The 2020 Food Co-op Impact Report is dedicated to all co-op staff and essential food system workers. Thank you!
We’ve got the data to prove it, so let’s spread the news: Food co-ops strengthen communities! Our 2020 Food Co-op Impact Report tells the story of how food co-ops occupy a unique space in our communities and economy — creating a market for local farmers and producers, making good food affordable for more people while caring for each other and our planet.
Content is based on 2020 impact metrics data collected from NCG co-ops through Co+efficient, Co+op Deals stats and NCG’s advocacy and sustainability work, offering a snapshot of “the average food co-op” and providing data your co-ops can share with owners, staff and community. The report is not confidential and you can download and distribute a PDF of the report, or link to a consumer-friendly format on WelcometotheTable.coop, suitable for promoting on social media.
How NCG uses this report
The Food Co-op Impact Report is invaluable to our work on federal policy and helps us communicate to lawmakers in Washington, D.C., why supporting food co-ops directly benefits their state or district’s economy, constituents and farmers. This helps us advocate for the things that are important to NCG food co-ops and your customers, including racial equity in our food system, funding and policies that support local agriculture, strong organic standards and the inclusion of organic agriculture in climate change policy.
NCG also distributes this report to the vendors and business partners we work with on your behalf to secure promotions and exclusives. Our industry is full of companies that measure their success in environmental and social impact, so enhancing their understanding of our unique value proposition sets us apart from our competitors and incentivizes partnership with us — that means more and better deals for you!
Communicating the value of our national co-op community
There is so much that your co-ops achieve through NCG, and the Food Co-op Impact Report helps to get that story told. Working together, you’ve been able to make food more affordable for your communities by combining your purchasing power and creating promotions programs like Co+op Deals and Co+op Basics, and also by funding federal advocacy for programs that lower barriers to healthy food like SNAP, WIC and GusNIP.
In 2020, together we invested in national organizations working to build racial equity in our food system and continued to plant trees in the Peruvian Amazon to slow climate change. Together we are able to address pressing national and global issues as well as serve our communities better — that is the power of cooperation and it all starts with you. Good food is just the beginning of what we can achieve when we work together, and the Food Co-op Impact Report makes that clear.
