Credit unions are cooperatives. What does that mean?

Cooperatives are part of the self-help tradition of America. They are businesses organized by people to provide needed goods and services. Cooperative businesses:

• Are owned by the people who use their services
• Provide an economic benefit for their members
• Are democratic organizations, controlled by their members
• Are autonomous and independent
• Recognize the importance of education about cooperative business and organizational practices
• Support cooperation among cooperatives, which has resulted in the growing importance of cooperatives in today’s global economy
• Exhibit concern for their communities

Cooperatives provide just about any good or service their members need. Cooperatives offer credit and financial services, health care, child care, housing, insurance, legal and professional services. Cooperatives sell food, farm supplies, hardware and recreational equipment. They provide utilities, such as electricity, telephone and television. And cooperatives process and market products and goods for their members.

Cooperatives are everywhere—helping people meet their common needs through group effort. Look about your community—you’ll probably find a cooperative or two. Some cooperatives do not have the word “cooperative” in their names, so you may not always know the enterprise is cooperatively organized. Yet there are cooperatives for everything. You’ll find them everywhere people need to get things done efficiently and economically.