Ari Derfel: It’s Fine to Love Finance!
Ari Derfel has been advocating for natural and organic foods for the past few decades. He’s been translating his personal values of sustainability and food justice into business practices.
Introducing Tamah Yisrael: A Community Connector
Tamah Yisrael, an energizing and experienced new member of the Columinate team, connects and organizes the community. Thanks to her work as a co-op board member, start-up co-op leader, comptroller, chief financial officer, loan officer, musician, and education/outreach coordinator, Yisrael is invested in figuring out new solutions to old problems from within her community. “The ultimate work is power shifting. What is the path towards shifting power—does it look like cooperatives, does it look like strategies that include cooperative values and principles? I’m happy to offer part of the solution,” says Yisrael.
Larger Ambitions for the Columinate Job Board
Changing careers can be one of the most stressful tasks we face as adults. So much of our identity is tied up in our work, and many of us want to find a job that reflects our values or that adds something back to the world. When you start looking at the multitudes of job postings that are out there, the variety of what is available can be overwhelming. The uncertainty of personal and cultural alignment makes knowing where to look for job postings a challenge. Columinate hopes to change that.
Assessing Emerging Expansion Opportunities
As co-op leaders recognize that reinvestment in their business is critical to long-term sustainability, they need some tools to help them assess whether any particular reinvestment makes sense. When business expansion is on the list of possibilities, the risks are higher and so the assessment needs to be more rigorous. Leaders must certainly undertake adequate due diligence before finalizing an expansion project, but how [...]
Restoring Trust and Vibrancy in a Co-op Community
Central Co-op Seattle, WA Year founded: 1978 Number of members: 14,200 Consumer member investment: $100 Worker member investment: $6,340 (12 years) Number of employees: 120 Locations: Seattle and Tacoma (opening date late spring TBD) When the Central Co-op in Seattle, Wash. proposed a vote to merge with the Tacoma Food Co-op in 2015, the memberships of both co-ops overwhelmingly approved it. Both communities saw [...]
Weavers Way-Ambler Startup Merger Spurs Co-op Momentum
When the only grocery store in Ambler, Pennsylvania closed, it galvanized the town of 6,500 people into action. Rather than recreate the former grocery store’s approach to conventional retailing, though, they explored launching a food co-op that would focus on a variety of products, including natural and organic.
Video Field Guide: Membership Growth
Ben Sandel is a board leadership consultant and capital campaign expert working with startups and established co-ops helping them to reach their fundraising goals using best practices and clear planning gleaned from a multitude of successful fundraising efforts from food co-ops and startups nationwide. In this short presentation, Ben imparts some great top-level wisdom about how to plan and organize a successful campaign and [...]
The Hero’s Journey of Growth
Delene Porter, the General Manager at Daily Groceries in Athens, GA shares what she calls the Hero's Journey that is the path for the future of her co-op. Shedding parts of their past, acquiring skills and tools for the present and future, Daily Groceries underwent a transformation that truly is courageous.
Membership Growth Strategies for Startups: Common Features of Success
By Ben Sandel 182 January-February 2016 Gaining members quickly and efficiently is a major hurdle for most startup co-ops. A co-op is selling a dream when it has no store, minimal (if any) staff, and, when organizing in areas that don’t have other food co-ops, no credible examples to refer to. This can make membership growth slow and painful. Nevertheless, some startups have had [...]
Board’s Role in Expansion Projects
No matter what kind of expansion your co-op wants to do, there are always hurdles to be overcome. Everyone has them, although some projects come with a unique set of challenges. The Hendersonville Community Co-op in Hendersonville, North Carolina has had numerous locations and expansions in its 30+ year history, but their latest expansion going from 3,800 to 8,000 square feet, required a re-working [...]