To further NASCO's mission to advance the cooperative movement, NASCO has created new organizations that deal with specific issues. The current NASCO Family of organizations includes NASCO, NASCO Properties, and NASCO Development Services. These organizations are created to help the NASCO Family meet the needs of the cooperative movement through education, property ownership, and the development of new cooperatives.
Each of these areas is advanced by a separate board of directors. This allows each branch of the NASCO Family to focus on the unique needs of their individual missions, and to attract board members with passion and expertise for that mission. Property ownership, education, and development are each seen as equally important in building a powerful and sustainable coop movement in North America - but it takes careful planning to keep all three of these areas coordinated.
The NASCO Family of organizations uses several methods to keep all of our programs in harmony. Our boards appoint representatives to one another, to help make sure that the each board is aware of the perspectives of the others. Our boards also coordinate through committees related to personnel, strategic planning, and finances. And once every three years, our boards meet together in a Family-wide meeting devoted to strategic planning for the next three years. At these Family-wide meetings, the NASCO Family boards adopt goals that apply to the entire organization.
The current family-wide goals were approved in February 2011:
- Advance the cooperative movement by fostering leadership through education, training, and engagement.
- Broaden access to cooperatives, develop new cooperatives, and expand existing ones.
- Increase the organizational capacity and stability of the NASCO Family.
- Challenge systems of power that perpetuate privilege and oppression that operate within NASCO, its member cooperatives, and their communities.