32 Cooperative Models

The cooperative models featured here on this Social Business top list range from actual worker coops themselves to businesses that partner with cooperative groups in order to fulfill their social mission.

According to the International Co-operative Alliance, "Co-operatives are businesses owned and run by and for their members. Whether the members are the customers, employees or residents they have an equal say in what the business does and a share in the profits...As businesses driven by values not just profit, co-operatives share internationally agreed principles and act together to build a better world through co-operation."

While many models could be considered coops, what makes them social businesses is the extent to which they act according to the values that they share, that is, in many of the cases of these cooperative models, the triple bottom line.