3:00pm - 4:00pm Eastern Time

Cultivating leaders within the backbone and among partners is critical for the success of a collective impact effort. What can we learn from initiatives that have built leadership capacity within their backbone, their partnerships, and other community stakeholders? 

Join us on July 17 from 3pm – 4pm ET for the next Collective Impact Forum Virtual Coffee, Building Leadership Capacity for Collective Impact. 

Register for Building Leadership Capacity for Collective Impact

We'll be talking with Ellen Kahler, Executive Director at the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund (VSJF), about their experience helping strengthen leadership skills across their initiative. VSJF serves as the backbone for Vermont Farm to Plate (F2P), a statewide collective impact initiative to strengthen Vermont’s food system.

Can't make the actual virtual coffee time? Registering also means you'll be notified when the recording is uploaded to the Collective Impact Forum resource library. 

The theme for the 2018 International Day of Co-operatives is "sustainable consumption and production of goods and services", which the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) number 12.

This theme is an opportunity for co-operatives to show how they run successful businesses while respecting our natural environment by members making sustainable choices. The theme was unveiled by the President of the International Co-operative Alliance, Ariel Guarco, at “Cooperatives: Developing people-focused strategies to end poverty” event in New York.

Mr. Guarco shared the latest news about the online platform called Co-ops for 2030, where co-operatives are pledging to implement the SDGs. There have been 300 pledges from 100 co-operatives in 40 countries so far.

With "sustainable consumption and production of goods and services" as the general theme, a global survey selected the #CoopsDay slogan "Sustainable societies through cooperation."

Co-operatives have two centuries’ experience building sustainable and resilient societies. Among the examples, agricultural co-operatives work to maintain the longevity of the land where they grow crops through sustainable farming practices. Consumer co-operatives support sustainable sourcing for their products and educate consumers about responsible consumption. Housing co-operatives help ensure safe dwellings. Co-operative banks contribute to stability thanks to their proximity to their clients and provide access to finance at the local level and are widespread even in remote areas. Utility co-operatives are engaged in the transition to cleaner electricity and rural access to energy and water. Worker and social co-operatives in the diverse sectors (health, communications, tourism.) aim to provide goods and services in an efficient, planet-friendly way while creating long-term, sustainable jobs.

Through #CoopsDay, local and global policymakers can learn how co-operatives contribute to a more sustainable and resilient world.

About the International Day of Co-operatives

The United Nations International Day of Co-operatives has been celebrated annually on the first Saturday of July since 1995.

The aim of this celebration is to increase awareness on cooperatives, highlight the complementary goals and objectives of the United Nations and the international co-operative movement, underscore the contributions of the movement to the resolution of the major problems addressed by the United Nations and strengthen and extend partnerships between the international co-operative movement and other actors.

Since 1995, the Alliance and the United Nations have been setting the theme for the celebration of the International Day through COPAC, a multi-stakeholder partnership of global public and private institutions, the Alliance is a founding member, that champions and supports people-centred and self-sustaining cooperative enterprises as leaders in sustainable development.

Source: Co-operatives and Mutuals Canada

1:00pm - 2:00pm Eastern Time

Human-Centred Design and Design Thinking, popularized by innovation firms such as IDEO and institutions such as Stanford’s d.school, are rapidly being adopted as approaches to innovation across the private, public, and voluntary sector. The promise of these approaches is alluring – that seeking to deeply understand the perspective of those impacted by a service, program, or system, and adopting an iterative, prototype-driven approach to problem-solving will result in revolutionary changes that will benefit all. But, is that promise always possible?

In this introductory one-hour webinar join Galen MacLusky, Tamarack’s Director of Community Innovation, as he explores Human-Centred Design, Design Thinking, and their relevance for community changemakers. 

Register for Human-Centred Design, Design Thinking, and Community Change

Speaker

Galen MacLusky is a Consulting Director of the Tamarack Institute’s Community Innovation Idea Area. He is passionate about working with community organizations to help build and scale new ideas that deepen their impact. An experienced design, innovation, and co-creation consultant, at the core of his work are approaches that help organizations engage with those who are impacted by their services and test new programs and services with minimal investment. Over the past five years, Galen has used these approaches to help Fortune 500 companies and non-profit organizations across North America reinvent the services and programs they provide. Galen is an experienced human-centred design coach and holds a Master’s degree in Engineering Design and Innovation from Northwestern University.

1:30pm to 3:00pm Eastern Time

Increasing sales is typically the only way a business can grow and, in the case of the social economy, increase its social, environmental and economic impact. But how can a co-operative step into optimal hustle mode in a way that aligns with its values, culture and brand image?

In this webinar, co-operative members will have 90 minutes to take stock of their current approach to sales, notice their lost opportunities and brainstorm new approaches to increasing sales.

Register for Growing Sales in Your Co-op

Topics:

• Coop sales scan: Where do our sales come from, how do we make them, how have our sales met our revenue and expenses needs over the last few years? Why do we need to increase sales?
• What we sell, what is sellable about it?
• Whom we sell it to (audience & segments)
• How & where we sell it (message & channels)
• How much we sell it for (mark-up, competitive pricing)
• Coop Scan & report back: Where are our missed opportunities and how do we meet these opportunities in a way that aligns with our values, culture and brand image? Is the issue really sales, or our margins, costs, etc.?

You will leave with ideas and strategies that are appropriate to your co-operative and in line with your brand image.

About the Presenter

Stephanie specializes in multi-stakeholder team building and participatory business planning. She helps individuals locate themselves in, engage with and affect the systems they inhabit, empowering them every step of the way. BA studies in political sciences and international development at McGill University (Montreal) and a Masters of Management of Cooperatives and Credit Unions at St Mary's University (Halifax) provided a unique bridge between the inquisitive, analytical approach of the humanities and management's process-oriented, problem-solving ethos.

Starting her career in community development as Marketing and Membership Coordinator at Coop la Maison Verte in Montreal (2009-2012), she has built diverse local coalitions in Montreal and New York, and mobilized stakeholders towards system-level impact in various countries. She brings concrete experience in political advocacy & lobby work at city, province and federal levels, and a keen understanding of the diverse mix of factors essential to culturally and locally-appropriate community development.

1:00pm to 2:00pm Eastern Time

Amid rising economic insecurity, persistent racial inequities, and an uncertain future of work, a federal job guarantee is a big idea whose time has come. By ensuring that every person who wants to work has access to a quality job, a job guarantee could eliminate involuntary unemployment and raise the floor on low-wage work while building stronger communities.

To produce equitable outcomes, the policy must be designed with equity in mind. That is why PolicyLink, in partnership with Darrick Hamilton and William Darity Jr., created a set of policy principles to guide the development of a federal job guarantee that delivers maximum benefits, particularly for those left behind in our current economy.

Register for 10 Principles for a Federal Job Guarantee

Join this webinar with job guarantee experts and advocates to learn more about these principles and how to use them to assess and craft policy proposals.

Featured Speakers:

• Dr. Alan Aja, Associate Professor, Department of Puerto Rican and Latino Studies, Brooklyn College
• Angela Glover Blackwell, Founder and CEO, PolicyLink
• Ady Barkan, Director of Local Progress and Director of Fed Up, Center for Popular Democracy
• Dr. William Darity Jr., Samuel DuBois Cook Professor of Public Policy, Duke University
• Dr. Darrick Hamilton, Professor of Economics and Urban Policy, The New School
• Dr. Stephanie Kelton, Professor of Public Policy and Economics, Stony Brook University
• Sarah Treuhaft, Senior Director, PolicyLink (Moderator)