COOP Stories – DotCooperation

Agromovil

March 2, 2021March 2, 2021 by Tom Ivey

www.agromovil.coop

The Farmers’ Platform. Putting Power in the hands of Producers, Co-ops & Co-op Associations.

Agromovil is a mobile supply chain platform that helps farmers connect with buyers to see new opportunities, sell direct, and find optimized transport – getting products to market more efficiently and profitably around the world.

A Better Model for Sellers, Buyers and Transporters

• Matching buyers and sellers
• Optimizing transport + payments
• Making money as the network grows
• Providing licensed data products and charging a percent of each sale on the platform

Competitive Advantages

Unlike competitors, Agromovil functions as an arranger, NOT an intermediary. The platform requires almost no infrastructure on the ground, making it easy to scale. The platform is growing quickly via relationships with banks, government agencies, and mobile providers.

Success in their Pilot Year – in just 6 months

• 1000 farms, 1300 total users on the platform, 150+ communities
• 500 tons of goods placed for sale, 80+ products
• Accessible to anyone – users aged 17-71
• Stickiness: 45% of all farmers who have downloaded Agromovil have posted,
145 more than 3x, at any given time more than 1/3 of farmers had an active post
• Expanding across Colombia, starting JV with USDA in Africa and in the US

Founded by Andrew Mack, Washington, D.C. entrepreneur and former World Bank executive, the Agromovil team includes globally-recognized entrepreneurs, and financial and technology experts including CTO Jens Francis, Lead Advisor Constanza Nieto, and AgTech startup veteran Rodrigo Iafelice.

About Cooperatives and .coop
The global Cooperative community has more than 1 billion members, representing 12% of the world’s employed population. All Cooperatives verify their identity when selecting a .coop web address. Your unique business identity is recognized online with a .coop domain name – your digital brand – a brand known for its economic advantages to its community, consumers, and members.

If you would like your cooperative featured, click on this link to submit your story.

Visit agromovil.coop on social media:

The United States Federation of Worker Cooperatives (USFWC)

February 15, 2021 by Tom Ivey

www.usworker.coop

The United States Federation of Worker Cooperatives (USFWC) is the national grassroots membership organization for worker cooperatives. Our mission is to build a thriving cooperative movement of stable, empowering jobs through worker-ownership. We advance worker-owned, -managed, and -governed workplaces through cooperative education, advocacy and development.

Our Federation includes more than 300 business and organizational members representing 10,000 workers across the country. We organize through local cooperative networks while building power with national and international partners to advance an agenda for economic justice rooted in community-based, shared ownership.

The USFWC was founded in 2004 when a core of worker co-op members came together with co-op developers, scholars, community organizers, and supporters from the broader co-op sector to strengthen worker co-ops through a national, sector-specific organization. Building on growing momentum, this founding event brought together worker co-op practitioners from the existing Western Worker Co-op Conference and the Eastern Conference for Workplace Democracy, as well as key players in Midwest and Southern states, to galvanize and support rising interest in the worker co-op business model. We organized an inaugural conference in Minneapolis to launch the Federation, deliberating over a long weekend to articulate a shared vision, identity, and organizational structure for this new democratically-run national organization.

From its very inception, the USFWC has centered the leadership of workers from democratic workplaces and of historically marginalized communities; especially leadership of color and leaders from low-income and immigrant communities. To this day, our membership is comprised of worker co-ops, democratic workplaces (consumer cooperatives, non-profits, and ESOPs with democratic staff management), cooperative developers, and various organizations and individuals that support worker cooperatives. These Federation members range from 2 to 2,000 workers and span dozens of industries with varying management and governance structures.

As a membership and advocacy organization, we connect worker cooperative members to benefits, to each other and to the larger cooperative and economic justice movements. We amplify our members’ voices to advocate for worker cooperatives at the local, state and national level. We provide consulting and technical assistance to cooperatives old and new. And through the education, training and organizing work of our partner organization, the Democracy at Work Institute, we are committed to ensuring cooperative business ownership reaches those who need it the most.

Our Federation is led by a 100% member-elected Board of Directors, member councils, and a small but mighty staff with offices in Oakland, CA and Philadelphia, PA. Annual membership dues are our primary funding source, supplemented by small grants, consulting and program contracts, and individual contributions.

If you would like your cooperative featured, click on this link to submit your story.

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FirstLight Federal Credit Union

February 9, 2021February 9, 2021 by Tom Ivey

www.firstlight.creditunion

FirstLight Federal Credit Union is a community financial cooperative dedicated to helping you and your families achieve financial security by providing accessible products, services, tools and education.

In 1955, nine pioneers developed a plan to help military and civilian personnel on Biggs Air Force Base have more access to credit and other financial services. They applied for a credit union charter to the National Credit Union Administration. On March 30,1955, they were granted charter number 10174 and the doors of Frontier Federal Credit Union were opened for business. While the credit union was servicing personnel on Biggs AFB, Fort Bliss Federal Credit Union served the military personnel just down the road. When the two credit unions crossed paths with the Army command over Biggs AFB, it was only a matter of time before the two credit unions merged.

n September 1996, the credit union submitted a community charter application to serve Doña Ana County and it was approved by the NCUA. The charter opened the doors of the credit union to all residents of Doña Ana County. Two years later, the credit union opened the Del Rey Branch, which added convenience and service to the Las Cruces market area.

During 1999, the credit union expanded services in El Paso with the opening of the Kenworthy branch. In October, the credit union also joined a shared branching network through the NCUA. In 2001 the credit union received approval from NCUA on its request to add an underserved community charter to include all of El Paso County. A third El Paso branch was opened on Lee Trevino in 2003.

In 2005, the credit union board of directors once again voted to change the name of the credit union to FirstLight Federal Credit Union. The reason for the name change was to communicate a commitment to reach out to the broader community, as now anyone in El Paso or Doña Ana County was eligible to join.

Since then FirstLight Federal Credit Union has made great strides in technology, community involvement, and financial growth. To learn more about FirstLight we invite you to read our Annual Report on the website.

The global Cooperative community has more than 1 billion members, representing 12% of the world’s employed population. All Cooperatives verify their identity when selecting a .coop or a .creditunion web address. Your unique business identity is recognized online with a .coop domain name – your digital brand – a brand known for its economic advantages to its community, consumers, and members.

If you would like your cooperative featured, click on this link to submit your story.

Visit FirstLight Federal Credit Union on social media:

Aroundtheworld.coop

January 22, 2021January 21, 2021 by Tom Ivey

www.aroundtheworld.coop

Aroundtheworld.coop (ATW) aims to enhance and share with the wider society best practices from the social and solidarity economy, both from Italy and around the world, contributing to raise awareness that alternatives to the mainstream is possible.

For this the ATW team aims to be a means for the internationalization of innovative knowledge and know-how, inspiring communities and individuals about collective solutions to local and global issues.

The ATW work is built on professional excellence and reliability. They aim to foster decent work while promoting democratic culture and sustainable human development, with the ambition to contribute to creating a world where social and economic cohesion and solidarity are the rule, not the exception.

Aroundtheworld.coop is committed to strengthen the ability of cooperatives, collectives, and social and solidarity economy organizations in general, to communicate their story of positive impact.

For this, aroundtheworld.coop operates by:

· transforming socio-economic research into participatory high-quality videos;

· carrying out research projects by adopting qualitative and quantitative methods;

· developing capacities of individuals and their organizations to effectively communicate their story and identity both internally and externally, through qualitative methods and digitalization;

· providing training and capacity development to universities and schools, development practitioners, and cooperators, among others.

The Aroundtheworld.coop started as a project from the idea of Andrea Mancori and Sara Vicari, a couple who traveled the world to document innovative cooperatives. The around the world trip was carried out in 2019, in partnership with the International Co-operative Alliance and in particular with the Coops4Dev programme. In total, they produced 13 videos that tell stories of cooperatives from all the continents

If you would like your cooperative featured, click on this link to submit your story.

Visit Aroundtheworld.coop on social media:

Federación de Cooperativas Federadas Ltda.

January 12, 2021January 12, 2021 by Tom Ivey

www.fecofe.coop

FECOFE IS A BRIDGE BETWEEN THE AGRI-FOOD COOPERATIVES.

We are a cooperative of cooperatives. We represent traditional agricultural livestock cooperatives and processed food cooperatives. Today we have 38 associated cooperatives in 8 provinces, and many others in the process of association, covering a wide spectrum of socio-economic and productive realities.

Our reason for being is cooperatives and associated small and medium producers, committed to inter-cooperation practices aimed at adding value at origin and contextualized in rural territorial development processes with industrialization.

We carry out actions to finance working capital and productive investment, for commercialization, equipment, infrastructure and value-added projects.

We commercially link food producing cooperatives through marketing channels that minimize intermediation, bringing cooperative products closer to consumers. We prioritize the progress of small and medium producers, as well as consumers’ access to healthy food at fair prices.

We are a second grade cooperative, founded on September 29, 2006 within the framework of the 94th Congress of the Argentine Agrarian Federation.

From the beginning, we proposed ourselves as an instrument for the integral development of cooperatives and their producers, seeking a balance between economic, productive and technological aspects, with social, union, cultural and environmental aspects.

At the Federación de Cooperativas Federadas Ltda., We conceive the participation of the members as an irreducible condition in decision-making, consistent with the mandate of democratic, autonomous and plural management.

With integration and competitiveness strategies, we direct our actions to the development of sustainable businesses, without the member cooperatives losing their independence.

If you would like your cooperative featured, click on this link to submit your story.

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Dublin Food Cooperative

January 7, 2021January 7, 2021 by Tom Ivey

www.dublinfood.coop

The Dublin Food Cooperative’s founding members met through the many anti-war and anti-nuclear demonstrations in the late 70s and early 80s.

Many had adopted a vegetarian lifestyle and were struggling to find access to food to that met their health, ecological and ethical standards.

They recognised that they could meet their common needs for setting up a bulk-buying co-operative, in which each family would pre-order and pre-pay, and participate in receiving and sub-dividing a monthly order from suppliers.

The Dublin Food Co-op slowly developed as a buying club, with membership rising each year and the co-ordinating group organising collections from different venues.

In 2007, the Co-op moved to new leased warehouse premises in Newmarket, Dublin 8 which allowed the Co-op over time to develop a 5 day a week Co-op Shop, a Co-op Cafe and its own market and event space.

The Co-op would host a range of popular markets in its space including the Dublin Flea Market during its time at Newmarket, as well as a range of organic farmers and other ethical producers.

Over time the Co-op began to focus on directly sourcing fruit and vegetables on behalf of its members, establishing strong relationships with a number of Irish organic producers.

The Co-op moved into its new premises in 2018 with the support of our members, Donore Credit Union and Community Finance Ireland. The Co-op was welcomed warmly by the local community, and the existing Co-op community found itself in good company. The Co-op has gone on to be a fixture of the Kilmainham/Inchicore community, with membership increasingly compromised of local residents while retaining many loyal members from Newmarket, Pearse Street and before.

After many years of focusing on navigating the challenges of operating at Newmarket, moving premises and getting established in a new shop, the Co-op is increasingly focused on its broader social, economic and environmental purposes and how it can best empower its membership to take collection action.

This has culminated in the latest innovation, the Community Development Programme, which provides training and capacity building to members and the wider community. The future of the Co-op is an exciting one, with lots of opportunities ahead for growing the services that we provide to our members, and increasing our social and environmental impact.

If you would like your cooperative featured, click on this link to submit your story.

Visit Dublin Food Cooperative on social media:

Food Co-op Initiative

December 21, 2020 by Tom Ivey

www.fci.coop

Strengthening Communities through Cooperation
Food Co-op Initiative paves the way for New Food Co-op Excellence, leading to better fed, healthier communities with local control and connections.

FCI aims to increase the number, success and sustainability of new food cooperatives delivering access to healthy food in diverse communities across this country. It provides information, training and technical assistance, as well as seed capital, and engages in research to blaze, maintain and improve the development path for new food coops.

History

Food Co-op Initiative began as a pilot project designed to test the theory that new food retail co-ops could open more quickly and successfully if they had appropriate guidance. Launched by a group of visionary co-op supporters in 2005, Food Co-op 500 started out by offering development grants and peer support to groups starting new food co-ops in diverse settings. In addition to providing guidance and funding, the organization wanted to see first-hand what impact different organizing practices and community types had on successful startup efforts. Patterns and trends started to emerge and Food Co-op 500 was able to offer more effective guidance based on our experience working with these early startups.

They adopted their current logo in 2015 to represent the process of opening a new retail food co-op. The first circle is for the organizing stage, as the conversation starts at the smaller “kitchen table” and grows to a larger community-driven initiative. The hard work of feasibility and planning move the startup forward in the second circle. The third circle is for the implementation stage of building out the store and opening its doors.

If you would like your cooperative featured, click on this link to submit your story.

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Ogun State Cooperative Federation Limited (OGSCOFED)

December 9, 2020 by Tom Ivey

www.ogscofed.coop

In 1952, all Co-operative Associations in the old Western Region came together and formed an Apex body which was known as Co-operative Union of Western Nigeria (CUWN). In 1976, as a result of political re-organization in Nigeria, the Western Region was therefore divided into three States namely; Oyo, Ogun and Ondo States, thus the need for the newly created States to form and establish their own Co-operative Unions in their respective States. This exercise gave birth to Co-operative Union of Ogun State of Nigeria Limited (COUSON) in 1976. Now Ogun State Co-operative Federation Limited (OGSCOFED) was created to serve as an umbrella Union of all registered Co-operative Societies and Unions in the State.

Services:
Ogun State Co-operative Federation Limited. (OGSCOFED) is an independent Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) established in February, 1976 in line with International and National best practices as the umbrella body to unite, represent and serve Co-operative Societies in Ogun State. OGSCOFED Limited like all other Co-operative Societies in the State is registered under the Ogun State Co-operative Societies’ Laws with registration number 35 as amended in 1985.

All Co-operative Societies registered in the State are statutory member affiliates of OGSCOFED Limited. Members of OGSCOFED Limited are found in all sectors of the economy including Agriculture, Banking, Health, Transport, the informal sector, Corporate Organisations and Industries as well as Federal and State Ministries, Departments and Agencies including Houses of Assembly.

OUR MISSION:
To foster the interest and harness the resources of members and to prevent any threat to their economic independence and corporate existence.

OUR VISION:
Is to be devoted to the advancement of economic democracy through cooperation.

About Cooperatives and .coop

The global Cooperative community has more than 1 billion members, representing 12% of the world’s employed population. All Cooperatives verify their identity when selecting a .coop web address. Your unique business identity is recognized online with a .coop domain name – your digital brand – a brand known for its economic advantages to its community, consumers, and members.

If you would like your cooperative featured, click on this link to submit your story.

Visit OGSCOFED on social media:

COOPCAFAM

November 30, 2020 by Tom Ivey

www.coopcafam.coop

COOPCAFAM is a Cooperative which is based on the philosophy of solidarity and with a solid administrative and financial model; stimulates savings, offers credit alternatives and other complementary services to contribute to the well-being and quality of life of the associate and his family group.

The Cooperative of Employees of Cafam COOPCAFAM, was born in October 1976, with 490 founding associates, beginning a work that has framed the cooperative values, through the development of activities aimed at improving the quality of life of the associates.

The cooperative movement, cooperativism or the cooperative movement is the social movement or doctrine that defines the cooperation of its members in the economic and social range, as a means to ensure that producers and consumers, integrated in voluntary associations called cooperatives, obtain a greater benefit for meeting your needs. It is represented on a global scale through the International Cooperative Alliance.

Solidarity Fund

The Solidarity Fund is fed by a variable amount of economic resources of a cooperative social nature, based on principles of mutuality and equitable benefit, destined to attend to situations of domestic calamity such as the occurrence of verifiable events or fortuitous cases of the Associate or his family group , that seriously affect the economic stability or the assets of the basic family nucleus.

Education Fund

The Education fund was created to address the educational needs of our associates and their families. The resources come from a variable amount that corresponds to 20% of the surpluses generated annually by the cooperative in compliance with Decree 2880 of 2004

Coopcafam turns these resources to ICETEX so that through the Coopcafam Educational Agreement, subsidies are granted in basic, secondary, higher education -Technical, technological and professional- for the associates of strata 1, 2 and 3 and their family groups.

Recreation and Culture Fund

The Recreation and Culture Fund was created with the purpose of guaranteeing culture and recreation services to a large number of Associates in conjunction with their family group. This fund seeks to contribute to the improvement of the quality of life of the associates.

If you are interested in participating in our recreation and cultural activities, we invite you to visit our events section of the Coopcafam webpage

If you would like your cooperative featured, click on this link to submit your story.

Visit COOPCAFAM on social media:

Vägen ut!

November 27, 2020 by Tom Ivey

www.vagenut.coop

Vägen ut! is a co-operative that offers services and products. We create real jobs for persons far from the regular job market. Our enterprises have over 100 employees, most of which have gone from being on benefits to entrepreneurship.

We have bats in the belfry, experience of addiction, criminal thought patterns, disabilities, stress symptoms and a constantly growing number of social enterprises with a turnover of more than SEK 43 million annually.

Our enterprises have a double mission. They sell environmentally friendly products and services, while creating work for individuals who cannot enter the labour market. We reinvest profits and create more jobs. This means we have social goals for our entrepreneurship. We start and run our enterprises together. Business acumen is combined with democracy and empowerment. This produces vigorous enterprises and real jobs.

If you would like your cooperative featured, click on this link to submit your story.

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