Strengthening and building cooperative businesses to support employees, consumers and local producers

Strengthening and building cooperative businesses to support employees, consumers and local producers

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Cooperative businesses, or co-ops, are jointly owned by members, including consumers, employees and producers. Because Co-ops have different business and profit-sharing models than investor-owned, for-profit corporations, they are unique in their ability to drive local wealth creation and support social and economic community stability by strengthening local food systems and providing nutritious local farm products. Co-ops are important sources of food and community and can include grocery stores that focus on delivering locally produced food and farm cooperatives that collectively supply larger quantities of farm products to different suppliers.  

Many traditional business support organizations lack a thorough understanding of cooperative benefits and operating standards, rendering financial support for co-ops sparse. The University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Extension houses the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Center for Cooperatives (UWCC), which supports the needs of these unique businesses through research, outreach, education and co-op development programming. Currently, UWCC is running the multiyear Cooperative Governance Research Initiative (CGRI) to gather and analyze data on governance from cooperatives across the country. 

The UWCC organizes an annual Consumer Cooperative Management Association (CCMA) Conference for co-op leaders. In 2025, this conference provided evidence-based education to 364 leaders from across the country on cooperative governance and management, including Governance Training for New Directors and Agriculture Cooperative Director Training. UWCC’s co-op development programming led to the incorporation of four new co-ops, and transitional support for an additional four businesses that converted to cooperative operations models in previous years. In response to demand from Wisconsin cooperatives in 2024, UWCC provided a new training for cooperative employees, helping them deepen their understanding of how co-ops work and their community benefits. Post-training surveys indicated 96% of respondents were satisfied or very satisfied with the training, and some indicated that they would incorporate the training into their on-boarding process for all new hires. 

One participant in the 2025 CCMA Conference shared, “The Cooperative Governance Research Initiative has been an invaluable resource in strengthening member governance at Organic Valley/CROPP Cooperative. We’ve drawn on the CGRI’s findings in a variety of settings—from boardroom strategy sessions to conversations…around key topics like board compensation, composition, term limits and governance best practices.”

View the full statement on the NIDB.

University of Wisconsin Extension

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