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The Co-operative is a unique family of businesses democratically run by members to meet common goals. Offering everything from food and financial services to travel, online shopping and healthcare, the Co-operative’s underlying principles of quality, value, honesty and social responsibility influence its members’ decisions. Membership is open to any and all, as long as they share the Co-operative’s values and principles. So rather than blindly chasing profits for shareholders, the Co-operative aims to steer its activity in an ethical direction.

The idea of co-operatives dates back to 1844 when the Rochdale Pioneers established the first successful co-op with a shop in (yep, you guessed it) Rochdale. Selling basic items such as flour, butter, tea and candles, the members of the Rochdale Pioneers shared their profits and gave each member a “democratic right to have a say in the business”. Thus, began a revolution in business. Be on the look out for the Co-operative’s new TV commercial about Rochdale Pioneers’ amazing story, which premiers today and shares with viewers ways that you can join the revolution too.

I’m happy to report the Pioneers are still going strong today, as are plenty other modern-day Co-operative success stories. One such example is Play Montgomeryshire. A community group offering a variety of ways of play to local children, Play montgomeryshire provides families with free or low cost activities that give children greater opportunity to learn through play. One of their services, the Machynlleth Toy Library, came under threat of closure when its existing funding was cancelled. The library is a well-loved part of the local community, and the Play Montgomeryshire team were determined to save it. The group approached The Co-operative and secured a donation of £2,000 from its Community Fund. As a result, they are now confident that the library will continue to serve local children.

Other such initiatives include a project to help protect dwindling honeybee populations in urban areas by educating city-dwellers in beekeeping, the UK’s first community owned wind farm, a community-owned enterprise that sells recycled bicycles, and the UK’s only co-operatively-run film academy. These days, when so much news about businesses seems to focus on greed, tax avoidance and short-sightedness, it’s refreshing and inspiring to hear about folks making a difference and putting community before profits. Sound good to you? Well then, by all means get involved!

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