Howard Bowers Day October 9

Supporting training and education for consumer co-ops
The trustees of the Howard Bowers Fund and the Cooperative Development Foundation ask that your store participate in the seventh Howard Bowers Day, which will be held on October 9 this year. Participating food co-ops are asked to donate 1% of their sales on Howard Bowers Day to the Fund.

Howard Bowers Day is one of the two fundraising venues for the Howard Bowers Fund, the other being CCMA. The Howard Bowers Fund is the only national fund for consumer cooperatives. It helps strengthen individual cooperatives and the consumer cooperative sector by providing training and education for staff, managers, and board members of consumer cooperatives. To help us make this year’s Howard Bowers Day a success, we ask that you:
• commit your store to participating in Howard Bowers Day.
• promote Howard Bowers Day at your next board and staff meetings.
• promote Howard Bowers Day in your newsletter, on your staff bulletin boards, and at your registers.
• encourage your members, staff, and board to shop on October 9, Howard Bowers Day.
• let your members and customers know if any staff, managers, or board members from your co-op have benefited from the Howard Bowers Fund.

Emphasize these points:
• Training and education help keep the consumer co-op sector competitive at a time of increasing competition in the grocery industry.
• A staff and board well-educated in business and in cooperative principles is one of a consumer cooperative’s greatest assets.
• Your co-op may benefit from or may have already benefited from the Bowers Fund because it provides educational opportunities for managers, staff, and boards of consumer cooperatives.
• Every contribution increases the grants given and Fund’s endowment, which will ultimately make it better able to serve the consumer cooperative sector.

For more information, contact Ellen Quinn at 202/383-5474 or [email protected].