NFCA’s Fourth Annual Startup Day: Presentations & Resources

On May 18, 2019, over 30 organizers from 11 Startup food co-ops across New England & New York gathered for the Neighboring Food Co-op Association’s (NFCA) Fourth Northeast Startup Day, organized in collaboration with our partners at Food Co-op Initiative (FCI) and hosted by the Monadnock Food Co-op in Keene, NH.  Special thanks to Jacqueline Hannah of FCI for helping us put together a rockin’ day of peer learning, case studies, and workshops, and for sharing their experience and expertise. Thanks to co-operator Kaye Kirsch from Firebrand Co-op who presented on Membership Development strategies.

Thanks also to our friends at Associated Buyers, Cabot Creamery Co-operative, Cooperative Development Foundation, Food Co-op Initiative, Firebrand, Kapatoes Insurance Services, Monadnock Food Co-op, National Cooperative Bank and Simply Voting Inc. for supporting the next generation of food co-ops springing up in the Northeastand to the awesome staff at Monadnock Food Co-op for lunch. Three cheers for y’all, the Startup Food Co-op organizers who are working hard to empower people to build more healthy, just and sustainable communities, together!

Below are resources from the day. Please consider these for internal use by NFCA Member Startups and not for public distribution.


Presentations:

Other Resources:

Startup Organizers & Support Organizations at NFCA’s 2019 Startup Day


NFCA’s 2019 Northeast Startup Co-op Day Intro

An intro to the Neighboring Food Co-op Association’s (NFCA) Fourth Northeast Startup Day, organized in collaboration with Food Co-op Initiative and hosted by Monadnock Food Co-op. Includes an overview of the day, collective impact and mission of Neighboring Food Co-ops, and sponsor appreciation.

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The Startup Forecast…with Bonnie & Jacqueline From NFCA’s 2019 Northeast Startup Co-op Day: news you need! Jacqueline Hannah from Food Co-op Initiative gives a fast and informative look at 2018-2019 trends in funding, member- ownership growth, failures, and new paths to success for startups.

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Membership Growth & Ongoing Engagement

Kaye Kirsch of Firebrand Cooperative brought her experience to share with Northeast startup organizers at NFCA’s 2019 Northeast Startup Co-op Day. Serving as startup Membership Coordinator, Marketing, Capital Campaign Coordinator, and interim GM of Prairie Roots Food Co-op (opened in Fargo, ND in 2017), Kaye shared share tools for growing startup co-op membership base and engaging them for the long-haul.

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Rocket Fuel: Building Your Startup’s Governance Power

Healthy, co-operative governance is at the root of all successful startups; weak, un-co-operative governance is at the root of all closed ones. So what the heck does healthy co-operative governance look like in a startup co-op? How do we assess our current governing and identify where to apply our efforts to improve? Jacqueline Hannah (Food Co-op Initiative) and Bonnie Hudspeth (Neighboring Food Co-op Association) shared this presentation at NFCA’s 2019 Northeast Startup Co-op Day, sharing key measures, ways to assess Board governance, and tools for moving forward.