Frequently Asked Questions

WHat is FORUM?

Forum Cooperative [UBI #: 604 339 753] was founded in Washington State in 2018 to be the non-profit ‘foundation home’ for Govurn, Inc., a blockchain-voting startup. Unfortunately Govurn existed for only a few months before losing its funding, a victim of that year’s Crypto Winter.

However, a few surviving founders retained Forum Co-op ownership and, in 2021, formally converted it to a for-profit Limited Cooperative Assocation (LCA).

WHere IS FORUM going Now?

The Co-op is evolving. Coming out of the pandemic years, the Forum LCA Board of Directors and Advisory Stewards have met regularly to plot the Co-op’s 2026 re-emergence as a Citizen Decision Utility to be built, operated, used and owned by member stakeholders, or Co-op Patrons.

IS FORUM PARTISAN?

No!

Forum is rigorously non-partisan. Any registered U.S. voter - regardless of any party affiliaton - is eligible to join the Co-op.

We all count. 

WHO owns FORUM?

As a Co-op, Forum is owned by all its Member-Patrons. These include platform technology partners, operational stewards and - most importantly - individual citizens that collectively build and use the Utility’s robust digital tools to enable 21st Century voter-driven deliberation and decision-making.

HOW is FORUM GOVERNED?

As Co-operators, all Patrons will have Equally-Weighted Votes in ongoing Forum governance. When the Co-op turns a profit, each will be rewarded with annual Usage Credits - or ‘rebates’ - commensurate with their participation in Forum’s Utility. Each member can then choose to redeem these credits for real dollars or discounted access to more Co-op services.

Importantly, like all cooperatives across the globe, Forum conducts its affairs according to a set of ideals based on the Rochdale Principles.

WILL FORUM sell MY DATA?

Never!

Forum sees its fiduciary responsibility as a Data Trust Steward: acting in the best interests of each member patron, the Co-op will exercise reasonable care, skill, and diligence in managing, protecting, and governing member's data assets.

Bottom Line: Forum anonymizes and aggregates participating Patron opinions for the reporting of the Co-op’s collective sentiment as measured in its voter-verified polls, surveys, and petitions. Beyond that, each Member-Patron will have sovereign control over the use, sharing, and monetization of data generated by that member patron.

CAN I START CO-OPERATING NOW?

While Forum won’t begin formal Patron on-boarding until mid-2026, active voters on Bainbridge Island, Washington can now start co-operating on our ongoing Beta-Build of its Island-Focused BI Voter Forum.