Our mission is to start and grow cooperative enterprises. We achieve our mission by educating about cooperatives, providing guidance to new and existing cooperatives, and by helping co-ops access philanthropic resources in their communities through grant writing and charitable contributions.…

After over a decade of planning, last week, Lovettsville Cooperative Market (LCM) in Lovettsville, Virginia opened its doors to their over 1,200 member-owners and their extended community! The Cooperative Development Fund of CDS is proud to have played a small part in…

CDS hosted a Co-op Month gathering on October 25, bringing together over 40 cooperators from multiple co-op sectors for great conversation and networking. The event also served an opportunity to honor Bill Gessner, a leader both regionally and nationally, in…

A record 370 board members, committee members and managers from 83 co-ops in nine states including management companies, developers and other professionals working with senior housing cooperatives, attended the 20th Senior Housing Cooperative Conference in Bloomington, Minnesota in early June. There was…

Assabet Co-op Market of Maynard, Massachusetts opened its new store in May under the leadership of the co-op’s board of directors and General Manager, Sam McCormick.  The Cooperative Development Fund of CDS is proud to have served as Assabet’s fiscal sponsor for the past…

Along with our partners, Northcountry Cooperative Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Center for Cooperatives, CDS made a presentation to the annual Wisconsin Lenders Conference. The presentation specifically addressed worker-owned co-ops as a succession strategy for retiring business owners and a business retention strategy…