Cooperative Verification

 

Why Get Verified?

Getting your cooperative organization verified and build the benefits to your community and stakeholders:

 

Credibility and Trust

Authenticity verification establishes your cooperative as a legitimate and credible entity. It assures members, customers, partners, and stakeholders that your cooperative operates according to cooperative principles and values.

Clear Differentiation

Verification provides a clear and recognizable symbol of authenticity. This distinct marker sets your cooperative apart from other business models and reinforces your commitment to cooperative ideals.

Enhanced Stakeholder Confidence

Verification boosts the confidence of stakeholders, such as members, customers, and investors. They can trust that your cooperative’s operations and intentions align with the cooperative model’s principles.

Access to Resources

Verified authenticity may grant your cooperative access to exclusive resources, networks, or opportunities available only to cooperatives that have undergone a verification process. This includes:

  • Having your cooperative organization showcased in the COOP Global Directory & Map, to connect or engage with other co-ops and to be more visible to the public.
  • Access to a .COOP domain name for your organization’s website and emails.
  • An opportunity to be published in the .COOP Stories program, a multi-organizational project that promotes cooperatives around the globe.

Visibility and Advocacy

A verified status could increase your cooperative’s visibility within the cooperative movement and related advocacy efforts. Being associated with a recognized verification service strengthens your cooperative’s position in industry discussions, policy advocacy, and collaborative initiatives.

 

Verification Categories

When an organization chooses to show its alignment to the Cooperative Values and Principles, to harness its Cooperative Identity, they register and use the .COOP domain and the COOP Marque.  Our verification services confirm the authenticity and type of the organization – and assigns it to one of four different categories: 

COOP – The organization is a democratically controlled, member-owned cooperative, consistent with the International 7 Cooperative Principles
CA – An Association comprised of cooperatives
CC – An Organization that is majority controlled by a Cooperative
CS – An Entity with an operation or practice area principally dedicated to serving Cooperatives.