Organizational Model: Cooperatives

A cooperative is a business owned and controlled by the people who use its services. It is operated for them on a cost basis, meaning that the co-op is not designed to maximize profits, but rather to provide goods and services at a reasonable price. In most cooperatives and credit unions, each member has one vote in the decisionmaking processregardless of the number of shares owned or the amount of business done in the co-op. Examples of cooperative businesses are: farm supply, financial, purchasing, health, consumer, day care, housing, insurance and many other types of businesses. There are over 70 million people that belong to some form of cooperative in the United States, according to the Kansas Cooperative Council.

More:

• Worker Cooperative Statutes for Coops and ESOPs
• Agricultural Cooperatives - Farmer Owned Processing and Manufacturing
• Ethanol and Biodiesel Production - Focus on Scale and Cooperative Ownership