A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-controlled enterprise". Cooperatives are democratically controlled by their members, with each member having one vote in electing the board of directors.
Cooperatives may include:
businesses owned and managed by the people who consume their goods and/or services (a consumer cooperative)
businesses where producers pool their output for their common benefit (a producer cooperative)
organizations managed by the people who work there (a worker cooperative)
businesses where members pool their purchasing power (a purchasing cooperative)
multi-stakeholder or hybrid cooperatives that share ownership between different stakeholder groups. For example, care cooperatives where ownership is shared...