SYNOPSIS Executive summary. Write this last. Highlight key information from the plan-who you are, what you are going to do, why and how it will be financed. (Not in detail, that comes in the plan itself.) BACKGROUND History. One page on how the Co-op got to this point: How/who/why it was started (vision), bringing it up to this time. Key accomplishments to date. Ownership. Legal [...]
Directors who are diligently trying to fulfill their fiduciary duty regularly notice things within their co-op that may be cause for concern – or at least worth asking about. At the same time, these same directors want to honor the Board’s clear delegation to the GM and that GM’s professional judgment. How can responsible directors do both? This Field Guide will outline an approach [...]
By Wendy Fanigan
By Thane Joyal 158 January - February - 2012 When many retail food cooperatives were formed in the 1970s, the distinctions among worker cooperatives, consumer cooperatives and not-for-profit corporations were not considered to be barriers to doing business in a culture of cooperation. Regardless of the legal form used to organize the business, in retail food co-ops across the country, members commonly worked, carrying [...]
As we continue our year-long examination of the empowerment and accountability stream in food co-ops, the point in the sequence where the rubber really hits the road is in the day-to-day functioning of the co-op’s operations. This is the stage in the cycle where the vision gets implemented in myriad ways: through customer interactions, workplace culture and operational systems development. It’s the intersection between [...]
CoCoFiSt Common Cooperative Financial Statements, a CDS program for improving cooperative performance. CoCoBud A budgeting feature that, based on historical data, projects sales, margins, and payroll by department, as well as income statements, balance sheets, cash flows, ratios, capital budgets and loans for the next four quarters. A manager can then change assumptions to change the projections. CoCoGap This illustrates how much more profit [...]
Welcome to Retail Basics: Merchandising and Store Conditioning, created by the National Cooperative Grocers Association (NCGA). NCGA specifically designed this workbook to support effective merchandising in your food co-op and to enhance the customer experience using tools and practices that support retail excellence. Through this handbook, you will gain professional knowledge on: How shoppers see your co-op Components of effective merchandising Specific tactics in [...]
