Cooperative capital

From Cultivate.Coop

  In 2005, the National Cooperative Business Association ^[1] formed a task force of co-op financial leaders from across the US to look at the challenge of raising investment capital, which faces so many co-ops. The group looked at the capital needs of cooperatives around the nation, and at potential sources of capital—“both equity, or at-risk capital with an ownership interest, and debt, via loans provided by creditors.” A 2007 Report is at: http://www.ncba.coop/component/docman/doc_download/41-0702reportfinal2

The Cooperative Capital Fund of New England was created in 2007 as an independent ‘sister’ organization to Cooperative Fund of New England. CCF invests in co-ops without asking them to give up control over their enterprises or charging high fees, as conventional investors might. ^[2] 

In June, 2010, Alan Robb, James Smith and Tom Webb (all of the international post-graduate Master of Management, Co-operatives and Credit Unions program, ^[3] presented a paper titled ‘Co-operative Capital: What It Is and Why Our World Needs It’ at a conference on Financial Co-operative Approaches to Local Development Through Sustainable Innovation, held in Trento, Italy. The paper examines how capital in a co-op differs from capital in an investor-owned business, both conceptually and in terms of behavior, and discusses the implications for public policy as well as co-opportunities resulting from the global financial collapse.  

See Also

• Obtaining start-up capital for cooperatives

References

1. ↑ http://www.ncba.coop
2. ↑ http://coopcapital.coop/coopcapital
3. ↑ http://www.mmccu.coop