Archives for July 2003

Co-op Atlantic is a “‘second-level” co-op — that is, it is a co-op made up of co-ops. To quote: “Co-op Atlantic is the second largest regional co-operative wholesaler in Canada, and has a membership of 135 co-operative enterprises.

Cooperative Development Services is a nonprofit organization created and governed by the cooperative community of the Upper Midwest for the purpose of developing cooperative businesses in all sectors of the economy. Note: I have worked with several people from CDS and they are great. The ICA Group Provides employee ownership, business development, and job retention […]

Isthmus Engineering is a cooperatively-owned engineering and manufacturing company. Independent Frabrication is an enployee-owned designer and manufacturer of high-end bicycles. The Associated Press is a cooperative. Huh.

Here is a good starting point for cooperative research: http://www.wisc.edu/uwcc/

One: Voluntary and Open Membership Cooperatives are voluntary organizations, open to all persons able to use their services and willing to accept the responsibilities of membership, without gender, social, racial, political or religious discrimination. Two: Democratic Member Control Cooperatives are democratic organizations controlled by their members, who actively participate in setting their policies and making […]

The Happy Tutor has an inspiring essay over at Wealth Bondage. it started me thinking about how important Coops could be to The Change. It’s an existing business structure and relatively easy to set up. Many people assume that Coops are just small-time natural food stores, but there are also producer coops (like Land-O-Lakes and […]