Cooperatives are the future of Small Business.
Why the cooperative model?
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![Chloe Chassaing, White Electric Coffee]()
Save Local Businesses
White Electric Coffee was put up for sale by its original owner in 2021 after the employees voted to unionize. Rather than let an iconic local business die, the employees purchased the business and converted it into a worker-owned cooperative. They’ve since grown and, like other small businesses, are weathering today’s economy.
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Circular Economy
When you buy from a worker co-op, you know that your money is going to the people running the business and that more of your money is going to stay local. This gives community wealth a chance to grow sustainably, at the local level.
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![David Allen Sumner, Break the Cycle Cooperative]()
A Job for Everyone
Break the Cycle helps formerly incarcerated people build new worker-owned businesses, because we believe everyone deserves dignified work. Worker cooperatives offer a model for sustainable job creation, no matter who you are.
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![Eric Beecher, Sol Power Cooperative]()
Green Energy
Sol Power started as a sole proprietorship and grew into a worker cooperative, bringing affordable solar panel installations to Rhode Island homes. More worker co-ops with community support could create jobs while continuing our transition to sustainable energy.
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![Emma Karnes, UFCW Local 328 and Co-op Rhody]()
Cooperative Cannabis
When Rhode Island legalized recreational cannabis, 6 licenses were reserved for worker-owned cooperative dispensaries. With the support of the UFCW Labor Union, Co-op Rhody is incubating worker cooperative cannabis dispensaries to offer an alternative for RI consumers.
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![Dillon Fagan, Providence Library of Things]()
Accountable Institutions
Cooperatives are democratically operated and organized for some mix of mutual and social benefit. They also tend to be smaller with fewer layers than traditional corporations or government institutions, making it easier for communities to hold them accountable.
What is a cooperative?
A cooperative is an enterprise that is organized for mutual benefit and practices 1 member : 1 vote.
Most cooperatives are guided by the Cooperative Principles.
Cooperative Models
Cooperative enterprises come in many shapes and sizes. And they each have their pros and cons.
RIWCA specifically advocates for Worker Cooperatives, but other co-op models also have their place in a solidarity economy.
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Worker co-ops are for-profit enterprises whose employees are equal owners and operate the business democratically.
Smaller co-ops make decisions collectively, while larger co-ops tend to elect a Board with chief officers.
New employees join as apprentices and are granted the opportunity to buy in after a reasonable trial period.
Profits are typically distributed in proportion to hours worked.
Examples: Sol Power, White Electric
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Social benefit or non-profit cooperatives don't have owners, but are democratically operated by their stakeholders.
As the name implies, non-profit co-ops are organized for a charitable or social purpose and cannot distribute profits to shareholders (since they don't have any).
Social benefit co-ops may also be referred to as a Cooperative Non-Profit or Worker Self-Directed Non-Profit.
Examples: PVD Bike Collective, PVD Things, Co-op Rhody
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Housing co-ops are owned by residents. Think of it like an apartment building, except the tenants own the building together.
They bear some similarities to Home Owner Associations (HOAs), except the cooperative model operates on a 1 person : 1 share : 1 vote basis and co-op shares must be sold back to the co-op. This means housing cooperatives have price controls built in.
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Producer co-ops are cooperatives whose members are other businesses. They organize themselves this way so that their products can be marketed and distributed under a common brand.
Examples: Cabot Farms, Ocean Spray
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Multi-stakeholder co-ops are a hybrid cooperative model, integrating multiple classes of owners so that every stakeholder has a voice. Workers and consumers, for example.
It is recommended that workers maintain majority stake in multi-stakeholder cooperatives, as they tend to perform best.
This model can serve as an innovative way to secure capital funding without taking on high-interest loans. It also gives community members a slice of their local businesses, so the local economy is owned by the locals.
We focus on Worker Cooperatives.
As the Rhode Island Worker Cooperative Alliance (RIWCA), our focus is to support worker-owned cooperative businesses or multi-stakeholder co-ops that ensure workers have a majority stake.
Combining workplace democracy with employee ownership reduces income and wealth inequality, lifts people up to become responsible business owners, and makes face-to-face democracy commonplace in our daily lives.
Worker Cooperatives and other co-op models require political support. Due to existing regulations, taxation, and lending practices at most banks, starting a cooperative can be more challenging than starting a traditional business.
We believe cooperatives deserve a fair market, so they can fairly compete (and cooperate) alongside other business models.
Become a co-op ally.
Are you starting a cooperative, converting your existing business into one, or just want to support our cause of building mutualism in Rhode Island? Contact us to start the conversation.
We’re always willing to cooperate.