What Is a Cooperative?
Published: 2013-02-25
Translation
This is a translation of a Bulgarian-language post. It conveys the content faithfully but is not the author's original English writing.
What follows is rather dry information on what a cooperative really is. We were drawn to the principles and values voted by the International Co-operative Alliance.
What is a cooperative?
A cooperative is an association of natural persons with variable capital and a variable number of members, who, through mutual aid and cooperation, carry out commercial activity to meet their economic, social and cultural interests. A cooperative is a legal entity.
A cooperative can be founded by at least 7 legally capable natural persons, who take this decision at a founding assembly. The founding assembly adopts a charter and elects a chairperson of the cooperative, a management board and a supervisory board.
In 1995, in Manchester, United Kingdom, on the occasion of 100 years since the creation of the International Co-operative Alliance, the General Assembly adopted the Statement on the Co-operative Identity, which announced the world-recognised:
Cooperative values:
- Self-help
- Self-responsibility
- Democracy
- Equality
- Equity
- Solidarity
Ethical values:
- Honesty
- Openness
- Social responsibility
- Caring for others
Cooperative principles:
- Voluntary and open membership
- Democratic member control
- Member economic participation
- Autonomy and independence
- Education, training and information
- Cooperation among cooperatives
- Concern for community