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.
Characteristics Financially Healthy Nonprofits
Unfortunately, most of us realize that this might be a dream rather than a reality. Without these tangible signs of financial strength, how can you know if your organization is...
Chasing Squirrels
If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it dozens of times at board meetings: “I just have a question.”
Check the Boxes-Director Evaluation
Directors know whether or not they are fulfilling their governance responsibilities. Given a board self-evaluation form, how would they select the appropriate boxes?
Checklist Implementing Strategic Plan
Planning a retreat is an important activity for every organization. During the retreat, Enthusiasm builds for new programs and growth schemes.
Checklist of Board Roles and Responsibilities
Basic board roles and responsibilities are the foundation for a successful board. BoardSource has designed this checklist to help you quickly remind yourself of your key responsibilities. It’s also a...
Checklist Roles Responsibilities
Basic board roles and responsibilities are the foundation for a successful board. BoardSource has designed this checklist to help you quickly remind yourself of your key responsibilities.
Choosing a Legal Structure for Your Housing Coop
This guide is for you if your goal is to own property as a group in order to create stable housing for a community of people.
Choosing a Professional Association Executive
Associations, by their very nature, present distinct challenges to management and governance. Successful associations operate with an overarching value on participating elected leaders.
Choosing Management for your Coop
The housing your co-op owns is a valuable asset that provides an essential service to your members and the broader community. Responsible board members want to make sure that this...
Choosing to Defect from Cooperation: Collapse of Pear g
Choosing to Defect from Cooperation: Collapse of Pear g
Citizens Preparedness Guide
The Citizens’ Preparedness Guide provides suggestions for preparedness in our homes, neighborhoods, schools, workplaces, places of worship, and public areas. These recommendations stem from the attacks against our country, but...
City of Evanston – Affordable Housing White Paper
The costs associated with housing represent the largest expense for households. The increasing cost of housing is requiring more people to spend an increasingly larger portion of their income on...
Close Cousins of Cooperatives: Overview of Fraternal Benefit
Close Cousins of Cooperatives: Overview of Fraternal Benefit
Club Constitution Bylaws 
Club Leadership Training Session Achieving success as Treasurer
The club is the heart of the Toastmasters program. It provides the environment and support members need to develop their communication and leadership skills. Club officers support the club and...
Club Officer Training Treasurer
While many club officers will be content, and even enthusiastic, about their new responsibilities, others may feel uncertain and obligated. Attending the training and fulfilling their roles implies great commitment...
CMHC reference-guide
CMHC Mortgage Loan Insurance for Multi-Unit Residential Properties
Co-op Essentials – What are they and the role of...
This is an educational guide for teaching basic information about cooperatives. It explains what cooperatives are— their business, principles, and structural characteristics, as well as the responsibilities and roles of...
Co-op Improvement Program
The first year of our initiative to stabilize affordable housing & protect community ownership
Co-op Roles & Responsibilities Summary Charts 
co-op Treasurers Checklist 
Co-operative Secretary Role Profile
An example role profile for a co-operative secretary
Co-operative skills and motivation
It doesn’t take a genius to work out that a workforce, team, or any other group of people will perform better when it is motivated.
Coaching the Board President
Having consulted with thousands of nonprofit organizations (associations, chambers, fraternities, and other nonprofit groups), I have compiled the articles that resonate with volunteer leaders.