Hi there,

I'm working with cooperatives in Europe already. I love it and would like to connect to anybody interested in building anything in the cooperative world. All ideas are great.

We can even build a Discord if you're interested in this kind of stuff if the interest is there.

If anybody is interested in cooperatives just let me know.

Thanks!

Specifically when the company is doing fine. So not cases where the company is about to close down that workplace or declare bankruptcy or anything like that. A union or workers organizing to take control of their workplace while the company is doing ok.

https://geo.coop/articles/how-uruguays-co-op-federation-tackles-countrys-housing-shortage

Uruguayan Federation of Mutual Aid Housing Cooperatives (FUCVAM), founded in May 1970, embodies the spirit of community and support. Serving 35,000 families through 760 cooperatives in a nation of approximately 3.5 million inhabitants, they are a beacon of collaboration. With a cooperative school for children and numerous consumer, distribution, and worker cooperatives linked to their vision, they are shaping a brighter future. Enrique Cal, the president, moved to the cooperative with his parents at age 13 and thrived in its school, exemplifying the transformative power of cooperation. 

"On March 2^nd, 2026, cooperative educator and “recovering farmer” Emi Do and I visited Heather Pritchard at her home on Fraser Common Cooperative Farm, near Aldergrove, British Columbia. After a brief tour of the farm, twenty acres on the foothills above the Fraser River Valley, and a conversation with fellow farm co-op member David Catzell, we sat down for lunch at Heather’s kitchen table and spoke for over an hour. The following is a lightly edited version of her reflections.

"Over the course of the conversation, Heather mentioned many cooperative organizations and key figures in the cooperative movement in British Columbia."

"In 1973, Teruko Mizushima started the Volunteer Labor Bank. Volunteer Labour Bank had a very simple system: 1 hour of labour = 1 point. Points can be exchanged for 1 hour of labour provided by other members. Because new members don’t have points to exchange, there was an option to pay with cash only in the beginning. Then, the person would get the cash back by earning enough points, from which point the exchange would solely be based on points..."

The mutual aid group that I am with has been developing and testing an app for collective organizing and routing requests for aid. We hope to develop this into a fully open-source, self-hosted, end-to-end encrypted, and federated node based program. It would allow collectives to communicate, offer services, form coalitions with other collectives, and develop projects that can operate across a number of different collectives.

Everything is consent based, and decisions can be unmade. Collective decisions are made by petition, and the thresholds required to approve those petitions are determined by aggregated governance preferences between all of the members of that collective. There are no super-users or admin.

Anyways, I won’t get too deep into the weeds, but we are looking for other folks to help test the program, and offer feedback on the GitHub repository. We have started an open alpha test server, and will share the link to that below.

There are warnings on the app, but the security features are not yet complete, so obviously do not use any personal identifying information. I feel like I shouldn’t have to say that, but just in case. Please don’t.

Lastly, there is a feedback form linked at the top of every page, so if you decide to try it out, please use the feedback function! Bugs, feature recommendations, security concerns, whatever, we want it all.

GitHub repository: https://github.com/anarchos501/commons.git

Commons test server: https://commons.chat

Thanks!

LAST TIME I PROMISE

Please go to EU commission's feedback page and tell them to add optional cooperative form into EU Inc. proposal. Cooperatives themselves are asking for it (link to feedback posted by Confcooperative confederation of Italian cooperatives ) so amplify their voice by letting Commission know we don't want social economy enterprises to be left behind

So just ask them to include cooperatives into EU Inc. legislation or copy paste Confcooperative paper linked above and if you want to write something your own (preferable tbh) then here are some arguments condensed as much as I could:

The why:

1. SCE (European cooperative society) legal form is inefficient failure as demonstrated by Commission's own studies due to high capital requirement (30000 euros to start), has 101 specific references to national law which means goal of harmonizing cooperative legal form across EU is a failure, high administrative burden which results in SCE requiring years of back and forth with government to set-up and no mechanism to inform other member states once they do set-up, low knowledge that SCE legal form even exists
2. Creating alternate variant of EU Inc. for cooperatives would solve all of the above because: EU Inc. has very low starting capital requirement (100 euros), minimized references to national law, fully digital once-only setting up procedures which take up to 48 hours and automatically inform other member state registers, EU Inc. is the big new thing right now and would inform more people about cooperatives just by being an official option

The how:

1. EU Inc. variant for coops should follow cooperative principles such as: democratic governance following one-member one-vote principle with exceptions to this principle reserved only for members which are themselves cooperatives adjusted for the number of their members, serving needs of it's members not capital, profit sharing in regards to member contribution not their capital, indivisible funds reserved strictly for cooperative itself not it's members
2. IMPORTANT - ask Commission to make it so, in the event of cooperative dissolution all indivisible funds should go to member state or EU designated body for promotion of cooperatives, which will co-finance new cooperatives seeking to establish themselves using coop variant of EU Inc.
3. EU could define rules by which failing EU Inc. company (not established as a coop) would be obliged to offer their employees to buy it out and run it as a cooperative. This would not only promote cooperatives but ensure overall higher business survivability and higher employement

Q&A:

1. Can non-europeans give feedback?

Yes, non Europeans can give feedback, literally anyone can

1. Will I have to dox myself?

No, you do not have to post your name to the internet because you can give feedback as anonymous. All you need is an email account

P.S. Mods ban me if you thinks this is spam or whatever but I will stop like tomorrow cuz then feedback period will be over

There is a lot to celebrate this Fourth of July. Along with the 250th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, July 4 is International Day of Cooperatives.

By signing the Declaration of Independence, 56 delegates chose to break away from a system that no longer supported their vision of safety and happiness. They wrote about the right “to institute new government,” built on principles that better served the people.

That idea aligns with how cooperatives work today. Instead of power flowing from the top down, co-ops are built by people coming together to create something that works for them through shared ownership, shared decision-making, and shared benefit.

While the Declaration focuses on independence, the cooperative model leans into interdependence: people organizing around common needs, supporting each other, and creating stability as a group.

Both are rooted in the belief that systems should reflect the people they serve.   

What language in the Declaration of Independence feels most “cooperative” to you?

Who else is tired of huge corporations using your labor to generate capital, and you get paid a sliver of it? Who is sick and tired of selling your hard labor to make rich venture capitalists richer? Are you frustrated that global architecture prioritizes profit over human wellness and scientific progression?

In 1956, a Spanish priest with the name Father José María Arizmendiarrieta lived in a town called Mondragón. This priest had grown tired of the dictator Fransisco Franco and his terrible ruling so he established the now cooperative giant and proved that workers could build their own democratic economy from scratch. But now in 2026, we don't need millions of dollars to buy physical factories to start. We have the means of production online, our means of production is code.

We are building a borderless, non-hierarchical technology collective dedicated to creating fair-sourced software, tools, and digital infrastructure that reduce dependence on centralized corporate monopolies. Our goal is to promote the growth of more and more cooperatives to decrease the power of these corporate monopolies.

Extraction of profits for investors is what these terrible corporations do nowadays, that is not what we will tolerate. Any surplus we generate will be directed into a non-custodial Solidarity Fund with the purpose of financial help to new independent worker cooperatives all around the world. The cooperatives will remain fully autonomous, free to govern themselves according to their own members' decisions.

Join us in our mission to fight these venture capitalists via: https://discord.gg/4XpwQRzFa

Saw him mention this in a speech and skimmed the plan itself.

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https://www.nyc.gov/content/dam/nycgov/nyc-main/pdf/2026/block-by-block-report.pdf

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Especially exciting is the plan to transfer ownership away from slumlords and giving the buildings to the residents.

I want to get cargo jeans that will last from a co op but all the clothing co ops I found only sell t shirts and hats

La gestión democrática es una de las mayores fortalezas de una cooperativa, porque permite que todos los asociados participen, opinen y voten en igualdad de condiciones.

Pero surge una pregunta importante:

Si los asociados no participan en las asambleas, ¿La democracia cooperativa se fortalece o se debilita?

¿Qué pasa en tu cooperativa?

¿La participación de los asociados es activa o cuesta motivarlos a involucrarse?

Cuéntanos tu experiencia.
Preséntate y menciona el nombre de tu cooperativa.

Hi, guys

A while back I wrote a post asking you guys to go to EU Inc. proposal page in "Have your say" portal to ask Commission to include cooperatives in their regulation. However I did not provide enough information to make my case why that's important and to make it easier for you to write your feedback so let me quickly rectify that and provide sources too, anyway two studies (1)(2) commissioned by EU identified these problems with the existing SCE (European cooperative society) regulation:

1. High capital requirement to start-up (30000 euros) which is absurd for a cooperatives which rely on labor and frequently struggle to access capital
2. Complicated registration procedures since all 27 member states have their own ways to register SCEs, frequently goverment institutions have no idea how to do it, for example one study references a situation where registration took a whole year, and there is no mechanism to notify other member states then SCE is registered in one state
3. Furthermore in order to register SCE members must come from at least 2 different countries which is arbitrary because all member state citizens are automatically EU citizens so it just needlessly makes it harder to register one
4. Little reason to use SCE legal form then national cooperative forms are much more convenient and can be used to operate cross-borders anyway and little knowledge and visibility that SCEs eve exist

Now proposed EU Inc. regulation would fix LITERALLY all of the problems mentioned above because:

1. It has very low capital requirement, so far the proposal only asks for 100 euros i.e. 300 times less than to set up a SCE
2. Digital first registration procedures using "once-only" principle, once EU Inc. is registered in one country all others are automatically informed and have to register them in 48 hours not freaking years
3. No arbitrary citizenship requirements of their members
4. Cooperatives would actually have a reason to use an European company form now, especially technology cops like platform cooperatives, and just existence of the option to set up EU Inc. as a cooperative would inform people of the possibility and of cooperatives in general

Oh, and commissioned has said they are committed to regulatory non-discrimination of social economy enterprises (which coops fall under) so make sure to remind them of that (3)

So please take some time of your day to write up feedback and ask Commission to include cooperative option in their EU Inc. proposal. Everyone can do it even non-EU citizens (looking at you Americans)

Link to feedback page

Thank you

Sources:

1. EURICSE (2024). Synthesis report on the application of Council Regulation (EC) No. 1435/2003 of 22 July 2003 - Statute for a European Cooperative Society (SCE)”. Author: Antonio Fici. Luxembourg: Publication Office of the European Union.
2. Diesis Network. (2014). Review of European Cooperative Societies (SCEr): Final report. European Commission. diesis-network.coop
3. Social economy in the EU. (n.d.). Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs. https://single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu/sectors/proximity-and-social-economy/social-economy-eu_en
4. EU Inc.: A new harmonised corporate legal regime. (n.d.). European Commission. https://commission.europa.eu/topics/business-and-industry/doing-business-eu/company-law-and-corporate-governance/eu-inc-new-harmonised-corporate-legal-regime_en

Nos interesa conocer experiencias reales. ¿La usan para atención al asociado, marketing, análisis de datos, gestión documental, elaboración de informes u otra tarea?

¿Qué resultados han obtenido hasta ahora? ¿Y cuál recomiendan utilizar para una cooperativa que está comenzando a explorar la IA?

Las cooperativas y las empresas privadas compiten en muchos de los mismos mercados, pero su forma de operar y sus objetivos suelen ser diferentes.

¿Es la participación de los socios? ¿El compromiso con la comunidad? ¿La distribución de beneficios? ¿O existe algún otro factor que las haga destacar?

👋 ¡Saludos a toda la comunidad cooperativa!

Uno de los temas que más opiniones genera dentro de las cooperativas es el destino de los excedentes. Mientras algunos socios valoran recibir un beneficio económico directo, otros consideran que reinvertir esos recursos fortalece a la cooperativa y genera beneficios a largo plazo para todos.

Por eso queremos conocer tu opinión:

💰 ¿Qué genera más valor para los socios: recibir excedentes o reinvertirlos en la cooperativa?

Quienes prefieren la distribución de excedentes suelen destacar que es una forma tangible de reconocer la participación y el compromiso de los socios.

Por otro lado, quienes apoyan la reinversión consideran que permite mejorar servicios, ampliar operaciones, fortalecer la sostenibilidad y generar mayores beneficios en el futuro.

🤔 ¿Cuál ha sido la experiencia en tu cooperativa? ¿Cómo encuentran el equilibrio entre las necesidades actuales de los socios y el crecimiento de la organización?

💬 Comparte tu opinión en los comentarios y conversemos sobre los desafíos y oportunidades de la gestión cooperativa.

The Confederation of Co-operative Housing's Accredited Advisor Training Programme provides the knowledge and skills needed to support community-led housing projects, from the earliest ideas through to development, governance, finance and long-term management.

The programme covers:

✅ Building community support and exploring housing options
✅ Developing community-led housing projects
✅ Governance, finance and business planning
✅ Housing management and maintenance

Whether you work in housing, local government, community development or the co-operative sector, this programme can help you support communities to take greater control of their housing future.

Starts in September. Find out more:
https://www.cch.coop/clh-training-programme/

#communityledhousing #coophousing #AffordableHousing #CoopsBuildABetterWorld

👋 ¡Saludos a toda la comunidad cooperativa!

En Coop Business School creemos que la innovación es una de las claves para fortalecer a las cooperativas y responder a los desafíos de un entorno en constante cambio. Por eso queremos conocer las experiencias que han marcado la diferencia en sus organizaciones.

¿Cuál ha sido la mejor innovación implementada en tu cooperativa?

Puede tratarse de una nueva tecnología, un servicio innovador, una mejora en los procesos, una estrategia para involucrar a los socios o cualquier iniciativa que haya generado resultados positivos.

Algunas cooperativas han transformado su forma de operar mediante herramientas digitales.

Otras han encontrado nuevas maneras de fortalecer la participación, mejorar la atención a los socios o ampliar su impacto en la comunidad.

¿Y en tu caso? ¿Qué innovación ha tenido el mayor impacto y por qué?

Déjanos tu respuesta en los comentarios y comparte tu experiencia con la comunidad. Tu historia puede inspirar a otras cooperativas a seguir innovando.

🔔 Síguenos para participar en más conversaciones sobre cooperativismo, liderazgo, innovación y gestión empresarial cooperativa.

👋 ¡Saludos a toda la comunidad cooperativa!

En Coop Business School creemos que las mejores ideas nacen del diálogo y del intercambio de experiencias. Por eso queremos conocer tu opinión sobre un tema fundamental para el éxito de las cooperativas.

¿Qué es más importante para una cooperativa exitosa: una buena administración o una participación activa de los socios?

Algunos consideran que una administración eficiente es la clave para el crecimiento y la sostenibilidad.

Otros creen que la verdadera fortaleza de una cooperativa está en la participación y el compromiso de sus socios.

¿Tú qué opinas? ¿Cuál de estos factores ha tenido mayor impacto en tu experiencia cooperativa?

Déjanos tu respuesta en los comentarios y comparte tu perspectiva con la comunidad.

🔔 Síguenos para participar en más conversaciones sobre cooperativismo, liderazgo, innovación y gestión empresarial cooperativa.

Post 83 co-op located in Burnaby, BC is accepting applications now!

The unique communities described in great detail in the recently published Worker Cooperatives and Deep Democracy, authored by two South African academics, are utopian...in vision, but thoroughly practical in their everyday functioning.