December Positive Change Recipient – GreenStar Solidarity Fund

Solidarity Fund
Young child holding carrot

A Note from GreenStar: To support equitable access to membership at the Co-op, the Solidarity Fund is GreenStar’s December featured Positive Change recipient.

From its very beginning, the modern cooperative movement has been centered on building a more inclusive, democratic, and participatory economy. To this day, co-ops work towards this goal, led by the Cooperative Values and Principles, which are the shared values and the basis for every cooperative enterprise worldwide. The Cooperative Principles, displayed proudly in our main store, are guidelines by which cooperatives put their values into practice. Perhaps less familiar are the Cooperative Values that steer these principles:  Self-Help, Self-Responsibility, Equity, Equality, Democracy, and Solidarity. In the tradition of their founders, cooperative members also believe in the ethical values of honesty, openness, social responsibility, and caring for others.

Like all co-ops, GreenStar is founded on this same set of values and principles describing a different, fairer, and better way of doing business. GreenStar has long worked to reflect this cooperative legacy, ensuring that Member-Ownership is accessible to everyone, and that everyone who wants to be a part of the Co-op can afford to join and shop at our stores. This allows the Co-op to better serve our whole community and the Co-op benefits from the input and active participation of more people, regardless of their economic situation.

Specifically, GreenStar aims to create equitable access and reduce economic barriers to participation by offering affordable annual equity installment plans, enabling individuals to enjoy the benefits of GreenStar membership while making smaller equity payments towards full equity over time. Additionally, the FLOWER program, which launched in 2010, has increased access to nutritious food for those with limited means by providing eligible members a 13% discount on their purchases. If a FLOWER applicant has never established a GreenStar membership, their first equity payment is donated by the Co-op. Individuals who wish to remain a Co-op member are responsible for maintaining their continuing equity payments in the following years. Those equity payments can present a financial barrier that prevents individuals from maintaining their Co-op membership, and therefore from receiving the FLOWER discount.

To ensure that everyone in our community—regardless of financial situation—can access nourishing food and participate in the cooperative, we created the Solidarity Fund.

The Solidarity Fund builds on the cooperative tradition of mutual aid by allowing individuals to contribute to neighbors and community members on limited incomes, and increasing access to co-op membership and the FLOWER discount for people who are economically marginalized. Individuals can contribute to GreenStar’s Solidarity Fund, an indivisible pool of revolving Co-op equity, to help a fellow community member join and remain a member of the Co-op. Individuals can contribute any amount of equity at the register, or choose to give their paid-in equity to the Fund, should they withdraw their membership.

The Solidarity Fund will support individuals who are eligible for the FLOWER discount and need assistance to join and maintain their membership in the Co-op. Individuals who are enrolled in or applying for GreenStar’s FLOWER discount will be eligible to have their annual equity payment supported through GreenStar’s Solidarity Fund. If a member whose equity is supported by the Solidarity Fund rescinds their membership, the value of their member share will be reallocated to the Solidarity Fund pool, contributing to community wealth-building over time, and supporting other Co-op members in need.

With the addition of the Solidarity Fund, GreenStar fulfills the central tenets of a robust “Membership for All’ program and furthers the cooperative legacy and values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity, and solidarity. We encourage our members and other community members to contribute to the fund to continue building a stronger and more connected community within the GreenStar Food Co-op.