Coop

Since 1882, Harvard and MIT have had their Coop. In the 70's, we had food co-ops (they're still around you know^[1]). Now the worker collaborative has emerged as the new co-operative for the new century.

The International Co-operative Alliance (www.ica.coop) represents close to one billion individual members. Cooperatives generate partial or full-time employment for at least 250 million people worldwide, and make up 12% of the entire employed population of the G20 countries. The 2,000 co-operatives in the 65 countries surveyed by the World Cooperative Monitor totals 2.6 trillion USD.

Although we hear relatively little about the cooperative sector in the United States, it is actually the country with the largest number of members represented by the International Co-operative Alliance. There are nearly 30,000 cooperatives in the United States, with 256 million members and over two million jobs.

Definition

International Co-operative Alliance Statement on the Cooperative Identity

A co-operative is an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically-controlled enterprise.

Types

Producer
Consumer
Worker
Platform https://platform.coop/about

Bylaws

Loconomics Cooperative, Inc. Bylaws
The uk.coop offers model governing documents
The Internet Of Ownership coop library has 140+ resources available.
The ICA Group of Boston/Northampton/NYC offers resources and does business conversions.
WebArchitects Rules (we're a member of WebArchitects Coop)
MayFirst Official Documents (Agaric is a member? of MayFirst)

Values

Co-operatives are based on the values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity and solidarity. In the tradition of their founders, co-operative members believe in the ethical values of honesty, openness, social responsibility and caring for others.