Cooperatives

Cooperatives (Co-ops)

Agri-Mark

This Northeastern co-op, owned by 1,450 dairy farmer families, was founded in 1917. It is best known for two of its labels, Cabot Creamery of Vermont and McCadam Cheese of New York. In 2002, the co-op had $550 million in sales and returned $6.8 million in patronage rebates to its members, working out to about $5,000 for a dairy farmer with 100 cows. Read more about Agri-Mark...

Center for Family Life

The Center for Family Life (CFL) is a nonprofit, social service organization focused on promoting positive outcomes for children, adults, and families in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park neighborhood.  Aiming to help area residents secure fair wages and dignified employment, CFL began incubating worker-owned cooperatives eight years ago.  Recognizing the potential of the model to create job opportunities for hard-to-employ populations, in 2012 CFL launched a NYC Worker Cooperative Development Initiative, which provides 12 months of training and technical assistance to other community-based groups in Read more about Center for Family Life...

Childspace Cooperative Development, Inc.

Working to improve the quality of traditionally low-paid child care workers, Childspace CDI hopes to improve not only workplace conditions but also the care received by children. Childspace CDI, in partnership with worker-owned child care centers, is addressing the issue with a three step strategy – empowering workers; improving financial operations to free up additional resources; and encouraging these workers to advocate for additional subsidies and health insurance. Read more about Childspace Cooperative Development, Inc....

CHS, Inc.

Created in 1998 through the merger of Cenex and Harvest States, two agricultural co-ops whose roots go back to the period of the Great Depression, CHS is the country's largest grain cooperative, with $17.2 billion in sales in 2007. In 2007, CHS returned $253 million in patronage rebates to its member-owners. Read more about CHS, Inc....

Fifth Season Cooperative

 Founded by the Vernon Economic Development Association (VEDA on a Buy Local Buy Wisconsin grant from the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture (DATCP), Fifth Season Cooperative is a multi-stakeholder organization that focuses on producing, processing, and selling healthy local foods. Read more about Fifth Season Cooperative...

Florida Natural Growers

Founded in 1933, this co-op has grown to have 1,100 farmer-owners whose orange groves cover 60,000 acres of land. Its products are distributed to supermarkets across the United States. Read more about Florida Natural Growers...

Greenbelt Homes

Established to provide public housing during the New Deal, in 1952 the Federal Government decided to sell Greenbelt to the highest bidder. To avoid being bought by a private landlord, citizens in Greenbelt formed a housing cooperative and purchased the homes themselves. Greenbelt Homes today still owns the 1,600 original units, making it the DC-region's largest housing cooperative. Read more about Greenbelt Homes...

Inter Cooperative Council

This student-run and owned housing cooperative, founded in 1932, provides housing for over 600 students at the University of Michigan. Read more about Inter Cooperative Council...

Kaua'i Island Utility Cooperative

Founded in 2002, Kaua'i Island Utility Cooperative is Hawaii's first electric cooperative, providing electric power to Kauai's 30,000 residents. Read more about Kaua'i Island Utility Cooperative...

Kid's Co-op

Operating for over 20 years, Kid's Co-op is a non-profit parent cooperative, in which parents work as teaching assistants, maintain the buildings and grounds, and organize fund-raisers. The co-op aims to enrich the lives of Las Vegas children and strengthen their families through developmentally appropriate preschool and kindergarten programs, through parent education and through community service. Read more about Kid's Co-op...

Land O'Lakes

Founded in 1921 and best known for its butter, Land O'Lakes has over 4,900 dairy farmer owners. In 2007, it had net sales of $8.9 billion and returned $58 million in patronage rebates to its member-owners. Read more about Land O'Lakes...

Mariposa Food Co-op

Founded in 1961, Mariposa is a cooperative grocery store in West Philadelphia with more than 2,400 member-owners.  Over 150 of its members participate in the store’s Working Owner program, which offers a 10 percent discount to members who work in the store at least 3 hours once every 4 weeks.  Committed to food access, the co-op also provides a 10 percent discount to all low-income members. To expand co-op ownership to populations who stand to benefit most from access to nutritious foods, community engagement, and cooperative business ownership, the co-op has an Owner Fund that subsidizes $100 of its $200 equity requirement.

Mid Kansas Cooperative Association

Formed in 1965, today the Mid Kansas Cooperative Association is a full service farm cooperative with over 5,000 members that offers a complete line of supplies and services for both farm and urban customers located in the central part of Kansas. In 2003, it had grain storage capacity of 19 million bushels and the co-op sold 12.5 million gallons of fuel. Read more about Mid Kansas Cooperative Association...

Moscow Food Co-op

Founded in 1973 as a volunteer-run co-op, the Moscow Food co-op has grown rapidly in recent years. From 1999 to 2004, sales more than doubled from $1.5 million to $3.5 million and the co-op's floor space will more than double in the fall of 2005, when it moves into its new 15,000 square-foot space. Read more about Moscow Food Co-op...

Open Harvest Natural Foods Cooperative Grocery

Founded in 1975, this member-owned retail co-op has over 2,000 members. In its mission statement it sets forth its commitment to equitable employment practices, support of local producers, consumer education, and sustainable agricultural practices. Read more about Open Harvest Natural Foods Cooperative Grocery...

Park Slope Food Co-op

The Park Slope Food Coop, located in the Park Slope section of Brooklyn, was founded in 1973 by a small group of committed neighbors. Today the co-op has more than 15,500 members. Unlike many co-ops where paying a fee is sufficient to become a member, members at Park Slope must commit to doing a workshift (there are some exceptions to this work policy for hardship cases) every four weeks in exchange for a 20-40% savings on groceries. The co-op estimates that this form of work exchange means that members do 75% of all co-op labor. Read more about Park Slope Food Co-op...

Recreational Equipment, Inc. (REI)

While headquartered across the Sound in Kent, REI began in Seattle in 1938 with 23 mountain climber members. With its flagship store located in the Cascade neighborhood, REI is the largest consumer cooperative in the United States, with more than 3.5 million members and 100 stores nationwide. Selling outdoor recreation gear and sporting goods, REI sales exceeded $1.43 billion in 2008. REI has been ranked every year in FORTUNE magazine's "100 Best Companies to Work For," since the list's inception in 1998. In 2009, it ranked 12th. Read more about Recreational Equipment, Inc. (REI)...

Sevananda Natural Foods Market

Since opening in 1974, Sevananda has provided natural foods to Atlanta residents. It converted from a non-profit corporation to a cooperative in the 1990s in order to raise equity from customers. Today, it is one of the larger community food co-ops in the southeastern United States with 3,400 members.  Committed to the community, the co-op prioritizes local sourcing and has run its “Be The Change” program, which encourages members to round-up their total and donates the proceeds to a range of local nonprofits, since 1997.

Tennessee Farmers Cooperative

Founded in 1945 to ensure dependable sources of products, the Co-op has 57 member cooperatives, with 150 Co-op retail outlets in 83 of Tennessee’s 95 counties. TFC is a federated cooperative system, which means a pyramid of ownership. The farmer members own their local Co-ops and the local Co-ops own TFC. Co-ops offer career training, internships, and 32 yearly scholarships to agricultural students as well as providing farming products and information to its members. Read more about Tennessee Farmers Cooperative...

Texas Electric Cooperatives, Inc.

The state of Texas has the nation's largest network of electric cooperatives, providing electric power to nearly three million customers. Read more about Texas Electric Cooperatives, Inc....

The Energy Cooperative

Started in 1979 as a spin off from Weavers Way Food Co-op, The Energy Co-op has expanded over the years to become a provider of renewable electricity, including solar, wind, hydropower, bio-mass, and bio-diesel.  The cooperative has a three-fold mission:  1) to provide energy cost savings, education, and advocacy on behalf of members; 2) to promote the efficient use of energy and the use of renewable energy; and 3) to support cooperative concepts and participate in the cooperative movement. As of 2016, the cooperative had nearly 6,000 members and $3.7 million in total revenues.

VHA Inc.

In 2003, this non-profit hospital member-owned purchasing cooperative negotiated supply agreements valued in excess of $20 billion on behalf of its members, helping member non-profit hospitals more effectively compete against for-profit chain hospitals. Read more about VHA Inc....

Weaver Street Market

Weaver Street is a food co-op that combines employee and consumer membership, with each group electing representatives to the co-op's Board of Directors. Currently, Weaver Street has 70 worker-owners and 8,000 consumer-owners. The co-op has expanded greatly in recent years, adding a second storefront and a restaurant operation. It has also supported the development of a housing co-op and serves as the site of many broadcasts of the new local community radio co-op. Read more about Weaver Street Market...

Western Farmers Electric Cooperative

Founded in 1941, this electricity generation and transmission cooperative supplies 19 member distribution cooperatives and others with electric power, meeting the electricity needs of residents and businesses in more than two-thirds of rural Oklahoma. Total operating revenues in 2007 exceeded $420 million with a net margin of over $19 million. Read more about Western Farmers Electric Cooperative...

Green Economy

Elevate Energy

Elevate Energy (formerly CNT Energy) is a "think-and-do" tank that combines research with effective solutions. Elevate Energy focuses on helping customers and communities access the information and services they need to control energy costs and to become more energy efficient. Through relationships with municipalities in the Chicagoland region, utilities throughout Illinois, and other non-profit environmental organizations, Elevate Energy is able to achieve actual results in providing innovative solutions to energy challenges.  Read more about Elevate Energy...

Worker Cooperatives

Cooperative Home Care Associates

Founded 25 years ago as an employee-owned home care agency in the South Bronx, Cooperative Home Care Associates is now the largest worker cooperative in the United States, employing roughly 2,000 African American and Latina workers in the poorest urban county in the United States. CHCA’s nonprofit training arm, Paraprofessional Health Institute, annually trains more than 450 inner-city women to become home health aides. Read more about Cooperative Home Care Associates...

Mandela Foods Cooperative

Established in 2009, Mandela Foods Cooperative is a worker-owned, full-service, 2,300 square foot grocery store located in West Oakland, California that helps fill the need for healthy food options in a community that has been historically underserved in grocery retail. It offers an example of using a cooperative to fill needs in a food desert. Mandela has a series of community service goals. It seeks to expand and promote local buying power and employment opportunity through its efforts to increase purchasing from small farms within a 170 mile radius of Oakland. Read more about Mandela Foods Cooperative...

Cooperatives (Co-ops)

Agri-Mark

This Northeastern co-op, owned by 1,450 dairy farmer families, was founded in 1917. It is best known for two of its labels, Cabot Creamery of Vermont and McCadam Cheese of New York. In 2002, the co-op had $550 million in sales and returned $6.8 million in patronage rebates to its members, working out to about $5,000 for a dairy farmer with 100 cows. Read more about Agri-Mark...

Center for Family Life

The Center for Family Life (CFL) is a nonprofit, social service organization focused on promoting positive outcomes for children, adults, and families in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park neighborhood.  Aiming to help area residents secure fair wages and dignified employment, CFL began incubating worker-owned cooperatives eight years ago.  Recognizing the potential of the model to create job opportunities for hard-to-employ populations, in 2012 CFL launched a NYC Worker Cooperative Development Initiative, which provides 12 months of training and technical assistance to other community-based groups in Read more about Center for Family Life...

Childspace Cooperative Development, Inc.

Working to improve the quality of traditionally low-paid child care workers, Childspace CDI hopes to improve not only workplace conditions but also the care received by children. Childspace CDI, in partnership with worker-owned child care centers, is addressing the issue with a three step strategy – empowering workers; improving financial operations to free up additional resources; and encouraging these workers to advocate for additional subsidies and health insurance. Read more about Childspace Cooperative Development, Inc....

CHS, Inc.

Created in 1998 through the merger of Cenex and Harvest States, two agricultural co-ops whose roots go back to the period of the Great Depression, CHS is the country's largest grain cooperative, with $17.2 billion in sales in 2007. In 2007, CHS returned $253 million in patronage rebates to its member-owners. Read more about CHS, Inc....

Fifth Season Cooperative

 Founded by the Vernon Economic Development Association (VEDA on a Buy Local Buy Wisconsin grant from the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture (DATCP), Fifth Season Cooperative is a multi-stakeholder organization that focuses on producing, processing, and selling healthy local foods. Read more about Fifth Season Cooperative...

Florida Natural Growers

Founded in 1933, this co-op has grown to have 1,100 farmer-owners whose orange groves cover 60,000 acres of land. Its products are distributed to supermarkets across the United States. Read more about Florida Natural Growers...

Greenbelt Homes

Established to provide public housing during the New Deal, in 1952 the Federal Government decided to sell Greenbelt to the highest bidder. To avoid being bought by a private landlord, citizens in Greenbelt formed a housing cooperative and purchased the homes themselves. Greenbelt Homes today still owns the 1,600 original units, making it the DC-region's largest housing cooperative. Read more about Greenbelt Homes...

Inter Cooperative Council

This student-run and owned housing cooperative, founded in 1932, provides housing for over 600 students at the University of Michigan. Read more about Inter Cooperative Council...

Kaua'i Island Utility Cooperative

Founded in 2002, Kaua'i Island Utility Cooperative is Hawaii's first electric cooperative, providing electric power to Kauai's 30,000 residents. Read more about Kaua'i Island Utility Cooperative...

Kid's Co-op

Operating for over 20 years, Kid's Co-op is a non-profit parent cooperative, in which parents work as teaching assistants, maintain the buildings and grounds, and organize fund-raisers. The co-op aims to enrich the lives of Las Vegas children and strengthen their families through developmentally appropriate preschool and kindergarten programs, through parent education and through community service. Read more about Kid's Co-op...

Land O'Lakes

Founded in 1921 and best known for its butter, Land O'Lakes has over 4,900 dairy farmer owners. In 2007, it had net sales of $8.9 billion and returned $58 million in patronage rebates to its member-owners. Read more about Land O'Lakes...

Mariposa Food Co-op

Founded in 1961, Mariposa is a cooperative grocery store in West Philadelphia with more than 2,400 member-owners.  Over 150 of its members participate in the store’s Working Owner program, which offers a 10 percent discount to members who work in the store at least 3 hours once every 4 weeks.  Committed to food access, the co-op also provides a 10 percent discount to all low-income members. To expand co-op ownership to populations who stand to benefit most from access to nutritious foods, community engagement, and cooperative business ownership, the co-op has an Owner Fund that subsidizes $100 of its $200 equity requirement.

Mid Kansas Cooperative Association

Formed in 1965, today the Mid Kansas Cooperative Association is a full service farm cooperative with over 5,000 members that offers a complete line of supplies and services for both farm and urban customers located in the central part of Kansas. In 2003, it had grain storage capacity of 19 million bushels and the co-op sold 12.5 million gallons of fuel. Read more about Mid Kansas Cooperative Association...

Moscow Food Co-op

Founded in 1973 as a volunteer-run co-op, the Moscow Food co-op has grown rapidly in recent years. From 1999 to 2004, sales more than doubled from $1.5 million to $3.5 million and the co-op's floor space will more than double in the fall of 2005, when it moves into its new 15,000 square-foot space. Read more about Moscow Food Co-op...

Open Harvest Natural Foods Cooperative Grocery

Founded in 1975, this member-owned retail co-op has over 2,000 members. In its mission statement it sets forth its commitment to equitable employment practices, support of local producers, consumer education, and sustainable agricultural practices. Read more about Open Harvest Natural Foods Cooperative Grocery...

Park Slope Food Co-op

The Park Slope Food Coop, located in the Park Slope section of Brooklyn, was founded in 1973 by a small group of committed neighbors. Today the co-op has more than 15,500 members. Unlike many co-ops where paying a fee is sufficient to become a member, members at Park Slope must commit to doing a workshift (there are some exceptions to this work policy for hardship cases) every four weeks in exchange for a 20-40% savings on groceries. The co-op estimates that this form of work exchange means that members do 75% of all co-op labor. Read more about Park Slope Food Co-op...

Recreational Equipment, Inc. (REI)

While headquartered across the Sound in Kent, REI began in Seattle in 1938 with 23 mountain climber members. With its flagship store located in the Cascade neighborhood, REI is the largest consumer cooperative in the United States, with more than 3.5 million members and 100 stores nationwide. Selling outdoor recreation gear and sporting goods, REI sales exceeded $1.43 billion in 2008. REI has been ranked every year in FORTUNE magazine's "100 Best Companies to Work For," since the list's inception in 1998. In 2009, it ranked 12th. Read more about Recreational Equipment, Inc. (REI)...

Sevananda Natural Foods Market

Since opening in 1974, Sevananda has provided natural foods to Atlanta residents. It converted from a non-profit corporation to a cooperative in the 1990s in order to raise equity from customers. Today, it is one of the larger community food co-ops in the southeastern United States with 3,400 members.  Committed to the community, the co-op prioritizes local sourcing and has run its “Be The Change” program, which encourages members to round-up their total and donates the proceeds to a range of local nonprofits, since 1997.

Tennessee Farmers Cooperative

Founded in 1945 to ensure dependable sources of products, the Co-op has 57 member cooperatives, with 150 Co-op retail outlets in 83 of Tennessee’s 95 counties. TFC is a federated cooperative system, which means a pyramid of ownership. The farmer members own their local Co-ops and the local Co-ops own TFC. Co-ops offer career training, internships, and 32 yearly scholarships to agricultural students as well as providing farming products and information to its members. Read more about Tennessee Farmers Cooperative...

Texas Electric Cooperatives, Inc.

The state of Texas has the nation's largest network of electric cooperatives, providing electric power to nearly three million customers. Read more about Texas Electric Cooperatives, Inc....

The Energy Cooperative

Started in 1979 as a spin off from Weavers Way Food Co-op, The Energy Co-op has expanded over the years to become a provider of renewable electricity, including solar, wind, hydropower, bio-mass, and bio-diesel.  The cooperative has a three-fold mission:  1) to provide energy cost savings, education, and advocacy on behalf of members; 2) to promote the efficient use of energy and the use of renewable energy; and 3) to support cooperative concepts and participate in the cooperative movement. As of 2016, the cooperative had nearly 6,000 members and $3.7 million in total revenues.

VHA Inc.

In 2003, this non-profit hospital member-owned purchasing cooperative negotiated supply agreements valued in excess of $20 billion on behalf of its members, helping member non-profit hospitals more effectively compete against for-profit chain hospitals. Read more about VHA Inc....

Weaver Street Market

Weaver Street is a food co-op that combines employee and consumer membership, with each group electing representatives to the co-op's Board of Directors. Currently, Weaver Street has 70 worker-owners and 8,000 consumer-owners. The co-op has expanded greatly in recent years, adding a second storefront and a restaurant operation. It has also supported the development of a housing co-op and serves as the site of many broadcasts of the new local community radio co-op. Read more about Weaver Street Market...

Western Farmers Electric Cooperative

Founded in 1941, this electricity generation and transmission cooperative supplies 19 member distribution cooperatives and others with electric power, meeting the electricity needs of residents and businesses in more than two-thirds of rural Oklahoma. Total operating revenues in 2007 exceeded $420 million with a net margin of over $19 million. Read more about Western Farmers Electric Cooperative...

Worker Cooperatives

Cooperative Home Care Associates

Founded 25 years ago as an employee-owned home care agency in the South Bronx, Cooperative Home Care Associates is now the largest worker cooperative in the United States, employing roughly 2,000 African American and Latina workers in the poorest urban county in the United States. CHCA’s nonprofit training arm, Paraprofessional Health Institute, annually trains more than 450 inner-city women to become home health aides. Read more about Cooperative Home Care Associates...

Mandela Foods Cooperative

Established in 2009, Mandela Foods Cooperative is a worker-owned, full-service, 2,300 square foot grocery store located in West Oakland, California that helps fill the need for healthy food options in a community that has been historically underserved in grocery retail. It offers an example of using a cooperative to fill needs in a food desert. Mandela has a series of community service goals. It seeks to expand and promote local buying power and employment opportunity through its efforts to increase purchasing from small farms within a 170 mile radius of Oakland. Read more about Mandela Foods Cooperative...

Green Economy

Elevate Energy

Elevate Energy (formerly CNT Energy) is a "think-and-do" tank that combines research with effective solutions. Elevate Energy focuses on helping customers and communities access the information and services they need to control energy costs and to become more energy efficient. Through relationships with municipalities in the Chicagoland region, utilities throughout Illinois, and other non-profit environmental organizations, Elevate Energy is able to achieve actual results in providing innovative solutions to energy challenges.  Read more about Elevate Energy...