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Hi, Cooperation Nation. I'm Emily. Hi, I'm Alessandra. And this is Smooth Co-operators,

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a Belfast Community Co-op program. We are here to talk to you about cooperatives and

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particularly the Belfast Community Co-op. We were so excited to record our first podcast

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and it went really well and it's exciting to share it with our cooperative community. And we are

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now going to be laying out the next seven episodes. So we'll be going through the cooperative

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principles one by one, talking about them, talking about how they apply to cooperative business,

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and about how they apply to our cooperative business. To refresh your memory, the cooperative

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principles are a set of principles and ideals for the operation of cooperatives. They were first

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set out in 1844 by the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers in Rochdale, England, and they

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formed the basis for the principles which cooperatives around the world continue to operate.

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The implications of the Rochdale principles are a focus of study in cooperative economics. The

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original Rochdale principles were officially adopted by the International Cooperative Alliance,

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the ICA, in 1937, and they were updated by the ICA in 1966 and then again in 1995 as a part of

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the statement on cooperative identity. The first cooperative principle is voluntary and open membership,

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which means cooperatives are voluntary organizations open to all people, able to use their services,

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and willing to accept the responsibilities of membership without gender, social, racial,

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political, or religious discrimination. This was very important to the original Rochdale

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pioneers because they felt like they were shut out of other opportunities for businesses,

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and they felt like if they were inclusive, as long as people were using the services that they

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wanted anybody to be able to participate. So this also ties in with anti-discrimination,

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which has included a lot of co-op bylaws and included in our co-op bylaws. To discriminate

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socially is to make a distinction between people on the basis of class or category. Examples of

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social discrimination include racial, religious, sexual orientation, disability, and ethnic

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discrimination. And to fulfill the first cooperative principle, a cooperative should not prevent anyone

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who is willing to participate from doing so. However, this does not prohibit the cooperative

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from setting reasonable and relevant ground rules for membership, such as residing in a specific

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geographic area or paying a membership fee to join, as long as all persons meeting that criteria are

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able to participate if they choose. So there are different motivations and benefits for joining a

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co-op. So it is voluntary to join a co-op and members will need good reasons to participate.

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Every person's reasons will be unique and will vary from one cooperative to another,

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but they'll often be a combination of the following. Financial reasons. Most co-ops are

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able to provide members with financial benefits. Quality of life. People enjoy serving the community

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through a cooperative because doing service makes one's own life better. Included here would be

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the benefits people get from being with other people, staying active in the community, and having a

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sense of value in society. Giving back. Many people have in some way benefited from the work of a

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cooperative. Altruism. Some people join for the benefit of others. And a sense of duty. Some people

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see participation in community as a responsibility that comes with citizenship. In this case,

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they may not describe themselves as volunteers, but owners. Cooperatives do not operate in isolation

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from their community, but are integrated into their community. So it is important that people who

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live in the communities are a part of their co-ops. Let's talk about how principle one applies to

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the Belfast Community Co-op. Open and voluntary membership. So what that means is that if you are

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in the Belfast Community Co-op area, Waldo County specifically seems to be a large draw for the

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co-op. Although realistically, we have owners from all over the country as far away as Alaska. That's

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really exciting. It just means that our community is larger than we thought. And I love thinking

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about that. So our rights and responsibilities as Belfast Community Co-op owners. First off,

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we do require an equity investment. That means that you have to put forth money to be a part of

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this particular co-op. What we require is a $200 equity investment. As of right now, once that

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$200 is fully paid, you are considered fully vested. You are fully invested in the co-op.

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Payments can be made in $15 increments annually. So Emily, now that we know that membership for

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the Belfast Community Co-op is open and voluntary, how would somebody sign up to become a member? If

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they wanted to be one. So it's fairly easy. We do have a sign up form and you can either fill that

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out at the register on any day that you're in the store to shop or you can go to our website.

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It's Belfast.coop and there is a join the co-op page which has a form on it and you can sign up

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from the comfort of your own home. Awesome. I had mentioned earlier that sometimes there are

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qualifications to sign up for the co-op. What would qualify somebody or what would they have to do

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to sign up? Once you fill out the form, really the only requirement is the economic participation

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part which is the equity investment. So at that point you would either pay your $15 annual

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installment or you could become fully vested right at the start by paying $200. Fully vested?

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Is that like when I wear my really cool outfit to work and I have that sweet handmade vest on? I love

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your vest. No, fully vested means that you are actually fully invested in the business. That

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means that I've paid up my full equity payment of $200. Yes. Cool. I've heard from people in

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the past that they were had like lifetime ownership or they felt like they hadn't been fully invested

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in the past. How come they're not fully invested now? The amount of investment that is required for

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the co-op is decided by the board of directors and because our business has grown and changed over

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the course of its 46 years and had different iterations of a board of directors, they have

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decided different economic levels of investment for the owners. So at the beginning we've had many

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different structures. At the beginning there was a $25 fee. I don't even think it was called equity

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at that time. Over the years it evolved into $80 per person and that was a lifetime membership.

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And then I think as the people who worked at the co-op and the board began to understand the

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cooperative model a little bit better because there is a learning curve when you start a business,

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especially a cooperative business which you mentioned last time, is not taught in business

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school. They changed their mindset on what it meant to be invested in the business and what

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the business needed from its owners. When you and I started working at the co-op, the equity

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structure was $60 per person. You paid that over the course of three years and then beginning

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in the fourth year you paid a $25 annual membership fee. I remember that. Yeah. At the very end of

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2018, so I think it was implemented right at the beginning of 2019, the board decided to change the

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equity structure so that it is a $200 equity investment and they did away with annual membership

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fees because the fees were not refundable. So something that's interesting about a co-op is

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that when you invest in the co-op and you decide that you no longer want to be a participant,

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the board can actually purchase back your equity. So they're buying those shares back from you as

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long as the co-op is in sound financial health. So right now, if you pay your $200,

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you're a fully invested member. But if the board decides that the economics change or there's a

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change in the business structure, they can change the level of participation that's needed. That's

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correct. So it kind of sounds like making all of the decisions about the cooperative is much

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more complicated than the membership itself because when you're a member of the co-op,

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it seems to me like you go in, you give the cashier your owner number and the benefits kind of start

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at the cash register. I can think of some of the benefits of being an owner, getting a discount on

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a case pre-order. So there's like a very delicious drink that we like to drink that's like a turmeric

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drink. I can just order six of them at a time and then I get a 15% discount because I'm an owner.

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It's lovely. What are the other benefits of being an owner? There is patronage dividend,

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which is profit sharing. When the co-op does well financially, they have a portion of their

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profits actually returned to the owners. It is based on how much people spend at the co-op.

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Yeah, I remember being told that I had patronage dividend to redeem this year and it's kind of

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like a store gift card. That's right. And actually the patronage dividend allocation is really

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interesting because the co-op can actually retain a portion of that allocation and can put it back

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into the business. So it's like reinvesting on behalf of the owners. It's also pretty interesting

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because if the co-op decides to do patronage dividend to allocate funds back to the owners,

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they are not taxed on that portion of the profit. Another incentive of being a cooperative business.

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Absolutely. You touched on the pre-order discount, which is for all of our owners. If you order a

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case of something, we're talking a bag of rice, a bag of flour, even a case of your favorite drink

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from the cooler, you can get a 15% discount. The other thing that you're signed up for automatically

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as an owner is something that we call owner rewards, which just means that you are earning

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1% on everything that you purchase and 2% back on anything that is local that you purchase. And so

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you can rack up those points at the register and then you can use them as long as you have something

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that's over $3. So if you have $3 or more, you can spend those down in owner rewards. But if

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you're purchasing something that is less than $3, you'll have to wait until you have a larger shop.

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And it seems like one of the other benefits of being an owner is that you get to run for the

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board of directors. Absolutely. So that's one way to participate in your community and you get to

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help make decisions for this business that you own that is also benefiting your community.

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Additionally, if you are not prepared to run for the board of directors, but it does sound slightly

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enticing, you can actually just do committee work. So you can join a board committee. We have

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three standing board committees. There's the owner engagement committee. There is the board

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development committee and the finance committee. Now, each of those has a specific job. Owner

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engagement is to reach out to owners regarding board issues and get out in the community and

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talk about the governance and what's going on at the go up. Board development actually works on

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monitoring policies and making sure the board is participating in trainings and keeping everybody

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up to date, which I think is very exciting education. Love it. And finance committee goes

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through the monthly financials with the GM and they do look over any financial decisions that

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are being made. And if you have a finance background, that would be a really good fit for you.

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So I'm hearing that these are some really great reasons to join the co-op and these are pretty

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unique to this business structure. But why do you think people join the co-op? I think it can be

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really personal. I think that after the conversation you and I had in the last program, it was

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interesting to hear that how much you love the cooperative business model. I also do love it,

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but that is not why I was particularly drawn to the co-op at the beginning because I was interested

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in making sure I was investing in my local economy because I didn't know particularly a lot about

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the cooperative business model. And so I think it can be really personal for everybody. It could be

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just that somebody loves a local business and they feel like they want to support it. They want to

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shop there. They could just sign up because they want to get a discount on their favorite dried

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mangoes. Dried mangoes are delicious. So it kind of seems like some people move to a new place and

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no matter what the co-op is, they join it because that's like part of their lifestyle. And that

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also seems like we have some people who maybe shop at the co-op all the time, even once or twice a

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day. And they're not owners and that's another personal choice that for whatever reason they don't

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feel like they want to become financially invested in this place even though they shop there for

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really frequently. I think that you had somebody come through the ownership department like someone's

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form and they had been shopping here for years, maybe over a decade. Two people who've been shopping

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since as long as you and I have been working for the co-op in the same day signed up to become

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owners after at least a decade of shopping, which was really exciting. I think that what we've done

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in outreach and education has opened people's eyes to what the cooperative is. That it is not

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necessarily a feeling, but it is a business that they can benefit from. Because I wondered too of

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some people if they're frequent shoppers, maybe they have that feeling. The workers treat them

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like an owner because they're a community member. Do you know what I mean? That there's something

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unknowable about that sort of familiarity where you kind of treat somebody like your chosen family

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and then you kind of turn them on to the fact that there are these benefits they could be taking

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advantage of, but you forget that they're not an owner. Does that make sense? I know that's a

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weird thing to say, but it's like you can act like an owner even if you're not an owner. You just

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don't get the benefits. There was plenty of people who came through my line when I was a cashier who

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were not owners, who I was still excited to see and I would see them on a daily basis. I was thrilled

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to be able to provide them with customer service and make them feel like they were part of the

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community, even though they weren't invested in the business. Well, they are invested in the

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business, just not in this traditional way that we're sort of laying out through the bylaws,

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through this business structure, just by spending their money here or their time here or maintaining

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relationships here. They are invested and I think that that's something that we have that other

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bigger grocery stores don't have is that we do treat people who come here like friends, like

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family. We go out of our way to say like, hey, we see you. We know that you're here. A little while

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back you mentioned that one thing that's unique about cooperative business is that the board can

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buy back people's equity shares. You're the ownership coordinator, so you do deal with all

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different aspects of ownership and some of that means that you are helping to return that equity

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on behalf of the board of directors. What are some examples of why people stop being owners?

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The biggest one that I see is people move out of state. It seems that proximity is really helpful

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in being an owner, so if you are not in the area and not utilizing the business, you can take your

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equity and perhaps invest it in a co-op that's closer to you and I have seen that a lot. Unfortunately,

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death is probably the next biggest one. We have people from all walks of life and that is the

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natural endpoint. People who are part of the estate can request their equity back and it can

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be approved by the board of directors and you can find out more information about that on our website.

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Sometimes people are simply upset with the co-op because it is not making them feel the way that

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they want to feel. Again, as long as the co-op is in sound financial health, we can buy those equity

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shares back and the board will approve it. If you have any questions about that, email ownership

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at belfast.coop. Yeah, it's such an interesting thing that it can be fluid in that way but it's

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sort of if you don't use it then you'll lose it where we really want people to be owners who are

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invested. That's what's best for the business and for one reason or another if you become uninterested

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in the business that it's actually best to not be an owner anymore because when you're an owner

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you get to vote for the board. It's a responsibility, kind of you have to vote for the board because

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those are the people who are representing you. We have a representative democracy and so if you

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are say in the business is channeled through your representative you want to make sure you're

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getting the right representative for you. Wow, do you know what I think that I just heard we're

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talking about for the next episode Emily? I know it. Principle two, Democratic member control.

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Which is very exciting. Yeah, it is exciting. There are not so many opportunities for that in our

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day-to-day life because even the representative democracy that we're a part of that like is our

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state and is our country. It's less knowable because it's so huge. It feels more removed. Yeah,

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and this is this feels very present. Well and it is because you are running into the people who

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are representing you as you are shopping. Yeah, which is really fun. Yeah, because they shop here.

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Yeah, cool. I was thinking that for the next part of the show that we would talk about our store

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and we would talk about renovations and maybe groundbreaking. I would love to do that. I would

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like to slip in one more benefit of being an owner. Yeah. Which is that not only do you get to vote

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for your board of directors you get to vote for the common-sense organizations. Oh, that is huge.

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It is huge. We have through this program this common-sense program where you round up change at

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the register. We have been able to provide local nonprofits with just really meaningful amounts

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of money that have a huge impact for them. And a lot of education because our marketing department

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makes posters every month which can lead you to websites or social media to find out more about

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these local nonprofits that people that they're either new or people haven't heard about. And so I

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think that they get support in that way. And for the last 11 months we've raised over $5,000

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each month for the local nonprofits. We should do a whole episode. We should because I would that

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the Belfast Community Co-op does not actually we don't have a hand in how much they are receiving.

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It is purely community support that is just going directly from the shoppers. We are gathering it

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in a little basket and then giving that to the organization. Yeah, 100% of the community donations

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go to the organization. The co-op gets so much but none of it is financial. So we don't do any

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tax write-offs. You know, we don't get any notoriety from those organizations. It's the community

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that gets it. Yeah, that's you guys out there. You're doing it. Yeah, making a big impact. Thank you.

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So on Monday, last Monday, May 15th, you and I kind of wrangled together and put on a little bit of an

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event. We did. And that event was the groundbreaking event. It leaves me speechless to think about it.

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I cannot even tell you how excited I am. How excited I was that day to welcome all of these people

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into our parking lot, which is not, it is what it is. It's a parking lot. But we heard from Doug

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Johnson, our general manager. We heard from Mike Hurley from the city of Belfast. And we heard from

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his first names Ken. He's amazing. He's from Warren Construction. Thank you. Yeah, he was amazing. I

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did, I tried to do a headcount at some point. Oh, good. And we had about 30 people there. And then I

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turned around and it looked like there was at least 20 more behind me after that. Yeah, I think there

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might have been like 60 people there. And now we're going to hear a little bit from Doug Johnson at

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the groundbreaking ceremony. Co-ops are built by the communities that they serve. This co-op has been

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held together for the past 47 years by a number of dedicated individuals that have kept this place

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going. A lot of them are here today. A lot of them have been part of this project. And I want to

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recognize them and recognize how hard it is to keep a store going in a community. As we prepare for

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this next stage in the co-ops development in the next cycle of our life, I want to recognize that we

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are standing on the shoulders of giants, that there are larger than life individuals that have

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brought this co-op to life and that we are continuing their tradition with this new stage of the

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project. Thank you everybody again for coming out. Thank you for all that you've done to support me

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and our team and our workers and our board of directors. Thank you so much and onward. Belfast

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Community Co-op, owned by you, food for all. Thank you everyone. It was a really great turnout. The

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weather stayed nice. And we actually started construction that day. Yeah, I think before,

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so the groundbreaking was at one and before the groundbreaking ceremony was at one and before we

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even started, the demolition crew had filled an entire dumpster with old basement materials that

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are no longer going to be needed because the basement is the first place that we're working on.

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And so all of the electrical and plumbing down there are getting an upgrade. Right now the crew

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is going through and making sure that we're meeting OSHA standards. So that just means that

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there's no loose wires and you know the ground is level and they have an easy way to start setting

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up all of the new things that they're building because basically the basement will hold

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preparation spaces for our meat department, for our prepared foods department. There will be a new

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break room downstairs, a couple of employee bathrooms will be downstairs and some storage

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for center store for like all of our grocery items. But they have to make sure, you know,

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they have to make sure everything is structurally sound. They have to make sure everything will

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fit. There's so much to take into account and we have Warren Construction, which is a Portland-based

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construction group who has like a lot of background in commercial building. They're superintendent,

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whose name is River, he's on site and he's so on top of everything. It's like so fun to have somebody

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who's so interested working on this project because I can ask him questions like, oh, what are you

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doing over here and how's that going? And he, I think, can like feel and see the investment from

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the workers and from the owners. And so I think that's exciting because he gets to share what it

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is that his work is because it's impacting our work. We're interested and we just want the best

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for the whole project because we're all, there's already investment from everybody. It's really

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cool. I'm so excited and it makes me want to don a hard hat and be a little construction worker for

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a little while. I will say at some point after the ceremony, we stayed on the ceremony site and

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we're mingling. There was a lot of board of directors there and community members, but I glanced

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over at the entrance to the co-op and there were about six people standing there in hard hats and

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all people who are actually working on the actual renovation. Yay! And they were not posing for

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anybody. This was not staged. They were standing next to the co-op wearing their hard hats,

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getting down to business and doing the work of the renovation. There's so much to do. It just

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maybe want to burst with excitement. Yay! And we will be open the whole time. I think that's going

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to be a question that we're going to answer for, you know, the next 10 months or whatever. The plan

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is to be open, to be open, to be open. We will just continue to meet the community's needs. We are

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adjusting a lot of things inside the store and outside the store and there will be temporary

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closures when we have to turn the water off or we have to change the electricity over, but all of

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those will be able to be anticipated and so everybody will know about them beforehand. Yes, we will

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gently guide you through any disruptions. There will be in co-op service. Yay! And I'm so glad that

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you were excited because I was sleeping terrified. I was so nervous about the whole thing going down

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and happening. I think because there's been so much build up to it. Patrick, who was there from

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Woodholz Studios back in, I don't know, 2017. I think I saw a presentation from him as an architect

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for the first time. So Woodholz Studios used to be Caleb Johnson Studios. They are an architect firm

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that also does commercial and retail spaces down in Portland. I've just seen this guy

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for all of these years coming up with these dreamy ideas that we want to move forward on to

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provide services for our community and for our workers and for the next generation, that planning

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ahead to accommodate the next people that we don't even know will be in Belfast. There's excitement

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and anticipation when I would see the plans. And now we're doing the plan. And he's there helping

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and checking out structure. He's just this, like, I don't know, to me this, like, character... He became

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a little larger than life. Yeah! And now it's real. So it's like you become this larger than life

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character. You have all these great ideas and these fun design concepts. And then we choose a design

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concept that we're going to move forward with. And all of a sudden you become this, like, very

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thoughtful professional worker. And we're, like, working together to make this sort of dream happen

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so we can keep having this space available. It feels really wild. Every worker that's in the

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co-op is going to be walking into a new and hopefully exciting challenge, like, every week,

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maybe every day. You know, and there's some kind of exciting accountability that comes with that,

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because we all have to be observant. We all have to share our ideas. We all have to understand

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that things are going to change. There's something about COVID and the pandemic that kind of, like,

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prepared us for that, because, whew, every day was a new day. And we were like, let's keep in

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business. Let's, yeah, sure. We'll try something wild and new. And I think we're going to have to do that

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again. And I think we have a really great team to lead us through that unknown aspect of things.

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So butterflies in the stomach, a little bit of excitement. We're moving forward.

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And we really appreciate all the support. And we'll be open for business.

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What's happening next? Well, we have a June board meeting coming up on the 28th.

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Our board meetings are held at 6pm. You can find out more information about that on our website,

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belfast.coop. If you're looking for other information about us, other events, you can check out our

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Facebook page, you can check out our Instagram. We do have an e-newsletter that goes out every two

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weeks, which is full of information. And I love getting mine. You can sign up for it online.

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It's right at the bottom of our website. All right, folks. It's been a pleasure being with you today.

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We hope that you'll join us next month. Thank you so much. For Democratic member control and updates on the renovation.

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Bye. Bye.

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You've been listening to Episode 2 of Smooth Cooperator from the Belfast Community Co-op,

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hosted by Alessandro Martinelli and Emily Berry, produced at the facilities of Belfast Community Radio.