Cooperatives

A cooperative (also co-operative or co-op) is defined by the International Co-operative Alliance's Statement on the Co-operative Identity as 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[1]. A cooperative may also be defined as a business owned by the people who use its services. Cooperative enterprises are the focus of study in the field of cooperative economics. Cooperatives have a sponsored top level domain .coop, which informs users that they are dealing with a co-op.