nz.coop | New Zealand Cooperatives Association

Membership information

Cooperative Business has 55 full member businesses, with around half of them operating in rural New Zealand

Starting off by bringing together agricultural cooperatives, membership was extended in 1996 to include a wide variety of cooperative businesses. The largest member is in the dairy sector while the smallest are community cooperatives.

During the 1990s, there were many mergers of agricultural cooperatives, so while there may be fewer cooperatives than previously they tend to be larger. Non-agricultural members include:

Foodstuffs – New Zealand’s largest supermarket chain in which the grocery store owners also own the wholesale part of the business
The Co·operative Bank – offering a nationwide network of financial services for any New Zealander
Plumbing World – a chain of plumbing stores owned by New Zealand plumbers
Interflora – a cooperative of flower sellers and part of a global network, with members in 15 countries
Capricorn – a tri-nations cooperative of vehicle panel-beater businesses in three countries with headquarters in Perth, Australia
Canterbury Education Services Society – supplying schools with many of their needs
Community cooperatives are small, mostly Maori, communities that have chosen to form cooperatives to conduct their business activities and for the purposes of Treaty of Waitangi settlements with the Crown

Cooperative and mutual businesses join to:

support the solidarity of cooperative activity, particularly through advocacy with government, opposition parties and officials, as well as international standards setting bodies such as the International Accounting Standards Board
network with members, directors and senior executives from other cooperative and mutual businesses, learning from the experience of others
receive a steady stream of information from the Association through our newsletter Cooperatives News and the NEWSFlash
send people to cooperative-specific education and training seminars
have access to the member only area of this website, where they find information which is not available elsewhere
receive support and advice through the Cooperative Advisory Group, which members tell us is absolutely priceless, and
get a .coop web domain for their cooperative – right now there is no charge for the ﬁrst year

Cooperative Business represents member businesses on a wide range of issues, particularly when engaging with government, ministries and agencies, and bodies such as the International Accounting Standards Board.

How Cooperative Business supports member businesses

The slideshow below was offered to attendees at the 2011 cooperative education seminar, and has been updated since then. Read it here, or you can download the PDF here.

Levels of membership

To discuss the benefits of membership, phone the Cooperative Business office on 04 472 4595 or send an email.

Full membership is open to cooperatives, mutuals and other organisations whose constitutions or governing documents provide that the cooperative principle is paramount. The current annual subscription fee is available here and you can apply for full membership by filling out the form here.

individual Associate membership is for individuals who are keen to support and be involved with the cooperative movement in this country. The cost is $85 plus GST a year. Apply for Individual Associate membership by filling out the form here.

Corporate Associate membership is for businesses and organisations which wish to support cooperative business and the New Zealand cooperative movement. The cost is $5,500 plus GST a year.

Provisional membership is for individuals who are intending to set up a cooperative business, and businesses which are looking into converting into a cooperative. There is no charge for Provisional membership, which is reviewed after each year’s Cooperative Business annual meeting. Apply for Individual Associate membership by filling out the form here.

Starting off

If you are in New Zealand and want to start a cooperative business, you are encouraged to become a provisional member so that you can receive information and management guidance. See also Starting a co-op.

As an organisation financed almost entirely by membership subscriptions and which receives neither consultancy fees nor financial support from the government, we believe it’s important to involve those looking to form a cooperative business in Cooperative Business as early on in the process as possible.

In our experience, it is vital for new cooperatives to involve people who know the ownership architecture of cooperative business well, so that the new co-op is fit for purpose, and that the business plan and the cooperative structure fit together well.

There is an expectation that provisional members will become full members once the new business is up and running or the company has converted to a cooperative.