Starting a worker cooperative is an exciting and challenging endeavor. Here are some resources to help you along the way.
‘Steps to Starting a Worker Cooperative’ (free online webinar)
Hosted first Friday of every month, 12 pm pacific, 3pm eastern
Registration Required
The Democracy at Work Institute hosts this monthly webinar to for groups and people at the very early stages of their worker cooperative project. The webinar describes key steps toward getting off the ground, and where problems often occur. It includes chapters on building your group’s democratic capacity, business, and environment of support, in a participatory conversational format. Attendees are offered 30 minutes of free consulting after the webinar from the Democracy at Work Network.
What is a Worker Cooperative?
- Own the Change (video)
- How Worker Cooperatives Work (video)
- Worker Cooperatives: Pathways To Scale Managing Growth in Worker Cooperatives
- Study Guide to the Cooperative Movement
The community
- Join the U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives
- Connect with regional networks
- Attend conferences and events
Educate yourself
Startup Guides
Books
- Collective Courage
- Building Cooperative Power
- Companies We Keep
- For All the People
- Birth of a Cooperative
- Worker Cooperatives in America
- The Cooperative Workplace
Videos
- Own the Change
- Shift Change
- Beyond the Bottom Line
- This Way Out
- Democracy in the Workplace
- Fixing the Future
- Worker Owned: In their own words
Cooperative Capacity
- Meetings and Consensus
- Designing Effective Systems of Evaluation and Accountability in Worker Cooperatives
- Conflict Resolution
- Worker Cooperative Governance and Management
Business Development
- Worker Cooperatives: Pathways To Scale Managing Growth in Worker Cooperatives
- Worker Cooperative Finances
- Harvard Innovation Lab: Startup Secrets Y
- Combinator: How to Start a Startup
- Business Model Canvas / Business Model Canvas for Cooperatives
Ecosystem of Support
Legal
- Legal support
- 28 questions to ask before meeting the lawyer
- Choosing a Business Entity: A Guide for Worker Cooperatives
- Guide to Worker Cooperative Bylaws and Operating Agreements
- Sample Worker Cooperative Bylaws
- Worker Cooperative Legal Issues free course at Academy.coop
Financial
- Accounting support
- Internal Capital Accounts
- Financing resources from the USFWC
- Worker Cooperative Finances free course at Academy.coop
Looking for a start-up resource that is not included on this list? Additional start-up resources are available here.
Startup workplaces are invited to join the USFWC. Learn more.