This requires that contributors of capital to the cooperative, in their status as equity owners, neither control the operations nor receive most of the pecuniary benefits of the cooperative’s operations. That is, cooperatives are oriented to member-patrons. This distinguishes the cooperative from the for-profit corporation, which is shareholder-oriented. The idea behind this requirement is that members of a cooperative band together to share interest, risk, and burden to obtain services or benefits, whether water, telephone, electricity, etc., rather than simply invest as equity owners.