Ownership, Community, and Collective Action
Incubated by the United States Federation of Worker Cooperatives, Guilded is a multi-stakeholder cooperative with three kinds of member-owners: freelancer-owners, employee-owners, and investor-owners.
When you become a Guilded member-owner, you have a stake in the organization. Although our staff manages day-to-day operations, members control Guilded’s vision and governance. Member-owners own equity in Guilded and receive a patronage account that grows in value as Guilded grows.
We encourage users to become member-owners if they are interested, but member-ownership is not a requirement.
The process of becoming a member is a simple and low time commitment process. But if you aren’t sure that member-ownership is right for you, that’s ok! Users can still use Guilded to process contracts without becoming a full Guilded member. We’re here to improve your life, not control it.
Mission Statement
Guilded’s mission is to build labor power among contractors and to give freelance workers access to benefits traditionally associated with full time employment. While our core constituency is creative workers, particularly those facing systemic oppression, we offer our services to all freelance workers.
Vision statement
Guilded envisions a US economy where all workers are treated with dignity and protected from exploitation. To reach this goal, we simplify business processes for independent workers and facilitate the pooling of resources so that our users are granted access to worker benefits.
Values statement
At Guilded, we are committed to the 6 cooperative values of 1) Democracy, 2) Self-help, 3) Self-responsibility, 4) Equity, 5) Equality, and 6) Solidarity. Additionally, we operate according to the 7 cooperative principles of: 1) Voluntary membership, 2) Democratic member control, 3) Member economic participation, 4) Autonomy and independence, 5) Education, training and information, 6) Cooperation among cooperatives, and 7) Concern for community. Guilded aims to build labor power among freelance workers, especially for BIPOC and queer communities. We also are committed to an ethos of “do no harm,” which guides our decision-making and ensures that our work is always in service to our users. Lastly, we denounce all forms of racism as well as discrimination based on ableism and gender/sexual identity.
