Download Center
Welcome to our Cooperative Housing Download Center — your gateway to a vast collection of educational materials.
Use the search box to explore and filter downloads by book type (Articles, Guides, Books, Reports, and Journals) or by category to quickly find the information that best fits your needs.
Our Portal Library is a comprehensive resource curated from trusted cooperative and housing organizations. It brings together a wealth of articles, guides, books, reports, and journals focused on cooperative housing, governance, leadership, and community development. Each publication is selected for its relevance and practical value, helping cooperative board members and leaders strengthen their knowledge in areas such as:
Governance and Legal Frameworks –
Understand your duties, responsibilities, and ethical obligations.
Financial and Business Planning
Learn strategies to keep your cooperative strong and sustainable.
Operations and Maintenance
Gain insights into maintaining property value and community trust.
Marketing and Member Engagement –
Explore proven ways to build community participation and satisfaction.
Sector-Specific Studies
Dive into focused research on housing, agriculture, finance, and more.
Whether you’re seeking research-based insights or practical management tools, our Download Center serves as a one-stop hub for cooperative knowledge—supporting informed decisions and effective leadership across all cooperative communities.
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When you click on an item below, you’ll be taken to a page with a quick overview of that resource so you can learn more before downloading it. At the bottom of each page, you’ll see a five-star rating section — please take a moment to rate any items you’ve looked at! Your feedback helps me know which resources people find most useful and which ones might need to be updated or removed.
Board Performance – Should Members Know
Directors are seated to fulfill the responsibilities of governance on behalf of the members – a fiduciary duty
board policy good policy 
Board Practices
Board Practices – A compilation of ASAE Executive Section listserv input during March, 2010.
Board Recruitment for Nonprofit Organizations a Sample Handbook
A well-functioning Board of Directors is essential for nonprofit organizations not only to meet legal requirements, but also to successfully achieve their goals. It is the Board’s responsibility to ensure...
Board Recruitment of a Sample Handbook
A well-functioning Board of Directors is essential for nonprofit organizations not only to meet legal requirements, but also to successfully achieve their goals. It is the Board’s responsibility to ensure...
Board responsibilities
Serving on the Board of Directors is a rewarding and important responsibility. This guide informs leaders about the unique aspects of governing a volunteer membership organization.
Board Responsibilities the Basics
Nonprofit and for-profit corporations are not natural persons, meaning that they have rights and responsibilities but cannot read, write, think, or execute for themselves; corporations need a human group or...
Board Roles & Goals Developing a High Performing Board of...
Board orientation is a core competency of the chief paid executive (executive director). The toolkit provides processes and examples to help in communicating the role and responsibilities of volunteer leaders.
Board Roles and Goals
The directors owe it a duty of loyalty. The duty of loyalty requires a director to act in the interest of the charity rather than in the personal interest of...
Board Roles and Responsibilities
Whether you’re on the board of a large nonprofit or an all-volunteer board, you may have asked what your role is as a board member in contributing to your nonprofit’s...
Board Roles and Responsibilities
A cooperative is an autonomous association of people united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically controlled enterprise.
Board Room Blahs
Ever end a board meeting wondering if it was worth the time? Do the minutes demonstrate innovation and decisiveness in advancing the mission and goals?
Board Room Courtesies
How can you avoid a boardroom meltdown --- when voices are raised, fingers pointed, or directors leave mad?
Board Self-Assessment Tool – Long Form
The Nonprofit Board Self-Assessment Tool is designed to help nonprofit organizations evaluate their board's performance and identify priorities for future board activities.
Board Sign-In Sheets 
Board Size
Is there a sweet spot for your board’s size? Yes, there is likely to be, but the details differ for each board. One size does not fit all. How to...
Board Succession Plans
Most executives hope to work for the organization as long as they can be effective. When it comes to the time for transition, it is seldom the sole decision of the...
Board Tools
From the process of commitment to agenda design, there are ways to enhance governance and improve outcomes. Don’t let “we’ve always done it this way” be your mantra.
Board Training for Inspiring Community Greatness 
Board-Meeting-Prep-Failure-
Is this a frequent scene at the start of board meetings? The meeting is called to order, and suddenly, nearly everyone at the table — even the board chair —...
Board-Meetings-QA 
Board-Member-Roles
It is essential to clarify the roles and responsibilities of the board as a corporate entity, as well as the individual responsibilities of its members.
Board-Orientation
A lack of orientation can lead to confusion, frustration, and wasted opportunities. This is key to supporting the goal of “acting with one voice” as a Board.
Board-Recruitment-Tips
Two primary ways for selecting directors are appointments and elections. They can be used individually or in combination, depending on your bylaws.