Cooperatives often include affordability in their mission and strive to maintain it. Members in the cooperative will all have different expectations and ideas of what this means when entering the cooperative. This discussion guide about affordability and defining it for your cooperative will help clarify member expectations and long-term planning for your cooperative.
Presentation on accounting and taxes for start-up food co-ops, led by Bruce Mayer of Wegner CPAs for the Food Co-op Inititative.
"Accounting Best Practices for Food Co-ops: A Primer" is an excellent and concise (14-page) summary in four sections: balance sheet, income statement, internal control, and cash management.
The new Primer is composed of a four-part series by Bruce Mayer, Peg Nolan, and Steve Wolfe that appeared in Cooperative Grocer during 2011 and 2012.
"Cooperation Begins With You: An orientation handbook for student housing cooperative boards of directors."
Written by Karin Evans for the North American Students of Coopration, Copyright 1981.
The is the Payment Policy from Qumbya Housing Co-op (Chicago, IL) as of 2013. This policy was created in 2008 out of a response to series of siginificant member debt losses. The policy is relatively strict by co-op standards. It does allow for payment plans, which may be up to 2 months in duration, and must be approved before a debt is accrued, not after. The wisdom gained from the series of losses which we attempted to base this polic on are:
* If a member gets more than 2 months behind on rent, they are very unlikely to ever catch up.
This resource includes several templates for cooperative business plans from actual housing cooperatives in North America. Other references provided are a blueprint for the development process, of which the business plan is a part, and a cooperative business plan presentation given at the 2009 NASCO Institute.
Informal commentary on creating simple, accessible budgets for small coops.
This is a clear, easy to read description of the process MSU-SHC follows in handling non-payment by members. The simple calendar format communicates deadlines and repercussions in a way that our members find accessible.
