Help Unwrap Co-ops this Co-operatives Fortnight

This year, Co-op Fortnight wants to celebrate the diversity of co‑ops. 

Between Monday 20th June and Sunday 3rd July, hundreds of co‑ops and organisations across the UK will be working together to celebrate and promote co‑ops. The theme this year is #UnwrapCoops and we are excited to see behind the scenes of all the fantastic co-ops out there!

We know that a huge range of people are involved in co-ops here in the UK and globally – according to the International Cooperative Alliance, at least 12% of people on earth are members of any of the 3 million cooperatives that exist. We are proud to be a co-op ourselves, and we are incredibly proud to support new and developing co-ops here in the UK. In recent months, we’ve worked with two fantastic organisations and the coops behind them.

Paul Smith, Vice Chairman of the Sir Walter Raleigh in Devon said: “Securing the future of the pub is a great achievement for our village. The support from Co-operative and Community Finance has been fantastic, they were helpful, responsive, supportive and very professional in all our dealings. The loan application process was straightforward and the terms of the loan very fair. Opening a current account was a tortuous process, by comparison securing our loan couldn’t have been easier.”

Andy Bagshaw, Chairman of North Derbyshire Youth Football League says, “We came across Co-operative and Community Finance (CCF) and they changed our whole perspective on what was achievable. Kevin Lloyd-Evans and Tim Coomer were immediately supportive and guided us on taking advice from Co-operatives UK as well as helping us secure the finance we needed to complete the project. At all times we felt that C&CF ‘were on our side’ and could see the aims and importance of having our own facilities to provide youth football for hundreds of local children.”

There are some great events happening through the fortnight – new members of Co-operatives UK can meet and mingle online on the 24th June, and a real life gathering is taking place in Hebden Bridge on the 2nd July. Join Calderdale Co-operative Association for ‘Co-ops Work!’ to celebrate the UN International Day of Co-operatives.

Whatever you do this co-op fortnight, we hope you can shout about the co-operatives you are involved in. These are businesses that operate for people and planet as well as profit – imagine if all businesses did?