Sharing Coop Steering Committee Minutes of 22Aug2019

We had a productive meeting this past Thursday evening at Oskar Blues. Sue, Kathleen and Owen, we missed y’all there. I have attached the document that we used as a basis for discussion. (Moving to Conservers Cooperative Discussion) To all: please review the the information below and let me/all know of any corrections:

We discussed the 3 questions on our discussion sheet and they are summarized as follows:

1. What is the need that the Cooperative will meet?

Summary: We will build community by loaning tools and other items so that members will not have to purchase when needed.

2. What products or services will the Cooperative provide?

Summary: Tools, Dishes/Event Items, Sporting Goods and Party Items.

3. Is it feasible? A: Who would be the potential members? How many potential members are there?

Summary: A: Membership would be open to anyone in our community. B: We made a conservative estimate that about 200 people would be initial members (there are about that number on the Moving to Conservers email list).

We discussed some financial numbers and based on the likely estimate of the original members and a brief discussion, the Coop does indeed look feasible. (On reflection from the meeting, we were bantering some labor cost numbers and using weekly projection of income and monthly projection of costs. On the same basis, part time labor looks quite doable.)

From the meeting we have three Action Items:

1. Draft a possible Mission Statement and circulate among Committee for comments and input. Responsible: Kim

2. Check with other sharing organizations to determine how they operate and especially how they sustain themselves financially. Responsible: Each person on the Committee.

3. Send out Business Plan content presentation. Responsible: Ed

Along with the Action Items, we have two questions to answer in the near future: 1) Can commercial businesses or contractors borrow and use items from the Coop (like a contractor borrowing a crosscut saw to use in his business)? 2) Can you use volunteers to work in a sharing Coop? Both of these may be answered in our pursuit of Action Item # 3.