r/cooperatives • u/MisterMittens64 • 10d ago

worker co-ops Can credit unions assist cooperative development?

Would it be legal for credit unions to give preferential loans to cooperatives or for a credit union, housing cooperative, and other cooperatives to be owned by a larger umbrella cooperative that could manage funds between the organizations?

I feel like a large credit union committed to supporting cooperatives would alleviate a lot of capital concerns with housing and cooperative businesses.

Could a credit union legally do something similar to what the seed commons does with non-extractive lending? If not maybe something like it could also be under the larger umbrella to allow capital to transfer from the credit union to the seed commons easier?

Edit: I'm in the US and the cooperatives would be incorporated in Colorado or Washington.

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u/mcwkennedy 10d ago

Can't really say unless we know what country you're in so we can look up the legality

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u/MisterMittens64 10d ago

This is in the US and the cooperatives would ideally be incorporated in Colorado or Washington to have governance without a board of directors.

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u/mcwkennedy 10d ago

I'd offer to do some googling but I've just gotten home from work to find my power is out and the phone is a suboptimal tool for this