The National Cooperative Business Association (NCBA) is a
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
membership organization
A membership organization is any organization that allows people or entities to subscribe, and often requires them to pay a membership fee or "subscription". Membership organizations typically have a particular purpose, which involves connecting pe ...
for
cooperative
A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-contro ...
s, which are businesses that are jointly owned and democratically controlled.
The association was founded in 1916 as the Cooperative League of the United States of America. Its founding president was medical doctor
James Peter Warbasse, who served in that role until 1941.
NCBA members include some well-known United States consumer
brand
A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create ...
s, such as
Ace Hardware,
True Value
In statistics, as opposed to its general use in mathematics, a parameter is any measured quantity of a statistical population that summarises or describes an aspect of the population, such as a mean or a standard deviation. If a population exa ...
,
Nationwide Insurance
Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company and affiliated companies, commonly shortened to Nationwide, is a group of large U.S. insurance and financial services companies based in Columbus, Ohio. The company also operates regional headquarters in Scott ...
,
Cabot Creamery
The Cabot Creamery Co-operative is an American dairy agricultural marketing cooperative, which is owned by more than 800 local dairy farmers in New England and upstate New York, and Agri-Mark Family Dairy Farms, Incorporated.
Agri-Mark dates b ...
,
Organic Valley
Organic Valley (OV) is an organic food brand and independent cooperative of organic farmers based in La Farge, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1988, Organic Valley is the nation’s largest farmer-owned organic cooperative and one of the ...
,
Land O'Lakes
Land O'Lakes, Inc. is an American member-owned agricultural cooperative based in the Minneapolis-St. Paul suburb of Arden Hills, Minnesota, United States, focusing on the dairy industry. The cooperative has 1,959 direct producer-members, 751 ...
, and
CHS Inc.
History
In 1922, the League trademarked the twin pines symbol used to represent North American cooperatives. "The pine tree is an ancient symbol of endurance and immortality. The two pines represent mutual cooperation—people helping people."
In its first few decades, it focused on
consumer cooperation, and published a monthly magazine, "''Co-operation''".
After Warbasse, later presidents included: Murray B. Lincoln, former U.S. Congressman
Jerry Voorhis, Stanley Dreyer, Glenn Anderson, Morgan Williams, Bob Scherer, Russell C. Notar, Paul Hazen, and Michael Beall.
The organization changed its name to NCBA in 1985.
In 2000 the group lobbied the
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN ) is an American multistakeholder group and nonprofit organization responsible for coordinating the maintenance and procedures of several databases related to the namespaces ...
to establish a new
top-level domain
A top-level domain (TLD) is one of the domains at the highest level in the hierarchical Domain Name System of the Internet after the root domain. The top-level domain names are installed in the root zone of the name space. For all domains in ...
exclusively for cooperative organizations. The domain,
.coop
.coop is a sponsored top-level domain (sTLD) in the Domain Name System of the Internet. It is intended for the use of cooperatives, their wholly owned subsidiaries, and other organizations that exist to promote or support cooperatives.
The TL ...
, became active in 2002.
In November 2015, after the resignation of Michael Beall, Judy Ziewacz became interim CEO until she was appointed by the board of directors as president and CEO effective February 1, 2016. Ziewacz was the first woman to hold the office of president and CEO in NCBA CLUSA's 100 years of service. She was succeeded two years later by Doug O'Brien.
Mission
The mission of the National Cooperative Business Association (NCBA) is " to develop, advance and protect cooperative enterprise." It is one of the oldest
non-profit coop and trade association in the U.S. NCBA has been operating internationally since 1953 with a mission to "alleviate poverty through social and economic empowerment."
References
External links
Official site of NCBA
facsimile archive, 1921–1947
Cooperative League of the U.S.A. records, 1914-1982
- Archive of organizational records at the University of Wisconsin
{{Authority control
Cooperative federations
Organizations established in 1916
Cooperatives in the United States