|
Concern for community: A cooperative principle at work You can trace the roots of any cooperative business to a community need. In the 1930s there were 6.8 million farms in the United States and only 10 percent had electricity. For-profit utilities didn’t want to serve rural areas because there wasn’t enough population density to generate a profit. |
This drove residents of rural America to join together and form not-for-profit cooperative electric associations. To this day, electric co-ops are guided by a set of seven principles that influence their business decisions and ensure that cooperatives act in the best interest of their members.
Among those principles is one known as “concern for community,” which states that while focusing on member needs, cooperatives must work for the sustainable development of the community. What this means is that electric cooperatives are focused on a primary and secondary goal. Foremost, an electric co-op must deliver affordable and reliable power. Beyond that goal, a co-op should be a responsible member of the community and do all it can to meet the needs of those who live in its service area.
Great River Energy and its employees embody the cooperative concern for communityGreat River Energy pursues its business as part of a responsible cooperative family, rooted in a vision, mission, values and cooperative principles to benefit local communities and society. In both North Dakota and Minnesota, employee groups exemplify this promise. Employees gather quarterly to evaluate the needs in the community and allocate financial donations and recruit volunteers for important causes.
We also hold scholarship programs wherever there is a significant employee population. Great River Energy regularly donates materials and equipment to educational institutions to ensure they have adequate facilities for their students – many of whom are co-op members.
A cooperative’s very existence is to serve the community at large. Great River Energy and its 28 member cooperatives measure their success not by profit, but by service to the community.
Minnesota Keystone ProgramGreat River Energy was honored in December 2009 as a new inductee to the Minnesota Keystone Program, an organization that recognizes companies that donate at least 2 percent of their earnings to the community. Qualifying contributions include financial donations, as well as gifts of materials and volunteer time. The program is run by the Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce and other area chamber groups in the state.
