Starting a Co-op In Your Community – Neighboring Food Co-op Association

Recently, there has been an upswing in communities across New England–and the world–organizing and opening co-ops to meet their needs.

Interested in starting a food co-op or another type of co-op in your community? The presentations below share valuable experiences about how to start a co-op in your community, including direct experience from start-up organizations who are in the process of organizing or have recently opened a food co-op in their community.

Videos for Food Co-op Start-Ups, with Food Co-op Initiative
Growing Co-operative Enterprise, National Farmers Union Webinar, 2020
How to Start a Food Co-op in Your Community, NOFA Summer Conference 2015
Co-op Conversion for Business Success: Why Go Co-op? NOFA Summer Conference 2015
Fundraising Triumphs & Keeping Members Engaged for the Long Haul, FCI at NFCA Fall Gathering, Sept. 2013
Start a Worker Co-op or Convert an Existing Business, NOFA Summer Conference, 2013.
Project Management for Start-Ups, CCMA June 7, 2013
Dorchester Community Food Co-op: Building a Multi-Stakeholder Co-op , NFCA Annual Meeting, 2013
How We Started Our Co-op, Monadnock Food Co-op
Help Make the Vision a Reality, Assabet Village Food Co-op

How to Start a Food Co-op in Your Community

Bonnie Hudspeth, Membership & Outreach Manager for Neighboring Food Co-op Association and Michael Faber, General Manager of Monadnock Food Co-op in Keene, NH share their experience organizing a member-owned food co-operative, Monadnock Food Co-op, in their community. In its first year, the Monadnock Food Co-op in Keene, NH sold products from 177 local farmers & producers. This presentation reviews resources available to guide the start-up process of a food co-op, shares examples of how food co-ops serve local farmers and producers, and presents lessons learned from the organizing and recent opening of Monadnock Food Co-op.

Co-op Conversion for Business Success: Why Go Co-op?

Erbin Crowell, Executive Director, Neighboring Food Co-op Association and Adam Trott, Staff, Valley Alliance of Worker Co-ops & Worker/Member, Collective Copies, share examples of co-op conversion for business success. Co-ops are a great model for business succession, retaining jobs, and rooting businesses in communities. Why go co-op? How do co-ops strengthen our regional food system and economy? Learn about the process of conversion, and hear from representatives from a variety of businesses that have converted to the co-operative model.

Fundraising Triumphs & Keeping Members Engaged for the Long Haul, FCI at NFCA, Sept. 2013 from NFCACoops

Suzi Carter joined Food Co-op Initiative after working to help launch recently opened Friendly City Food Co-op. This presentation covers strategies for fundraising success, and how co-ops can best serve and motivate their members in each stage of co-op development.

Start a Worker Co-op or Convert an Existing Business, NOFA SC, 8.8.13 from NFCACoops

Erbin Crowell, Executive Director of the Neighboring Food Co-op Association & Adam Trott, Staff Developer for the Valley Alliance of Worker Co-ops share the basics of the co-operative model, its relevance to local economies, and the process for business development. This presentation focuses on worker co-ops in the food system, multi-stakeholder models, which include producers and consumers, and shares guidance for people exploring a co-operative business start-up or conversion.

Project Management for Start-Ups, CCMA June 7, 2013 from NFCACoops

What is the role of the start-up Project Manager (vs. community organizer)? What activities are they responsible for, what skills and experience should they have, and how do you hire your co-op’s first Project Manager? This presentation gets into the details of the start-up Project Manager’s role in co-op development.

Dorchester Community Food Co-op: Building a Multi-Stakeholder Co-op from NFCACoops

The Dorchester Community Food Co-op is building community support and partnerships to open a multi-stakeholder co-op in Boston’s largest and most diverse neighborhood. Learn more about why they chose the multi-stakeholder model for their co-op.

How We Started Our Co-op from monadnockcoop

Help Make the Vision a Reality from NFCACoops

A small group of four people first met in February of 2012 to talk about their desire to have a place where people could get healthy food year round in Maynard, MA. The group knew they wanted to find a way to create access to healthy food, but didn’t know exactly how to make it happen. They started learning about food co-operatives, got very excited, and initiated the process of trying to make the dream a reality. Today, the vision of the group is to open up a storefront market in Maynard that will be owned and operated by co-operative members.