A business model canvas is a tool entrepreneurs use to identify the key ingredients that make up their business and often form a business plan’s foundation. A lot more detail is included with a business plan, but the canvas does a great job of getting things started.
Established as a worker cooperative in the 1960s in the Basque Region of Spain, Grupo Ausolan began with a group of 17 women looking for economic independence and personal development.
Being a woman in the 60s in Spain was very challenging when it came to social, economic, and political rights. During those times, women were only allowed to work exclusively until before they got married, which, soon after, society expected them to quit their jobs, to focus on their lives as housewives.
In order to provide the necessary capital to solve their cash flow problem, in 1989 Equal Exchange created a share class for outside investors. They were an innovator in creating a preferred non-voting investor share class for co-ops.
A dozen electric cooperatives in Kansas are joining together to make a small investment for the next 25 years – or more – in solar energy. Participating cooperatives will be able to procure low-up-front-cost solar energy to serve their members through the Kansas Cooperative Sun Power Program and reduce their peak demand.
Solidarity efforts have addressed a diverse set of issues during the pandemic. Social Enterprise World Forum (SEWF) provides a lengthy and diverse list of solidarity efforts around the world that try to address the pandemic crisis. There have been several food programs, meal distributions, community kitchens in different parts of the world including the US, Canada, South Africa, Malaysia, Scotland and more.
“The big question we’ve had in the sector since Covid started has been housing charges and arrears,” CHF Canada’s programme manager for co-op and planning services, René Daoust, who organised the town hall, said in a statement. “We see from our surveys that it’s not bad, and in some cases it’s a bit better than before.
The comeback was far from a given; staff cleared out the walk-in refrigerator in March when the pandemic hit, and assumed it would never reopen. But owners were able to procure grants and loans to reopen, said Arabacıoğlu, and renegotiate their lease. He came back this week for the first time in months.
“It kind of feels unreal in a way,” said Arabacıoğlu. “We said our goodbyes and now we’re back.”
CECOP is proud to present the third and final part of a three-part docuseries. In this third video, we interview Giuseppe Guerini, CECOP President, in which he discusses political engagement and cooperativism.
Intentional Communities are the future of ecological and cultural sustainability. Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) have often been left out of the conversation but have been doing community for lifetimes. Join us to hear the voices of people working to reclaim the land and build community.This session will include panel discussion and live Q&A with BIPOC leaders in the intentional community and land reclamation movements.
In this episode of Each For All, we’re excited to bring you features on two co-ops from BC: one rural, one urban. Both demonstrate how much can be done when people work together in co-operative ways to solve problems in their communities.
A bilingual videoconference on solidarity economy in Brazil and the US.
TYM members, discouraged by the financial limitations of self-directed IRAs, turned their attention to the work of Michael Shuman and the Next Egg (a co-creation of Shuman, the Sustainable Economies Law Center, and the LIFT Economy). Through Next Egg, TYM members can collaborate with others across the nation who have the same mission to transition their money from Wall Street to Main Street.
