CGIN

CGIN (Cooperative Grocers’ Information Network) is a membership organization founded to support the growth and development of food co-ops. Given the increasingly competitive climate all food co-ops operate in, CGIN aims to help co-ops maximize their collective resources and keep them, as independent groups, from being put at a competitive disadvantage. Our purpose is:

To strengthen all retail food cooperatives by creating community and facilitating the sharing and development of resources among members.

History

The idea for CGIN was initially spawned by a group of co-op leaders — Dan Foley, Bill Gessner, Gail Graham, Alan Mathewson, and Carolee Colter. This group wanted to set up a “low-overhead organization that cranks out products, not studies.” A meeting at CCMA (Consumer Cooperative Management Association Conference) in 1997, attended by approximately 60 cooperators, was held to discuss the idea and to solicit support. Following that, 35 organizations contributed over $11,000 to help finance the organization’s planning and a steering committee was formed. Paul Cultrera was hired to develop the business plan for a “national co-op information service.” Based on the strength of that plan, the NCB Development Corporation provided a generous grant to help finance the organization’s start-up expenses.

The new group was named “Cooperative Grocers’ Information Network” — referred to as CGIN (see-gin) — and engaged the services of Karen Zimbelman in December of 1997. CGIN was incorporated as a non-profit association in the state of Vermont in January of 1998. CGIN held its first membership meeting at CCMA in June 1998 where members elected the organization’s first board and approved its bylaws. CGIN received tax-exempt status [501©(6)] from the Internal Revenue Service in October of 1998. In 2007, CGIN contracted with National Cooperative Grocers Association to assume responsibility for the management of CGIN.

CGIN currently offers three primary services:
1) Listserves CGIN hosts three listserves. CGIN’s basic listserve is open to anyone interested in food co-ops.The listserve serves as a lively forum to discuss any topic related to food co-ops and serves to develop a sense of community among food co-ops. The listserve is a popular way for co-op leadership to research ideas and survey one another about topics of interest, as well. CGIN also offers specialized listserves by request for special co-op interest groups and are accessible on a subscription basis. Currently, CGIN is hosting a listserve for co-op membership and marketing staff and Human Resource staff.

2) CGIN Resource Exchange CGIN provides secured-access web pages that allow food co-ops to share information, ideas, and resources. This portion of our web pages is accessible only to CGIN members to protect the proprietary interests of co-ops and to ensure that our materials are being shared exclusively with other cooperative organizations and CGIN members. The exchange is currently made up of the following sections:

• resource library – featuring over 1200 sample forms, articles, training materials, policy manuals, brochures, and other items
• deli recipe exchange – with hundreds of deli recipes in 18 different categories
• basic retail operations manual – materials covering all aspects of food co-op operations developed by the University of Wisconsin Urban Cooperative Initiative
• CGIN photo gallery – with exhibits illustrating merchandising, displays, equipment, store tours,and other items of interest

• CGIN Livable Wage model – developed by CGIN to help co-ops calculate the livable wage for their communities and what rate would need to be paid in wages by the co-op after factoring in key employee benefits.

3) General web pages and information These pages provide general information of interest or value to all food co-ops and are open to anyone. Current information includes a list of web links of special interest to food co-ops, a place to post job openings in co-ops, and other general information. These pages also feature CGIN’s online manual about how to start a new food co-op.

We’d love to have your co-op join CGIN. For more information, contact the CGIN office.

For more about CGIN, check out our FAQs.