Friends of Common Shares,

Bathed in this beautiful autumn sun, we are writing with wonderful cooperative news: Thanks to our friends at Keystone Development Center (KDC), Common Shares will be able to offer free to low-cost cooperative development and legal services to rural cooperatives and mutually owned businesses in Virginia between now and September 2027!

KDC is a cooperative development center whose fantastic team works to sustain communities, economies, and resources through cooperatively owned businesses in the mid-Atlantic region. They are a recipient of the USDA’s Rural Cooperative Development Grant (RCDG). With their award, KDC will pass on $15,000 to Common Shares. Congratulations to KDC on their award, and thank you for expanding our support for VA co-ops!

So, if you’ve been thinking about starting or working on your cooperative, now is the time! Learn more about our services here or fill out the interest form below to get started.

We would also like to thank Friendly City Food Cooperative (FCFC) in Harrisonburg for sponsoring our upcoming virtual workshop Capitalize Your Co-op! on November 4th! FCFC is much more than a grocery store. They source about 30% of their products locally, and make substantial contributions annually to local organizations and families with successful match programs and a committed membership. FCFC’s own contributions have totaled about $300,000 since 2018.

Read on for more information about our workshop... and then pay the Friendly City Food Co-op a visit!

In solidarity, 

The Common Shares Team

Capitalize Your Co-op! (Virtual workshop)

November 4, 2026 6-8pm and January 13, 2027 10:30-12:30am. English to Spanish interpretation and translation will be provided in January.

Cooperatives of all kinds need resources, and sometimes you need a LOT. This workshop brings together Common Shares, Ben Sandel of Columinate, and returning champion Sam Gray Law, P.C. to help co-ops assess and meet their capital needs. We will especially focus on co-op specific, community-based fundraising strategies that build local wealth and relationships. We will also cover how a co-op’s legal entity might affect their options for raising capital.

This workshop and interpretation has been made possible by the Friendly City Food Cooperative. Thank you, FCFC!

OTHER UPCOMING EVENTS AND RESOURCES FROM OTHER ORGANIZERS

One goal for these newsletters is to highlight other co-op and solidarity economy educators and newsletters that share great resources. All are free or offer sliding scale pricing or group discounts.

Upcoming events in July and August:

AORTA Co-op (sliding scale, virtual, facilitated in English)

• Co-op Open Studios, Nov 6, 1-2pm EST

• Intro to Mediation and Conflict Work, Nov 11, 6-9pm EST

• Facilitate for Freedom, Nov 12, 1-2pm EST

• Crash Course on Facilitating Disagreement, Nov 17, 6-9pm EST

Prospera (free, virtual, facilitated in Spanish)

• Panel virtual: Experiencias y Recursos para las economías alternativas, Nov 5, 8:30-10:30pm EST

• Panel virtual: Hablemos de las Opciones para Acceder a Capital, Nov 17, 8:20-10:15pm EST

Sociocracy for All (free or discounts available, virtual, facilitated in English)

• Free Introduction to Sociocracy, Nov 4, 12-1pm EST

• Nonviolent Communications Basics, 3 sessions starting Nov 5, 12-1pm EST

• Permission to Lead: How to step up in sociocracy without power-over, Nov 10, 11:30am-2pm EST

• Free for your first time - Sociocracy in Co-ops Community of Practice, Dec 8, 2-3pm EST

Great newsletters to sign up for:

• Start.coop (in English)

• New Economy Coalition (in English)

• Grassroots Economic Organizing (in English)

Know of a newsletter or cooperative or organization that provides great educational materials in English and/or in Spanish? Let us know and we will include it here!