Organizations and projects in this space, with a sense of activity level and community size where known.
A worker-owned union cooperative, based in Brooklyn, NY, providing bookkeeping, financial consulting, and financial education to social justice organizations, cooperatives, nonprofits, and individuals working toward economic justice. Offers bilingual (English/Spanish) services and sliding-scale "Solidarity Rates" to keep services accessible, plus workshops on budgeting, accounting fundamentals, and cooperative-specific topics like patronage systems. A New Economy Coalition member organization.
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Works to permanently remove farmland from speculative real-estate markets and give the next generation of farmers secure, affordable land access. Founded in 2013 as a project of the Schumacher Center for New Economics. Its main vehicle is the Agrarian Commons model: community land-holding entities, governed jointly by farmers, community members, and Agrarian Trust, that hold farmland in trust and lease it to farmers on long-term (up to 99-year) affordable terms. As of its own reporting, there are 10 Agrarian Commons across 8 states covering 400+ acres. Based in South Royalton, VT. A New Economy Coalition member organization.
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A cooperative business, arts, and investment ecosystem built by and for Boston's working-class Black, Indigenous, and communities of color. Takes its name from "ujima" (Swahili for collective work and responsibility). Runs a democratically governed community investment fund that residents and members vote on, alongside business support and cultural organizing, aiming to build local economic democracy rather than rely on extractive outside capital. A New Economy Coalition member organization.
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A statewide hub for cross-sector cooperation in Minnesota — which has more cooperatives than any other state — started in late 2011 by volunteers asking why the state's co-ops didn't collaborate and promote themselves across sectors. It works to raise public awareness of co-ops, connect credit unions, rural electric, worker, agricultural, housing, consumer, purchasing, and other co-ops, and is building a Minnesota Cooperative Directory. A program managed by CoNorth (formerly Northcountry Cooperative Foundation), guided by a steering committee drawn from each co-op sector, and funded in part by the McKnight Foundation and a USDA Rural Cooperative Development Grant. Runs Co-ops 101 sessions, a policy workgroup, and the LaunchBox starter resource for people new to the co-op model.
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A Jackson, Mississippi-based vehicle for building a solidarity economy anchored by worker-owned, democratically self-managed cooperatives. Working toward a federation of worker co-ops, a cooperative incubator, and a cooperative financial institution, plus an "Eco-Village" built on a community land trust that already holds dozens of parcels in West Jackson. Current cooperative ventures include an urban farm (Freedom Farms), a lawn-care co-op (The Green Team), and a small-scale digital fabrication co-op. A New Economy Coalition member organization.
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A worker-owned home care agency in the South Bronx, New York, and by most accounts the largest worker cooperative in the United States, employing roughly 2,000 workers, most of them women of color. Employees can buy an ownership stake through small payroll deductions; worker-owners elect a majority of the board and receive profit-based dividends. A member of the U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives and frequently cited as a model for scaling worker ownership in low-wage industries.
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A grant-funded "think-and-do tank" that works to advance the worker cooperative field through research, training, and cooperative business development, with a focus on communities that are economically and socially marginalized. Launched in 2013 as USFWC's educational project before incorporating as its own affiliated nonprofit; the two remain distinct organizations that partner closely. Runs the School for Democratic Management, a Workers to Owners business-conversion initiative, and an Employee Ownership Cities program. Co-hosts the annual Worker Co-op Conference with the U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives. Based in San Diego, CA.
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Works to turn the ideas of Doughnut Economics — economies that meet the needs of all people within the means of the living planet, "regenerative and distributive by design" — into practice. Founded as a UK Community Interest Company in July 2019, it launched an online Community Platform in September 2020 where practitioners worldwide share open-source tools, stories, and events, and works across communities and art, business, cities and regions, schools, research, and government policy. Its own role is thought leadership, policy influence, and co-creating tools with the community, most of which are made by community members rather than the DEAL team. It also convenes Global Donut Days, an annual community-led festival of local and online events.
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A US-based 501(c)(3), incorporated in 1986, that serves the intentional communities movement — ecovillages, cohousing, and other shared-living communities — as a resource hub, publisher, network builder, and fiscal sponsor. It runs the ic.org directory where communities worldwide list themselves (self-submitted listings, which this site doesn't mirror), a Needs & Offers board for openings and housing, the Communities bookstore, podcasts, and CommUniversity: online courses, webinars, and virtual tours of real communities, many free or pay-what-you-can. Its stated mission is social, ecological, and economic justice and resiliency through cooperative culture and intentional communities. Its team works remotely around the world, and in 2026 it launched a shared website and directory with the Global Ecovillage Network.
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The global apex body for cooperatives, founded in 1895 and headquartered in Brussels — one of the oldest non-governmental organizations in the world, representing an estimated 3 million cooperatives and 1 billion co-op members. Its members are more than 330 national and international cooperative organizations from 106 countries, across agriculture, banking, consumer, fisheries, health, housing, insurance, and industry and services. It is the guardian of the Statement on the Cooperative Identity — the definition, 10 values, and 7 principles all cooperatives share — and works through four regional offices (Africa, the Americas, Asia-Pacific, Europe), eight global sectoral organizations (Cooperative Housing International among them), and committees and networks on gender, research, law, youth, and development. Its 2026 Global Conference in Panama City drew more than 1,100 people from 80 countries and adopted a 2026-2030 strategy for the movement.
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Supports the development and growth of worker cooperatives in Los Angeles through education, technical assistance, and community-building, aiming to build democratic economic power in historically excluded communities. Grew out of a 2015 Antioch University graduate capstone project exploring how to build local capacity for worker ownership. Offers workshops (in-person and via a self-paced online academy), business/financial/governance development assistance, office hours for prospective co-op developers, and bilingual (English/Spanish) educational materials. A New Economy Coalition member organization.
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The only national cooperative housing association in the US, by its own description: a 501(c)(3) federation of housing cooperatives, mutual housing associations, and other resident-owned or resident-controlled housing, plus the professionals, organizations, and individuals who work with them. Incorporated in 1960 after organizers from Greenbelt Veterans Housing Corporation (Maryland) and the Pennypack Woods co-op (Philadelphia) sought a national voice before Congress, with support from the Cooperative League of the USA. Members govern it through a national board; most join through one of its eight member associations and federations (regional bodies in California, New England, the Midwest, the Potomac region, New Jersey, and New York, among others), though housing co-ops, professionals, and interested individuals can also join directly. Runs board and manager training — including the Registered Cooperative Manager (RCM) certification — federal and state advocacy, the Cooperative Housing Quarterly, and a podcast.
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A membership network of 200+ nonprofits, mission-driven businesses, grassroots groups, and sectoral associations across the US working to build the scale and power of the solidarity economy movement, with a stated focus on Black, Indigenous, and working-class communities. Founded in 2012 (as a successor to the New Economics Institute). Since 2021 it has operated as a worker self-directed nonprofit with no executive director; decisions are made collectively by staff and elected board representatives through adapted sociocracy.
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A research, community-building, and advocacy hub, based at The New School in New York, for platform cooperatives — businesses that sell goods or services mainly through a website, app, or protocol and are owned and democratically governed by their workers and users, as an alternative to venture-funded platforms. PCC says it supports hundreds of platform co-op businesses with tens of thousands of worker-owners worldwide. It has run a conference most years since 2014, publishes research and a large blog of case studies from around the world, runs a fellowship through its Institute for the Cooperative Digital Economy (ICDE), and has sister organizations and working groups in Japan, Hong Kong, Sweden, Australia, Germany, Italy, and Thailand. Affiliates include the U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives, the U.S. Solidarity Economy Network, the Sustainable Economies Law Center, NCBA, and the Oxford Internet Institute.
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A US nonprofit, founded in 2014, that helps business owners sell their companies to their employees — framing employee ownership as a succession and exit strategy that secures a fair price for the owner while letting workers build equity. It advises on full and partial transitions (including through its Catalyst Fund), runs regional data studies on business and workforce numbers with local governments and economic-development partners to keep jobs in place, and works on policy to scale employee ownership nationally. Much of its outreach is webinars and mixers for business owners, co-hosted with Small Business Development Centers and regional partners across the country. A member of the Ashoka network.
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A community development financial institution (CDFI) founded in 1980 by Martin Eakes and Bonnie Wright during a wave of North Carolina factory closures, built to create and protect economic opportunity for women, low-income, low-wealth, rural, and minority communities left out of mainstream finance. Provides mortgages, small-business and nonprofit lending, and consumer financial services, plus policy advocacy against predatory lending. Part of the broader Self-Help family of organizations (alongside Self-Help Federal Credit Union and the Center for Community Self-Help). Self-Help Credit Union itself reports 100,000+ members and $2.15+ billion in assets across 36 branches in North Carolina, Florida, Georgia, and Virginia. A New Economy Coalition member organization.
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A national Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) loan fund that lends to cooperative businesses and housing co-ops across the US — and is itself a cooperative, owned and governed by the co-ops that borrow from and invest in it. Founded in 1978 by Twin Cities co-op leaders who pooled spare cash into a revolving loan fund because banks wouldn't lend to co-ops; headquartered in Minneapolis-St. Paul. It counts 330 member cooperatives in 35 states and DC, plus individual members (any co-op, group forming one, or individual can join; individuals buy a $100 equity share). Since 1978 it has made over 1,000 loans totaling more than $80 million; in 2025 the fund reached $24.7 million and closed 25 loans worth $6.5 million, 88% of them to co-ops of people of color, low-income, women, and LGBTQ communities. Also runs an Heirs' Property Relending Program and takes investment from social investors.
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The charity that supports the Transition Towns movement, which began in Britain and Ireland in 2006 and has grown into an international network of local community groups in some 70 countries. Transition groups are independent and locally led — community gardens, repair cafés, local food, renewable energy, new local businesses, sustainable transport — and share the aims of reducing dependence on fossil fuels, strengthening local economies, and building community. Regional and national hubs support groups with training, events, and funding connections; the international charity, organized sociocratically, offers guidance and training, connects groups and hubs, and works on policy. Its site lists 1,002 registered groups, 363 of them recently active, and more than 14,700 participants. It also runs Community Waves, a social platform for people doing community-led change, and an Inner and Cultural Transformation circle with online sessions.
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The cross-sector national association for US cooperatives of every kind — agricultural, consumer, credit union, electric, housing, worker, and more — and the only one that spans all sectors, by its own description. Its mission is to develop, advance, and protect cooperative enterprise through advocacy before Congress, public awareness, and international development work that has reached more than 85 countries. It traces its history to the Cooperative League of America, organized in 1916, which became the Cooperative League of the USA (CLUSA) and later the National Cooperative Business Association (NCBA CLUSA); it now operates as U.S. Co-ops, at us.coop (the old ncbaclusa.coop domain redirects there). It runs the annual Cooperative IMPACT Conference and Hike the Hill advocacy day, maintains the Cooperative Hall of Fame through its Cooperative Development Foundation, and offers individual, cooperative, and associate memberships.
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The national membership organization for worker cooperatives in the US, advancing worker-owned and worker-governed workplaces through education, technical assistance, and advocacy. Founded in 2004 out of a national gathering of regional worker-co-op practitioners. Represents nearly 450 business and organizational members, standing in for an estimated 1,300 US worker co-ops and roughly 15,000 workers. Governed by a 100% member-elected board; offices in Oakland, CA and Philadelphia, PA. Co-hosts the annual Worker Co-op Conference with the Democracy at Work Institute.
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The national network for the solidarity economy in the US, with a mission to connect individuals, organizations, businesses, and projects building regional, national, and international solidarity economy movements. It grew out of the Solidarity Economy Caucus at the 2007 U.S. Social Forum in Atlanta and held the first national Forum on the Solidarity Economy at UMass Amherst in March 2009, after which its board and working groups were formed. It works through publications, a mailing list, gatherings, an online solidarity economy map and directory, a candidate questionnaire for local elections, and collaborations including RIPESS (the intercontinental solidarity economy network), the New Economy Coalition, Democracy Beyond Elections, the Global Tapestry of Alternatives, and the Resist & Build process, whose May 2025 summit in Atlanta drew more than 300 people.
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