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Please note: This booklet is designed to provide general information about collaboration risks based on our many years of experience in handling claims and lawsuits against nonprofit organizations. This booklet is not intended to offer legal advice or counsel. The information contained in this booklet does not alter the terms of any insurance contract or the law of the jurisdiction which is the site of any potential claim or suit. It is the terms and provisions of your insurance contract which provide the scope of the applicable coverage. Because the areas of law constantly change, those using this booklet should not rely on it as a substitute for independent research

This publication is based on our many years of experience handling lawsuits against nonprofit organizations. It is designed to provide general information to help nonprofit managers better understand how to minimize risk associated with volunteer activities. It does not provide legal advice of any kind.

Five chapters make up this guide. Chapter 1—What Are Cooperatives?, is the most extensive chapter and generally describes where and how cooperatives fit into the American system of business, their unique principles and practices, and their defining structural characteristics, and it introduces the roles of the major cooperative participants—members, directors, manager, and employees. Chapters 2-5 go into further detail about the participants. Chapter 2 gives an overview of cooperative members, Chapter 3 describes directors, Chapter 4 discusses the cooperative manager, and Chapter 5 explains employees.

This is an educational guide for teaching basic information about cooperatives. It explains what cooperatives are—their business, principle, and structural characterizations, and the responsibilities and roles of cooperative members, directors, managers, and employees.

Policy makers, academics and citizens more generally are showing increasing interest in the participatory approach to stakeholder involvement created by co-operative and mutual enterprise. Sea changes in the UK and global economies have reinforced the importance of the co-operative and mutual business sectors, with their high standards of corporate ethics and community responsibility and long-term sustainable strategies. This changed environment offers an unprecedented opportunity for thought leadership, provided it is empirically based, grounded in world-class research and analysis, and validated through a rigorous curriculum reflective of the sectors’ performance needs.

from North and South America and Europe – almost 70% place innovation among their top three priorities. Over the next three to five years, cooperatives will prioritize the expansion of new services (91%), the development of capacity in innovation (84%), technology platforms (83%), and speed of adopting new technologies (81%). Cooperatives pursue innovation in order to take advantage of new opportunities (85%), as well as to counter threats (81%). However, they face a number of challenges in terms of generating ideas, as well as selecting and funding innovation projects.

2020 OUTLOOK: 4 KEY DEMOGRAPHIC SHIFTS COMING TO YOUR COMMUNITY ASSOCIATIONS In the new decade, you’ll start to notice some changes in the landscape of community associations. The following are some shifts you can expect to see and the impact they may have on your community.