Local economy enhanced and protected. Having its businesses owned and controlled on a cooperative basis helps your entire community. Cooperatives generate jobs and business earnings for local residents. They pay taxes that help finance schools, hospitals, and other community services. Corporations A cooperative corporation is also a state-chartered business.
Management is controlled by a board of directors who are elected by the members.
One unique feature of a cooperative is that each member usually has only one vote, regardless of the amount of equity or shares of stock that member has in the cooperative. Another is that all or most of the directors must be members of the cooperative. Thus, the leaders are regular users of the firm's products or services. Equity comes from the members, rather than outside investors. It is obtained by direct contributions through membership fees or sale of stock, by agreement with members to withhold a portion of net income based on patronage, or through retention of a portion of sales proceeds for each unit of product marketed.