The Salesian Cooperators were founded by St. John Bosco in 1876, as a kind of Salesian Third Order. But, as he explains in the first rule he wrote for them, their focus is on the apostolate to poor youth instead of devotions.

Here, the Salesian Cooperators have a Western USA province. Both SDB and FMA Salesians serve as animating delegates. Most schools and some parishes have Cooperator centers operating as part of their Educative and Pastoral Community (EPC).