Information about starting new cooperatives:
- Cultivate.coop – 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.
- Steps to Starting a Worker Co-op (PDF), 1997.
- Putting Democracy to Work: A Practical Guide for Starting and Managing Worker-owned Businesses, 1992
- CDI’s co-op startup kit (PDF)
- For the nuts and bolts of cooperative legal and financial structures, the ICA Group’s Model Bylaws and Illustrated Guide to the Internal Capital Accounts System are indispensable!
- How Worker Co-ops Decide to Share Profits Your legal structure will determine different aspects of how the cooperative can distribute profit or surplus.
- Legal Entity Options for Worker Cooperatives Each state’s laws provide for certain general forms of legal entity, and some states offer additional options.
- Chapter 157A of the Massachusetts General Laws establishes worker co-ops as a legal entity in our state – and we were the first state to enact such a law!
- IRS General Survey of Cooperatives (PDF) – 20 page PDF file attempting to explain federal tax treatment of cooperatives, and we’re still confused.
WORC’N 