Alberta Co-op Grocery

What is a Cooperative?

A cooperative is an organization owned and controlled by its membership, with each member being an equal co-owner. Alberta Cooperative Grocery is a consumer cooperative, meaning that we’re owned by our customers who shop at the store and decide to become member-owners.

We, like all coops, follow the Seven Cooperative Principles adopted by the International Cooperative Alliance in 1995:

1. Membership is voluntary and open to everyone.
2. One member one vote: cooperatives are democratically controlled.
3. All members contribute equally to the coop’s capital base and benefit equally from the coop’s financial success.
4. Coops are autonomous organizations accountable only to their members.
5. Coops engage in education and training of members, elected representatives, and employees, to the ultimate benefit of all.
6. Coops cooperate with each other.
7. Coops foster sustainable development in the community through policies accepted by their members.

Types of Coops

Any type of business can be organized as a cooperative. Coops can provide services for a wide range of social needs. Below are several general variations of cooperative structure.

Consumer Cooperatives – The membership consists of people who consume the goods and services provided by the coop. These coops can provide services such as housing, childcare, food, energy, health care, savings and equipment. Examples include Alberta Coop, People’s Coop, Food Front Coop, as well as credit unions and housing cooperatives.

Producer Cooperatives – These coops provide goods and services for producers and are owned by the producers.  A number of producer coops exist to serve the interests of food growers; one Oregon example is the Tillamook County Creamery Association, a dairy farmer cooperative.

Worker Cooperatives – The members and owners are the employees of the business. Worker coops (like Stumptown Printers in Portland or Rainbow Grocery in San Francisco) are often small businesses and are found in industries as diverse as food processing, taxi services, and retail.

Cooperative Organizations – These are coops with organizations as members rather than individuals.  Two examples are the National Cooperative Business Association and the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives.

Links

Want to learn more about coops?  Check out these links:

GO.COOP (general information about coops) - www.go.coop

International Cooperative Alliance – www.ica.coop

National Cooperative Business Association – www.ncba.coop

National Cooperative Grocers Association – www.ncga.coop

US Federation of Worker Cooperatives – www.usworker.coop

National Cooperative Bank - www.ncb.coop

North American Students of Cooperation – www.nasco.coop

People’s Food Co-op - www.peoples.coop

Food Front Cooperative Grocery – www.foodfront.coop