Discover Top Posts Tagged with #co-op week

Happy Coop Week!

It's Coop Week! So guess what that means?! … That's right! You get a little lesson on what a cooperative is. Are you ready?

(Sorry. I've been on a superhero kick lately.)

Like most people in Saskatchewan, you're probably a member of a credit union or a coop grocery store. Personally, I've been a member of my credit union since I was 8 days old. Seriously. I looked it up one day at work. But do you really know what that means? Probably not. That's not an accusation, just a fact. Most people who are members of cooperatives don't really know what that means. I didn't really understand the difference between a credit union and a bank was until probably my second year as a summer student.

Basically, co-operatives are member owned businesses. Simple enough, right? Cool.

The end.

Just kidding. There's a little more to it than that obviously.

All co-operatives and credit unions are based on the same seven principles. They're pretty self-explanatory but here they are with a little description:

Voluntary and open membership – basically everyone can use the co-operative, whether they are a member or not and do not discriminate membership based on gender, race, political affiliation etc.

Democratic member control – this is probably the most important one to remember. As a member of a co-operative, you have a say in the operations of your co-operative – usually through election of your Board of Directions OR, as happened with Spectra in 2013, voting whether or not to merge with another credit union.

Member economic participation – this is the $5 membership share you paid when you opened up your credit union account. Your membership shares are used as part of the capital reserves of your co-operative.

Autonomy and independence – co-operatives are self-help organizations controlled by their members and any agreements they enter into ensure democratic control by members (or their elected representatives).

Education, training and information – co-operatives provide training to members, elected officials and employees so they can contribute effectively to the development of their co-operative.

Co-operation among co-operatives – to me, this is what makes co-operatives truly different. I am going to do a whole post on this at a later date – but for now, this is exactly what it sounds like. Co-operatives working together achieve more than single co-operatives working on their own. This is why we have organizations like the Canadian Co-operative Association and SaskCentral.

Concern for community – bet you thought I'd never get here, did you? This is another obvious one. Co-operatives and credit unions are most well known for their investment in the community.

There you have it – those are the principles on which every co-operative in the world is based. The Rochdale Pioneers in England developed the Co-op Principles way back in the 1800s. Now there are over one billion co-op members worldwide – crazy right? In Canada we have over 9,000 co-operatives with 18 million members and over $46 billion in assets. Co-ops employ 156,000 employees across Canada (including yours truly) and over 100 million jobs worldwide (which is 20% more than multinational companies).

So why are co-operatives important to your community? Let's look at a stat I actually came across not too long ago. I think it really illustrates the benefits of a co-operative – and my favourite – buying local! If you spend $100 at a corporate chain (I'm looking at you Wal-Mart) only $48 dollars is invested back into the community. If you buy the same amount at a locally owned business (like my favourite store, Jenny Joans) $68 is invested back into your community. And if every family in the US invested an extra $10 a month at a locally owned business instead of a national chain over $9.3 billion would be returned to our economy. Granted this is an American stat but I think you can guess the effect on the Canadian economy would be similar, albeit a lower dollar amount. (Following this post I will post the full infographic. It's really interesting!)

There you have it! A little Co-ops 101 for your Co-op Week Celebration. Tomorrow is Credit Union Day and I'll be doing a little Skype session with SaskCentral to talk about my experience in Nairobi with ACCOSCA so far!

#co-op week #happy co-op week #canadian co-operative association #cca interns #african adventure #buy local #co-ops and credit unions are important

New Member Promotion for members of any BC co-op

Lawrence Panzo, BC co-op superstar

To kick off BC Co-op Week, Oct 12–18, we're launching a new promotion that rewards members of any BC co-op with $50 in free driving!

Any member of a BC co-op is eligible to receive this carsharing credit when they sign up to become a new member of Modo. To redeem, all they have to do is email proof of membership to any BC co-op to freestuff(at)modo(dot)coop.

This promotion was inspired by MEC staffer Lawrence Panzo, who showed up to our reception desk with member cards for MEC and Vancity. We loved his enthusiasm and commitment to co-operative business, and wanted to reward all new members like Lawrence. (That's Principle 6 in action!)

Spread the word with your fellow co-op pals who haven't signed up with Modo and you can score a $25 referral credit, too! But don't high-five us – save those for Lawrence!

Here's a list of some of our favourite BC co-ops:

MEC

Credit Unions like Vancity, CCEC and Coast Capital

The Co-operators

Vancouver Co-op Radio

East End Food Co-op

Co-operative Housing Federation of BC

#Co-op Week #co-ops #modo members #MEC #vancity

Going Up? - Co-op Week

By Jess Goulart

For the link to the article on the BTR site, click here

Photo courtesy of @NYCphotos-flickr. Bed bugs. Rent spikes. Badly-trained house pets. Welcome to urban living... but it gets worse. How about decomposing bodies above you, uninvestigated until the smell overwhelms the building, or co-op board members rejecting someone because they questioned a rule stating all tenants must use a certain kind of toilet paper. These are the kinds of horror stories Alex Norman (and millions of others living in New York City) faced before he created Mycoop.com--a social media platform specifically designed to facilitate communication between residents of the same address.

Norman tells BTR that in 2006 he would pace the halls of his Chelsea co-op trying to galvanize interest in building problems by literally knocking on neighbors' doors and slipping pieces of paper under them. He was even on the co-op board, but left after experiencing mounting adversities and ambivalent attitudes. He began to meditate on whether or not others suffered similar fates, and how he could change that. Norman had worked previously to bring digital trends into big industry, developing new strategies to connect brands to consumers using Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. But of all the industries building a presence in social media, Norman realized real estate was not among them. If you label a resident the "consumer" and their building the "brand," not much was being done to enrich that bond. In fact, apart from the intercom and integrated alarm systems, technology had virtually forgotten urban homeowners. Thus, Mycoop was conceived. Norman built out the platform based on a symbiotic relationship with a resident of the Ansonia, one of New York's oldest and most famous residences, which was eventually the first to use Mycoop. The initial launch came in November of 2012--and was scratched in December of 2012. Norman and his team had modeled the platform to emulate Facebook, assuming residents would want that same scope of interaction. With the prototype you could look for restaurants in your neighborhood based on communal recommendations, get Groupons for nearby services, and make photo albums. What they quickly discovered is social media sites like Yelp already deliver those services, and their users wanted something different. In November 2013, Mycoop released their second platform, this time to success. They launched in tandem the premier of documentary called Declarations of Love a short film about Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer who shared a thesis similar to their own; in urban living, community is based more vertically than horizontally. "In densely populated areas, you may not choose an apartment based on neighborhood but rather on income," Norman says. "So you need more than just what restaurants are around and where to go shopping. You need what happened down the hallway, that there's a broken window, that the heat is off, or if you want to throw a party on the rooftop how to invite people--things that happen at a micro level." Some architects have already built shared communal spaces into high-rises to promote this "vertical community," but Mycoop takes that shared space and makes it digital, easily accessible, and versatile. To sign up, you go to the website and put in your address, which is verified through your phone bill. If your building is already part of Mycoop, they will grant you access. If it's not, a basic skeleton site will automatically generate, which you and your neighbors can then build up. The main message board looks very similar to a Facebook wall. You can post messages about pretty much anything, add photos, create events. There's also a space to meet your neighbors, organize around building problems, and (most popular) a marketplace where neighbors can buy, sell, and borrow. Norman says some of the coolest ways in which communities have used this technology to come together he did not predict. Mycoop has seen buildings trying to develop sustainable farming by organizing rooftop gardens, improve recycling, or create easy access for the physically disadvantaged. On the Mycoop blog, author and member Zac Zaremba chronicles other ways residents are using the site, like organized salsa lessons at 1 River Place and book clubs thrown by recent college grads in Crown Heights. Mycoop is expanding rapidly, no longer contained to just New York or even the states. Preliminary research indicated that Boston, Miami, Philadelphia, Toronto, and London have similar communal needs, so Mycoop is predicting continued growth. They're also starting to partner with popular home goods outlets like Ikea to provide users with pertinent ads and discounts. To date Mycoop is only prevalent in affluent areas, as opposed to low or middle income, probably because people who have bought into their buildings are much more invested in making their communities better. Still, Norman is hopeful that renters will eventually use Mycoop, too. As for property managers... "Most understand and embrace what we're trying to do. They see that if their tenants could communicate with each other, they would help each other solve non-emergency issues without management involvement," Norman explains. "Basically, we're trying to promote cooperative living. There's sharing, there's collaboration, there's a ton of things for people of all incomes. At our core, we're a way to help improve living conditions, improve people's lives through our platform. We believe in a cooperative economy."

#co-op week #mycoop

What Is Co-op Week?

Did you know October 13 to 19 is Co-op Week in Canada? If you're curious why we put aside a week to celebrate co-operatives in Canada, take a look at this brief history from the Canadian Co-operative Association (CCA):

Co-op Week is the opportunity for Canadian co-operative and credit union members to celebrate the fact that they have collectively helped to build this country and to recognize their continuing contributions at home and abroad.

Co-op Week is always celebrated during the same week as International Credit Union Day, which is the third Thursday in October of each year.

Co-op Week has been celebrated by francophones throughout Canada since 1958. In 1981 celebrations were held among anglophone co-ops in the Maritimes and Saskatchewan. The event went national in 1982 with the encouragement of the Co-operative Union of Canada, a predecessor of the Canadian Co-operative Association.

Co-op Week appears to be a uniquely Canadian phenomenon. In the US, October is Co-op Month, and the International Co-operative Alliance and United Nations have an International Day of Co-operatives on the first Saturday in July.

International Credit Union Day, co-ordinated by the World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU), has been celebrated on the third Thursday of October since 1948.

Our friends at the British Columbia Co-operative Association (BCCA) are hosting a casual evening for co-ops and co-op fans to gather and connect on Wednesday, October 16 at 7pm at the Heartwood Community Cafe (formerly Rhizome Cafe).

All are welcome to attend, just RSVP ahead of the event. Hope to see some Modo members there!

Since Co-op Week is close to our hearts at Modo, we're waiving our $20 registration fee for any new member signing up between Oct 13-19! So if you know someone who's considering carsharing, make sure they know about our special offer.

Happy Co-op Week!

#co-op week #co-op #Canadian co-ops #Modo #modo members #credit union

Day 25: Co-ops and Community Ownership (Part 2) : Local Investing

Every year Albertans put over 4 BILLION dollars of their hard earned savings into registered retirement savings plans (RRSPs). The majority of this amount leaves their communities after being traded on stock exchanges on Bay Street and Wall Street.

At the same time many communities are having difficulty accessing financing for local business development. This results in fewer jobs, lower wages, and most likely an increase in big box stores.

However, co-ops are playing an important role in helping communities invest locally to finance local business development, meet community needs, create jobs that pay better, and build community pride.

Certain co-ops in Canada have a special exemption that enables them to raise capital through selling exempt market RRSP eligible shares in their business to both members and non-members. This means that the shares cannot be traded on a stock market. More important it allows people to invest in co-ops without the co-operative having to go through the lengthy and expensive process of issuing a prospectus (the right to sell shares on the public stock exchange).

In Alberta there are some amazing examples of local investing successes, and with the ACCA’s Unleashing Local Capital project, we are hoping to develop even more! Check out the clip below to learn all about local investing and the world famous Sangudo Opportunity Development Co-operative!

Today’s Challenge is to learn more about Co-ops and Local Investing

Learn about local investing opportunities in your community by checking out the following links:

The Community Economic Development Investment Fund (Nova Scotia)

Community Economic Development Business (PEI)

Community Enterprise Development (CED) Tax Credit Program (Manitoba)

Canadian Alternative Investment Co-operative

Invest locally! In most instances you can transfer existing RRSP contributions to purchase “local” shares in a co-op.

Check out some of the various provincial programs that make it easy to invest locally and also provide amazing tax benefits!

Learn more about how investing locally drives local economic development!

Learn about how you can invest and support local investing at your local Credit Union. Check out some of these amazing programs:

Vancity

Desjardins

#co-operative #Co-op Week #local investing

Day 23: Co-ops and Community Ownership (Part 1)

Day twenty was all about making Co-operation a game. Today’s challenge returns to the world of sports to illustrate how co-ops, and the broader co-operative movement, enable community ownership of important economic infrastructure to occur.

In the UK there is legislation that enables communities to buy share in their local professional football teams (soccer); through their wildly successful Community Shares Programme. The Football Club United of Manchester City sold community shares to their fans to raise £1.6m to keep their team going.

Basically, the fans are the owners! This creates fierce pride, and a very interesting dynamic between the fans, the broader community, and the team. It also removes an individual owner from leveraging tax dollars, which could be spent on things like schools, to build a new stadium.

Manchester City Football Club is involved in a number of community based programs!

The Green Bay Packers of the National Football League are also owned by local shareholders, not an individual billionaire. To finance the team to enter the league in the 1930s, the team sold shares to the community. Whenever they have needed to raise capital, it has come through additional public offerings. These shares (which cost $250 USD) are non-tradable and cannot be sold back to the team. They do not come with any free tickets or other memorabilia.

However, by owning the team it has prevented the raid on public coffers to build new stadiums; the benefits of which accrue to individual owners and create negative urban economic development impacts. More important, it has provided a resource for local non-for-profits to fundraise. Last, it should also be noted that Green Bay has continuously fielded a competitive team and most recently won the 2011 Super Bowl.

We’ll revisit the idea of local ownership later in the 30 Day Challenge, however the example of a community owning its own sports teams is a great introduction.

For today’s challenge we want you to take an informal survey in your community regarding the possibility of fan ownership of a local sports team.

Ask people in your network if they would invest $250 to buy a share in our local sports team?

Think about how the professional sports teams in your community are both an:

Asset (they provide entertainment, get people together, create jobs) and a

Liability (they’re a waste of resources, they only create low-paying seasonal jobs, traffic headaches, your team hasn’t won the Stanley Cup since 1967....

Make a list of 10 community benefits that could come from community ownership of a local sports team

Not to spoil any surprises, but you might want to also start thinking about how this community ownership model could work in other areas of your local economy?

#Manchester City F.C.#Manchester Football #The Green Bay Packers #co-operative #Co-op Week

Day 23:Co-ops and Fair Trade

Day 23: Fair Trade!

If you love delicious coffee and chocolate you probably already know all about Fair Trade. However, if you’re new to this or you want to get re-acquainted read on:

“Fair Trade is a different way of doing business. It's about making principles of fairness and decency mean something in the marketplace. It seeks to change the terms of trade for the products we buy - to ensure the farmers and artisans behind those products get a better deal. Most often this is understood to mean better prices for producers, but it often means longer-term and more meaningful trading relationships as well. For consumers and businesses, it's also about information. Fair Trade is a way for all of us to identify products that meet our values so we can make choices that have a positive impact on the world” http://fairtrade.ca)

What you might not already be aware of is that Fair Trade is rooted heavily in in the co-operative movement. Here’s the low-down from Fair Trade Canada:

“Most Fair Trade goods are produced by groups of small-scale farmers. These producers are organized into co-operatives or associations, which they own and govern democratically. Cocoa, sugar, cotton, coffee, herbs and spices all come exclusively from small producer organizations.

There are Fair Trade standards related to social, economic, and environment development, as well as labour conditions for small producer organizations. Through the co-operative model, producers unite to meet their common economic and social needs.”

As many coffee roasters and co-op retailers in Canada are also co-ops, working with Fair Trade is a great fit, and is one of the best examples of Co-operative Principle 6 (co-ops helping co-ops) in action!

Today’s challenge is to support Fair Trade!

Buy some fair trade goods!

Make the switch to fair trade at home and at work and encourage your friends, families and co-workers to do the same

Use fair trade goods when hosting an event

Ask your local co-op to carry fair trade goods

Here are some amazing Fair Trade Links to order delicious treats and learn more!

What is Fair Trade

Fair Trade International

La Siembra (they are a Canadian Worker Co-op that sells amazing Camino Coffee and chocolate)

Canadian Co-operative Association: Co-ops Fair Trade and International Development

#fair trade #co-operative #Co-op Week #Co-op Month

Day 22: Mondragon

We’re approaching the home stretch of the 30 Day Challenge! Thanks to everyone who has participated, and helped to spread the word about co-operatives.

Co-ops come in all shapes and sizes. As they are community focused we tend to think of co-ops as being smaller than their corporate counterparts. However, some co-ops are MASSIVE! Collectively the 300 largest Co-operatives in the world command revenues of USD 1.6 trillion!

Arguably the largest co-operative in the world is Spain’s Mondragon.

It’s unique history and amazing success explains the tenacity and strength of the co-operative movement. Today’s challenge is to learn all about Mondragon! By the end of the day you should know:

How Mondragon got started?

Who is by Father Jose María Arizmendiarrieta?

What industries Mondragon is a leader in!

To get started check out the Mondragon Site

PS don’t forget that today is Bank Transfer Day! Move your bank account to a credit union!

#mondragon #co-op week #co-operatives