OCTOBER IS COOPERATIVE MONTH!
09/21/2005


Co-ops Generate Billions in Income While Supporting Community Causes like Education & the Environment, Study Finds


Cooperative businesses generate hundreds of thousands of jobs and billions in income for their communities while also supporting local causes ranging from education to the environment, according to a series of case studies compiled to help mark October as National Co-op Month.

The 20-plus pages of case studies, put together by the National Co-op Month Planning Committee, show that co-ops take a back seat to no other sector when it comes to making economic and charitable contributions to their communities.

For example, the nation’s nearly 900 consumer-owned electric cooperatives provide electricity for 37 million people in 47
states with assets worth $86 billion and employing 63,000. Electric co-ops also cover three quarters of the nation's landmass, generating 5 percent of the total electricity produced in the U.S. each year.

But electric co-ops do much more than provide reliable electric service. Owned and governed by the consumers in hundreds of small communities, electric co-ops have been demonstrating strong commitment to their local communities since they turned on the lights in rural America in the 1930s. Today, they generate jobs and income, support local causes through charitable contributions and volunteerism, improve the environment, support education, and invest in
new community businesses.

It is no coincidence that co-ops businesses show a special loyalty to their communities. As member-controlled enterprises, co-ops are run largely by the people who live and work in the communities they serve. That gives them a different perspective from businesses owned by distant investors.

Cooperatives serve 120 million members, or four in 10 Americans. They operate in virtually every industry and range in size from small storefronts to Fortune 500 companies.

Despite this diversity, co-ops have much in common. They are owned and democratically controlled by the people who use their services or buy their goods. They are motivated by service to their members, not by profit.

The case studies are available on the National Cooperative Month website at www.coopmonth.coop.

Kentucky Association of Electric Cooperatives, Inc. 4515 Bishop Lane * Louisville, KY  40218 502-451-2430 * FAX: 502-459-3209 Terms of Use