The co-op’s profits are shared according to member purchases that year.
Shoppers buy the co-op’s products from our members.
THE BENEFITS OF A COOPERATIVE BUSINESS MODEL In many ways, cooperatives are like any other business. We’re a for-profit entity similar to our competitors, and our member-owners earn dividends from our profits in the form of patronage. Co-ops are even incorporated in most cases, filing papers with the state as a specially structured corporation. Similarly to other corporations, we have bylaws and a board of directors that sets policy and oversees our manage- ment who runs the day-to-day operations. However, co-ops are different from other businesses in that they are owned and controlled (through the election of a Board) by members who have direct partici- pation in the business. There are many types of co-ops, but typically the participa- tion is as a customer or supplier of the co-op. This is the case with Frontier Co-op. We’re owned, as we have been from the beginning, by our wholesale customers — the stores and other organizations that purchase and resell our products. These member-owners provide the capital for our business to continue to operate, but they also share in the co-op’s earnings, and have a governance role as member- owners through an elected Board of Directors. This special ownership structure is at the heart of our success. We have unique insight into the natural products industry because our member-owners are in direct contact every day with natural products consumers. Moreover, this unique structure has fostered honest, responsible business practices for more than four decades. At Frontier Co-op, we believe that Doing Good, Works. Investing in our sourcing partners and their communities is not charity; it’s just good business. Giving 5% of our profits to socially and environmentally driven causes across the U.S. and around the world is just being responsible global citizens. And investing to break down barriers to employment in our own company and in our community is just using our business as a source for good in the world. It’s not that we couldn’t or wouldn’t do these things if we were a traditional individually or publicly owned corporation. But being cooperatively owned by tens of thousands of members advocating for doing the right thing reinforces our values and allows us to take the long view when it comes to our business decisions. We’re a different business in a different world than when we started in 1976, but Frontier Co-op’s commitment to our founding values — and those of our members — remains strong.
Stores and organizations re-selling our products.
Members get one vote each to elect a Board of Directors to represent them in their co-op’s decisions.
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