FAQs
FAQ Categories
Bulk purchase groups, patients undergoing treatment, self-employed friends, art collectives, community energy start-ups - for a new fridge, an old debt, a holiday or a rainy day, there are literally thousands of uses for a Kin group but here are a few examples to get you started:
- A Traditional Rotating Fund - communities all around the world use "self-help groups" with slightly different rules but the common idea is this: every week or month everyone in the group contributes to the common pot and every week or month one person takes the whole pot. This continues until everyone has received and put in the same amount. The allocation of the pot can be decided by lottery or negotiation. Rotating funds enable groups to save for amounts that can be difficult to reach individually.
- Pardna (variation) - in a pardna, people in the community can contribute different amounts each month - called "hands" - and will receive the whole pot more or less often depending on how many hands they contribute. It works like this: each hand is like a raffle ticket, if you choose to contribute 5 hands / raffle tickets of £5, you will pay £25 every month (5x£5). The total number of tickets or hands is the number of rotations until every ticket / hand has received the total. So let's say there are 20 hands or tickets in a pardna group, that's £100 every rotation. Someone who pays £25 every month will receive the whole pot 5 times in this period - once per ticket - that's £500. They will have paid 20 times £25, that's £500.
Loose (high trust) - after working together for a longer time, some groups build enough trust and have good enough communication that they can become less regular and strict. The pot will accumulate over a longer time without anyone requesting it and people will be able to request more.
A community purchase - you may be working with your neighbours, friends or family to purchase something together or to support a common cause. Kin groups can be a way for you to manage contributions and keep track of your goal. Think of putting a new roof on the community centre or putting solar panels on the local car park and splitting the benefit!
Bulk purchase - like the founders of the cooperative movement, you may want to use Kin to buy common items in bulk so you can all benefit from the savings. Great!
Solidarity fund - why not set up a fund for your community just in case someone needs it. If they do, they may contribute back and keep contributing to keep the fund growing. One day it could enable you as a community to purchase something together.
- Multiple uses - the focus is your community. Kin allows you to track how much everyone in your has contributed and received so you can pause one use to help someone who is having a hard time and then get right back to the first use. It's up to you!
Rules help the group work together to build trust.
Groups work well when there is trust. Uncertainty can undermine trust. Think about the issues that your group may run into and how group members could react to them.
For example, what should happen if someone in your group becomes unable to contribute? How can you deal with this in a fair, kind and clear way? What happens if it continues for a long time or that member stops responding?
Groups should think about rules together and make sure every member of the group agrees with them. Studies* indicate that being too strict is not the answer. Resilience comes from having robust processes for making-decisions about things together and the trust to live by those decisions and transparency. Remember this is mutual aid and when someone is struggling, that may be when they need the most support and not to be isolated.
*Ostrom. E (1990) Governing the Commons
Having trouble with your group or thinking about the rules you might need? Contact us!
Kin has been developed for financial mutual aid - everyone benefitting by working together. That means there are things you cannot use Kin for:
- You cannot use Kin to fund anything illegal.
- You cannot use Kin for individual private profit.
- You cannot use Kin for purposes of transacting business, trade, for supply of a service or anything liable for taxation as income or capital gain.
- You cannot attempt to coerce someone to use Kin or contribute more, more often or request gifts in smaller amounts or less often against their will.
- Admins cannot use their power to approve or deny gifts for any reasons other than for the agreed and equitable operation of the group.
Anyone may report a group or member to your Kin Cooperative Team at any time.
Any breach of these rules or any other Kin policy or the term of service may result in suspension of services or expulsion without prior notice.
Kin is not a crowdfunder or a way for an individual to raise money for a private need but you can set up a group because you need something right now.
It is expected that you will contribute to the group by the amount you requested or in the manner you agree with the group. In this way, the group should all benefit in the end, not just you. So, if you set up a group for a specific purpose, make sure it is clear how this will help your community and don't let them down!
When Rob met B.
Kin was inspired by traditional money pools used by communities across the United Kingdom with different names including pardna, hagbad, menage, susu and committee. B, one of the founders of Kin, was able to afford a law degree thanks to all her "aunties" putting together a hagbad. She's now a law professor and her success is her community's success and all her aunties benefitted by the same amount. It was during the Covid19 pandemic; Rob and B were giving out free food to the community when B told Rob her story.
Today, inequality is soaring in the UK. One of the wealthiest countries in the world has more than 4 million children living in poverty (JRF Report 2025). Annual investments in fossil fuels continues to rise, despite scientists' warnings and the increasing frequency of environmental catastrophes. And this isn't the half of it.
Testing the idea
In December 2023, 100 people gathered in East London to hear the idea that is now Kin Cooperative. We decided to change our lives and build a cooperative that day because we all agreed that we need to change our financial system and this idea just might work.
Our vision is for everyone to use kin groups to support their communities and receive support. That's what community is. It takes trust and not a little bit of work.
Imagine all the different projects and changes to people's lives having just a little bit more money available for when you need it and without interest or the risk of damaging your credit score. And every success won't just belong to one person but their whole community. It's not long before we start seeing how much we owe to each other and how much we all benefit by sharing and holding things in common. This could have a profound effect and change how we think about money and each other.
Kin is not alone
Kin.coop is part of a broader project to support socially owned businesses, fund community renewable energy and safeguard community ssets against private ownership.
Many many people have volunteered time to help Kin get to where it is and right now we have two paid (part time - remember we're a not-for-profit coop!) members. We also have a volunteer board of five members who helped found the cooperative in 2024.
As a cooperative, Kin is owned and run by its members.
Members:
The members are:
- Everyone who uses the platform
- Every worker and every volunteer
Everyone needs to purchase a £1 share - that's how we are all owners.
Votes:
Every member gets one single vote in annual general meeting and on all major issues.
Weighting:
On all decisions, the votes of the platform users count for 50% and the votes of the platform workers (including volunteers) count for 50%. That means if we have 50,000 people using the platform and only 20 workers, the workers are still listened to and important (without them, there's no kin.coop).
The Board & Management:
A Board of 50/50 workers and users is elected by all the members to oversee the day to day work of the cooperative, and this board hires or delegates the management team, who manage the work.
The Board can also delegate sub-committees and the members can also create committees outside of the delegation of the board.
But ultimately the Board is responsible to ALL of the members.
As a member of the cooperative, you have a vote in the annual general meeting (AGM).
Members will receive notice of the meeting which will happen online.
In the meantime, you can submit ideas, proposals or resolutions for the board to look at and they will!
Not for profit
Not for profit means the money that Kin receives doesn't go to any one as interest on shares or as a dividend or a bonus. We're not in the business of taking from the many to give to a few. That said, there are real people working to make Kin a nice place, developing the website, checking every transaction and responding to emails. And there are servers and other subscriptions that you need to exist as a business these days.
All surplus generated from group admin fees and grants is spent on maintaining and improving Kin and every year we'll show you what we've done and how we've spent it.
We will always choose local and sustainable options where available.
As safe as paying a friend directly
Kin asks that you make payments directly from your bank account to the Kin Cooperative bank account. This means that we NEVER need to store your card details and we will never ask for them.
When you request a gift, Kin makes the payment directly from the Kin Cooperative account to yours. There are no third party payment processors like Stripe or SagePay that take a fee and can delay refunds if any issues happen.
Kin will ask you for your Account Name, six-digit Sort Code and eight-digit Account Number. These numbers can ONLY be used to pay you.
Technically, your account number and sort code could be used to request a direct debit from your bank but we will never do this and you would be covered by the Direct Debit Guarantee, which would allow you to cancel any transaction and redeem any funds. If you every see any suspicious direct debits, you should always contact your bank immediately.
Contributions to kin groups are held in the Kin Cooperative bank account. Kin banks with the Co-operative Bank.
Wasn't the Co-operative Bank sold to private owners?
Yes, but! Following the 2008 financial crisis, the Co-operative Bank was bought by private equity but as of January 1st 2025, it has been purchased by Coventry Building Society and will be re-mutualised - that means owned by its members and users and not by private shareholders.
Only a few members of the Kin Cooperative Team have access to the bank account and all contributions and gifts are checked and paid out and double checked manually.
It is really important that you trust everyone in your group but especially your group admins.
Here are some things to look out for:
- If your group admins keep allowing new people to join who you don't know
- If someone in the group or your group admin is requesting that others contribute but they are not contributing or the amounts are large
- If your group admin is repeatedly approving gift requests from people who have not contributed much or at all
You should first try speaking to your group or your group admins. If you are still worried, get in touch with your Kin Cooperative team as soon as possible.
How will gifts appear on my bank statement? All transfers will appear as coming from Kin Cooperative Limited.
Gifts received from Kin groups are not income, so you do not need to declare it as income tax.
If, however, you are using kin.coop for any prohibited use that would be liable for taxation, you should not be using kin.coop and you may be prosecuted by HMRC.Can I claim tax relief on contributions to my group? No, only registered UK charitable organisations are eligible for tax relief and gift aid. WHile Kin is a not-for-profit, it is not possible to claim relief.
Like a gift from a friend, gifts from Kin groups are not income so they do not need to be declared as income. If your benefit advisor is uncertain, you should explain how your group works and that you are contributing equally to the amount you are receiving.
Threshold
However, if funds receives pushes you over your threshold, then it may cause a reduction in your allowance. Make sure you know what your thresholds and allowances are before requesting gifts.
We want to see groups outgrow kin.coop and become bigger and more impactful community-led organisations.
If you think that your group may be ready to grow, get in touch with us.
We are especially interested to support groups wishing to become cooperatives, community benefit societies or communty trusts.