On the 29th of Jan '25 we got our customers and other members of our community together to have a little catch up. We presented what we'd got up to in 2024, a bit about co-operatives and how Kitty's functions as a cooperative, the financial model & strategy and a bit about some future ideas and plans we have for 2025.

We made some Scouse and ordered some pizzas in!

Anthony started off with a brief recap of what we got up to in 2024, touching on all the events we've done, the alternation service that was started up, the AGM, connections we made with local organisations and schools and providing a free wash scheme for people facing hardship. It was great to recap and show some of our community what we get up to behind the scenes to do what we do. Anthony has worked hard to build connections and figure out the best way to reach people in the community that would benefit from our free washing scheme, building close ties with the schools in the local area and organisations that are better places than us to reach families, organisations like Everton Children's Centre, Shelter, food banks, Asylum Link, the WECC and many more. The amount of people we have helped has been massively boosted since adopting the strategy.

In terms of our events series last year, the knitting group exhibited in the Tate and the People of Anfield group exhibited in Open Eye Gallery and around Anfield. These are examples of two community groups within our launderette proudly displaying what they've been doing together in prestigious institutions and across the city.

After the 2024 recap, Anthony shared a bit about our business structure as a co-operative. We had a look at how a co-operative structure benefits our society through 7 principles all cooperatives are committed to.

A co-op is owned and controlled by its members. It exists for the benefit of its members, who may be customers, workers, suppliers or the wider community.

1. A co-op is democratic – this means every member has an equal say in how it’s run and how profits are used.

2. Every member contributes financially in some way – from buying products, working for the co-op, investing in it or deciding how to spend its profits.  

3. A co-op is an independent business, owned and controlled by its members.

4. It offers education and training to everyone involved, so they can develop the co-op and promote the benefits of co-operation.

5. It co-operates, works with and supports other co-ops.

6. A co-op supports the communities it works with.

We felt that it was valuable to offer an opportunity for our community members to learn about our business structure and the wider co-operative movement.

We shared food and went into the co-operative financial model and strategy section hosted by Bryn. Bryn worked on our second price increase which was implemented from the 1st Jan '25. He explained the strategy that we use to increase pricing. As a co-operative we see it as our responsibility to be strategic and fair with our price increases. They are necessary but we need to limit their effect on people that could struggle to adapt to increased prices. We displayed how we roughly categorise our services and explained how when there is more demand for our core services we need more volume or to increase the prices of our "luxury" or profit making services to maintain sustainability of the business.

Our price increase was therefore implemented more on our service washes than our self-services. This reflects the growing inequality that we face, and therefore why it is crucial that we all design systems that draw wealth back down to support core services in the UK.

Next Bryn discussed how money flows from our pockets through conglomerate businesses and is atomised by wealth extraction out of our area into the pockets of CEOs, investors, corporate suppliers and shareholders. Alternatively, co-ops can amplify money spent which provides good quality jobs, free washing, ecological services, free events and reinvestment into the business etc. Kitty's has finalised it's latest social impact report, it concluded that every £1 spent at Kitty's generates £43 in social value!

This external report proves that businesses like Kitty's should be seen as exceptionally effective and efficient tools for combating societal problems.

To round up the financial model section Bryn ended with a suggestion that Kitty's can easily manoeuvre to solve other issues due to its agile but efficient structure. He shared what grants and funds we have been awarded and have applied to, to fund development and provide our core services.

The third section was hosted by our business development coordinator, Grace, who spoke about what the team at Kitty's are looking into that could provide improved services, increase sustainability and achieve our objectives and outcomes.

Some of these are ideas were to install solar panels, acquire an electric van so we can offer deliveries daily, considering starting a cleaning co-operative and becoming an "ambassador" for Fairbnb as an alternative to Airbnb which has effected the housing market in the Anfield and Everton area.

We hope that we can do more of these meetings, make them more educational and share more about our business and similar ones regularly. It's really important for independent businesses and individuals to act in the interest of working people as it is clear our current government and government previous don't show the willingness to do so.