Co-ops 101

Sno-Isle Food Co-op, Store Front Windows 1997

Sno-Isle Food Co-op, Store Front/Grand Opening 1997

Sno-Isle Food Co-op, Yard Signs 1996

By Rebekah West, Outreach Coordinator

What does it mean to be a cooperative?
Cooperatives, or co-ops, are created to meet community needs and are collectively owned and democratically controlled by the people who directly benefit from its services. Co-ops are typically not-for-profit, with any revenue being shared between owners as well as being reinvested into growing the business or supporting community needs. Cooperatives are businesses, and all businesses must be profitable to survive, but unlike corporations and most other business models, co-ops look at the Triple Bottom Line: People, Planet, and Profit, which must be kept in equilibrium. There are many types of co-ops in our communities, the most common of which are credit unions, farm supply stores, cooperative housing and schools, and, of course, grocery stores—known as food co-ops. What sets co-ops like ours apart from other businesses and binds them all together are the internationally recognized Seven Cooperative Principles.
1. Voluntary membership - Sno-Isle Food Co-op is a voluntary organization, open to all persons willing to accept the responsibilities of membership, without discrimination based on race, religion, age, social status, political affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity, or other.
2. Democratic member control - We are a democratic organization governed by our member-owners. Representatives are elected to serve the Co-op. All owners have equal voting rights (one vote per owner account).
3. Members’ economic participation - As an owner, you contribute equity to the Co-op with a one-time $100 investment. You also contribute to the Co-op with your purchases and volunteer support. You may also vote for the local organizations the Co-op supports through its donations. And as an owner, you benefit from Co-op sales, store discounts, and Patronage Dividends.
4. Autonomy and independence - We are self-governed by our owners, following the governance policies enacted by the elected Board of Trustees.
5. Education, training, and information - We provide education and training for our owners, elected representatives, and staff so they can contribute to the betterment of our cooperative and community. We inform the general public about the nature and benefits of these Cooperative Principles.
6. Cooperation among cooperatives - We work with the National Co+op Grocers (NCG) and other cooperatives in the region to build our collective strength through education, information sharing, and combined buying power.
7. Concern for community - We support economically, environmentally, and socially healthy and resilient local community through our co-op’s practices, policies, and programs. We work in cooperation with local governments, businesses, farmers, and others to improve the overall health of our community.
In 2016, SIFC’s Board of Trustees determined that the cooperative principles in place, while essential to the core of cooperatives, did not fully convey the scope of our co-op’s mission and values. They voted to adopt an additional five cooperative principles to codify their commitment to equity and sustainability, bringing their organization up to a total of twelve guiding principles. These are:
8. Concern for ecosystems - We value the Earth’s living systems, beings, and resources. We are committed to minimizing our impact on them and to supporting their regeneration.
9. Concern for workers - We are committed to providing safe, purposeful, and dignified employment at a livable wage. We encourage and enable staff participation in the governance and economic success of the Co-op.
10. Skilled cooperative management - We rely on skilled management that empowers staff and aligns with the cooperative business model. We seek to develop staff skills and improve understanding of our business and the broader cooperative movement.
11. Strategic leadership - We are committed to cultivating leadership, accountability, and trust among all levels of operation. Leaders are aligned on principles and strategy, while demonstrating individual initiative. They seek diverse perspectives and challenge their own assumptions.
12. Innovative culture - We are committed to fostering a culture of diversity, learning, innovation, and continuous improvement to better serve our owners, ensure the Co-op’s success, and improve implementation of the cooperative principles.
Each of these twelve principles is downright radical when placed next to the norm of consumer capitalism, and combined offer a sharp rebuke of the notion that exploitation of workers, resources, or environment is an inescapable part of doing business. Co-ops propose and successfully model another way to engage with the economy, one that respects the dignity of the customer as much as the producer of the store clerk as much as the general manager. The ethos of equity, stewardship, and community has been a feature of the cooperative movement since its inception.

A Brief History of Food Co-ops
Humans have always needed to cooperate with each other for mutual survival, but the modern cooperative movement emerged during the Industrial Revolution in the 19th Century as a grassroots rebuke of the staggering wealth inequality of the time. People were moving from rural areas to bigger towns and cities to find work. Most people during this time were working long hours for low pay, often in hazardous conditions, and still struggling to access affordably-priced food and other household needs for their families, all while their employers were reaping enormous profits off of their labor. Often, the factory owners also owned the shops in town and they set the cost of goods too high for their employees to easily afford. There were very few opportunities for anyone who was not already wealthy to improve their station in life, as most workers never made enough money to become financially independent from their employers and landlords. The cooperative model offered one of those much-needed opportunities.
The first modern co-op was founded in England in 1844, by a group of 28 weavers who named themselves the Rochdale Equitable Pioneers Society. They pooled their limited resources to purchase bulk quantities of food and other household necessities directly from farmers and artisans and opened a general store in their town, where they could offer their families and community quality goods at a fair price. Every household that bought into the co-op owned an equal share and had an equal voice in its decision making, benefitted and built wealth for an entire community, not just a few choice members. It was the Rochdale Pioneers that first drafted the 7 Cooperative Principles that today’s co-ops adhere to. The model proved successful and caught on in Europe, North America, and beyond.
In the United States, the cooperative movement began to take off in the mid 1930’s due to the widespread unemployment, poverty, and hunger during the Great Depression. The food supply was hit especially hard by the Depression. Millions of people were starving, but on farms across the nation, food was rotting in the fields because the extreme inflation of the time meant that farmers could not make enough money selling their crops at market to pay the workers needed to harvest it. By adopting the tried-and-tested cooperative model, neighbors were able to work together to supply food and other needs for their community, as well as creating much-desired employment opportunities.
It started with food co-ops, but before long cooperative businesses serving a plethora of needs were operating all over the country, successfully helping many communities get back on their feet. Co-ops became especially prolific in the Midwest and was a boon for the recovering agricultural industry there, and the region still has the highest concentration of cooperative businesses in the nation. Farmers bought into and cooperatively operated farms, and when they needed new agricultural machinery, farm implement manufacturing cooperatives opened. Cooperative granaries started up, and then cooperative food processing and packing operations, and the list goes on. The cooperative model empowered communities to band together for the benefit of all, and it proved to be very successful in helping many communities get back on their feet after the devastating effects of the Great Depression.
Co-ops continued to grow in popularity and by the 1950’s the number of co-ops in the United States reached 22,000 with more than six million member-owners benefitting from their services. At the time, corporate leaders in many industries shrewdly recognized that cooperatives were a threat to their plans for growth and market domination, so they launched an anti-cooperative propaganda campaign to change the public image of the cooperative movement. The timing was opportune—the U.S. was amid a period of the Cold War known as the Red Scare where a heightened fear of communism pervaded society and the airwaves. The practice of targeting individuals and institutions and labeling them as communist to discredit them was commonplace and usually successful. Co-ops found themselves on the receiving end of a well-funded media campaign, all of which pushed a dire warning that co-ops were “un-American, subversive and communistic.” Unfortunately, despite that co-ops are fundamentally democratic, the deceptive smear campaign was effective. Public support for co-ops dropped and many cooperative businesses shut their doors. Despite these setbacks, the cooperative movement survived and adapted to the changing times.
The most well-known type of co-op in the U.S. today is the natural food co-op, which got its start at the same time the environmental movement started picking up steam. In the 1970s, agrochemical corporations developed synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides, which were quickly being applied to more and more of the country’s food supply without adequate testing for human, animal, or environmental safety. To avoid consuming unnecessary toxins from food produced using agrochemicals, concerned citizens formed buying clubs to purchase wholesale amounts of natural, unadulterated foods and other products and distribute amongst themselves, and then as they grew in size and popularity natural food cooperatives began to form. Food co-ops are grocery stores, but unlike the big-chain supermarkets they specialize in products that are whole, organic, Fair Trade, non-GMO, and sourced locally whenever possible.
Today there are hundreds of cooperative grocery stores in the U.S., and more than 200 stores (including Sno-Isle Food Co-op) in 38 states are partnered with National Co+op Grocers (NCG), a cooperative for cooperatives. NCG provides food co-ops an opportunity to unite and combine purchasing power to negotiate better rates from producers and suppliers, as well as offering other businesses services to co-ops. NCG is also a vocal organization for social and environmental advocacy that aligns with cooperative values and principles. Food co-ops have stood the test of time to prove they are a viable, sustainable, people-centered alternative to big supermarket chains for many communities large and small, with the potential to expand their reach and positive impacts even further.

Over the next year, we will be featuring all 12 Cooperative Principles in a monthly feature on our blog. We will explore each principle in turn and how Sno-Isle Food Co-op is being guided by them as we strive towards growing the health of our communities from the roots up!

Bibliography

Grocery Story: The Promise of Food Co-ops in the Age of Grocery Giants (2019) by Jon Steinman - Available for purchase from our mercantile department!

Fair Food: Growing a Healthy, Sustainable Food System for All (2011) by Oran B. Hesterman of the Fair Food Network

Food for Change: The Story of Cooperation in America (2014) a documentary from Steve Alves