DANVILLE, Ind. — Much of the intent behind last week’s first Indiana Cooperative Summit in Danville was to help co-op managers across the state learn to better market their services and build interest among consumers.

“It is truly a worldwide movement,” said Adam Schwartz of the co-op. “It’s been around for more than 150 years.”

Schwartz is vice president of public affairs and member services for the National Cooperative Business Assoc. (NCBA), which bills itself as the lead national membership association for co-ops in all sectors of the economy. According to its website – www.ncba.coop – NCBA lobbies for legislation promoting co-ops, operates programs in several countries to help local co-ops flourish and, Schwartz added, identifies sources of capital and develops strategies to secure that money for members.

He explained even NCBA doesn’t know how many co-ops operate in the United States. To determine this, and to measure co-ops’ impact on the American economy, Congress has voted $1 million over the past two years to establish research overseen by the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Work is expected to be complete next fall.

A large part of marketing is education, and Schwartz said co-ops have plenty of positives to push.

Their equity stays in their home communities and surpluses are distributed back to the “regular American” members who support them. He said co-ops largely police themselves and don’t require extensive government oversight.

“I think what we need to do is enunciate those principles,” he told those attending the Oct. 30 summit.

One way to start, he said, is to make certain their Internet presences are registered with domain names ending in .coop, rather than .com or .org. Schwartz explained when the address is printed on business cards, brochures and other materials people hand out, it’s a great opportunity to explain the odd address. “You use that moment as a teaching moment,” he said.

Other countries go further. In the United Kingdom, “The Co-operative” is a recognizable brand with a distinctive logo, painted on member businesses such as pharmacies, travel agencies, banks, schools – even funeral parlors.

“They can take you from preschool to death, all in very cooperative fashion,” Schwartz quipped.