In a traditional co-op, members from a single group come together to create an organization that can provide goods or services to meet their needs.  In Multi-stakeholder co-ops, membership comes from multiple enables allow you to build a business enterprise that takes into account the needs of multiple kinds of members. You can build a co-op with the strengths of different kinds of members, making your co-op able to take a different, diverse, and nimble approach to its enterprise idea. Multi-stakeholder co-ops can be more robust, inclusive, and engaging. It’s also a great way to give different types  of members a say on the Board of your co-op.

A multi-stakeholder cooperative is one where such differences of perspective and experience are not only tolerated, but embraced. Multi-stakeholder or multi-membership cooperatives consciously chose to draw membership from two or more classes of constituents, be they producers, consumers, workers, or simply community supporters who may have little or no direct role in daily operations of
the enterprise. Such cooperatives represent a diversity of interests, but a commonality of need or aspiration on the part of the stakeholders, capturing a range of types of interests and impacts that an organization has, while recognizing the interdependency between them.