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Cooperative Principles

Coastal Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive is guid­ed by sev­en inter­na­tion­al­ly rec­og­nized prin­ci­ples. These Sev­en Coop­er­a­tive Prin­ci­ples resem­ble those adopt­ed by one of the world’s first coop­er­a­tives in Rochdale, Eng­land in 1844:

A turquoise circle with three white raised hands, numbered "1" in black at the top, symbolizing unity, voting, or participation.

Voluntary and Open Membership

Coop­er­a­tives are vol­un­tary orga­ni­za­tions, open to all per­sons able to use their ser­vices and will­ing to accept the respon­si­bil­i­ties of mem­ber­ship, with­out gen­der, social, racial, polit­i­cal, or reli­gious dis­crim­i­na­tion.

A yellow semicircular icon features a black number 2 above a rectangular box with a checkmark, representing the concept of a checklist or step two.

Democratic Member Control

Coop­er­a­tives are demo­c­ra­t­ic orga­ni­za­tions con­trolled by their mem­bers, who active­ly par­tic­i­pate in set­ting poli­cies and mak­ing deci­sions. The elect­ed rep­re­sen­ta­tives are account­able to the mem­ber­ship. In pri­ma­ry coop­er­a­tives, mem­bers have equal vot­ing rights (one mem­ber, one vote) and coop­er­a­tives at oth­er lev­els are orga­nized in a demo­c­ra­t­ic man­ner.

The image shows the number three above two black-outlined coins with a dollar symbol, all on a green background. No landmarks or historical buildings.

Members’ Economic Participation

Mem­bers con­tribute equi­tably to, and demo­c­ra­t­i­cal­ly con­trol, the cap­i­tal of their coop­er­a­tive. At least part of that cap­i­tal is usu­al­ly the com­mon prop­er­ty of the coop­er­a­tive. Mem­bers usu­al­ly receive lim­it­ed com­pen­sa­tion, if any, on cap­i­tal sub­scribed as a con­di­tion of mem­ber­ship. Mem­bers allo­cate sur­plus­es for any or all of the fol­low­ing pur­pos­es: devel­op­ing the coop­er­a­tive, pos­si­bly by set­ting up reserves, part of which at least would be indi­vis­i­ble; ben­e­fit­ing mem­bers in pro­por­tion to their trans­ac­tions with the coop­er­a­tive; and sup­port­ing oth­er activ­i­ties approved by the mem­ber­ship.

The image features a red circle with a puzzle piece symbol in the middle and the number 4 on top.

Autonomy and Independence

Coop­er­a­tives are autonomous, self-help orga­ni­za­tions con­trolled by their mem­bers. If they enter into agree­ments with oth­er orga­ni­za­tions, includ­ing gov­ern­ments, or raise cap­i­tal from exter­nal sources, they do so on terms that ensure demo­c­ra­t­ic con­trol by their mem­bers and main­tain their coop­er­a­tive auton­o­my.

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Education, Training, and Information

Coop­er­a­tives pro­vide edu­ca­tion and train­ing for their mem­bers, elect­ed rep­re­sen­ta­tives, man­agers, and employ­ees so they can con­tribute effec­tive­ly to the devel­op­ment of their coop­er­a­tives. They inform the gen­er­al pub­lic, par­tic­u­lar­ly young peo­ple and opin­ion lead­ers, about the nature and ben­e­fits of coop­er­a­tion.

A black and white handshake symbol is centered within a yellow circle, with the number 6 above it. No landmarks or historical buildings are visible.

Cooperation Among Cooperatives

Coop­er­a­tives serve their mem­bers most effec­tive­ly and strength­en the coop­er­a­tive move­ment by work­ing togeth­er through local, nation­al, region­al, and inter­na­tion­al struc­tures.

A hand holds a small house icon with a number 7 above, on a turquoise background. No recognizable landmarks or historical buildings are visible.

Concern for Community

While focus­ing on mem­ber needs, coop­er­a­tives work for the sus­tain­able devel­op­ment of their com­mu­ni­ties through poli­cies accept­ed by their mem­bers.

Video: Cooperative Principles Video

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