Articles of Incorporation

Below, are the recordings for NASCO Institue 2020 sessions by room. Please share lessons learned with your cooperatives and communities. 

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The Democracy at Work Institute is building a comprehensive Resource Library that will include a wide range of materials, including academic papers, start-up toolkits, curriculum samples, actual documents from existing worker cooperatives, and more. The topic list below provides a map of the resources that will be available. We are also continuing to publish additional resources on a daily basis.

Presented by Daniel Miller (NASCO Staff) & David "Rosebud" Sparer (Herrick & Kasdorf, LLP)

Why do co-ops become legal corporations? What does it take to incorporate? What are the pros and cons of different legal statuses? What does non-profit status do for a co-op, and does your co-op qualify? These resources will help give answers to these questions and more, with specific examples to help your co-op.

What is a Nonprofit Corporation?

Not-For-Profit: Pros and Cons

Nonprofit Corporation FAQ's

Creating bylaws and policy in student cooperatives

One of the first steps to getting your coop incorporated is to write articles of incorporation for your state.  Most states deal with this through the office of the Secretary of State, but a few don't.  Articles themselves, though, are a fairly simple document, even if the whole thing is in legalese.  One thing about Articles of Incorporation is that they are a brief document, and you can read through them in just a minute or so.  The contents are simple enough that you should be able to get an idea of what you would need to change in reading them, and then those changes can be run by

There are a lot of reasons why coop groups decide to incorporate.  This document lists some of the main areas where your group will benefit from being an "official" corporation.