How are cooperatives different from corporations?
Cooperatives are democratically owned and organized by the people that the cooperatives represent. While corporations are owned by shareholders and run by managers, cooperatives are owned by the people that are the cooperative’s members. Cooperatives are not motivated by the profit motive, as corporations are. The cooperative’s main reason for being is to further the well-being of its members. A cooperative can also be a group of small businesses that band together to do things that they cannot do by themselves. Cooperatives do many things • Extend short-term credit to members who need it • Form a collective voice that can petition the government to redress grievances. • Provide services that are often unavailable to the poor and that the state often cannot provide. • Health care • Education • Provide for utilities in rural areas in which it may not be profitable for companies to install phone lines, electrical transmission lines, etc. • Agricultural extension services Cooperatives can
