Talk:Cooperative federation

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Roles of cooperative federation

Roles of cooperative federation 196.249.93.201 (talk) 13:52, 28 December 2022 (UTC)

"Mexico, a, Loan and savings cooperative with more than 1.8 million members."

This sentence is in the current article but does not make sense. With a quick web search I cannot find a loan & savings cooperative called "Mexico". I thus guess this is meant to refer to some specific Loan and Savings cooperative in the country of Mexico, but which one? CommonsCrafter49 (talk) 20:07, 15 February 2026 (UTC)

Cooperative federations, secondary cooperatives and inter-cooperative structures

Hello everyone!

My attention was drawn by a couple of issues in this article, which led me to think that I could work on re-structuring it. I would be curious to know what you folks think, before I start editing it.

The article begins with "A cooperative federation or secondary cooperative is a cooperative in which all members are, in turn, cooperatives." While this statement may be true in some contexts, it is also challenged by a much wider diversity of models.

First, a cooperative federation is not always registered as a cooperative. See for instance CG SCOP, the main federation of workers' cooperative in France, registered as a non-profit (association loi 1901).

Second, national-level cooperative federations are composed of other (typically, sectoral or regional) cooperative federations -- registered as non-profits, as stated above. In addition, come established cooperative federations have extended their membership to individuals. See for instance CMC, the apex cooperative organization in Canada, whose membership comprises other federations.

Third, the article suggests that secondary cooperatives would be a subset of cooperative federations. In practice, although those two concepts are sometimes intertwined, they refer to two different things. A cooperative federation typically refers to an advocacy organization (hence their tendency to be registered as non-profits), while a secondary cooperative is typically a cooperative business (registered as a coop) whose members are cooperatives. This distinction finds support in the International Cooperative Alliance's guidance notes , which describe cooperative federations and secondary cooperatives as two different types of inter-cooperative structures: "they tend to focus either on the economic dimension of co-operatives, to trade goods and services, such as Coop2Coop trade, or on the social and political dimension of joining forces for networking purposes and to advance shared interests" (p. 74).

I believe the easiest would consist to create a new article called "Secondary cooperatives", move some of the present page's content there, and add some content to both pages. What do you folk think about it? Are we happy if I start working on that? Thanks! Lo.csn (talk) 13:40, 7 May 2026 (UTC)

Hello. On your first point, an organisation's legal form does not necessarily define whether it is a co-op. Generally, whether a co-op is a co-op is about whether it is meeting the widely recognised international co-operative values and principles, and, for our purposes, whether reliable sources describe them as a co-op. Many countries have co-ops that do not use the term co-op as it is a protected term in their country specific to one legal form.

In terms of sources, Ian Adderley in Co-operatives: Linking Practice and Theory (free to download) provides some definitions and discussion on p.141–142, including distinguishing between primary, secondary, and tertiary/hybrid co-operatives and discussion elsewhere in the book on weighted voting etc. Jack Shaffer's Historical Dictionary of the Cooperative Movement has brief definitions of federations (p.225) and secondary co-operatives (p.357) that you might find helpful. I'll have a think if I know any other suitable sources.

I don't have strong views on whether a new article is appropriate or whether to cover the distinctions it in this article, but would want it to be informed by what reliable sources say.

Thanks! — LittleDwangs (talk) 15:29, 7 May 2026 (UTC)

Thanks a lot, that's very helpful indeed!

You have a very valid point: co-ops are not necessarily defined by their legal status. That said, I'm still unsure whether federations comply with the definition of a co-op as stated in the article Cooperative linked here:

"A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-controlled enterprise". Cooperatives are democratically controlled by their members, with each member having one vote in electing the board of directors."

It's unclear whether "persons" include organizations (legal persons?) in this context, and if non-profit advocacy organizations could be qualified as "jointly owned [...] enterprises" (unless we consider that an enterprise is basically an organization?). Also, "each member having one vote" is rarely the case in a federation.

I'm not saying federations are not co-ops, but maybe this statement might deserve a stronger backup or be nuanced?

Anyhow, thanks again for the references, and I'll proceed with additional sources. Please keep sharing anything that comes into your mind! Lo.csn (talk) 16:22, 7 May 2026 (UTC)