Co-ops

Doug O'Brien, President/CEO National Cooperative Business Assn -  As we look toward the year ahead, like all businesses, cooperatives face a great amount of uncertainty—in the economy, in policy and in how people engage with their work and each other.

The accelerating pace of technological change in AI and beyond presents both opportunities for businesses to increase productivity and major risks for individuals, both as workers and private citizens. Meanwhile, the long-term slide in people’s confidence in institutions, both public and private, continues. Finally, while some economic indicators show positive signs for the overall economy, far too many households find it nearly impossible to keep up with rising costs. With each of these dynamics—technology, institutional confidence and affordability—cooperatives have a unique and important role to play. When people own and control their own businesses, they can make sure those businesses benefits their members and communities. To put it plainly, the country and the world need cooperatives now more than ever.

For co-ops to thrive, they need to work together. This fact is baked into the Cooperative Identity in the 6th Cooperative Principle, “Cooperation among cooperatives.” While this principle includes the idea of co-ops doing business together, it also focuses on co-ops working together in association to ensure a better policy environment and to increase the public’s understanding. For these reasons, a group of co-ops came together 110 years ago to establish a cross-sector association for the U.S. then called the Cooperative League of the United States of America—what is currently known as the National Cooperative Business Association. Because co-ops are so critical for this moment, our work is as important as ever.

NCBA - There are 1300 worker cop=ops nationwide,  a number that has tripled in the past decade—with more than half launched in the past five years.