Co-op Innovation Awards

The 10th Annual Co-op Innovation Award Provides $170,000 in Grants to Support Four Organizations’ Work in Maryland, Michigan, Montana, and Washington, D.C.

Four innovative organizations in four regions have received a combined $170,000 in catalytic grant funding from Capital Impact Partners’ 2024 Co-op Innovation Awards, which aim to increase cooperative development in disinvested communities.

This year brings two significant milestones. These are the 10th annual awards. Launched in 2015, the program has now surpassed $1 million. In total, a combined $1.025 million in grants have been awarded to 30 innovative organizations across the country. These awardees have subsequently leveraged their awards to secure more than $13 million in additional funding from foundations, investors, and government agencies.

The 2024 awards, issued by National Cooperative Bank and Capital Impact Partners are providing catalytic grant funding to projects such as:

● Lowering the cost of school meals via group purchasing
● Creating more cooperatively owned real estate projects
● Supporting employee-owned restaurants nationwide
● Developing a food distribution hub for rural and Native communities

This year, the award pool was expanded through the participation of additional sponsors Rochdale Capital; Wells Fargo; Ford & Paulekas, LLC; National Co-op Grocers; and Gallagher Evelius & Jones LLP.

Community Purchasing Alliance

Community Purchasing Alliance Cooperative — a purchasing cooperative that reduces operating costs for schools, houses of worship, and other community groups — is being awarded $50,000 to conduct a feasibility study on the group purchase of school meals in new regions, including Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Washington state, to support student access to nutritious food at budget-friendly rates while shifting contracts to local and disadvantaged businesses.

Commongrounds Cooperative

Commongrounds Cooperative — a real estate cooperative that is building empowered communities in Northern Michigan through cooperatively owned places — is being awarded $50,000 to fund a sister nonprofit. This sister organization will expand Commongrounds Cooperative’s work into additional areas of the state by incubating and providing technical assistance to future cooperative real estate projects serving underserved communities.

Red Emma's Cooperative Corporation

Red Emma's Cooperative Corporation and Red Emma’s Education Fund — a 20-year worker-owned cooperative restaurant and bookstore demonstrating the power of a democratic workplace, and an education 501(c)(3) established in 2023 — is being awarded $50,000 to create the first in-person, national convening of worker cooperatives in the restaurant industry that will focus on building inclusive, democratic workplaces.

Montana Cooperative Deveopment Center

Montana Cooperative Development Center — which utilizes the cooperative business model to address community and economic needs — is being awarded $20,000 to support the development of the Montana Food Hub, a multi-stakeholder cooperative that aggregates, processes, and distributes raw produce and value-added products to rural and Native communities.