In the summer of 2010 the Bylaws Committee conducted an online survey of members and after much work and discussion, came up with a set of recommended changes to the bylaws – some minor, but some major – to move from the organizational model of all members serving on the board to an elected representative board. By this time there were around 80 people who were members of CooperationWorks! With all members of CW serving as board members, the size of the board made certain administrative aspects challenging, such as achieving a quorum to make decisions.

At the May 2011 in-person CW board meeting, the proposed changes to the bylaws were discussed, however the changes were voted down. In February of 2012, CW held a retreat in Indianapolis for its membership to have a focused discussion about not only the governance structure, but also ‘who we want to be’. Following a retreat in Indianapolis, the Bylaws committee redrafted the Bylaws based on the conversations at the retreat. The new Bylaws called for a reorganization of the governance structure whereby the board would be made up of a representative board.

In April 2012, the CW Board, made up of the entire CW membership, voted in the bylaw changes to move to a representative Board. Following this decision, CW operated without an Executive Director and with administrative circles (Networking, Advocacy, Professional Development, Urban Development, and Membership) where members govern the work of each circle. The current CW representative board consists of 11 representatives: six officers (chair, past chair, vice chair, treasurer, secretary, and member-at-large) and the chairs of each administrative circle.