Co-ops By Design

Co-operatives by Design is a clearly written guidebook designed to help you help yourself. We take you through the process of developing your co-operative, from forming your core group, to developing your buisiness plan, to starting your co-op operations.

This volume grew out of the demand for resources on co-op development and was written by people with various experiences in co-operatives and co-operative development. Unlike other business planning manuals, this guidebook is designed specifically for co-operatives.

The guidebook is divided into 8 modules. This design allows you to acquire the modules you want and lets you use them in the order that suits your co-op's needs, whether you are a group of people with no experience in business starting a co-op for the first time, a business that wants to become a co-op, or an existing co-op that wants to expand.

What factors contribute to the success of new co-ops? What factors hinder their growth? What effective solutions can help address these challenges and lead to positive outcomes?

Effective Practices in Starting Co-operatives - The Voice of Canadian Co-op Developers provides insights and practical suggestions on these critical questions, as well as many other aspects of co-op development. Canada has a rich treasury of experienced cooperative developers whose insights and advice have helped many people start co-operatives in order to meet their economic and social needs. This volume contains a collection of essays written by co-op developers/facilitators and passages from interviews with developers across Canada and co-op development experts from Québec. Effective Practices is an effort to document helpful practices for developing new co-operatives under diverse conditions in Canada.

Effective Practices in Starting Co-operatives features articles and interviews with a crosssection of some of Canada’s most experienced co-op developers. Topics covered include:

• an orientation to co-op development
• financing new co-ops
• adapting the co-op model for particular populations
• an examination of governance and partnerships
• insights into the Québec co-operative experience challenges new co-ops face and
• an exploration of how co-operatives have been adopted to address economic, social and environmental concerns in a diversity of sectors and communities.

The CoopZone Developers' Network is a network of people and organizations dedicated to providing professional assistance to co-op entrepreneurs who are considering starting a new co-op or expanding an existing co-op. This site is a CoopZone is made possible by The Co-operative Development Initiative - a partnership of:

Click here for a directory of developers by region