starting a New Coop

Co-ops are a way of running an organisation, following internationally agreed values and principles <https://ica.coop/en/cooperatives/cooperative-identity>. A co-op is a group of people coming together to meet their needs or solve a problem, in a fair and democratic way. This may be a group of workers looking to set-up a business together or a local community looking to save a local shop, the pub, library or starting a new community space.  They can be small, local businesses like our own Preston Digital Foundation <https://thepdf.org.uk/>, a worker owned tech business of 3 members, or much larger businesses such as Suma <https://www.suma.coop/>, a food wholesaler which has been trading for over 30 years or of course,  The Co-op <https://www.co-operative.coop/> with 3,500 food outlets around the UK.

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What is a Cooperative

A co-op is a group of people coming together to meet their needs or solve a problem, in a fair and democratic way. This may be a group of workers looking to set-up a business together or a local community looking to: save a local shop, the pub, library or starting a new community space. 

They can be small, local businesses like our own Preston Digital Foundation, a worker owned tech business of 3 members, or or much larger businesses such as Suma, a food wholesaler which has been trading for over 30 years or of course The Co-op with 3,500 food outlets around the UK.

Co-ops can take a variety of legal forms. Co-ops are a way of running an organisation, following internationally agreed values and principles. 

To help you get started we have written a quick guide to starting a coop.