Cooperation Richmond is a member of a national Financial Cooperative of local, non-extractive, revolving loan funds. Each local fund operates independently, but shares resources, services, knowledge and skills with each other. We are committed to providing working capital to enterprises that build local wealth through community and worker ownership without the burden of collateral or extractive debt typical of conventional finance. The loans we give through this process are paid back when the projects succeed and we provide not only the capital, but the coaching to give us all the greatest chance of success. This allows us to make investment with those of our community who are exclude from conventional finance or, worse, are exploited by it.
Our loans are designed to leave the enterprise better off, not worse, than when they started, because we believe that financial capital should be a tool of the people and the people must never be a tool of financial capital or those who currently have unfair control over it.