AMSUA Multi-Purpose Cooperative

31/03/2020

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PUBLICATION OF IDENTITIES AND ADDRESSES OF COVID-19 PATIENTS

08/04/2016

How do co-ops benefit their communities?
(By Cooperative Development Institute)

III. Benefits to local community

First, of course, co-ops provide economic benefits that their members — local people — need. Co-ops also, as democratic enterprises owned by a group, generally provide all the benefits associated with “local” ownership, such as more local spending, more rootedness, more accountability, more local resilience, more sensible development, more creativity, more equity, and more participation… only more so. For one thing, being local lasts longer — it is not confined to one or two generations of owners, after which a business may sell to outside owners or close. Simply speaking, co-ops don’t just get up and leave their town, or funnel the money to absentee owners. And as a democratically-controlled enterprise with many owners, a co-op is even less likely to try to extract harmful advantages from a local community, since its owners are also residents. Likewise, because co-op members are learning and practicing democratic skills, often they are able to use those for increased participation in local affairs.

Many co-ops are keen to “give back” and establish good community ties through fundraising and sponsorships. And quite a few co-ops use their strengths, once established, to create new services or enterprises to meet the needs of members and the community. In places with a high density of co-ops, researchers have even found significant health impacts and benefits for the community generally.

06/04/2016

How do co-ops benefit their communities?
(By Cooperative Development Institute)

II. Benefits to other co-op stakeholders (employees,
customers, suppliers)

Whether and how co-ops benefit their non-member stakeholders is more of an open question. It’s up to the members to decide, and this can either work out well or not so well. A consumer co-op, for example, in seeking low prices for consumer members, may try to squeeze suppliers and workers. On the other hand, if the consumer co-op’s mission is to help build a more fair economy generally, they may become leaders in fair labor movements. On average, consumer grocery co-ops do pay their workers about a dollar more an hour than conventional supermarkets.

Generally, we could guess that because members are interested in the long-term sustainability of an enterprise that they need, they will be less likely to take short-term measures that undermine their viability. Marjorie Kelly calls this the “ethical network” aspect of a “generative” (as opposed to “extractive”, commodity-oriented) enterprise.

05/04/2016

How Do Coops Benefit Their Communities?
(By Cooperative Development Institute)

I-Benefits to Coop Members

A cooperative is an enterprise owned by its members who benefit from its activities, so by definition a co-op is supposed to bring benefits to its members. Depending on whether the members are the co-op’s suppliers, consumers, or workers, those benefits will vary, but generally the primary benefit of a co-op to its members is economic: good service, good prices, good quality. A co-op is also democratically controlled by its members, which means that those good economic benefits are not transient (just enough to keep you from jumping to a competitor!), but long-term. And because members direct the co-op for their benefit, they can examine its functioning and make sure it is running efficiently, and choose to return surplus operating revenue to members (as “patronage dividends”, essentially a return, not on members’ investment, but on their use of the co-op).

In addition to economic benefits, co-op members enjoy the social reward of coming together to create, nurture, and sustain a valuable enterprise that fulfills their values. The structure of ownership and democratic participation, moreover, besides allowing members to ensure that the co-op is providing them with the benefits in a way they approve of, is itself a benefit: it gives people control and influence over important aspects of their lives, and it provides them a reason and an opportunity to hone their democratic skills.

28/03/2016

“Cooperatives are a reminder … that it is possible to pursue both economic viability and social responsibility.” - Ban Ki-Moon

24/03/2016

How to become a member of the AMSUA MPC:

1) Fill up the application forms for membership in the Association of Mindanao State University Alumni (AMSUA) and in the AMSUA Multi-Purpose Cooperative and submit them to me through postal or courier service to: Rm. 203, Second Floor, Arenas Building, Pioneer Avenue, General Santos City.

2) Deposit to the Coop’s BPI (Jose Catolico Branch, General Santos City) Account No. 2150-0054-29 (account name: AMSUA-MPC) your payment for the following:

a) Membership Fee, Association of
Mindanao State University Alumni (AMSUA) - P100.00 (One
has to be a member of the AMSUA first before he/she can
become a member of the AMSUA MPC)
b) Annual Dues (2016), AMSUA - 200.00
c) Membership Fee, AMSUA Multi-Purpose Cooperative -
100.00
d) Provisional Capital, AMSUA MPC – 100-4,000

3) Send to me via Facebook the pdf copy of the deposit slip. (Your official receipt will be sent to you).

16/03/2016

A fine medium for remembering

For sure, the Cooperative is a source of cheap credit and a modest investment destination. But more than these, the Coop provides for a payback mechanism for a solemn obligation.

The alumni of the Mindanao State University are beneficiaries of fine and quality education—given them by the University through liberal scholarship grants or, in their absence, at the cheapest price. The alumni, therefore, owe their present existence and stature in large measure to the benevolence of the Filipino taxpayer.

By law, the Cooperative reserves a part of its yearly surplus to what is known as the Community Development Fund. The Coop spends this fund in scholarship grants to poor but brilliant and potentially productive students, in outreach activities that benefit the economically and socially marginalized Filipinos.

It is payback time—to the Filipino.

Invest in the Cooperative.

13/03/2016

To all MSU alumni:

We invite you to become members of the AMSUA Multi-Purpose Cooperative with office located at MSU General Santos Campus, General Santos City.

Borrow as much as twice your capital -- or even more--at only 8.63% interest per annum.

It's payback time--to the Filipino.

Call or text 0908-8649351 or 0932-8686888; (083) 307-0032

For those who are already members of the Cooperative, please enroll at:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/amsuampc/