A Director's Chair:
Carving a Niche... the Honest Weight Food Coop Fund

by Lynne Lekakis

Three years ago, when we adopted our Statements of Conscience, we decided to give five percent of our net profit back to the community. We’ve done that different ways each year, and we feel this year’s decision was the best.

Usually, donations throughout the year of food items, gift certificates, etc. are requested through the Member Coordinator. Any member can request a donation for any organization to which they belong — the fledgling, the medium-sized, or the well established. Those donations are determined by a store policy and distributed as needed directly to the requestors.

At the end of the year, if we have a profit (thanks!), we determine the five percent amount, and subtract what has already been given out through the store. In the past, we felt good about our decisions to give to a non-profit directly, but still had a little nagging feeling that we should spend more time with the process.

Granting money is difficult. Not only do you have to worry about keeping the investment safe and growing, but how to distribute it, to whom, what qualifications the recipient(s) must have, etc. It’s a big job if you want to do it right. As you know, we are in the full-time business of selling natural foods and educating the community about them. So, we decided to forge a relationship with organizations that are good at granting.

We felt that small groups who may not have staff, budgets and balance sheets were served through our store donations. Who else would we like to help — why, individuals and established non-profit organizations! To achieve this, we divided the remainder of the donation this year between the Community Loan Fund (serving individuals — 20 percent) and the Community Foundation (serving non-profits — 80 percent).

The Community Loan Fund is a community-based nonprofit financial institution that promotes sustainable community development efforts for economically underserved people and communities in the Capital Region. The Loan Fund, which is community controlled, works to provide equitable access to capital in economically disadvantaged communities. It does this by pooling investments from concerned individuals and organizations and re-lending it for housing, community services and economic development. It is an economic boon to the local economy, and has done wonders in helping people make real change in neighborhoods throughout the Capital District.

The Coop also invests money at the Loan Fund during the year as part of our finance strategy. If you’d like to make a donation, you may send a check to the Community Loan Fund at 255 Orange Street, Albany, NY 12210.

At the Community Foundation, we established a donor advised endowment fund, the Honest Weight Food Coop Fund — which means, in essence, that once the fund is established, we help determine how it is granted. The donation ($8,400) that we put in this year must mature for a year, and next year grants can begin to be made with it. The Community Foundation staff coordinates all the administration, and when the time is right, will help us put together a panel to make decisions about what type organizations we’d like to grant to, whether it be food, feeding programs for children, farmer organizing, environmental organizations — whatever we decide.

The best thing about it, is that it is forever. Even if we choose not to contribute to it in the future (we hope that this is not the case), this original donation will remain as the endowment, and keep on giving into the future.

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