The following descriptions are how the organizations self-describe on their respective "about us" web pages.
For more links and materials, please see NASCO's Shared Resource Library.
For a listing of NASCO cooperatives, please see the NASCO Member Directory Map.
Co-op Job Boards
National Cooperative Business Association's Job Board
US Federation of Worker Cooperative's Job Board
Cooperative Grocer Network's Job Board
The Ontario Co-operative Association's Job Board
Jobs with NASCO (when available)
Co-op Directories in North America
A directory of cooperatives and credit unions in Arizona
Bay Area Housing Co-op Directory
A Wiki-like community directory for San Francisco Bay Area housing co-ops, communities, and collectives
A volunteer-run community server that also contains a director of co-ops in the Boston Area
Boston Community Cooperatives (BCC) is a non-profit organization formed to build community through cooperative living, member education, neighborhood improvement and collective action. Members participate in a group-equity model of communally owned, democratically controlled and affordable residential cooperatives.
Co-op Directory Service: Find A Natural Food Co-op Near You
The Coop Directory Service is an online source of information about natural food co-ops.
Fellowship for Intentional Communities Directory
a project of the Fellowship for Intentional Community (FIC), the FIC Directory is a list of intentional communities, ecovillages, cohouses, communes, co-ops, and other cooperative living arrangements. Intentional Communities can update or add their own listings.
Academic Research on Cooperatives & Community Economy Development
Canadian Cooperative Research Network
The CCRN-RCRC is your gateway to research on co-operatives in Canada. The goal of this site is to create an online network of co-operative researchers and practitioners that allows for idea exchange, research-sharing, collaboration, determining research priorities and creating a link between researchers, students, practitioners and existing co-op networks year-round.
This site provides a searchable research library with over 1350+ publications, profiles of Canadian and international co-op researchers, research topic ideas, a weekly updates about scholarships/events/publications and more.
- nouvelles
- bibliothèque – recherche sur les cooperatives (plus de 1300 publications) vidéo d'instruction
- profils des chercheurs
- calendrier d’événements
- Des idées de recherche et les priorités
University of British Columbia Co-operative Education Program
The UBC Co-operative Education program has grown to be the largest program offered at post-secondary institutions in British Columbia with over 3100 annual work terms. Co-op students are available in programs offered by Applied Science, Arts, Commerce (Sauder School of Business), Forestry, Human Kinetics, and Science.
University of California Center for Cooperatives
Provides research, education, extension and outreach to California's rural cooperative community.
University of Saskatchewan Centre for the Study of Cooperatives
USCSC develops and offer university courses that provide an understanding of co-operative theory, principles, development, structures, and legislation, undertakes original research into co-operatives, publishes co-operative research by Centre staff and other researchers, and maintains a Resource Centre of co-operative materials that supports the Centre's teaching and research functions.
University of Victoria Centre for Co-operative and Community-Based Economy
The Centre for Co-operative and Community-Based Economy is a focal point on campus for the promotion of interdisciplinary research and learning on subjects related to co-operative and community-based economy engaging faculty members from the University of Victoria and elsewhere, graduate and undergraduate students, and members of the wider community.
Univeristy of Wisconsin Center for Cooperatives
UWCC pursues an agenda of research, educational, and outreach that examines cooperative issues across multiple business and social sectors. The agenda encompasses all aspects of the cooperative business model, including development, finance, structure, and governance.
Community-Wealth is a project of the Democracy Collaborative at the University of Maryland. The resources offered include directories,breaking news, publications, and conference information, as well as cutting-edge initiatives from cities, states, community development corporations, employee-owned firms, land trusts, non-profit organizations, co-ops, universities, and much more.
History Commons (formerly Center for Cooperative Research)
The website is a tool for open-content participatory journalism. It allows people to investigate important issues by providing a space where people can collaborate on the documentation of past and current events, as well as the entities associated with those events. The website can be used to investigate topics at the local, regional, or global level.
Regional/National Associations US
.Coop is the only domain that is reserved for cooperatives and cooperative organizations that are guided by cooperative values and principles
Credit Union National Association
The premier national trade association serving America's credit unions.
The Democracy at Work Institute expands the promise of cooperative business ownership to reach those communities most directly affected by social and economic inequality. It ensures that further growth in the worker cooperative movement is both rooted in worker cooperatives themselves and reaches out to new communities of worker-owners.
Fellowship for Intentional Communities
FIC nurtures connections and cooperation among communitarians and their friends. They provide publications, referrals, support services, and sharing opportunities for a wide range of intentional communities, cohousing groups, ecovillages, community networks, support organizations, and people seeking a home in community.
Federation of Egalitarian Communities
A union of egalitarian communes which have joined together in the common struggle to create a lifestyle based on equality, cooperation, and harmony with the earth.
National Association of Housing Cooperatives
US nonprofit federation of housing cooperatives, mutual housing associations, other resident-owned or controlled housing, professionals, organizations, and individuals interested in promoting the interests of cooperative housing communities.
A federally insured chartered thrift and a wholly owned subsidiary of National Consumer Cooperative Bank, a US government-chartered, member-owned cooperative corporation, NCB helps cooperatives grow by crafting financial solutions and delivering banking services tailored to their individual needs.
National Cooperative Business Association
For nearly one hundred years, NCBA's mission has remained the same: To develop, advance and protect cooperative business. NCBA helps co-ops strengthen their businesses so they can better serve their members and transform the global economy and provides a strong, unified voice on Capitol Hill, and diligently works with lawmakers to enact cooperative-friendly legislation.
National Rural Electric Cooperative Association
NRECA was organized specifically to overcome World War II shortages of electric construction materials, to obtain insurance coverage for newly constructed rural electric cooperatives, and to mitigate wholesale power problems. Since those early days, NRECA has been an advocate for consumer-owned cooperatives on energy and operational issues as well as rural community and economic development.
National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative
NRTC represents the advanced telecommunications and information technology interests of 1,500 rural utilities and affiliates in 48 states. They help rural electric and telephone utilities strengthen their businesses with solutions uniquely suited to the needs of rural consumers.
National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation
A member-owned, nonprofit cooperative founded in 1969 to raise funds from the capital markets to supplement the loan programs for electric cooperatives offered by the Rural Utilities Service (RUS). Today they act as a market lender for the nation's electric cooperatives and provide financing and related services to RUS borrowers and non-borrowers alike.
Network of Bay Area Worker Cooperatives
NoBAWC is dedicated to helping build the worker cooperative movement in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. NoBAWC promotes and develops worker cooperatives and provides support for all members.
National Telephone Cooperative Association
An association of small, rural, community-based communications providers, NTCA is dedicated to improving the quality of life in rural communities through the advocacy of broadband and other advanced communications infrastructure and services.
US Federation of Worker Cooperatives
A national grassroots membership organization of and for worker cooperatives, democratic workplaces, and organizations that support the growth and development of worker cooperatives.
Council of New York Cooperatives
The Council of New York Cooperatives & Condominiums (CNYC Inc.) is a not-for-profit membership organization for housing cooperatives and condominiums in NYC.
Regional/National Associations CA
Ontario Student Cooperative Association (OSCA)
Ontario Student Co-operative Association provides an opportunity for community, education, development and support through and for student focused co-operatives.
The Ontario Co-operative Association (On Co-op) is a resource and common voice for Ontario credit unions and co-operatives in the areas of co-operative development, government relations, membership and communications, and lifelong co-operative learning.
Canadian Cooperative Association
The Canadian Co-operative Association provides leadership to promote, develop and unite co-operatives and credit unions for the benefit of people in Canada and around the world.
Other Co-ops
Justseeds/Visual Resistance Artists' Cooperative
Artists' Cooperative committed to making print and design work that reflects a radical social, environmental, and political stance.
CSI Support & Development Services specializes in affordable housing for low-income senior citizens with locations in California, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Michigan. They are senior apartment cooperative communities.
Cooperative Education
Association of Cooperative Educators
ACE is a membership organization that brings together educators, researchers, cooperative members, and cooperative developers from across cooperative sectors and national borders. The resulting cross-pollination of ideas enhances cooperative development, strengthens cooperatives, promotes professionalism and improves public understanding.
The Data Commons Project is a collaborative effort among a diverse array of organizations in the U.S. and Canada who share a mission of building and supporting the development of a cooperative economy. Their goal is to develop an accurate, comprehensive, public database of cooperative economic initiatives in North America.
Cultivate.Coop is an online hub for pooling knowledge and resources on cooperatives. It is a space to collect free information for those interested in cooperatives and where people can build useful educational tools for the co-op community.
Website with a great deal of information about cooperatives.
Co-ops and You!: The UW Center for Cooperatives Youth Site
News, Games, and Resources for young people learning about cooperatives
Cooperative Development
CooperationWorks! is a dynamic and innovative national cooperative created to grow the cooperative model across the United States.
Cooperative Development Foundation
The Cooperative Development Foundation is a 501(c)3 charitable family of funds that advances economic development through cooperative enterprises. CDF provides ongoing support for a wide range of cooperative development activities. including educational programming, public outreach activities, and management of grand and a revolving loan fund.
Social Justice & Co-ops
United States Solidarity Economy Network
The mission of the U.S. Solidarity Economy Network is to connect a diverse array of individuals, organizations, businesses and projects in the shared work of building and strengthening regional, national and international movements for a solidarity economy. The Solidarity Economy is an alternative development framework that allows for different forms in different contexts, open to continual change and driven from the bottom-up.
The US Social Forum (USSF) is a movement building process. It is not a conference but it is a space to come up with the peoples' solutions to the economic and ecological crisis. The USSF is the next most important step in the struggle to build a powerful multi-racial, multi-sectoral, inter-generational, diverse, inclusive, internationalist movement that transforms this country and changes history.
Responsible Endowments Coalition
The Responsible Endowments Coalition (REC) works to build and unify the college and university-based responsible investment movement, both by educating and empowering a diverse network of individuals to act on their campuses, and by fostering a national network for collective action. Their goal is to foster social and environmental change by making responsible investment common practice amongst colleges and universities, and to support the next generation of activists with a new and powerful toolkit.
Anti-Oppression Resource and Training Alliance (AORTA)
AORTA is a collective of trainers devoted to strengthening movements for social justice and a solidarity economy.
News and research on progressive social movements.