Featured Video: Bonnie Hudspeth—Engagement from the Grassroots
In this 13-minute video Bonnie Hudspeth shares some key strategies in launching the community participation efforts at the startup Monadnock Food Co-op and how those ideas relate to all our co-ops. Hudspeth, a startup champion from the Monadnock Food Co-op in Keene, N.H., and a staff member at the Neighboring Food Co-op Association thinks long established co-ops and startups both need to continue to [...]
Intro to Food Co-op Finance
Mel Braverman
Why (Some) New Co-ops Fail
By Stuart Reid 163 November-December 2012 The mayor spoke at the co-op’s ribbon cutting, and it seemed like the whole town turned out to celebrate. The local paper wrote excitedly about the new grocery store. The future seemed bright. Nine months later, the fledgling store was begging members for additional cash infusions. Before its second anniversary, the co-op closed its doors. This story is [...]
‘Fresh Start’ Bylaws Template
UPDATED: February 27, 2016 Bylaws are an important set of governing agreements in which the member-owners of a cooperative articulate the special dual relationship they have with each other: members of an association and owners of a business. In the bylaws, the member-owners define how they will make certain decisions together and how they will empower a board to make other decisions on [...]
Starting a Buying Club
Jake Schlachter & Stuart Reid, Food Co-op Initiative With guest panelists: Laura Theis, Idaho's Bounty Laura Hanson, Stone's Throw Market Shannon Ousley, Frontier Co-op
Effective Boards and Teams: Structure and Accountability
Please refer to the Startup Policy Template referenced in the video
Harrisonburg’s Friendly New Neighbor
By Ben Sandel 156 September - October - 2011 PDF download of article: pdf of article In March 2006, about 30 people came to a meeting at the Little Grill Collective restaurant in Harrisonburg, Va., to talk about starting a cooperative. The Little Grill had opened a 600-square-foot health food store (called The Little Store) in a rundown plaza on the poorer side of [...]