This sounds like an easy one, doesn't it? After all, the purposes of your co-op are pretty clear - affordable co-operative housing, right? But when's the last time you looked at your co-op's incorporation documents where your co-op's founding purposes are set out? And more to the point, what about the values that underlie your purposes?

Fortunately it's not that hard to become familiar with the principles and values your co-op has adopted. The trick is to put them into practice.

Here are signs that your board is aware of the co-op's purposes:

• the board has read the co-op's articles of incorporation
• the board understands what the co-op principles are
• the board is familiar with any other values statement the co-op has adopted, such as the co-op sector's Our movement, our values, and with the co-op's mission and vision.