Join the Cosmos Beta

We are an emerging community of creative people who love reading and writing, thinking and talking, and engaging meaningfully in the world. (Learn more about who we are here.)

As a Cosmos Beta member, you can join us in the process of building a platform that supports diverse projects and generative ideas.

Your membership fee and donations will help us get the co-op fully up and running by paying for legal and accounting work; technology and organizational development; and the operations it takes behind the scenes to make things happen.

Becoming a Beta member means you can meaningfully contribute to our spaces—start conversations, develop your own creative potentials, and even shape the future of Cosmos. When the time comes to move out of Beta and into the Real Thing, you’ll be the first to be invited.

Your Cosmos beta membership does not yet represent an equity or voting share in the co-op. There are a few steps we’ll need to take before that’s possible, and this will require money and organization. That’s why we are bootstrapping our start-up by inviting a founding community to join us now and make this co-op happen with gusto!

Here’s what you can do as a Cosmos member:

Join live conversations, by Zoom video, 1–2x/week
Start your own topics in the forum, including the Commons, Co-op, and Marketplace channels
Participate in reading groups, and propose your own books, films, and other topics to explore with a group
Share your work-in-progress or ideas, and gather feedback in the Creative Studio
Play a vital role in working groups and committees, and step into leadership in areas where your strengths & desire to contribute match the co-op’s needs and plans

The minimum membership fee is $5/month (or $50/year)—but we invite you to give more if you can. You will be able to you change this amount later, if you wish; and you can cancel your membership anytime from your account page on Cosmos.coop (or by email). There is no obligation if you end up feeling that Cosmos is not a good fit for you.

On the next screen, you will be prompted to give a one-time donation, in addition to your monthly or yearly contribution. If you feel moved to help us reach our development goals faster, we greatly appreciate your additional one-time gift!