Reaching 600 Members

What’s in a number? Quite a lot, as it turns out. Especially in the on-going effort to raise enough members to help open the doors for a community-owned grocery store.

When the Cedar Falls Food Co-op incorporated in the fall of 2014, the goal was to get 1,000 individuals to each become a founding member. The sooner we got 1,000 members, the sooner we’d have a grocery store.

Some food co-ops have opened their doors at 800 members, while others have needed to secure more like 1,400 members. There are a lot of variables from rent to size of store to grant opportunities. We don’t know for sure that we’ll need 1,000 members, but we do know this: starting a co-op takes three distinctive stages. We’re in Stage II right now – “Planning and Feasibility” – and Stage III begins around 600-800 members.

Stage III is where all the exciting things happen. This is when we conduct our site selection in earnest. This is where we start securing loans from banks to help secure the necessary financing. This is where we begin conducting a capital campaign. Stage III is also where we see the largest membership growth.

You see, once we announce the actual location, the CFFC moves from an “idea” to something more real, something tangible. As we’ve followed the efforts of food co-ops across the country, we are seeing that when a site is announced, the membership levels increase significantly. For example, Green Top Grocery, the food co-op in Bloomington, IL, that opened in May of this year, saw a significant growth in membership after they announced their location. After a site was announced, they saw nearly 450 new members join in the span of about 3 months!

So 600 members means a lot for the Cedar Falls Food Co-op. When we get here, we’ll start to see the end of the tunnel. Our efforts to establish a full-service, community-owned grocery store will propel us to new heights.

To help us reach 600 members by June 30, we’re offering a little incentive. Let’s help the Cedar Falls Food Co-op reach the third and final stage of our development!

 

 

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