Chicago Market Newsletter - October 2019
We've got some progress updates for you!
- Our Board and store design team has been gathering construction and equipment costs. They are coming in higher than we anticipated so we're in discussion with the store design team to find ways to trim and lower costs while still building a store that is true to our community's vision and that we'll all be proud of and excited to shop in.
- The next step is to plug those final numbers into our financial planning pro forma along with the new Advantage Illinois funding opportunity that will match our bank loan. This will then answer the question for us of how much more we'll need to raise from our own community via Owner loans. Remember, Cooperative Principle #3 is Member Economic Participation - that means we Owners participate financially to fund the store and community hub we all want!
- We're excited to be up to 1732 Owners! As you know, funding our store relies in part on the equity of Owners, so we're pushing for 2000+ to make our funding goals. Tell your friends why this Co-op matters to you so they join us.
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Our six new Board members are awesome and stepping up quickly to impact your Co-op. One thing many of them did alongside existing Board members was attend a day-long Cooperative Board Leadership 101 workshop put on by Columinate. Ten of our directors (including five of our newly elected) learned how to improve our governance, how to look carefully at our financial picture (yes, using Legos!) and more about our roles and responsibilities as co-op leaders.
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Other News
Welcome New Household Owners!
We're so excited to have growing families bringing new Household Owners into our community. Our Board member Sofia Jouravel gave birth to Alexandra just last week; past Board member Sara Dinges welcomed Enzo into the family mid-September and our long-time volunteers Besan and Aaron had a new boy Zayn over the summer. Congrats all - we can't wait to see them all growing up together in our store!
Financials
Our Treasurer and team have finalized our year-end financial statements and they're up on our website.
Upcoming Events
- Help your Co-op succeed. Bring your friends out to our Ownership Info Session this Saturday, October 12 at Sulzer Library, 3:30-4:30pm.
- Women Helping Empower Women at My Buddy's - Board member Dana McKinney speaks about her experience leading a community-owned business. October 16, 7pm. More details here.
- Grocery Story: Co-op Book Tour and Discussion with Jon Steinman, October 18, 6:30pm at Raygun Chicago. RSVP here.
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News from our Business Owners
Collective Resource Compost to reach company milestone of diverting 6000 tons by mid-December!
Collective Resource Compost is a woman-owned, locally based food scrap hauling company that makes composting and reducing food waste easy.
With the help of their conscientious customers, they are mitigating climate change by diverting 35 tons of food scraps a week to a commercial composting facility.
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Volunteer Opportunity
- Is email marketing your thing? Or would you like to learn? We could use another team member or two working on our eblasts. Check in with our volunteer coordinator if you're interested.
- Are you a bookkeeper? Or an aspiring one? Or just detail-oriented and interested in helping keep our financial tracking in order? Please get in touch with our volunteer coordinator if you are interested.
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