Ch. 16 Non-Profit Cooperative Services

"Traditionally, nature resources... and education

are considered public goods in most societies.

However...these are increasingly being treated as commodities

by the market-oriented political and economic elite.

The consequences of this commodification have been

devastating for most marginalized and underprivileged communities."

- Sungeun Min, Concept of Commodification

Non-profit cooperatives are a crucial component of a robust cooperative economy. 

The non-profits provide essential services such as banking, health insurance, housing, education, employment and more. Since these cooperatives aren’t trying to generate profit, and because they are literally owned by their stakeholders (workers, consumers and/or communities) they can focus on providing better service for their members at a lower cost. This is not a new idea, you probably know of a non-profit cooperative if you have a credit union in your town. Most credit unions operate on a nonprofit model, taking the place of your traditional banking or financial institution.

These important services, although they are essential for the public good, and used every day by ordinary citizens, have been commodified for profit using the strategies of Economic Extractionism. Largely through the right-wing push towards the privatization of everything. 

It should be noted that the privatization of public services has not worked out well for anyone but the upper percenters. 

For-profit banks extract $8 billion a year from the most destitute and desperate of our citizens through overdraft fees. (Sweet, Lewis, 2024) 

The commodification of education has increased the cost of universities and colleges to the point that only the children of the already wealthy can afford an advanced degree without going into lifelong debt. 

Our for-profit healthcare system is more expensive and has worse outcomes than the publicly funded systems in virtually every other advanced nation in the world. The number one cause of bankruptcy in this country is medical expenses. 

For the vast majority of Americans, the privatization of these important services is just another facet of a machine that extracts wealth from the community and funnels it to the wealthy. 

So, how do we use non-profit cooperative services to begin to transform these various service industries so that they work for "we the people" and not just extract profits for the rich? 

Cooperative health insurance is not driven by profit or beholden to shareholders, and policy holders are unlikely to be denied coverage for the services they need. Non-profit health insurance keeps it's costs lower by focusing on preventive medicine, using methods like health coaching and cohort based diet and exercise programs. Meaning they are actually in the business of helping people feel healthy and vital. 

Our current system of healthcare is designed to profit from sickness. Healthy people literally go against the for-profit business model. 

Cooperative banking and finance, or a workers credit union, not only provide better service and rates for the owner/members, they can also provide financing for new projects that are important to their members. Projects like new worker cooperatives, green startups, cooperative housing, or upgrading members' existing homes to adapt to the Third Industrial Revolution. (Community Wealth Building Pillar 2: locally rooted finance)

If you keep your money with big, for-profit banks, who tout their commitment to funding climate action ("net zero banking"), you should know that they have used, and continue to use your money to provide $Trillions in funding for fossil fuel companies since the signing of the Paris Climate Accord 8 years ago. (sierraclub.org, 2023)

Cooperative housing provides the opportunity for people who have been priced out of the housing market to pay into a housing fund. They get ownership of their home, and a democratic say over how the housing fund is used. Rather than paying rent for years, never gaining equity or any kind of say, despite paying a large portion of their income every month. (Community Wealth Building Pillar 4: Just use of land and property)

Cooperative education and employment services furnish us with such a range of possibilities for community growth and wealth building that we'll need to address it later in order to do it justice. 

Combining our knowledge, resources and money gives more power, leverage and clout. 

But it's important for us to recognize that these cooperative services are not the ultimate solution. 

Yes, this will provide more people with affordable insurance, housing etc. Hopefully a lot more people.

However, in order to provide everyone with healthcare and housing, it will take legislation and public funding on the part of our government. Remember, according to the constitution, it is literally the job of government to "promote the General Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to Ourselves and our Posterity." (Preamble to the US Constitution) What could be more necessary to the General Welfare of our citizenry than affordable housing, healthcare, fair wages, education, and gainful employment?

Nevertheless, after a 50 year culture of neo-liberalism, we find ourselves living in a society where it has become normalized for the government to ignore the very real needs of the majority of it's citizens, in favor of the profits of a handful of the wealthiest among us.  

This is not hyperbole. You know it's been normalized because when you read that last sentence, you knew it was an accurate statement, but your first thought was, "well that's just the way it is." 

"It's just the way it is," is just another way of saying "normalized". 

And it's not true.

It's not "just the way it is." It's the way we have allowed it to become. 

It's up to us to create a new culture that values our people, and the principles enshrined in our constitution, over profits. 

That's the reason why these non-profit cooperative services are not just a stop gap. They are (part of) the vehicle we will use to transform our culture. 

A cultural shift doesn't happen overnight, but it does happen. Let's use the idea of a single-payer healthcare system such as Medicare for All as an example. 

In 2013, public support for government funded healthcare was only 34%.

In 2020, approval was up to 63%, a clear majority. (Pew Research Center)

That's nearly a 30 point jump in public approval in only 7 years! Why? Because Bernie Sanders (among others) started a nationwide conversation by making Medicare for All a major plank in the platform of his presidential campaign. 

Suddenly the public was engaged in a conversation where one side was screaming "it's too expensive and we could never do it!!!" or "that's socialism!". While simultaneously they were being exposed to the simple fact that, out of 33 developed nations around the world, the US (the so called greatest, most powerful nation in the world) is somehow the only country that hasn't been able to figure out how to provide healthcare to all of it's citizens. 

So this is our work. To show the American public that affordable healthcare, affordable housing, and jobs that make a difference while paying a living wage are all possible. We do this by proving that a large network of worker-owned cooperatives, supported by a raft of non-profit cooperative service providers, can form a new kind of system. An economic system that actually produces and provides more value to workers and communities, than it captures. 

What might a large cooperative network look like in real life? Let's go to Spain and find out!