Co-op Month

October was Co-op Month!

Cooperatives were built to meet members' needs and help sustain the communities in which they serve. In the tradition of their founders, the co-ops of today are established with the core values of honesty, openness, democracy and social responsibility.

Thanks to a unique business philosophy that provides members an opportunity to take an active role in business operations, cooperatives are quick to meet the needs of people while keeping North Dakota's economy on solid footing. In many North Dakota communities, co-ops are the economic cornerstones--investing in new services and facilities that create new jobs.

This is what we are celebrating! Cooperatives play an important role in North Dakota and throughout the nation. There are 47,000 cooperatives that serve 120 million people in the United States. Learn more about your cooperative and others during October and join in the "It's Co-op Month" celebration!

"A cooperative is a business voluntarily owned and controlled by its member patrons and operated for them and by them on a not-for-profit or cost basis. It is owned by the people who use it. Cooperatives are organized and incorporated to engage in economic activities with certain ideas of democracy, social consciousness and human relations included. A cooperative provides services and benefits for its members in proportion to the use they make of their organization, rather than earning profits for the shareholders as investors."
----University of Wisconsin Center for Cooperatives

The Cooperative History

1752	The first successful cooperative organized when Benjamin Franklin formed the Philadelphia Contributionship of the Insurance of Houses from Loss by Fire.
1844	The Rochdale Equitable Pioneers Society opened a cooperative story on Toad Lane in Rochdale, England. Toad Lane is considered the birthplace of modern cooperatives because the principles and practices of the Pioneers assured the success of the cooperative model.
1865	Michigan passed the first law recognizing the cooperative method of buying and selling.
1895	The International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) was established.
1916	The first national cooperative association formed--the National Cooperative Business Association.
1922	Congress passes the Capper-Volstead Act allowing farmers to market products together without violating antitrust laws.
1929	Farm Credit Administration forms.
1934	National Credit Union Administration forms.
1936	Rural Electrification Administration forms.
1978	Congress passed the National Consumer Cooperative Bank Act, establishing the National Cooperative Bank.

Cooperatives Are:

Businesses...

In many ways it's like any other business, but in several important ways it's unique and different. A cooperative business belongs to the people who use it--people who have organized to provide themselves with the goods and services they need. A cooperative operates for the benefit of its members.

These member-owners share equally in the control of their cooperative--they meet at regular intervals, review detailed reports and elect directors from among themselves. The directors, in turn, hire management to manage the day-to-day affairs of the cooperative in a way that serves the members' interests.

Members invest in shares in the business to provide capital for a strong and efficient operation. All net savings, left after bills are paid and money is set aside for operations and improvements, are returned to co-op members.

Serving Many Needs...

More than 100 million people are members of 47,000 cooperatives.

Producer-owned cooperatives are owned by farmers, producers or small businesses to process and market their goods, and to provide themselves with credit, equipment and production supplies.

Consumer-owned cooperatives enable consumers to secure a wide array of goods and services, such as health care, utilities, insurance, housing, heating fuel and hardware supplies.

Worker-owned cooperatives include employee-owned food stores, processing companies, restaurants, taxi cab companies, sewing companies, timber processors and light/heavy industry.

Co-op Statistics...

Cooperatives come in all sizes from small buying clubs to businesses included in the Fortune 500, Welch's, Land O'Lakes, Ocean Spray, Sunkist, Publix Supermarkets, ACE Hardware, Nationwide Insurance and the Associated Press.

Almost 30 percent of farmers' products in the U.S. are marketed through cooperatives.

More than 20 cooperatives have annual sales in excess of $1 billion.

Credit unions have more than 70 million members and assets in excess of $300 billion.

The Farm Credit System has 500,000 borrowers with a loan volume of $53.9 billion.

Rural electric cooperatives operate more than half of the electric distribution lines in the United States and provide electricity for 25 million people.

There are approximately one million cooperative housing units serving households with a range of income levels and housing needs.

More than 50 million Americans are served by insurance companies owned by or closely affiliated with cooperatives.

Consumer-owned and controlled cooperatives pioneered pre-paid, group practice health care. Today cooperative health maintenance organizations (HMOs) provide health care services to nearly 1.4 million American families.

Food cooperatives have been innovators in the marketplace in the areas of unit pricing, consumer protection and nutritional labeling.

Retailer-owned food and hardware cooperatives make it possible for hundreds of independent store owners to successfully compete with large chains.

Child care and nursery school cooperatives serve more than 50,000 families.

There are approximately one million cooperative housing units serving households with a range of income levels and housing needs.