NCGA members are independent food cooperatives located in the United States. Membership has both benefits and responsibilities. Read below to learn more about the following aspects of membership in NCGA:

• What are the benefits of NCGA membership?
• What does it mean to be an NCGA member?
• How does NCGA work?
• What are the financial requirements of NCGA members?
• What are the criteria for joining NCGA?
• How to get more information.

What are the benefits of NCGA membership?

There are a variety of benefits to membership in NCGA.

• Coordinated national effort to harness market power, drive out costs, and build cooperative identity for member retailers.
• Participation in National Cooperative Advantage Program (National CAP). CAP promotional programs include monthly sales flyers and biannual coupon books.
• Participation in CoCoFiSt (Common Cooperative Financial Statements), developed and administered by Cooperative Development Services. CoCoFiSt provides an opportunity for collecting and analyzing data from co-ops across the country, to identify best-practices and benchmarks for improved operational performance.
• Opportunity to shape national initiatives, such as the creation of a national co-op brand of products, owned and controlled by co-op retailers.
• Access to programs and best practices that have proven effectiveness in various regions. Bulletin board discussions on a variety of topics relevant to the challenges facing member stores in all areas of their operations.
• Volume purchasing of value-added business services through negotiated discounts. Current discounted services available include gift and merchant card processing, inventory, printing/copying, and and textiles/facilities. Members can also purchase office supplies, merchandising equipment, and branded packaging supplies at reduced rates.
• NCGA acquired Cooperative Grocer magazine in 2002, and continues publication to promote cooperative values and principles, strengthen sharing of information and practices among consumer food cooperatives, and strengthen public and industry understanding of food cooperatives' social and economic impact.

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What does it mean to be an NCGA member?

NCGA is committed to being a member-driven organization. Each NCGA member has a direct vote in all NCGA elections. In addition, its structure is designed to provide members with five points of influence:

• Board representation: Each corridor directly elects two directors. Additionally, the board has at-large directors elected by all NCGA members.
• Staff access: Each corridor has two full-time staff members -- a development director and assistant development director -- with responsibilities to coordinate corridor decision-making and meetings, implement regional activities and programs, and represent corridor interests on the NCGA management team.
• Member groups: These include smaller working groups based at the corridor or chapter level and other groupings of members to pursue common interests (e.g. small stores, multi-store co-ops, HR directors, etc.).
• Membership meetings: NCGA members come together once a year for the association's "General Assembly" in September -- a time to discuss the future of food co-ops, develop a strategic direction for our sector, and to discuss priorities and effectiveness of our association. NCGA's annual meeting is also held in conjunction with the General Assembly.
• Conflict resolution and grievance process: NCGA members have access to a process to mediate and resolve grievances, issues, or disputes with staff or between members.

NCGA's governance structure is designed to balance the sometime conflicting interests of small and large members with proportional voting. In addition, a combination vote system utilizes both proportional and one-member, one-vote ballots on selected, significant issues. A major proposal needs to pass using both systems in order to be approved. This dual voting system for key organizational decisions effectively balances the voices of all members regardless of size.

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How does NCGA work?

NCGA operates as a business services cooperative while providing trade association functions for its members. There are two overlapping areas of work: business services and member workgroups.

• Business Services functions are charged with providing a return on members' investment in the services they provide. These services are focused on purchasing efforts in both core product and non-core product costs, as well as promotions purchasing through the Cooperative Advantage Program (CAP). Business services also offers marketing and communications support and services for prepared foods departments.
• Member Workgroups are charged with finding ways to bring about continuous improvement for their member co-ops, to provide tangible peer support for co-op general managers, and to support the development of food cooperatives. Member workgroups are organized within three corridors -- Eastern, Central, and Western -- and may also operate using chapters based on the desires of those members.

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What are the financial requirements of NCGA members?

All NCGA members are required to contribute capital as well as annual dues to the organization. Member capital provides the basic financing for NCGA as a purchasing cooperative and for its business services. There are three types of member capital in NCGA:

1. Common stock -- one voting share per member.
2. Base capital -- assessed annually at a common rate of sales for all members.
3. Patronage based allocated equity accounts -- built over time, retained or distributed to members as may be needed.

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What are the criteria to join NCGA?

Applicants to NCGA must meet all of the following criteria to be eligible to join:

• Operate as a cooperative (consumer or worker).
• Committed to growth, profitability and continuous improvement.
• Skilled, experienced general manager/designated representative in place no less than six months.
• Comprehensive budget in place and performance that reasonably matches projections.
• Member equity structure in place that provides sufficient member capital for current and projected operational needs.
• Planned major new initiatives (new departments, expansions, relocations, etc.) are thoroughly documented and a review by NCGA staff and peers indicates that they’re well planned, have adequate contingencies, based on reasonably conservative projections, and the “worst case scenario” is manageable for the co-op over a two- to three-year period.
• Designated representative (GM unless there is no such person in the co-op’s structure) that fully understands and enthusiastically embraces NCGA member responsibilities.
• Have been reporting to or submit data to CoCoFiSt for the past 18 months.
• Meets additional program criteria as set by NCGA management and the current member recruitment strategy as indicated in the annual business plan.

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How to get more information.

Prospective members must meet the criteria established by NCGA. In addition, members must agree to participate per the policies and agreements of the corridor and/or the chapter in which they are located. Download background information on NCGA and membership (72KB, Adobe pdf) or submit a message through our contact form.

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