Funds Available For U.S. Cooperative Recovery From Natural Disasters

Arlington, VA (Nov 29, 2011) — Citing the need to pool resources and efficiently help members of the U.S. cooperative community recover when natural disasters strike, the Cooperative Development Foundation (CDF) and the Northcountry Cooperative Foundation (NCF) today announced a merger of their disaster recovery funds and the ongoing management of the funds by CDF.  While the NCF funds were targeted specifically to meet the needs of food co-ops and their suppliers in the Upper Midwest, CDF’s fundraising will continue to be broad-based and targeted to the unique recovery needs of disaster situations, both domestic and international.

“Mother Nature has given us a mission – to enable co-ops to help other co-ops when disaster strikes”, said CDF Executive Director, Liz Bailey.  “Currently we are raising funds and making grant awards from CDF’s Emergency Fund to assist cooperatives in the Northeast that suffered devastating losses from Hurricane Irene, but we’ve also just completed raising $120,000 for the cooperatives in Japan that are still recovering from last spring’s earthquake and tsunami.  We are grateful to the Northcountry Cooperative Foundation for the infusion of $65,000 in additional funds for use with the current Hurricane Irene recovery effort and, as a result of this merger, we also will extend eligibility for funding from CDF’s Emergency Fund to any cooperatives in the Upper Midwest who would have been eligible to apply for assistance from Northcountry’s disaster recovery grant program.”

In addition to thanking Northcountry Cooperative Foundation for the transfer of its funds, CDF also singled out the food cooperative sector for its generous support for both the NCF and CDF disaster funds.  “This is all about co-ops helping co-ops,” said Bailey.  “Every time there has been a disaster, the cooperative community, and food co-ops in particular, have responded and we know that they will be there again for victims of the next disaster as well.”  In addition to the food cooperatives, CDF singled out several other organizations that have been particularly supportive of the CDF Emergency Fund this past year with their donations of time or money, including:  the CHS Foundation, which provided $50,000 in seed money for the Japanese recovery initiative; NCB and the National Cooperative Grocers Association, who both provided $5,000 in seed money to get the Hurricane Irene fundraising established; and CDF’s partners in the outreach and review of applications for assistance due to Hurricane Irene losses – the Neighboring Food Co-op Association (NFCA), the Cooperative Fund of New England (CFNE) and National Cooperative Grocers Association (NCGA).

“2011 has produced a devastating series of storms, tornadoes, floods and wildfires,” Bailey said.  “We applaud the resiliency of the co-ops and their members who have been affected and we sincerely thank the cooperative community for its generosity in coming to their assistance.  The needs are massive and we’ll never be able to cover all of their losses.  But we can help at some level and we ask you to continue to support co-op recovery through a tax-deductible donation to the CDF Emergency Fund.”

To make an online contribution, to get more information on the CDF Emergency Fund, to access the grant application, or to find information about the first Hurricane Irene grant awards, go to CDF’s website, www.cdf.coop.  Checks can be made out to CDF-Emergency Fund and sent to: CDF at 2011 Crystal Drive, Suite 800, Arlington, VA  22202.  For more information, contact Ellen Quinn at equinn@cdf.coopor 703.383.8094.