Worker Cooperatives

Financial Management
How should worker cooperatives think about profit?
How Cooperatives & Democratic workplaces should think about profit. If profit “belongs to Capitalism”, how do businesses rooted in the Solidarity Economy1, including worker-owned cooperatives and democratically-run conventional businesses, deal with profit? In these types of businesses that are intentionally structured and governed to not exploit workers, we need to frame profit differently, not as […]
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Reimagining Business
A Proposal for Partnership Profit
John and I just released our 3rd episode in a little Whiskey Fridays series on Business Partnerships, where we take on the D-word: D-I-V-O-R-C-E. Today though, I’m circling back to something that John, a true friend, generously teed up for me to talk about in the last episode on partner wonkiness and changes: a proposal […]
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Reimagining Business
4 Common Cooperative Pitfalls
When was the first time you encountered a cooperatively-owned business? If you have at all, chances are it was a food co-op, maybe a with a hippie or punk edge to it; or REI, the outdoor goods empire, a member-owned cooperative. As the movement grows, and more folks seek out more equitable and social justice-oriented […]
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AORTA is a worker-owned cooperative of facilitators, coaches, and consultants devoted to movements for liberation.
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"A global movement to build a just and sustainable economy where we prioritize people and the planet over endless profit and growth."
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Individual patronage (when qualified) is taxed at the time it’s allocated, not when it’s paid out. So 100% of qualified patronage allocated (at Decision 1) is taxed, whether it’s distributed or not. Non-qualified allocations follow different rules; ask your CPA.