Co-ops Bowers Fund Grows

"The ... Board of Directors would like to thank you and the Howard Bowers Fund for providing two full scholarships for individuals from the ...Cooperative to attend the CCMA conference this summer. Networking and keeping abreast of the latest trends in the cooperative grocer world is an important part of maintaining a thriving cooperative movement."

The Howard Bowers Fund was established in 1993 by the Hyde Park Cooperative Society to honor the late general manager, Howard Bowers. The Fund's purpose is to strengthen consumer-owned food cooperatives and the consumer cooperative sector through support of education and training for consumer-owned food co-op manager, staff, and board. Support for the Fund comes from individuals, consumer cooperatives, and cooperative partners such as the National Cooperative Bank -- i.e., YOU!

Thanks to the support of individual and organizational consumer cooperators and consumer cooperative boards, managers, and staff, $31,238 has been raised in the past year for the Howard Bowers Fund! The breakdown:

$27,836 from CCMA 2,728 from Howard Bowers Day 972 from other sources $31,536 Total

In accordance with a decision by the Fund trustees taken in January, half of each year's contributions will be used to increase the Fund's endowment and half will be used for consumer cooperative education and training. In 2000 the Howard Bowers Fund gave six grants:

• $5000 to Northcountry Cooperative Development Fund for a Traveling Cooperative Institute and training materials
• $6000 to the University of WI-Madison for 14 scholarships to CCMA
• $3000 to CGIN for developing an on-line publication on starting a food co-op
• $1500 to Co-Opportunity for the Cooperative Excellence award
• $500 to Dan Foley for the Cooperative Service award
• $500 to Walden Swanson for the Cooperative Innovation award

Total: $16,500

In 2001 the Fund trustees plan a fun fundraiser for CCMA as well as the fourth annual Howard Bowers Day.

If you would like to contribute to the Fund, make your check out to Cooperative Development Foundation and note that it is for the Howard Bowers Fund. CDF, which administers several funds dedicated to cooperative development, is located at 1401 New York Avenue NW, Suite 1100, Washington, DC 20005. Scholarship inquiries and applications should be directed to Ann Hoyt. Other questions should be directed to the Fund's board of trustees through CDF at the address above or to equinn@ncba.org. For information on CDF, please visit its website at www.coopdevelopment.org. CDF also publishes the Journal of Cooperative Development. For a sample issue, please contact equinn@ncba.org.

Special thanks are given to the many co-ops who have participated in CCMA fundraising events and to the four co-ops (Briar Patch, Co-Opportunity, Davis, and Outpost) who have participated in all three Howard Bowers Days. Trustees of the Howard Bowers Fund: Annie Donovan, Karl Kruger, Pam Mehnert, Jon Will, and Karen Zimbelman. Ellen Quinn is Funds Manager at the Cooperative Development Foundation.