Dave Holm, executive director, Iowa Institute for Cooperatives led a round table discussion at the Midwest Rural Assembly. Since 2012 is the International Year of the Cooperative, this is an opportune time to share that discussion.
 |
| The Farmers’ Cooperative Ames, Oklahoma |
A cooperative is no different than any other business in this respect: you have to follow the same business principles. You make decisions differently and distribute profits differently, Holm said.
First steps are to write the business plan and make sure it would work as a business. Then think about the form of the business, Holm said. You need a champion; someone from within the community.
Minnesota has a hybrid cooperative form, combining an LLC with a cooperative. It can have community ownership, but with outside capital investment. The patrons can decide how much ownership to surrender for the investment, and also determine the payout and investment return on liquidation.
Get an attorney who already understands cooperatives, Holm advised. Otherwise they don’t understand it, and they don’t want to learn.
Make sure your board listens to management, especially with ag producer cooperatives, several of the discussion participants said. Farmers aren’t marketers. All-farmer boards or mostly farmer boards are a failure factor. They will vote to suck out their equity and kill it, one participant said. Do the leadership development needed to help the board succeed.
Another participant told how Canada is using cooperatives to maintain school buildings, after the school is closed. Because the school building is a center of the community, they are using this method to keep it open as a community center. They get the youth involved in the management of it.
New to SmallBizSurvival.com? Take the Guided Tour. Like what you see? Get our updates.
- The secret to effective follow up: What NOT to say - April 15, 2019
- How church buildings can do more for the community - April 8, 2019
- Ideas to fill empty display windows - April 2, 2019
- Know your customers: What do they want to be good at? - March 25, 2019
- 99% of the best things you can do for your town don’t require anyone’s permission - March 4, 2019
- Want more public attendance at your events? Make sure your signs include this specific phrase - February 18, 2019
- Know your customer: Who’s asking them questions? - February 11, 2019
- How restaurants can market each other in small towns - February 4, 2019
- SEO for voice search is different for rural small business - January 28, 2019
- What businesses would work in a small town with empty land - January 21, 2019
