A cooperative 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-controlled enterprise". Cooperatives are democratically controlled by their members, with each member having one vote in electing the board of directors.[citation needed] Cooperatives may include.

Businesses owned and managed by the people who consume their goods and/or services (a consumer cooperative)

Businesses where producers pool their output for their common benefit (a producer cooperative).

Cooperatives where ownership is shared between both care-givers and receivers. Stakeholders might also include non-profits or investors.

Cooperatives frequently have social goals, which they aim to accomplish by investing a proportion of trading profits back into their communities. As an example of this, in 2013, retail co-operatives in the UK invested 6.9% of their pre-tax profits in the communities in which they trade as compared with 2.4% for other rival supermarkets.