In 2019, CW celebrated 20 years as the national network of cooperative developers in the United States. Originating from a grassroots effort of rural cooperative developers to secure federal funding for this crucial work and to legitimize the field of cooperative development, CW has evolved into a network that serves all 50 states and all cooperative sectors. We are a network by and for cooperative developers who have co-created this organization as a space to share resources and expertise, provide the training and education needed for new cooperative developers, and to come together in common cause to support pro-cooperative policy and programs.

We began as a group of nine cooperative development centers seeking to define shared values and vision. Today, CooperationWorks is home to 40 cooperative development centers and nearly 20 individual cooperative developers. We look forward to the next 20 years of growth, collaboration, and movement building.

Learn more about the network’s history:

• 1999: The Formation
• 2004: New Directions
• 2005: Incorporation
• 2006-07: Organizing a Cooperative
• 2008: Measuring the Economic Impact
• 2011: Growth and Challenges