Notes from engaged onlookers
Bren
two retired executive directors of local community-facing
organizations. They aren't on this list, but they're both interested
and engaged onlookers. I think both comments are very instructive and
good food for thought/action.
--Bren
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Comment #1
I believe one factor that could make or break the long-term success of
the coop is whether the Hispanic community sees it as helping meet
their needs. With that in mind, it might be appropriate to connect
with the Hispanic Friends congregation up front. They may not be
critical for “setting it up” but could be critical for “making it go.”
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Comment #2
*The right board members must be identified, recruited and retained
ensuring the co-op will continue to serve its intended clientèle and
to prevent hi-jacking by some group with specific other interests down
the road (usually at about the 3-6 year marks).
Herein lies the rub: We all tend to know, trust and admire those who
are much more like us than those who are significantly different. Add
this to the general dislike of the "asking people to serve" challenge
(a job no one seems to ever want) and that we seldom hang out with
people not like us and therefore usually know them in only a public
sense, and you have a recipe for a lot of burned-out founders.
It is dangerous to put together a board of like-minded folks, as much
as that will be the temptation. The board has a stewardship obligation
to the people and the State of Oregon, Internal Revenue Service, many
different constituencies--including those in the target market who
have not yet met the co-op, the Ministerial Association, YCAP (county
human resources organization), Newberg/Dundee law enforcement and a
huge blanket of participants/donors.
There is no way these various groups could be represented in a couple
of people, or even in a dozen if those people came from a nearly
homogeneous group. The failure to hear and fairly represent one or
more big constituency blocks is behind the failure of a number of
start-ups, and is a contributing element of most or all such failures.
Get it right to begin with . . .
*Recruit the right staff for start-up (volunteer and/or paid) and
recognize how they will need to be replaced when the organization
grows beyond the first steps. This is not to say they should be
"fired;" indeed they will be either your best assets or worst pains
depending upon how carefully and thoughtfully you manage the
transition. Their role will need to change, however, as the most
desired qualities in an ongoing retail shop are pretty much
diametrically opposite of those in a long-term shop management
environment. If you go into the process with everyone aware of this
coming transition ("sometime in the future") it will be more likely to
be perceived as an anticipated and healthy transition rather than as
an "out the founders" campaign. The goals of the "start-up folks" and
those of the "maintenance folks" will certainly differ as the co-op
begins to grow--these differences will get expressed as differences in
overall policy and will pop up attached to existing cooperative hot
buttons. This can be fatal to a new organization.
*Ensuring the board recognizes and performs its duties *while not*
mucking around in the duties best performed by others
*Taking steps to prevent financial fraud--not just to detect it once
it has happened.
*Developing structures from the beginning that encourage an ongoing
conversation between the various parties within the co-op. Offering
passive information is inadequate, and changing the definition of what
is, and what is not, "for board eyes only" is deadly. So an overall
set of policies concerning privacy, openness and protection of others
need to work from the beginning. They won't emerge by themselves and
will require quite a bit of nurturing to fully mature.
*Structuring a fund-raising strategy. This is another, even less-liked
task that will need to be an ongoing part of the co-op. Whether the co-
op is set up as 501(c)3 not-for-profit, a limited (large) partnership
among all of its members, or some rather exotic form of organization
there will be a continuing need to attract people to the store, to
find the operating fund money so that your farm/co-op/consumer fund
cycle can build and not drive the co-op into lethargy--a truly awful
state that leaves the whole project unable to undertake new programs,
struggling to keep balance under a sizable debt load and begging the
same list of ex-supporters time after time in a response to yet
another "financial crisis."
*Avoiding problems with the Ministerial Association, food distribution
system already serving Newberg, the Chamber of Commerce, Newberg City
Staff and council and the traditional Rotary club, without whose
support you will have a truly rough time of it here in Newberg). Co-
ops are a huge target for anyone who believes there are conflicting
interests--even the interest of "potential customers for fresh
produce." The co-op can save itself a lot of time and trouble later
if this factor is given enough attention early, integrated into the
whole of the co-op structures, both formal and informal.
*Developing a solid creative identity for the co-op, both inside and
out. Those participating in the co-op should "see" their participation
as consistent with their image of who and what the co-op is becoming.
The outside publics should carefully navigate among the unspoken
accusations early in the process, selecting the worst to snip them off
before they grow into monsters. Few people have a clear idea of just
how a co-op differs from a for-profit or not-for-profit organization.
The other things they see or hear while "in the context" of the co-op
will affect and will be affected by whatever folks have already
assembled as "what is this co-op". (Right from the MBA manual!
Developing and integrating an Identity. . .)
This deserves its own place on the list because of its danger to new
groups organizing around a set of principles which are not in fact,
common either within the group ("we all think that, don't we ? . . .")
nor without/outside of the group ("this looks like a place to catch
some exotic deadly disease there because you didn't even spray for
insects. . .")
*Just where in the city can you look for an internal champion there?
and how can you most likely to gain the needed support?
There are other issues, of course. But I believe this project has the
potential to help my community grow in a way that will take us farther
from the "Metro burb wanna be" model closer to the "organize people in
helpful ways to creatively confront a common problem" orientation.