About Shared Interest

HISTORY

Our journey started in 1986 when development agency Traidcraft Exchange sponsored research into the role of banking and investment within the fair trade movement. It was discovered that the main challenges faced by fair trade producers was access to working capital and buyers struggling to make pre-payments for goods. It was out of this that Shared Interest was created; a unique financial organisation aiming to do business for mutual service rather than for investor profit. The Society was publicly launched in October 1990 with the financial backing of the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust and Oikocredit, formerly, the Ecumenical Development Co-operative Society (EDCS). Within a year, we had attracted £750,000 of Share Capital and 600 members.

Today, we have 10,456 members in the UK, each investing between £100 and £100,000. This provides Share Capital of £50.7m. In 2004, Shared Interest established a subsidiary, Shared Interest Foundation. The charity delivers practical business support in the developing world, helping fair trade businesses to improve their governance systems and financial management as well as other business skills. The story of our past 31 years is detailed at sharedinterest.com.

OWNERSHIP AND GOVERNANCE

Shared Interest is an independent organisation with its headquarters in the UK and further team members based in Costa Rica, Ghana, Kenya and Peru. Shared Interest consists of Shared Interest Society and a charitable subsidiary, Shared Interest Foundation. Shared Interest Society is owned and controlled by its membership. It is the sole member of Shared Interest Foundation. Shared Interest Society is governed by a Board of Directors which is currently made up of eight members; two executives and six non-executives.

Seven of these eight Directors also form the Trustee Board, which governs Shared Interest Foundation. A Council of eight Society members monitors the work of the Society’s Board of Directors. The Council has the power to question the Directors and Management Team and, if it sees fit, to address the membership independently.

To ensure the Council is a representative body, four members have been randomly selected for nomination, while the other four members applied for their roles; all were subject to a ballot of members.

Our annual producer committee meetings could not take place physically due to the pandemic but we held virtual meetings and carried out telephone interviews in their place, ensuring the producer voice remains within our governance and decision making.

LEGAL STRUCTURE AND REPORTING

Shared Interest Society is incorporated with limited liability under the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014, Number 27093R. The Society has submitted timely annual returns to the Financial Conduct Authority as its registrar.

Shared Interest Foundation is registered as a company limited by guarantee in England, Number 4833073, and is a registered charity, Number 1102375. It has submitted timely annual returns to the Charity Commission and to the Registrar of Companies.

Shared Interest has an annual compliance action plan, ensuring a regular routine of internal reviews and external audits against the relevant statutory and voluntary codes. This covers areas such as money laundering and bribery checks; health and safety compliance; risk reviews and data protection.

These topics are also included in induction schedules for all new members of the Shared Interest team. In addition, a key aspects checklist (Appendix 21) is produced by the Social Audit Network to enable standardised reporting on areas such as human resources (HR), governance, finance, and environmental / economic aspects.