By way of clarification,
the reason cooperatives and their supporters feel so strongly about the need for
a .co-op/.coop TLD is that co-ops fit into neither the .com or .org categories.
Cooperatives ARE businesses offering goods and services to their member owners,
but are also significantly and meaningfully different from dot coms. They are
owned, operated and democratically controlled by their member-owners, not by investors.
That means the people who use who use the co-op get to decide who runs it, how it
is governed and how it is operated. For example, all members of credit unions get
to vote in Board elections and in fact, can run for a Board seat. Obviously,
this is not the case for an institution like Bank of America. There is a clear distinction.
And rather than being profit-motivated, they are motivated to provide quality
goods and services at affordable prices to their member-owners who use the co-op.
That limits their ability to generate surplus revenues. Any surplus revenues
that might be generated are returned to members proportionate to their use of the
co-op(how much they bought or sold, etc.) not to investors based on ownership share.
This has earned co-ops the trust of consumers. Polls consistently support this.
As a result, co-ops -- because of their unique business structure -- simply do not
fit well into the .com category. Many co-ops who use .com in their internet addresses
do so with discomfort.
At the same time, co-ops are NOT non-profit organizations;
they are businesses providing important consumer services and goods. As a result,
.org is not appropriate for co-ops. It simply doesn't give Internet users correct
information about co-ops who might register under .org.
Co-ops fall between the
cracks, making it hard for consumers to find the businesses they trust online. That's
why cooperatives and their supporters are seeking a .co-op/.coop TLD.
I hope this
clears up any confusion.
Jeannine Kenney
Director of Communications
National
Cooperative Business Association
jkenney@ncba.org