These free webinars are offered through CDS’s Small & Strong program, which supports small food co-ops in the Upper Midwest. All are welcome!
With rising energy prices impacting your bottom line, it’s time to get back to the basics and learn about your facility’s energy usage. In this webinar, you’ll learn how to track and understand energy use within your co-op. We’ll discuss why being proactive when dealing with energy can save you thousands of dollars. You’ll leave with practical tools and knowledge to apply toward energy efficiency work and clean energy projects that benefit your members. Bring your utility bill and an open mind to this interactive Energy Basics webinar!
Led by CDS’s Cory Neeley.
Tuesday, October 20
2:30 – 3:30pm CST
Joining the board of directors can be one of the most meaningful ways to support your community food co-op, but it can also be a little mysterious. This session will give new and prospective directors an honest, practical preview of food co-op board service. We’ll cover the basics of cooperative governance, including your fiduciary role, the board’s relationship with the GM, and how decisions typically get made. We’ll also spend time on the things that orientation manuals sometimes skip, including unwritten norms, getting comfortable with the learning curve, and what makes a director truly effective.
Led by Leslie Watson
Tuesday, October 27
6:30 – 7:45pm CST
Good cooperative governance starts with a board establishing a sensible durable system of delegation and accountability, both for itself and for the general manager. Without it, boards and GMs can be unsure what counts as acceptable performance or how to respond when things go sideways. Building a system means settling on reasonable expectations, writing them down as policy, being clear about who’s responsible for what, and creating simple ways to check that things stay on track. In this session we will introduce a practical right-sized set of governing policies for small co-ops, along with several sample GM reporting templates, and share a working draft your board can adapt to its own needs.
Led by Leslie Watson
Tuesday, November 10
6:30 – 7:45pm CST