It is time once again to share our monthly committee reports with our membership and others who are interested in what we are doing to bring the Co-op to fruition. We have several active committees staffed by dedicated, hard-working volunteers whose one goal is get this Co-op built. As you can see from the reports below, the summer Growing Season has been pretty busy so far and we'll be working hard over the next couple months to accomplish our overall goal of recruiting enough new members to open our store.
Can you help us out?. If you’re a member who wants to make a HUGE difference in how fast we can get to the ribbon cutting for the Co-op, please consider volunteering to serve on one of these committees. The report below will help you determine which activities fit with your skill set or are among skills that you’re hoping to learn. (You can also download the report here.)
Treasury (Jay Tarlecki)
Updates:
Upcoming:
Bookkeeping (Molly Peterman)
Move from member records in excel to QuickBooks for accounting and tracking needs
Business Outreach has received a new SSP application from a local chiropractor office and is processing. BO will be contacting the current SSP businesses for potential garden your sponsors. This will be accomplished by contacting them via email and in person. BO appreciates any assistance from other members, or recommendations on businesses to contact.
Grants (Maria Sourbeer)
We did not receive the recent grant from TRF. Grants followed up with TRF for feedback and will report if/when they respond. We were awarded CDC service grant and board will discuss acceptance and $1500 service fee. Pending responses from Clif Family Foundation and PAF applications. Last year's Philadelphia Activities Fund report due June 30, 2013, Events has kindly agreed to submit. We continue to research and update our database. Top on our radar is the Food Coop Initiative seed grant due August 1st for up to $10,000 and requires matching funds.
NationBuilder buildout (Melanie Myers)
No report submitted
Leadership (Aubrey Jones)
The Leadership Committee does not have anything to report at this time. We are planning to meet soon to discuss long term goals and leadership strategies.
Legal (Josh Richards)
The legal committee has been focusing its efforts on getting the member loan committee up and running. Apart from that, the Committee has reviewed and signed off on an agreement with the Community Design Collaborative and coordinated with discussions on site selection and presentations to potential sources of funding.
Marketing and Communication (Dan Pohlig)
The Marketing and Communications Committee recently completed a design and print project to create 10" x 14" posters featuring quotes from members telling the story about why the Co-op will be good for the community or for their own households. Marketing and Communications intends to contact Business Outreach and Membership to discuss distribution of these posters to local shops and bulletin boards as well as to members who would like to display them in their front windows. The Committee continues to recruit new volunteers to join and help out with the work of spreading the word about the Co-op and increasing awareness among the residents of the community. Marketing and Communications has also been working to brand summer 2013 as "Growing Season" for the Co-op to provide a unified theme for all communications this summer. All committees are encouraged to work the language of growth, gardening, farming, fertility, activity, working etc. and avoid words like vacation, shore, break, lazy, sleepy, etc. when describing the Co-op's activities over the summer. The Committee is also taking up work of overseeing email communications that had been done by the Membership Committee during the 75in75 campaign. Finally, the Committee has begun investigating paid forms of advertising including print ads that would leverage the new posters in publications like Grid.
Member Loan Committee (Josh Richards)
The member loan committee met three times since the last Board meeting, and has made substantial headway in preparing draft recommendations regarding details of the member loan campaign for presentation to the Board. We will present these recommendations at the June Board meeting. The committee has worked to collect and synthesize materials from other member loan campaigns in preparing its recommendations. Josh Richards has met with counsel from three firms to work toward a recommendation of counsel to hire to prepare legal documents in connection with the member loan campaign. The most serious outstanding action item is the hiring of a paid contractor to direct the campaign, which process Anna Shipp has contributed to mightily this month in preparing a draft job description for presentation to the Board. Josh Richards and Alison Fritz also had a lengthy phone call with Leah Pillsbury who led Mariposa’s recent successful capital campaign.
Membership (Cassie Plummer)
The Membership Committee is currently focusing on supporting the CRM (NationBuilder) implementation to ensure appropriate data transfer/capture. We will be working to setting up processes for use of NationBuilder: adding data, searching data, mailing list onboarding/outreach, new member onboarding/welcome, volunteer management, interaction documentation. We will put together a playbook for these items and offer training.
Please see the separately submitted proposal for changing the payment plan offering to launch with the NationBuilder site.
Committee is working with Bookkeeping to send out equity reminders and may need to postpone this since the switch to NationBuilder is near and may change the process slightly.
Committee is in the process of collecting/documenting feedback from the May General Meeting and will begin thinking about venues/dates for the October meeting.
Committee is working with P/E to plan a series of “local” potlucks in several different neighborhoods – which will function similar to a house party with an update and call to join but will be open to anyone, members and non-members.
Committee is thinking about ways to improve our volunteer onboarding and hope to offer monthly volunteer trainings beginning in the fall.
Committee report the success of the Coffee With the Co-op Campaign: 29 new members joined at Coffee With the Co-op events, ~100 new additions to the mailing list from these events. We sent out 265 postcards to our most highly engaged mailing list followers announcing Coffee with the Co-op and distributed 135 postcards through the participating coffee shops.
We have 30+ mugs remaining for future Coffee with the Co-op events. To avoid some of the scheduling issues we experienced this spring, we recommend scheduling fewer events, spreading out over several months, and not booking 2 events for the same day.
Operations Committee (Alison Fritz)
Ops continues to oversee outreach to potential lenders. Members of the committee and board have met with representatives from several lenders. So far the response has been positive however our lack of collateral will limit the amount we can borrow. All agencies have said that we should schedule another meeting when we have specific location in mind.
Working in tandem with Real Estate Committee, Ops has created site specific pro formas to reflect new information as it becomes available from lenders and potential landlords. Ops has also looked into site analysis vendor referred by TRF, Dakota Worldwide (MN). The committee is securing samples and references on both Dakota and CDS and will make a recommendation to the board as to which vendor the Co-op should contract with.
Ops discussed store programming and suggests the following product mix to be used when considering store layout options for a 3,000sqft store: Produce, bulk, dry goods, dairy, frozen, wellness (health and beauty), grab n go (sandwiches, salads), prepackaged meat and fish, baked goods (not made on site), beverages.
In process: 1.) business plan (in addition to editing of existing sections we need to write a 5-year vision, marketing plan, and executive summary). 2.) matching “actuals” to “projected” Sources and Uses on pro forma, 3.) Identify potential DCED grants for equipment purchases.
Upcoming work includes: 1.) guidelines for electronic documentation storage, 2.) a primer on the Co-op’s sources and uses so committee members understand the basics.
Programs and Events (Leigh Goldenberg)
Programs and Events hosted two packed, buzzed-about events in June - a pallet gardening workshop at South Philly High School and a Hot Dog Happy Hour at Underdogs, which drew a diverse representation of our membership and signed up new members. The committee is in the thick of recruiting gardens and sponsors for the 3rd Annual South Philadelphia Garden Tour, on Saturday September 7. The participation of all committees and members is encouraged, by connecting the Co-op with potential sponsors and driving word-of-mouth for the event. Please contact Committee Chair Leigh Goldenberg at [email protected] for a complete sponsorship packet.
Throughout the summer, Programs and Events will also staff tables at community events and farmers markets. Additional activities are planned for later in the summer to partner with local businesses and to work with members to hosting potlucks and house parties in an effort to keep up the momentum of our growing membership numbers.
Real Estate (Megan Kiesel)
The real estate committee has been working to identify, visit and vet potential sites for the co-op. We have visited several potential locations. In addition, we are engaging representatives from other local co-ops and contractors as necessary to confirm the viability of potential sites, requiring several visits to potential sites.
Speakers Bureau (Katy Travaline)
The Speakers Bureau has presented at a total of 5 events in 2013 and has been helping to coordinate speakers for Co-op House Parties and other events, which are not included in this total. A speaker will be speaking at the Energy Co-op’s Co-op Fair on June 17th.
An attempt to recruit new speakers at the General Membership Meeting on May 19, 2013 yielded no new speakers, but we did obtain a few good ideas and contacts for potential speaking engagements.
The goals for June and July are as follows:
The Speakers Bureau outreach binders will now be updated with the updated talking points. We are actively seeking more speaking opportunities and more speakers. All suggestions and volunteers are welcome. A number of speaking engagements are in the works (4 civic associations; 3 special events; a few house parties). We will also plan to hold a Speakers Training Workshop. Details to follow.
Can you help us out?. If you’re a member who wants to make a HUGE difference in how fast we can get to the ribbon cutting for the Co-op, please consider volunteering to serve on one of these committees. The report below will help you determine which activities fit with your skill set or are among skills that you’re hoping to learn. (You can also download the report here.)
Treasury (Jay Tarlecki)
Updates:
- Statement of Activities & Statement of Financial Position. Records are only updated to 5/24/2013, bookkeeping a bit behind schedule this month.
- Bank Reconciliation
- Fair Food account bank reconciliation. This is not yet included with the standard report numbers. Rather than re-work everything now, this issue will be addressed during the upcoming Quickbooks integration.
- TRF Report and to be discussed later in meeting
- FY14 budget actuals current as of 6/14/2013 (attached) and to be discussed later in meeting
Upcoming:
- Treasurer playbook, in progress
- Looking for CPA to handle taxes moving forward, no luck finding one that handles co-op so far. Talked to one who handles cooperatives, but he would like to meet in person in Lancaster, PA. Working to find someone more local. Still awaiting CPA approval of FY13 final numbers, will likely need a new option.
- Will be asking for another $5,000+ disbursement from TRF this week (money can only be released in $5,000 increments)
- Develop new bank deposit form, in progress
Bookkeeping (Molly Peterman)
Move from member records in excel to QuickBooks for accounting and tracking needs
- Begin using QuickBooks at start of FY14 - Refer to Board proposal for professional assistance for QB implementation
- Begin transition of past FYs to QuickBooks on 6/1/13 after FY13 is officially closed out- Implementation proposal includes transition of historical data
- Provide reliable and accurate financial stewardship to people who have trusted us with their money records are reconciled
- Written policy and procedure manual for member tracking, CRM entry, and bookkeeping practices. Pending
- Monthly reconciliation for banking
Records reconciled as of 6/16.
- Current active member count is 479 (members in good standing = 425 and equity past-due = 54). Cash on hand = $67,062. (excluding $1,750 transferred to Fair Foods). Non-equity cash = ($1,295) Note- negative due to pending grant-related reimbursement.
- CRM database and QuickBooks to be updated twice a month. Done
- Membership cards and welcome letters to be mailed once a month mailed at least once every calendar month
- Assist with development and conversion to the Co-op’s CRM system. Pending
- Distribute membership certificate shares at each general meeting distributed at Spring Member Meeting
Business Outreach has received a new SSP application from a local chiropractor office and is processing. BO will be contacting the current SSP businesses for potential garden your sponsors. This will be accomplished by contacting them via email and in person. BO appreciates any assistance from other members, or recommendations on businesses to contact.
Grants (Maria Sourbeer)
We did not receive the recent grant from TRF. Grants followed up with TRF for feedback and will report if/when they respond. We were awarded CDC service grant and board will discuss acceptance and $1500 service fee. Pending responses from Clif Family Foundation and PAF applications. Last year's Philadelphia Activities Fund report due June 30, 2013, Events has kindly agreed to submit. We continue to research and update our database. Top on our radar is the Food Coop Initiative seed grant due August 1st for up to $10,000 and requires matching funds.
NationBuilder buildout (Melanie Myers)
No report submitted
Leadership (Aubrey Jones)
The Leadership Committee does not have anything to report at this time. We are planning to meet soon to discuss long term goals and leadership strategies.
Legal (Josh Richards)
The legal committee has been focusing its efforts on getting the member loan committee up and running. Apart from that, the Committee has reviewed and signed off on an agreement with the Community Design Collaborative and coordinated with discussions on site selection and presentations to potential sources of funding.
Marketing and Communication (Dan Pohlig)
The Marketing and Communications Committee recently completed a design and print project to create 10" x 14" posters featuring quotes from members telling the story about why the Co-op will be good for the community or for their own households. Marketing and Communications intends to contact Business Outreach and Membership to discuss distribution of these posters to local shops and bulletin boards as well as to members who would like to display them in their front windows. The Committee continues to recruit new volunteers to join and help out with the work of spreading the word about the Co-op and increasing awareness among the residents of the community. Marketing and Communications has also been working to brand summer 2013 as "Growing Season" for the Co-op to provide a unified theme for all communications this summer. All committees are encouraged to work the language of growth, gardening, farming, fertility, activity, working etc. and avoid words like vacation, shore, break, lazy, sleepy, etc. when describing the Co-op's activities over the summer. The Committee is also taking up work of overseeing email communications that had been done by the Membership Committee during the 75in75 campaign. Finally, the Committee has begun investigating paid forms of advertising including print ads that would leverage the new posters in publications like Grid.
Member Loan Committee (Josh Richards)
The member loan committee met three times since the last Board meeting, and has made substantial headway in preparing draft recommendations regarding details of the member loan campaign for presentation to the Board. We will present these recommendations at the June Board meeting. The committee has worked to collect and synthesize materials from other member loan campaigns in preparing its recommendations. Josh Richards has met with counsel from three firms to work toward a recommendation of counsel to hire to prepare legal documents in connection with the member loan campaign. The most serious outstanding action item is the hiring of a paid contractor to direct the campaign, which process Anna Shipp has contributed to mightily this month in preparing a draft job description for presentation to the Board. Josh Richards and Alison Fritz also had a lengthy phone call with Leah Pillsbury who led Mariposa’s recent successful capital campaign.
Membership (Cassie Plummer)
The Membership Committee is currently focusing on supporting the CRM (NationBuilder) implementation to ensure appropriate data transfer/capture. We will be working to setting up processes for use of NationBuilder: adding data, searching data, mailing list onboarding/outreach, new member onboarding/welcome, volunteer management, interaction documentation. We will put together a playbook for these items and offer training.
Please see the separately submitted proposal for changing the payment plan offering to launch with the NationBuilder site.
Committee is working with Bookkeeping to send out equity reminders and may need to postpone this since the switch to NationBuilder is near and may change the process slightly.
Committee is in the process of collecting/documenting feedback from the May General Meeting and will begin thinking about venues/dates for the October meeting.
Committee is working with P/E to plan a series of “local” potlucks in several different neighborhoods – which will function similar to a house party with an update and call to join but will be open to anyone, members and non-members.
Committee is thinking about ways to improve our volunteer onboarding and hope to offer monthly volunteer trainings beginning in the fall.
Committee report the success of the Coffee With the Co-op Campaign: 29 new members joined at Coffee With the Co-op events, ~100 new additions to the mailing list from these events. We sent out 265 postcards to our most highly engaged mailing list followers announcing Coffee with the Co-op and distributed 135 postcards through the participating coffee shops.
- Positive feedback was given for the design of the postcard.
- Only one person who we sent a postcard to actually joined at one of the Coffee with the Co-op events.
- Seven people who were sent postcards joined online via wufoo during the Coffee with the Co-op time period (3/15/2013 to 5/18/2013)
We have 30+ mugs remaining for future Coffee with the Co-op events. To avoid some of the scheduling issues we experienced this spring, we recommend scheduling fewer events, spreading out over several months, and not booking 2 events for the same day.
Operations Committee (Alison Fritz)
Ops continues to oversee outreach to potential lenders. Members of the committee and board have met with representatives from several lenders. So far the response has been positive however our lack of collateral will limit the amount we can borrow. All agencies have said that we should schedule another meeting when we have specific location in mind.
Working in tandem with Real Estate Committee, Ops has created site specific pro formas to reflect new information as it becomes available from lenders and potential landlords. Ops has also looked into site analysis vendor referred by TRF, Dakota Worldwide (MN). The committee is securing samples and references on both Dakota and CDS and will make a recommendation to the board as to which vendor the Co-op should contract with.
Ops discussed store programming and suggests the following product mix to be used when considering store layout options for a 3,000sqft store: Produce, bulk, dry goods, dairy, frozen, wellness (health and beauty), grab n go (sandwiches, salads), prepackaged meat and fish, baked goods (not made on site), beverages.
In process: 1.) business plan (in addition to editing of existing sections we need to write a 5-year vision, marketing plan, and executive summary). 2.) matching “actuals” to “projected” Sources and Uses on pro forma, 3.) Identify potential DCED grants for equipment purchases.
Upcoming work includes: 1.) guidelines for electronic documentation storage, 2.) a primer on the Co-op’s sources and uses so committee members understand the basics.
Programs and Events (Leigh Goldenberg)
Programs and Events hosted two packed, buzzed-about events in June - a pallet gardening workshop at South Philly High School and a Hot Dog Happy Hour at Underdogs, which drew a diverse representation of our membership and signed up new members. The committee is in the thick of recruiting gardens and sponsors for the 3rd Annual South Philadelphia Garden Tour, on Saturday September 7. The participation of all committees and members is encouraged, by connecting the Co-op with potential sponsors and driving word-of-mouth for the event. Please contact Committee Chair Leigh Goldenberg at [email protected] for a complete sponsorship packet.
Throughout the summer, Programs and Events will also staff tables at community events and farmers markets. Additional activities are planned for later in the summer to partner with local businesses and to work with members to hosting potlucks and house parties in an effort to keep up the momentum of our growing membership numbers.
Real Estate (Megan Kiesel)
The real estate committee has been working to identify, visit and vet potential sites for the co-op. We have visited several potential locations. In addition, we are engaging representatives from other local co-ops and contractors as necessary to confirm the viability of potential sites, requiring several visits to potential sites.
Speakers Bureau (Katy Travaline)
The Speakers Bureau has presented at a total of 5 events in 2013 and has been helping to coordinate speakers for Co-op House Parties and other events, which are not included in this total. A speaker will be speaking at the Energy Co-op’s Co-op Fair on June 17th.
An attempt to recruit new speakers at the General Membership Meeting on May 19, 2013 yielded no new speakers, but we did obtain a few good ideas and contacts for potential speaking engagements.
The goals for June and July are as follows:
The Speakers Bureau outreach binders will now be updated with the updated talking points. We are actively seeking more speaking opportunities and more speakers. All suggestions and volunteers are welcome. A number of speaking engagements are in the works (4 civic associations; 3 special events; a few house parties). We will also plan to hold a Speakers Training Workshop. Details to follow.