Can be issued to customers and users of the organisation’s products and services if they make a qualifying contribution. By default they are held by customers and service users who continually and repeatedly use the company’s products and services (most easily evidenced by entering into an agreement or renewing a subscription).

This may include service users (indirect) or customers (direct). Holders gain the right to attend, speak, propose and vote on resolutions at the company’s General Meetings. Upon reaching a member threshold, User Shareholders can elect (and remove) two or three directors.

The mechanism for allocating User Shares is decided in General Meeting by members and may – by way of examples – be based on: a one-person one vote; pro-rata based on value of a trading relationship; based on the length of time a user has used the services of the organisation; or any other fair and equitable mechanism agreed in General Meeting. The rules define how much of the company’s surplus is distributed to User Shareholders. This is shared in proportion to the number of User Shares held by each member.