We’re proud to announce that we officially registered as an Oregon Cooperative Corporation – and on May Day / International Workers Day!
With this announcement, we just took a big step forward towards our vision becoming a reality. Next we’ll open a bank account and file for an EIN number from the IRS.
As an Oregon cooperative corporation, we are officially registered with the Oregon Secretary of State’s Business Registry as simply “Artisans Cooperative Group”. There is no LLC or Inc because in Oregon a cooperative is a unique entity. However, the US government has no such designation, so we will be filing with the IRS as a C-Corp under Subchapter T, the clause for cooperatives.
The filing comprised of Articles of Incorporation drafted by our attorney, Alix Devendra of Aligned Law. Aligned Law is a member of the Cooperative Development Network and Alix is a Legal Fellow with the Sustainable Economies Law Center (SELC). This work was funded by our 2023 Spring Accelerator grant from Start.coop and AARP Foundation. You can read the filing here or request it from the Oregon Secretary of State Business Registry under the name “ARTISANS COOPERATIVE GROUP”.
It was a stroke of fortune that we happened to file on May Day: we had actually gone to the state capitol the week before to file but as it turned out their computer system was down. Then they required us to amend the official name by adding the word “Group” on the end, to avoid confusion with other registered businesses. That sent us back on Monday, May 1.
It’s an auspicious beginning for a cooperative!
What is May Day?
Glad you asked! May 1 is celebrated internationally as International Workers Day, or International Labour Day.
Late April / Early May has been observed as a time for work stoppage since the 1850’s, beginning with the stonemasons of Australia. The stonemasons’ yearly commemoration inspired the American Federation of Labor (AFL) to to have their first stoppage. The AFL chose May 1, 1886 for a general strike. That strike culminated in the Haymarket affair four days later, the bombing of a labor demonstration in Chicago.
The Haymarket affair was remembered annually by the labor rights movement. In the 1890’s the Second International, a socialist and labor movement based in Paris, began to advocate for it to be commemorated as a Labor Day holiday. It was adopted by governments around the world. Even the Catholic Church got involved, dedicating 1 May to Saint Joseph, the patron saint of workers and craftsmen.
Even though the US and Canada observes Labor Day in September, the rest of the world and those active in the labor movement observe International Workers Day on May 1st.
About Artisans Cooperative
We are growing an online handmade marketplace for an inclusive network of creatives: a co-op alternative to Etsy.
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