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 your state to make sure that they do not run afoul of your local incorporation laws. The purpose of the document is to tell the state what your corporation is called, who are its founding board members, and what its purpose for existing is. Additionally, the Articles of Incorporation will spell out where the coop's assets will go if the coop gets dissolved, and how the organization is controlled... by shareholders, owners, membership, etc. These are the Articles of Incorporation for CHEA, a NASCO member coop from Austin Texas.
