From the Board President: Looking Ahead to 2017

Happy New Year! I’m very excited as to what 2017 will bring for the Co-op. This year will mark some major milestones in our development. I’m so proud of our committees and the board and all the groundwork they’ve done in the last two years to help prepare for some exciting steps in 2017. As a result, we’re poised to accomplish the following this year:

Fully Elected Board

This year marks the end of the transition from a steering committee to a fully elected Board of Directors. Over the summer, the final three seats on the Board will be up for interested candidates, and once the final votes are tabulated, each of the nine-member Board will have been elected by the Co-op’s membership. This is important to us, as we value the second of the 7 Cooperative Principles: Democratic Governance.

Financial Pro Forma

This winter we’ll complete the development of our financial pro forma, which becomes the heart of our business plan. Once completed, the pro forma will help us more clearly articulate our total fundraising goals as well as help us paint a clearer picture of our overall timeline. This will be a great tool as we embark on efforts to secure traditional financing for the Co-op.

Capital campaign

This fall, the Co-op will conduct a capital campaign, raising nearly a third of the total of the funds necessary to open the doors on our community grown grocery store. Combined with our membership equity and traditional financing, we’ll be ready for the final stages of raising capital and then opening the doors.

Phase 3

The traditional co-op development model has three phases of development. Sometime this year we’ll move from Phase 2 (Feasibility/Planning) into Phase 3 (Implementation). Phase 3 will continue into 2018, and if all goes well, we’ll be open in 2018, 2019 at the latest.

Site selection

Of course, one of the most exciting things about being in Phase 3 is that we can begin in earnest the site selection for the Co-op. It will be very rewarding to finally announce sometime in 2017 the exact location of the Cedar Falls Food Co-op. Stay tuned for this and other exciting developments!

In cooperation,

Tom Wickersham

 

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