Cooperative Development Institute (CDI) is the source for cooperative development in the Northeast.

CDI is a regional 501(c)3 non-profit founded in 1994 by co-op leaders in the Northeast. Cooperative Development Institute’s mission is to build a cooperative economy through the creation and development of successful cooperative enterprises. We are transforming ownership of our economy, so all people can meet their basic needs.

Island Employee Cooperative board standing in front of one of the stores they bought on June 11, 2014, becoming Maine's largest worker-owned cooperative.

Business Ownership Solutions (BOS)

Business Ownership Solutions (BOS) works with business owners to think through whether conversion to a cooperative could meet their needs, and with employees or community members to execute the co-op conversion.

Read more

New England Resident Owned Communities (NEROC)

NEROC stands for “New England Resident-Owned Communities.” We help people own and run the manufactured-home parks where they live. When a park is up for sale we help residents use a nationally successful model to form a cooperative business, get financing to buy the park, and learn how to run it with democratic resident control.

Read more
New Roots Cooperative Farm buying new 30-acre farm with help from Maine Farmland Trust

Cooperative Food Systems

Cooperative Food Systems builds on Cooperative Development Institute’s more than 20 years of work helping farmers, fishermen and consumers develop cooperatively structured food businesses and looks at how to change our food system through increased cooperation.

Read more

The whole idea of cooperatives is that we can do more together than on our own.

Your contribution to co-op development efforts can be of any size, and will make a big difference in our work to transform ownership of our economy!

Donate

Ask Co-op Cathy

Co-op Cathy Answers Your Cooperative Development Questions
Meet Co-op Cathy, the Cooperative Development Institute’s answerwoman! If you don’t see the answer to questions you have in our Resource Center, Cathy may have time to take on your questions related to co-ops and cooperative development in the Northeastern United States.

Read more

Co-op Start-Up Guide

A Guide to Cooperative Development

Trying to start a co-op? Check out our how-to packet, Co-op 101: A Guide to Starting a Cooperative.

Read more

Testimonials

“When I learned about the Pedal People cooperative I realized that bikes could play a bigger role in an ecology-based economy. CDI helped us take this realization to a viable business model that will provide good jobs in a democratic workplace while helping to tackle the climate crisis, reduce waste and pollution, and increase the quality of life in our downtown.” – Scott Vlaun, on Spoke Folks Co-op, a project of the Center for an Ecology-Based Economy



en English
ar Arabiczh-CN Chinese (Simplified)nl Dutchen Englishfr Frenchde Germanit Italianpt Portugueseru Russianes Spanish