Get Mutual goes live!

21 October 2015

Today, the Business Council of Co-operatives and Mutuals (BCCM) has launched Get Mutual, a new online resource on setting up and running co-operatives.

The co-operative and mutual sector is a highly important sector to the Australian economy accounting for 7% of the country’s GDP and 29 million memberships (including superannuation funds). However, there is a dearth of knowledge about the sector and its inherent social and economic benefits to communities and the country as a whole.

Get Mutual will address the lack of free and accessible resources available for people and communities wanting to use the successful co-operative model for their collaborative projects.

“Co-operatives have always been used by groups to address their shared social and economic issues such as farmers wanting to get a fair farm gate return for their produce, parents wanting affordable childcare, people wanting accessible primary health care and increasingly, communities coming together to launch renewable energy ventures or to gain access to high quality local produce,” said Melina Morrison, chief executive of the BCCM.

“Co-operatives are coming back into favour since the global financial crisis as a self-help response to chronic issues such as unemployment and affordable housing, but we have lacked a coordinated effort to provide the education and information resources to help people help themselves,” Ms Morrison added.

Get Mutual provides free toolkits, links to reports and helpful organisations as well as a service to connect groups with advisors and experienced professionals to help with people’s co-operative developments.

The website also has the Pathfinder Public Service Mutuals case studies, developed with funding from the Department of Social Services. The case studies provide information about successful Australian co-operatives that deliver services in the areas of housing, disability employment, GP clinics and aged care.

The development of the Get Mutual platform has been supported by leading Australian mutuals HCF, Australian unity and NRMA.

Visit the Get Mutual website (www.getmutual.coop)