Organisation: German Co-operative and Raiffeisen Confederation (DGRV)

Deutscher Genossenschafts- und Raiffeisenverband (German Co-operative and Raiffeisen Confederation) is the national apex organisation and top-level auditing federation of the German co-operative sector. It is by far the largest business organisation in Germany in terms of membership with more than 16 million members. Co-operatives in Germany have significantly contributed to the development of the German economy as a whole, especially to the strengthening of the rural areas. Even today, local co-operatives, supported by regional and national co-operative central enterprises and a system of federations, are an integral part of the German economic system. The founders Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen and Hermann Schulze-Delitzsch helped to form the first co-operatives some 140 years ago. Since then, individual co-operatives as local self-help organisations of farmers and small craftsmen developed into a complex system of co-operatives on three levels (local, regional, national) and predominantly in three sectors (agriculture, banking, small-scale industry commodities and services). In addition, more than 2,000 co-operatives serve their members in the fields of housing and consumption.