In 2023, Australian ICMIF member, the BCCM (Business Council of Co-operatives and Mutuals) is celebrating its ten year anniversary. The BCCM says this is not only a coming of age for Australia’s first cross-sector advocacy body for cooperatives and mutuals, the last decade also represents an epoch-making time for the movement in Australia.
The BCCM was formed in 2013 after the United Nations International Year of Cooperatives. This year marks the tenth anniversary of the BCCM’s formation and provides an opportunity to reflect on how far it has come as a peak body and as a movement built on the principles of cooperation – the original model for social businesses.
The BCCM notes how it has come a long way in the last decade by bringing together member-owned businesses from different industries to advocate for unique business structures and working to improve the business environment for cooperatives and mutuals.
The BCCM is proud of its many successes in a number of important areas across its objectives of advocacy, networking, education and key projects. These achievements include securing enabling legislation to access vital capital; developing education and cooperative development programmes to meet the needs of the sector; and facilitating the development of sector-wide governance principles; a climate policy and the Mutual Value Measurement Framework© to measure and express mutual value. The benefits that the cooperative/mutual model offers have been noticed by the Australian government, which has tasked the BCCM with significant cooperative development projects in agriculture and social care.
To recognise the achievements of the BCCM over the past decade, each month it will share a story of impact and value from the cooperative/mutual sector.
This month, the BCCM is celebrating the unity that it has brought to the cooperative and mutual sector. From farmers and fishers to banks, buying groups, insurers and care organisations, retailing, housing and motoring clubs, members unite towards a common goal: building a more resilient, more equitable and more enterprising Australia.
Watch BCCM CEO, Melina Morrison’s campaign video on YouTube.
