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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Schedule of Authority
To provide a tool to help volunteers and staff understand processes and associated authority (i.e., policy, bylaws, local, state, and federal laws, precedents, contracts, etc.) for taking action in an...
secondary rules
These secondary rules, also known as standing orders, apply to co-ops managed by general meetings. • This document is designed to give backup to the primary rules, and together these...
Section 236 Cooperative Prepayment 
Self and Board Evaluation
You can take this evaluation form back to your Board and let everyone have the opportunity to raise their "level of awareness".
Self-Assessment Tool for Nonprofit Organizations
Directions: This checklist is designed for completion by the Executive Director and the Chairperson of the Board. Please discuss each topic and rate the degree to which your organization has...
Self-Assessment Workbook
This Workbook complements the information provided in, and should be read in conjunction with the Guidance Note: Corporate Governance – Board of Directors and other relevant DICO publications.
Self-Audit of Common Standards
The nonprofit community in the United States is well established with commonly accepted practices and government-required standards.
Self-Audit of Common Standards for U.S. Nonprofit Organizations
The nonprofit community in the United States is well established with commonly accepted practices and government-required standards.
Self-defined rules, common
Self-defined rules, common resources, motivations, and incentives in cooperative firms
Self-Management Resolution Agreement
Sample Self-Management Resolution Agreement
Serving Members’ Interest in Changing Markets
Serving Members’ Interest in Changing Markets
Set an Agenda and Objectives Ahead of Time
Establishing a concise agenda and objectives before the meeting begins is crucial.
Set Ground Rules for committee
First committee meetings of the year? Start by setting ground rules as the foundation for involvement, processes, and achieving outcomes.
Severe weather operating guidelines
SEVERE WEATHER OPERATING PROCEDURES
Severe weather Preparedness
There are several severe weather hazards that affect Illinois, including thunderstorms, tornadoes, lightning, floods, flash floods, damaging winds, and large hail.
Shared Equity Homeownership – The Changing Landscape of Resale-Restricted
The most distinctive feature of affordable housing policy in the United States in recent years has been its unrelenting focus on promoting homeownership as a social good, and on increasing...
Shareholder Rights and Responsibilities
Being a shareholder comes with unique rights, responsibilities, and privileges.
Significant Challenges for Boards
There are more than 1.5 million nonprofit boards in the USA. It is likely that every organization has faced at least one of these 12 significant challenges.
Significant Dates in Cooperative History 
Signing In at Board and Committee Meeting
The board secretary said, “I’m passing around a sheet of notebook paper, please sign it for our records.”
Simply Legal
All you need to know about legal forms and organizational types for co-operatives and community-owned enterprises
Simply Legal- All you need to know about legal forms...
All you need to know about legal forms and organizational types for co-operatives and community-owned enterprises
Site Emergency Planning Workbook
A site emergency plan describes, in detail, an organization’s policy and procedures for coping with an emergency situation on site. These policies and procedures should define how the organization will...
Solving Conflict 5 steps to Implementing
Most community associations will face some form of conflict. Many turn to alternative dispute resolution and consensus-building to foster greater understanding and improve communication.