Members contribute to the capital of their co-operative and control the economic affairs of the co-operative in a democratic way. Capital is the money and equipment which the co-operative uses to carry out its goals. Co-operatives can get capital from money paid for shares issued to members, membership fees, grants, donations, loans and surplus money left over from previous years of operation. Some (and possibly all) of the capital which the co-operative uses actually belongs to the members, usually in the form of shares and bonus shares. Each member invests some money and gets some shares in return. The shares show that the member owns some of the assets (the money and property) of the co-operative. Any other capital which the co-operative uses belongs to the co-operative as a whole.