. The Cooperative Sponsor developed the common good bank™ model and will continue to promote common good banks in general (but not any specific common good bank) and will provide training, assistance and oversight in establishing and operating banks according to the common good bank™ model.
Common Good Finance Corporation was created by the Cooperative Sponsor to raise capital to start the first common good bank. Once the bank opens, this corporation will cease to exist.
Common good banks themselves will be structured and operated almost entirely like typical state-chartered community savings banks, except that:
they will be dedicated, above all, to advancing the common good,
their profits will go to the wider community,
their investment priorities and community contributions will be controlled by the depositors, using a highly participatory democratic system, with depositors at each local branch of the bank making these decisions independently of the other branches,
they will accept electronic transaction requests from depositors and process those requests immediately,
they will provide, at a depositor's request, electronic notification of every transaction to or from that depositor and will delay processing that transaction for up to four hours, until the depositor says "Go", and
they may provide credit approval and loan management services to other lending organizations.
Depositors Associations will handle all of the other unusual features, including local credit/debit card processing, stock-backed reserve credit and virtual hybrid accounts, local currency, merchant rebates and member participation in loans. They will also provide some internal auditing services to the bank itself. All of these activities will be made possible by features of the bank numbered 4 through 6, above, along with a limited power of attorney agreement with each association member.
There will be a separate Depositors Association for each Community Division (independent branch) of the bank. These associations will be almost entirely automated, with cooperative software supplied by the Cooperative Sponsor. Depositors Associations will operate the democratic processes as a service to the bank.
Common Good Transfer Company will provide stock transfer agent services to the bank, by maintaining the database of common good bank stock ownership and transfers. It will also operate an online local market for the bank's stock and will provide automatic electronic information to the Depositors Associations as needed for the stock-backed reserve credit and virtual hybrid accounts. A single Stock Transfer Company can handle these services for all common good banks. The Transfer Company will be entirely automated, with cooperative software and technical assistance supplied by the Cooperative Sponsor.
As communities come to recognize the great benefits of common good banks, state regulations may change to permit a less distributed technical design. However, to a large extent it is appropriate that these diverse activities be handled by separate organizations. The Cooperative Sponsor is regulated as a nonprofit, the banks will be regulated as banks, the Transfer Company as a transfer agent and the Depositors Associations (which are essentially clubs, with unchanging rules and no outside customers) will be automatically regulated by their software provided by the Cooperative Sponsor.
To see how common good banks could lead to the world of our dreams, click here.
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