How cooperatives work
Caisse Alliance represents over 350 employees in 26 branches located in 24 Northern Ontario communities.
Offering quality financial services to more than 50,000 members, Caisse Alliance is proud to support the economic development of its region and remains a solid example of cooperation.
The Caisse is a financial services cooperative offering a full range of quality products and services.
Every day, our team continues to make dreams come true, change lives and spread happiness.
Caisse operations
A Caisse is a financial services cooperative that is owned by its members and operated democratically, with cooperative principles and goals.
To learn more see our Q&A section: Caisse Operations.
Use your Caisse’s services
You are co-owner of a financial services cooperative guided by values, principles and a sense of responsibility.
Your Caisse plays a key role in the economic and social development of your region. When you look to your Caisse to get the financial services you need, you are also contributing to its financial well-being and helping it to meet its profitability objectives.
For a Caisse, meeting its objectives means that it can continue to protect member interests and provide the best possible services. This also means that it can continue to promote values like equality and solidarity, all the while providing the community and citizens with the tools they need to take their future in hand and be autonomous.
Find out more about your Caisse’s objectives.
Participate in your Caisse’s democratic life
Take part in your Caisse’s democratic life and become an elected administrator or intern at your Caisse.
You have a say in how your Caisse is run and how it contributes to the community.
Take part in your Caisse’s decision-making
Ask questions about the activities and results of your Caisse and express your point of view. Use your voting rights to adopt and amend by-laws or decide on the use of the surpluses of the Caisse.
Elect the delegates who will represent you at general meetings. These delegates will vote on the members’ behalf, and that includes electing the administrators of your Caisse.
Caisse Alliance is divided into six regions, each with six delegates, thus 36 delegates in total. Thanks to the new governance model, accepted by the members in 2019, the Board of Directors will consist of 12 elected representatives, thus two per region.
For information on upcoming meetings, please contact one of our branches.
Become an elected officer
This is a great way to participate in the socio-economic development of your community and learn about the financial cooperative world. Find out more about elected officers in the Board of Directors section.
Dividends/Profit distribution
Find out more about this cooperative perk that sets your Caisse apart from a bank.
See our Dividends section.
What is a cooperative?
A cooperative is a group of people who get together to meet their own needs at the lowest possible cost and where power is exercised democratically.
When you become a member of a cooperative, you become a co-owner and you earn the right to vote at annual general meetings. And, since cooperatives follow the “one member, one voice” principle, your vote carries the same weight as any other member’s vote.
A cooperative’s profitability is not its ultimate goal; it is a means to help it achieve its true goal, which is to continuously strive to serve members.
Values
The fundamental values of a cooperative are self-help, self-responsibility and responsibility for others, democracy, equality, equity and solidarity. The members of a cooperative follow a strict code of ethics based on honesty, openness, social responsibility and caring for others.
In Canada, There are over 10,000 cooperative businesses in Canada, generating nearly 155,000 jobs and holding combined assets of $300 billion. They are owned by more than 10 million members.
The worldwide cooperative movement counts nearly 750,000 cooperatives in more than 100 countries, with 800 million members, and jobs for 100 million people.
The 7 principles at the heart of organizing and running a cooperative
- voluntary and open membership
- the democratic exercise of power by members and their representatives
- member economic participation in capital
- autonomy and independence of the cooperative from governments and external interest groups
- education, training, and information of members, officers and employees
- cooperation among cooperatives
- cooperative concern for the community
Semaine de la coopération
Cooperation Week is held every year in October.
For the occasion, the Caisse organizes several events for its members such as recognition events, contests, presentation of prizes, public consultations and much more.
