Cooperatives are one of the world’s oldest and most successful business models, yet most people know little about how they actually function. Here is a clear overview.
When people hear the word cooperative they usually think of a store that sells organic food or a farm in the country.. The cooperative model is really a lot more flexible and used in many more places than people think.
A cooperative is basically a business that is owned and run by the people who use it. These people are called members. They all have a say in how the business is run. If the cooperative makes any money it is shared among the members of going to people outside of the cooperative who own shares.
There are different kinds of cooperatives. Some cooperatives are owned by the people who work there. Some are owned by the people who buy things from the cooperative. Some are even owned by the people who live in the houses that the cooperative owns.. Then there are cooperatives that are owned by the people who supply things to the cooperative like farmers who work together.
What makes cooperatives special is that the people who are part of the cooperative get to make decisions. In companies the people with the most shares get to make the most decisions.. In a cooperative each member gets one vote no matter how much money they put in. This helps keep the power spread out of just a few people being in charge.
In Australia cooperatives have to follow rules that are different in each state. In New South Wales cooperatives follow the Cooperatives National Law, which tells them how to run things, who can be a member and how to share any money they make.
The cooperative structure is really important to the people at Afterlee Ecovillage. It makes sure that the people who live in the community get to make the decisions about the land of someone from outside who does not live there. The members of the cooperative have a say, in what happens and that is the whole point of the cooperative.