Southern Illinois Cooperative Business Fund

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Southern Illinois Cooperative Business Fund

Southern Illinois Cooperative Business FundSouthern Illinois Cooperative Business FundSouthern Illinois Cooperative Business Fund
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Tools for Proposals
  • Resources
  • Courses
    • Video Library
  • Get Involved
    • Ready to Mingle
Hello

Welcome

 

Mission Statement

Our mission is to provide direct support for worker-owned cooperative development in Southern Illinois, including educational, financial, technical assistance, and other relevant services. 

About Us

Mission - A Story of Purpose - Strategy

 

Cooperative Business Fund - a working history 

Since the Spring of 2019, we have been building the roots for a new form of life in our town and region. We’ve faced many obstacles, built many relationships, and have celebrated a few successes. The worker cooperative team was born from the peoples' movement, Carbondale Spring. The volunteers, board, and staff have taken the following steps to establish necessary  infrastructure and technical assistance for greater economic freedom and autonomy.  

Carbondale Spring - New Way of Living


A Chamber of Cooperation - Cooperation Among Cooperatives; the process of organizing individuals into cooperatives, and cooperatives into a supportive network in order to centralize technical assistance.

The Rochdale Principles lay the foundational values that guide how we plan to serve clients. We will plan to frequently meet and facilitate training with national cooperative leaders. 


Co-leadership looks like: training the trainers to lead and assist the team as we grow together. We are developing the local technical assistance acumen required in transitioning small business to Employee-Ownership. 

In 2021 our team was guided by cooperative experts like Esther West and Stephen McDow to create cooperative education through community discussion.

In 2022 we have aspirations to partner with non-extractive lending organizations such as Seed Commons, 

The SICBF team will provide the resources for individuals and teams to chart their course to worker-ownership; helping to coordinate funding, facilitate discussions, and assist the new client cooperatives who will be served by the Chamber. 

Volunteer Opportunities Available.



Growing Our Capacity

How do you create Social Capital

Cooperatives are Brewing Pots for Social Capital

Two major observations are made. 

  • First, regular contacts during training, task oriented committees, general membership meetings, and social events, generate shared understanding, trust and reciprocity among worker-owners and between them, their clients and professionals. This leads to increased self confidence, employability and optimism, which in turn, increases participation in group activities. Second, interaction with professionals and other workers in the home care industry during conferences and training facilitates the creation of bridging social capital. 
  • This leads to more confidence in business and community activities which, in turn, yields individual and group socio-economic gains through increased productivity, better quality services, better wages and negotiation skills.  


Social Capital - Seed Commons, a national network of lenders, has created an alternative banking model to demonstrate accessible lending practices rooted in terms of Social Capital. Employee owners must prove an investment of productive social engagement leveraging their own social networks. The Mondragon Model of Worker-Cooperatives provides a system of supporting local people’s basic needs. The founding goals of the revolving loan fund would, in-turn, prioritize the client’s growth over private profit. The criterion will evaluate a coop’s “social capital.”  

  • Small businesses can insist that their employees utilize the future administrative resources and participate in educational opportunities to grow their understanding; the desire to encourage colleagues to develop into co-owners and co-managers.  The logistical challenges of Covid-19 have allowed us to prioritize building these relationships with partners and clients over the pursuit of a physical office. (Coming Soon) 
  • The Chamber of Cooperatives will work in tandem with the individuals and the services of the Cooperative Incubator which has been promised funding for the first three years and will become self-sustaining over time.
  • The lending policies and governing guidelines for the revolving loan fund were established to prioritize a strengthening of community over capital gain. The City Manager and the Director of Economic Development in Carbondale have openly supported the cooperative movement and have agreed to work together where we identify common goals. 
  • With the support of local leaders and activists it is possible to build an economic development strategy for Carbondale that is based on cooperative, collaborative, and sustainable principles.

We have established a Board of Directors to oversee the following processes of a revolving loan fund, 

  • established a framework to begin issuing grants, 
  • build the relationships to facilitate steering and review committees for all of the on-the-ground projects (in order to) to manage relationships with/among worker cooperatives. 
  • Educate Worker-Cooperatives on the Governing Principles of Worker-Owned Cooperatives and better the workplace culture through cooperation.

We will seed worker cooperative start-ups and grow employee ownership in the Region by offering Financial Guidance. To assist with the process will require the formation of a Chamber of Cooperation for Technical Guidance and skill-sharing. The Cooperative Business Incubator to provide coaching through Project Management and facilitate a variety of technical resources for Employee-owner Education and Individual development.
"We strive to realize our dream of creating an intricate network of detachable cooperative supply chains that can anchor our local community and meet the basic needs for all people." In Loving Memory ~ Chuck Paprocki  

Shared Values

Can Civic Engagement Measured? How Do You Nurture Your Social Capital? and Why It Is Good To Leverag

 What is Social Capital?

Seed Commons 



What is Non-Extractive Finance

  • Building cooperative, democratic ownership within communities. Seed Commons aims to combat increasing inequality by moving resources to cooperatively-owned and democratically-controlled enterprises embedded in their communities. This ensures that the benefits of investment are widely distributed to more people, who in turn own and control these assets in ways that are accountable to their communities.
  • Productive sustainability. Investing the resources of Seed Commons into financially sound and sustainable business projects is the foundation of our work. Long term sustainability is key to achieving community self determination and economic independence. Productive sustainability requires careful assessment of potential projects, high-touch training and technical assistance in democratic structure and business fundamentals, and ongoing support after investments are made.
  • Maximizing community benefit. Seed Commons produces community benefit by increasing worker and community ownership, and supporting projects that address social, economic, and environmental justice. We accomplish this providing financing and technical assistance to local enterprises that distribute economic power as they distribute ownership. 
  • Radical inclusion. Seed Commons seeks to be radically inclusive. This means that our cooperative lends and facilitates lending to people from communities that have historically been excluded from access to economic stability: black and brown families, women and non-binary people, immigrants and indigenous communities, low-income workers, and others who have faced the brunt of the extractive economy, deindustrialization, and systemic discrimination. This requires that technical assistance, key in assuring the success of investment projects, is provided to all projects to overcome historic lack of access to the resources that are prerequisites for successful enterprise.
  • Non-Extraction. Seed Commons strictly uses non-extractive financing. This means the repayment of loans comes only from an increase in revenues or profits stemming from our investment. Repayment will not be extracted from prior existing business assets nor the personal assets of those who make up the enterprise. Collateral will be restricted to items purchased with financing from Seed Commons

 

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