Board Blog

Over the past several years Common Ground Food Coop has been emphasizing the concept of members as owners. As members we can be proud that we are owners of a business that represents values over profit. The coop is by and for you and me, as we are committed to exercising control over the quality of our lives - not only through our food choices, but also through the socio-economic paradigm of a cooperative.

We choose from within ourselves a subset of persons to serve as our representatives to make responsible decisions and policies that reflect what we want in our Coop. We own the Coop as a business collectively through our monetary equity and choice of representatives. We also own the Coop through our "sentimental equity" towards personal health, the local economy, social justice, concern for the earth, etc. The Coop gives us collective voice and power to make a difference in these matters.

General Membership Meetings (GMMs) are at the heart of bringing Members, Board, Staff, and Management together to consolidate all the aspects (sentimental and material equity) of running a coop from dreams to reality. As semi-annual events they are both social and business oriented to help connect the dots of a cooperative. General is an operative term; the state of the business is generalized so that the bigger pictures of operations, governance, direction and community can come into focus and perspective so you know its strengths and weaknesses. The GMM is an unparalleled opportunity to ask and hear questions and answers about important issues related to the success of the business as well as its cause.

Board meetings and operational management have grown more focused, organized, productive and fun. The board is trusting that these qualities will reflect in the GMM as well!

GMMs are also usually popular for the opportunities to eat someone else's preparation of great wholesome food (from the Coop, of course!). This time we will be emphasizing desserts. A potluck with desserts from some of the best cooks in the community...that means you too!

Please join us, at 6:30pm this Sunday, April 20th.

Thanks,
Richard Antisdel
CGFC Board Member

Thank you.

Thank you to each and every person who committed to this project, to this community, to the future of sustainable food, to fair labor, to healthy soil, to strong communities.

Thank you to everyone who made phone calls and sent email to their friends, who talked to those around them about what Common Ground means to our community, and what it can mean in the years to come.

Thank you to those who convinced a spouse that the new car could wait, but our relocation couldn't.

Thank you to sons and daughters who asked their extended families to chip in, and thank you to those family members who, though perhaps far from our community, are connected to us by bonds of love and trust.

Thank you to our staff, who designed letters and signs and fliers, and who explained over and over again what it meant, how it works, why it matters, how to do it.

Thank you to our finance committee volunteers, who stuffed and stamped letters, made phone call after phone call after phone call to numbers that had often been disconnected, leaving messages, patiently calling back at later times, helping turn a "maybe" into a "yes," not losing faith after waves of "no."

Thank you to my fellow board members, whose commitment to the project has been unwavering, who sat through meetings and updates and changes and emergencies, who listened, blogged, and emailed.

And an extra special heart-felt thank you to Jacqueline, our general manager. Leadership is an undefinable quality, but you know when you are in the presence of someone who has it. Without her constant effort, her long weekends and late nights, her passion for our mission, her patience, and her determination, none of this could have happened.

We are not done yet! There is still an enormous amount of work left to do to get to our new home. But I believe it's important to pause and be thankful for all that has brought you to where you are, and I hope we'll all do that today.

It's not an April Fool's joke. We raised $250,000 from our members, which has never been accomplished by a co-op our size. But perhaps there are no other co-ops our size whose members have hearts as big as yours.

Thank you,
-Clint
CGFC Board Chair

Over the past few months many people have expressed, in the form of a member-loan, their support for the Common Ground Food Co-op’s relocation effort. Our combined efforts have produced about $215,000 in member loans through March 30th! We have $35,000 left to raise before the April 1st deadline as of this writing.

I have witnessed the excitement in the store the last several weeks, heard from members who can’t wait to have the grab and go deli at the new location, and have been inspired by the donations and investments folks have committed. So...we are within shouting distance of the $250,000 goal. We need you to spread the word to members, friends, and co-workers who share an interest in the co-op to contact us today about the member loan program.

You can find out more about how to sign up and the detail of the program by contacting:

Ben Galewsky
Board Member
Phone: 384-2033
Email: ben@peartreestudio.net

To those who have been in the store recently, there is a little green showing at the top of the carrot. When we raise the $250,000, the carrot poster will be complete and colorful but the CGFC community will benefit by having a wonderful place to shop.

In Cooperation,

Tim McHenry
Board Member

What fundraising method is the best way for you to help the co-op? There’s a way for everyone, every way is vitally important to our fundraising efforts, and you know better than anyone else how you can best chip in.

At the same time, you might still be a little confused as to how to go about financially supporting the relocation. For instance, what was all that business about the bylaws and equity, and where the heck do brownies fit in?

I’ll go over three ways we are fundraising, concentrating on the equity/bylaws stuff, since you’ve been hearing a lot about that. I hope this helps illuminate the different fundraising methods, maybe discern which method is right for you, and gets you excited about all the myriad ways you can help relocate Common Ground!

Capital Certificates or “Extra Equity”

There are two separate changes going on with regards to member equity.

First, as of March 1st, owner equity increased to $60, and there are no longer family or organizational memberships, only individual memberships. This was ultimately a board decision, made after careful consideration of member feedback and our co-op’s specific needs. Clint wrote a great blog entry about the necessity for this change, and you can read it here. In the rapid pace of our relocation, this is already old news.*

Here’s the new news: there was a change to our bylaws, and it was passed this past Monday night after being voted on by co-op members. This change has to do not with how much equity costs, but how much you can buy. So what exactly do the bylaws say now, and how does it help the relocation effort?

What we are accustomed to calling “equity” or “equity shares” are legally, in our bylaws, called capital certificates. As a member in the co-op, you have one capital certificate purchased at $60. Now you may purchase up to 9 extra capital certificates. This means that you can buy up to a total of 10 capital certificates, for a total of $600. You still only have one vote—extra certificates do not get you extra votes. But, you’ve just invested an extra $540 in the co-op, and that money can go toward store improvements, including equipment for our new store! And you don’t have to buy all 10; you can buy 2 or 3 or 4… whatever works for you!

The ability to purchase additional capital certificates provides an opportunity to invest in the co-op for people who just can’t make the minimum loan, but who want to make an investment. The minimum member loan is $1,000, and that’s inhibitory for some people. With capital certificates, you can invest $60 to $540 in $60 increments according to your ability. This “extra equity” is also less of a commitment; you can withdraw it when you leave the co-op. On the other hand, a loan pays interest and has a fixed term.

The board is working to get the physical certificates ready as soon as possible, so you can start buying them and investing ASAP. Look for an email or an announcement in the Bytes; this should happen within the next week!

Oh, and the brownies were a bribe to get attendance at the meeting to vote on bylaws. If you bake them, they will come.

Donations

We will accept donations of any amount! In order for it to be tax deductible, however, the donation has to be at least $1,000. Our fiscal sponsor for tax-deductible donations is Prairie Table, a non-profit with a mission to " undertake projects that advance a more sustainable food system—from farm to table—in Champaign County and environs." That’d be us! Their website is prairietable.org. Checks for donations over $1,000 should be made out to Prairie Table.

Member Loan Program

Ah, the crux of our whole relocation project! The most important and imperative facet of our fundraising efforts! The inspiring display of dedication to our co-op!

We are at $145,750 of the $250,000 we need by April 1st. That’s AWESOME. Now, can we get AWESOMER? Those loans come from just under 60 co-op members—think how fast we’d have that money in the bank if you became number 61.

Thanks for reading this far. You rock!

Peace,
Katrina

*Old news is no less important! Please ask questions and leave comments about ANYTHING on this blog, be it old news, new news, or whatever in between.

Are we ready? I think we are. As times continue to get more... interesting, more and more of us are responding by becoming more interested in maintaining control over our lives - how we live, how we get to work, what we consume and eat. We want to be part of real communities - members of groups that are welcoming and inclusive, diverse and thoughtful. I'm sure there are some out there who think those things don't matter, that people will always sacrifice control to save a buck or two, that we can't resist perceived convenience or ease. Yes, we can.* Sustainability is starting to matter to more of us. We're beginning to understand that member-ownership equals voice, that throwing our lot in with community-owned business means we not only have rights as a member - we have responsibilities to fulfill, choices to help make - we have AGENCY. There are those in our midst who might think it's too difficult, we're too busy to care, that change will scare us, that we can't possibly care enough to take care of business - our business. Yes, we can. As of this writing, Common Ground's member loan program** has broken the "halfway-there" barrier, eliciting over $125,000 of the $250,00 we need to raise before the end of March 2008 in order to proceed with the proposed relocation to Lincoln Square Village. I'm sure there are people out there who didn't think our members could do it, or that even after coming this far, we can't finish the job. Yes, we can. Can we realize our vision of a beautiful store this summer near downtown Urbana? Can we bring the cooperative model and spirit to Lincoln Square Village? Can we raise the rest of the money we need to get there through member loans, new member drives, and additional equity shares purchased by members? Yes, yes, YES! WE CAN. * apologies to a certain Presidential campaign for the appropriation. **For more information about how you can help relocate Common Ground via member loans, click here, or you can email the board here.