CFNE Annual Appeal 2023
A nonprofit fundraiser supporting
Cooperative Fund of the Northeast, Inc.Despite the silly faces, we are very serious about co-op development. Donate today!
$39,845
raised by 62 people
$50,000 goal
Update #1
Thanks to our generous donors, we are over 75% of the way to raising $50,000 towards year 3 of the Co-op Navigator Fellowship. Just $12,110 more and we'll reach our goal.
Here’s a few reasons why you should help us get there:
- The Co-op Navigator Fellowship is changing the face of the co-op movement by mentoring and training BIPOC cooperators.
- We are already seeing expanded support for the co-op ecosystem in the northeast - check out this LinkedIn post from Varun Khattar Sharma, one of our Navigator Fellows.
- The fellowship program directly impacts CFNE’s vision of economic justice for all through thriving cooperative enterprises by providing support where it's needed right now -- culturally relevant training and support to communities that have historically been underserved.
We believe in this program so strongly that we invested our own funds to launch the program in 2022 and have been brave enough to make this ask — our biggest appeal since CFNE was founded almost 50-years ago. We are all co-creating together and need your help to continue growing forward. Will you donate to help us raise this last $12,000?
The Co-op Navigator Fellowship needs your support!
As we go into year three of our new Fellowship program we have been reflecting on why we started it:
We launched the program because Black, Indigenous, and immigrant communities have co-op needs that reach beyond money – they also need localized, culturally relevant technical support to manage and develop their co-ops. Additionally, we continue to find that these communities need more awareness about the positive impact co-ops can have on their neighborhoods now and in the future.
The Co-op Navigator Fellowship seeks to change this level of support and awareness because we believe people have the power to change their communities through cooperation and we believe Black, Indigenous, and immigrant people need to be centered in our work. So after years of conversation with stakeholders in these communities, we backed our beliefs by investing $800,000 of our own funds in embedding 5 local cooperators (fellows) at 5 organizations (host sites) across the northeast. The fellows purpose is to identify ways the host sites can incorporate cooperative models and co-op support into their existing work.
The Host Sites
Capital Region Co-op Cnxn (Capital Region, NY)
Four Directions Development Corporation (Orono, ME)
Fuerza Laboral/Power of Workers (Central Falls, RI)
Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust / Black Farmer Fund (Northeast Region/NYC)
ReSET (Hartford, CT)
The beauty of this program is how localized the support is. Because each fellow is already an active member of their respective communities, they are better positioned to help develop cooperative solutions. In year 1, fellows raised grant money for their host site, hosted community discussions and walking tours about co-ops, and through monthly fellowship meetings, engaged in conversations with mentors who've navigated the mainstream co-op economy as marginalized cooperators.
In year 2, fellows are diving deeper into the work of their host sites with the goal of developing a project that will serve as a culturally relevant model of formalized cooperation in their respective communities. Ultimately, this grassroots work will empower existing co-ops and inspire the creation of new co-ops in host site communities.
With that said, for this year’s annual appeal, we invite you to donate directly to the Co-op Navigator Fellowship. We’ve set a goal to raise $50,000 by January 31st to fully cover CFNE’s stewardship of the program. For us, that means hosting retreats and trainings, providing one-on-one coaching, and fostering a supportive network of peer learning among the Fellows.