Do you believe in supporting local growers, in livable neighborhoods, in strong schools, in supporting other co-ops or in programs that make this community an even better place to live?
So do we.
And do you ever feel the amount of money you can contribute to any of these local efforts is no more than a drop in the bucket?
We often do.
But what if we all pooled our money together to benefit some of these community efforts? What an impact we could make!
That's why we were thrilled to be one of the only two co-ops in 2003 to have received a matching funds grant from the Twin Pines Co-operative Foundation to create our own philanthropic fund.
The People's Food Co-op took the $5,000 in grant money and added another $5,000 of our own funds to establish The Coulee Region Co-operative Community Fund.
The Coulee Region Co-operative Community Fund works much like any foundation; the contributions that you and the Co-op make to the fund are part of the permanent endowment. The endowment is invested in other co-ops and the interest earned is used by the CRCCF to make grants to local non-profit organizations and cooperatives. Unlike many other foundations or endowment funds, the CRCCF is invested in co-ops, not in the stock market. So unlike other funds that were negatively impacted by volatility in the stock market, our community fund continued to grow. The Coulee Region Co-operative Community Fund (CRCCF) enhances the PFC's ability to positively impact out community, which is a fundamental part of our mission. Over the past several years through CRCCF grants we've funded community garden projects, community health programs, and farm to school programs to name a few.
In 2008 People's Food Co-op took additional steps to further strengthen and deepen the impacts of the CRCCF on our region by adding two new partner organizations to the fund. The Viroqua Food Co-op and the Bluff Country Co-op are now also members of the CRCCF. Their co-ops and their memberships now also contribute to the fund and share in the grant making decisions. It is a wonderful way to bring together our co-ops around our common missions of making our communities healthier, stronger and more sustainable.
We invite you to contribute to the CRCCF's endowment. We also invite your cooperative or non-profit organization to apply for grant funding for your project that aims to improve the nutrition, health or social well-being of our communities. You can find information about grant qualifications on our application materials.
Click here to download Application for CRCCF
