A.  Membership fees. Worker/members will usually have to invest capital in the form of membership fees to start the business. As new worker/members join the firm they pay an equal amount or percentage as a membership fee. Payments are sometimes made through payroll deductions. When a worker retires from the firm, the membership fee is returned, assuming the company has been profitable.

B.  Reinvestment of Profits. Each year the cooperative must decide what to do with the monies left after payment of expenses. Given the need for capital, particularly in the first years of the business, the majority of the surplus will probably be reinvested in the business in order to promote steady, healthy growth of the company. All reinvested funds will be allocated to the internal accounts of the members on the basis of patronage and eventually it will be paid out to members.

C.  National Cooperative Bank and the National Cooperative Bank Development Corporation both provide debt and equity financing to worker cooperatives and ESOP's.

D.  Commercial Banks. Cooperatives can also sometimes borrow from commercial banks.

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