Who we are
This platform is dedicated to sharing the stories of cooperatives, and the impact they have on the people they serve, and communities everywhere. Stories.coop was founded in 2012 and is made possible through a partnership between the International Cooperative Alliance, Euricse, and Identity.coop. Founded in the International Year of Cooperatives, stories.coop is part of an ongoing global campaign to celebrate the inspiring work of cooperatives around the world, using the tradition of storytelling.
What is a cooperative?
A cooperative is an independent enterprise that is owned and democratically controlled by the people who come together voluntarily to meet their common social, cultural and social needs. These member-owned entities operate under the universally accepted Seven Cooperative Principles and are guided by values that prioritize people over profit.
The cooperative advantage
Cooperatives are driven by the needs of the people they serve and are governed by leaders who are elected by their members through a democratic process. All profits generated from a cooperative are either reinvested in the enterprise or returned to the members. Because the economic and social benefits stay within the communities they serve, the cooperative model instills pride of ownership, strengthens the community, resulting in sustainable and high-quality service. Today, there are an estimated 1 million cooperatives worldwide, serving a total of 3 billion cooperative members across all sectors.
Partners
An initiative of:
Euricse is a research centre focused on cooperative and social enterprises located in Italy and international in scope. Euricse’s mission is to promote knowledge development and innovation for the field of cooperatives, social enterprises and other nonprofit organizations engaged in the production of goods and services. The Institute aims to deepen the understanding of these types of organizations and their impact on economic and social development, furthering their growth and assisting them to work more effectively. Through activities directed toward and in partnership with both the scholarly community and practitioners, including primarily theoretical and applied research and training, we address issues of national and international interest to this sector, favouring openness and collaboration.
The International Cooperative Alliance unites, represents, and serves cooperatives worldwide. Founded in 1895, it is one of the oldest non-governmental organisations and one of the largest ones measured by the number of people represented: 1 billion cooperative members on the planet. It is the apex body representing cooperatives, which are estimated to be around 3 million worldwide, providing a global voice and forum for knowledge, expertise and coordinated action for and about cooperatives. More than 310 organisations from 107 countries are members of the International Cooperative Alliance. The ICA’s members are international and national cooperative organisations from all sectors of the economy, namely agriculture, banking, consumer, fisheries, health, housing, insurance, and industry & services.
DotCooperation is a wholesale/registry of the .coop domain, with a subsidiary domain name retailer (registrar) Domains.coop. The .COOP domain is a top-level domain specifically designed for cooperative businesses worldwide, or entities within the cooperative movement. It provides them with a distinct online identity that highlights their cooperative identity, their values and principles. The .coop domain helps in building trust and credibility among customers, partners, and stakeholders by indicating a commitment to cooperative identity, allowing cooperatives to differentiate themselves in the digital world, while also promoting the cooperative business model as the most sustainable form of enterprise.
We also manage a global network of .coop domain name retail partners to better provide for the global cooperative ecosystem. DotCooperation is not only a domain name manager – we are also actively involved in promoting the cooperative identity, building data systems for the co-op network, and educating businesses on digital competency and branding. We do this through our initiatives; the Global Directory and Map (www.directory.coop), Co-ops Connect, Stories.coop, Events.coop and a full program of in-person and online content provision.