A cooperative is a business controlled by the people who use it. It is a democratic organization whose earnings and assets belong to its members. By patronizing and becoming an active member of a co-op, you invest yourself with the power to shape that business. You control the politics and economics of what is truly your organization.
This localized member control allows co-ops to be as varied as the people they serve. Thus, there are different types of co-ops including: food co-ops, housing co-ops, arts and crafts co-ops, book co-ops, bakery co-ops, bike co-ops, farm co-ops, rural electric co-ops, financial co-ops (credit unions), and insurance co-ops. And each of these has a flavor of its own, reflective of the desires of its individual memberships. Despite the diversity in type and tradition of co-ops, most have several things in common, particularly the ideals and principles from which they emerge.
This common bond of ideals and principles of modern cooperation is traced back to 1844 when a group of 29 weavers pooled their savings and opened the first successful consumer co-op on Toad Lane in Rochdale, England. These early co-opers saw themselves on a largely social mission, to provide for themselves cheap goods and services, which the burgeoning Industrial Revolution was keeping out of their reach in the service of personal profit. Their cooperative started out small, only selling a few staple items, but within a few years they had branched out generating annual sales of $100,000.
In bringing their social vision to life, the Rochdale Pioneers developed specific guidelines for the operation of their co-op. Today we call these guidelines the "cooperative principles". Though updated and modified, the principles bear the same social vision of these co-op pioneers. This vision has been shared by thousands of cooperatives around the world which have adopted these principles as their own, and used them to help organize cooperative businesses.
Cooperative enterprises, which follow cooperative principles and in the cooperative tradition, have many benefits. Although the specific benefits of each cooperative varies depending on the organization and the needs of its members, several benefits are almost universal:
- Cooperatives save money.
There is no owner/operator to take a profit from the customer: the customer IS the owner of a cooperative. Members ensure that their cooperative business provides the best quality products and services at the lowest possible cost.
- Cooperatives demonstrate economic democracy.
In an investor-owned corporation the people who have the most money and shares have the most control over the way the business is run. In a cooperative each member has an equal share and one vote when decisions are made. This is known as economic democracy.
- Cooperatives operate for the benefit of member/owners.
In acooperative, those with similar needs act together and pool their resources for mutual gain. As a democratic entity, a cooperative changes with the changing needs of its members.
- Cooperatives are non-profit.
In a cooperative no one person reaps the benefits if the business has been profitable. After bills are paid and money is set aside for operations and improvements, all profits are returned to co-op members. In a co-op, the purpose is not to make money, but to save it.Benefits such as these have served to empower and to enrich the lives of co-op members and the society at large. Examples include: the food co-op pioneering of natural foods retailing and food content labelling; the student co-op provision of housing which enabled many students to remain in school during the Great Depression; and generations of social and political activism which have grown out of co-ops and co-op communities.
Campus cooperatives bring the principles of member ownership and member control to the campus setting. Students, faculty and others form cooperative enterprises to provide low-cost or scarce goods and services such as health food, text books, dry cleaning, or bicycle repair. Campus cooperatives differ from non-campus cooperatives in that they frequently place a higher value on member participation. This emphasis on participation allows people to develop technical and leadership skills. It also makes student co-ops a great place to meet people.
The majority of student cooperatives are housing cooperatives: cooperative dorms, small houses, high-rise apartments, and townhouses. Student housing co-ops provide their services in response to very low vacancy rates in many university areas. University towns are known for the high number of students usually competing for a small number of units. This usually leads to overcrowding, badly maintained property, high rents and general abuse of student tenants. By limiting their membership to students, cooperatives help insure availability of student housing. Student housing co-ops are also somewhat cheaper than other student housing options.
Just like non-campus co-ops, student co-ops also provide a variety of goods and services. Types of student co-ops include:
- bike co-ops: providing bike and tool rental or repair services.
- photo co-ops: providing photo processing and equipment for use by their members.
- co-op bookstores: providing text books, trade books, and school supplies.
- co-op musicians' studios: providing practice or recording space.
- contraceptive co-ops: providing contraceptives and sexual health care information.
- dining co-ops: providing dining plans and open kitchens.
- credit unions (financial co-ops owned by their depositors): providing low interest loans and student-specific services.
Some of the earliest student co-ops in the United States were established around the turn of the century. In Austin, Texas and in Gainsville, Florida, students began by providing themselves with meal plans. Eventually, these programs led to early housing co-ops.
These co-ops plugged along, observing and participating in the rise of the Cooperative League of the USA (CLUSA), weathering the First World War and the Red Scare of 1919. Then as the twenties came to an end and the Great Depression set in, students, like most people in the US and Canada, were barely able to get by. However, the co-op activist and religious leader Toyohiko Kagawa provided the nation's students with a renewed vision of social and economic co-operation. Sparked by Kagawa's enthusiasm, the thirties saw the establishment of such long standing co-ops as the Berkeley, California; Ann Arbor, Michigan; and Toronto, Ontario co-op systems.
The Second World War stole a lot of the momentum of this period, drafting co-op members for the war effort. The end of the war, however, saw new demands for student housing and the establishment of co-op systems in Ithaca, New York; Oberlin, Ohio; and Lincoln, Nebraska.
The late forties also saw the first attempt at a national student co-op organization: the North American Student Cooperative League (NASCL). Although quite successful at first, NASCL's major funding source, CLUSA, soon cut support leaving it to peter-out in the mid-fifties.
In the sixties, the political fervor over the Free Speech Movement and the anti-war movement brought new enthusiasm to student cooperatives, this time as a social and political alternative to the larger, post-industrial capitalist system. Government support in the form of low interest housing loans in the US and Canada also contributed to the new boon of student co-ops. And, in 1968, the new NASCL, the North American Students of Co-operation (NASCO) was formed.
Since that time, NASCO has served as the main networking and support service of student co-ops, helping to weather the decades.
Student co-ops are part of a much larger movement. Although the local buying club, student housing co-op, bakery, or bookstore may be very visible, businesses organized as cooperatives include major corporations, like credit unions, rural electrical cooperatives and agricultural cooperatives. The Toronto Financial Post has reported that nineteen of the top 500 Canadian businesses are cooperatives. In the U.S., there are many cooperatives with annual sales over $2 billion, including Land `O' Lakes, Agway, and Farmland Industries.
Many cooperatives, large and small, have formed associations with each other to promote the development of new cooperatives. Some prominent associations have been instrumental in the birth of new enterprises including: the Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada, the Credit Union National Association, and the Canadian Co-operative Association. The North American Students of Cooperation or NASCO is the counterpart organization on the student level.
NASCO Main Office: PO Box 7715 • Ann Arbor, MI 48107 USA
Tel (734) 663-0889 • Fax (734) 663-5072