Page
Distinctive features of membership .....................
2
Members are owners and patrons .................
2
Member objectives ............................... 3
Member responsibilities ............................... 5
Understand the cooperative .......................
5
Adopt legal papers ............................... 6
Select and evaluate directors ......................
6
Provide necessary capital .........................
6
Use and support the cooperative ..................
7
Participate in affairs .............................
8
Provide information .............................. 9
Help obtain new members
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
10
Member control ...................................... 11
Voting methods .................................. I I
Nominating and electing directors ................. 12
Member decisions ................................ I5
Developments and challenges ..........................
16
Attention to member concerns
Advisory men? bers
. . . . . . . . . . .
Member attitudes
. . . . . . . . . . . .
...................
18
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
19
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
20
ner-members ....... 22
programs ......... 23
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
24
Large vs. medium and small far‘r
Member understanding of capita 1
Member equity retirement
. . . .
Cooperative Information Report 1, Section 7
Issued April 1990
Reviewed and approved for reprinting September 1993
Cooperative
Member
Responsibilities
hcl Control
“A cooperative is a voluntary’ contractual organization of
persons having a mutual ownership interest in providing them-
selves a needed service(s) on a nonprofit basis. It is usually
organized as a legal entity to accomplish an economic objective
through joint participation of its members. In a cooperative the
investment and operational risks, benefits gained, or losses
incurred are shared equitably by its members in proportion to
their use of the cooperative’s services. A cooperative is
democratically controlled by its memb