Cooperative Community Fund
The Cooperative Community Fund (CCF) also known as “Give Where You Live” is an endowment fund, established by a group of cooperatives to enable community giving.
Co-opportunity’s CCF, in conjunction with the Twin Pines Cooperative Foundation, serves as a means for Co-op owners and shoppers to make meaningful donations to organizations within our community. Each October at our Member Annual Meeting, the Co-op awards a grant from the interest earned on the fund to a Los Angeles-area organization working on issues relating to sustainable agriculture, organic food, hunger/social issues, environmental protection, and cooperatives.
How to Apply To Co-opportunity's CCF
Complete an application online.
SUBMISSION DEADLINE
To have an application considered, please submit by October 8, 2020.
ELIGIBILITY
- Organization must have non-profit exempt status or tax-exempt documentation with this application.
- Organization cannot advocate, support, or practice unlawful discrimination based on religion, national origin, sex, disability, or sexual orientation.
- Organization cannot be political or religious.
- Organization's mission should align with Co-opportunity’s Ends helping to make our community better and healthier, and can be described by one of the following categories:
- Environmental/Sustainability
- Education/ The Arts
- Peace and Freedom of Expression
- Economic and Social Justice
- Civil Rights
- Organization is located near Co-opportunity and/or in the Los Angeles-area.
- Organization representative must attend Co-opportunity's Virtual Member Annual Meeting on October 11th to accept the grant.
- Organizations who have previously received the CCF grant are not eligible.
How to Donate To Co-opportunity's CCF
You can take part in this community giving opportunity by:
- Making a monetary donation of any amount at any register at the Co-op.
- Mailing a check to the Co-op marked: CCF Donation
- Donating online here.
Recipients of CCF Grants Include:
Seeds to Plate (2019) - The Seeds to Plate program aims to create and maintain a garden that is integrated into the academic environment at Mark Twain Middle School, LAUSD.
SoLA Food Co-op (2018) - Aiming to empower the community through shared ownership, educational opportunities, and social engagement, SoLA Food Co-op is in the beginning phases of forming itself into a viable cooperatively organized organic and natural grocer in South Los Angeles.
GrowGood (2018) - In partnership with the Salvation Army, GrowGood's 1.5 acre no-till, regenerative urban farm provides thousands of pounds of fresh, organic produce to the Bell Homeless Shelter. The farm also provides employment and therapeutic opportunities to those transitioning from homelessness at the shelter through culinary training and life skills classes.
UCLA's Student Food Co-op (2017) - a student-owned, cooperatively-run market & café that educates students about food systems, trains students to manage a sustainable business, and provides a warm, welcoming space where people can come to learn and be part of a community. Its mission: provide fresh, delicious, sustainable food for the UCLA community, celebrate the artistic and cultural vibrancy of our campus, and bring people together." Read more here!
SÜPRMARKT - a low-cost organic grocery servicing low-income communities in LA. It operates weekly, providing 100% organic produce to make great health and healing available to the communities which need it most.
Ocean Park Community Center - an independent, community-supported organization in which staff, volunteers, and clients work with mutual respect to address the effects of poverty, abuse, neglect, and discrimination. The agency's programs are designed to remove barriers to access the resources individuals need to ensure their survival, end their victimization, and improve their quality of life.
Seeds to Plate Program - an academically integrated, standards-based middle school garden program. It promotes a healthy lifestyle while providing hands-on garden experiences for students, families, and staff at Mark Twain Middle School, LAUSD.
School on Wheels, Inc. - provides academic tutoring to children living in shelters, motels, cars, group foster homes and on the streets in Southern California. They provide homeless students stability in a time of stress and transition, and help them achieve educational success so that they may break the cycle of homelessness and poverty.
Co-opportunity Announces 2018 “Give Where You Live” Grant Recipients
CULVER CITY (October 24, 2018) - After receiving a record number of applications, Co-opportunity has awarded the 2018 Co-opportunity Cooperative Community Fund (CCF) Grant to two admirable Los Angeles organizations: SoLA Food Co-op and GrowGood. The grants were presented to the organizations at Co-opportunity’s Owner Annual Meeting in Culver City on October 21, 2018.
Co-opportunity’s CCF, in conjunction with the Twin Pines Cooperative Foundation, serves as a means for co-op owners and shoppers to make meaningful donations to organizations within the community. Each October, Co-opportunity awards a grant from the interest earned on the fund to a Los Angeles area organization working on issues relating to sustainable agriculture and organic food, hunger and social issues, environmental protection, and cooperatives. The recipient of the CCF Grant in 2017 was the UCLA Student Food Collective, a student-owned, cooperatively run market and cafe.
SoLA Food Co-op is a growing organization working to provide a source for natural, organic, non-GMO food in South Los Angeles by opening a full-service grocery store. Aiming to empower the community through shared ownership, educational opportunities, and social engagement, SoLA Food Co-op is in the beginning phases of forming itself into a viable cooperatively organized business.
Accepting the award on behalf of SoLA were SoLA Founder, Board Member and Vice President Bahni Turpin, Board President Mikaela Randolph, and Board Member Les Koll. “We are so thrilled to be presented with this opportunity,” Mikaela said, “The Give Where You Live grant will help send our board to the Up & Coming conference for start-up food co-ops in the spring, where we hope to strengthen our collective knowledge of the developmental steps of growing the co-op to a brick and mortar store.”
GrowGood is a non-profit organization that has partnered with The Salvation Army to transform and maintain a 1.5 acre parcel of land into a no-till, regenerative urban farm that provides thousands of pounds of fresh, organic produce to the Bell Homeless Shelter. The farm also provides employment and therapeutic opportunities to those transitioning from homelessness at the Shelter through culinary training and life skills classes.
Ryley Schlachter, Commercial Manager for GrowGood, accepted the award at Co-opportunity’s Owner Annual Meeting. “This grant will help us to equip our greenhouse and launch our social enterprise of selling our farm’s produce to restaurants and other purveyors,” Ryley said, adding that locally grown microgreens and produce are in high demand by local chefs.
“The recipients of this year’s grants embody the mission and values of Co-opportunity through their investment in thoughtful and community-based approaches to improving the lives of our neighbors in LA County. Co-opportunity is proud to support our sister-cooperative and our farming neighbors, and looks forward to further collaborations in the future,” remarked Lena Tito, Marketing Director at Co-opportunity.
Learn more about SoLA Food Co-op and GrowGood at the links below.
Santa Monica Store
1525 Broadway
Santa Monica, CA 90404
310 451 8902
Open Daily
7am - 10pm
High Risk Shopping Hour
7am - 8am
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