The Give Where You Live Campaign is a national effort to support food cooperatives across the U.S. in building local Cooperative Community Funds.
Sponsored by the Twin Pines Cooperative Foundation, each fund will serve as a means for co-op members and shoppers to make donations to an endowment that donates to local non-profit organizations.
The interest earned by each Fund will be given annually to local groups working on issues relating to sustainable agriculture and organic food, hunger and social issues, environmental protection and cooperatives.
The Give Where You Live Campaign represents each Co-op's special effort to give back to those deserving--and hard working--groups that build community.
Give Where You Live! Because great organizations begin here.
Giving back to the community has been a commitment of Seward Co-op for nearly four decades. It is demonstrated through community donations, sponsorships, grants and outreach events. To ensure the long-term viability and growth of our contributions to the community, we launched the Seward Cooperative Community Fund (SCCF), a program for community giving.
The establishment of the SCCF embodies Seward’s commitment to continue to grow not just as a business, but also as a resource that takes the concerns of our community to heart and to action.
Seward Co-op launched the SCCF in 2005 as an endowment fund to which individuals may donate money that will, in turn, earn interest. The fund is sponsored by Seward Co-op and administered by Twin Pines Cooperative Foundation (TPCF). TPCF invests the assets primarily in cooperative development funds, credit unions and local community-owned banks that support cooperatives.
As the fund continues to grow, the interest earned is given to nonprofits and/or cooperatives in our community. The program provides grants up to $2,000 to projects that protect the environment, support organic and/or local food cultivation, promote co-ops or promote community development and capacity building. In 2009, the SCCF stands at more than $25,000 and, of the donations made to the Seward Grant Recipients, nearly $1,000 came from interest on the SCCF.
New to the SCCF this year, the fund will now be supplemented by the Seward Co-op Visa credit card, which was launched in 2009 in partnership with SPIRE Credit Union.
Every time a Seward Co-op member uses the card (at Seward Co-op or anywhere else), a percentage of the transaction monies is delivered to the SCCF in the form of a quarterly contribution.
Seward Co-op has established a process whereby members can make a donation to the SCCF. Just let the cashier know you would like to make a donation to the fund, and he or she will process your cash contribution at the register.