What We Do
All The Co-op Services You Need
Since 1979, NWCDC’s mission has been to assist new and existing cooperative businesses in every sector with a special attention given to resident-owned communities, home care service providers, and converting existing businesses into worker and/or member-owned cooperatives. Our service area is the three states of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho.
The Benefits of Working With Us
Expert Guidance and Support
NWCDC offers unmatched expertise in cooperative development, providing essential education and technical support from inception to operation.
Access to Financial Resources
Through its revolving loan fund and partnerships with co-op centric lenders, NWCDC equips cooperatives with the financial resources needed for startup and growth.
Commitment to Community
NWCDC champions a commitment to community by promoting inclusivity and equitable development, ensuring the cooperative model benefits a diverse range of traditionally under-served populations.
Starting & Strengthening Co-ops
Education, Advisory, Financial & Technical Assistance + More
NWCDC educates public entities and community institutions about cooperatives while also providing technical assistance for cooperative launch and development.
If you’re working to start a new co-op, we can help you go through all the stages: exploration, feasibility, structure, formation, and finally becoming operational and thriving.
If you’re an operating co-op already, we can help keep workers and/or members informed and educated which is critical to the long term success of a co-op. We can help ensure that the members understand their rights and responsibilities, feel empowered to speak up and make changes when necessary, and have the knowledge needed to understand financial information and reports on their cooperative’s operations.
Sell Your Business
Cooperative Conversion
We understand you have been through a startup process and we understand how much time, money, and effort went into creating a successful company. You’ve created something wonderful and now you’re looking at retirement or moving on to a new adventure.
Our approach to co-op conversions emphasizes transparency, leadership development, and fairness for workers. Our goal is a stable transition of your business to the next generation of worker-owners.
Co-op Sectors We Serve
NWCDC has years of expertise in supporting cooperatives with an emphasis in the following areas:
Manufactured Housing
ROC Northwest (www.rocnorthwest.com) is a program of the Northwest Cooperative Development Center focused on building affordable housing through cooperative ownership in Washington and North Idaho using the ROC-USA model.
Home Caregivers
The NWCDC has a focused practice area assisting home caregiver cooperatives in pre-development as well as existing, operational cooperatives.
Our services can include feasibility assessments, education and training, business planning, strategic planning, market research, board training, grant writing, relationship management and more.
Worker Co-ops
A worker cooperative is a democratically controlled business owned by its worker-owners. A worker cooperative is organized to serve the needs of its worker-owners by generating benefits (which may or may not be profits) for the worker-owners rather than external investors.
Worker-owned cooperatives operate in numerous lines of business across the nation. Some of the business sectors include childcare, commercial and residential cleaning, food service, home care, technology, consumer retail and services, manufacturing, wholesaling and many others.
Ag and Natural Resources
Cooperatives are flourishing in a wide variety of agriculture and natural resources businesses. We have provided technical assistance to cooperatives for:
- Mobile meat and poultry processing
- Biofuels
- Wind energy
- Forestry management
- Agricultural product marketing
- Irrigation management
- Farm land and lease management
Food Co-ops
Cooperatives have been uniquely successful at linking local people with local foods.
- Co-ops provide online shopping for local foods.
- Co-ops operate retail food stores and feature local farmers.
- Co-ops jointly market local products.
- Co-ops are owned by farmers, ranchers and consumers, you and your neighbor.
