2. 1/20 Project A1: The Consumer Co-operative Sustainability and Planning Scorecard Leslie Brown, Mount Saint Vincent University Elizabeth Hicks, Mount Saint Vincent University André Leclerc, Université de Moncton June 24, 2010 Community University Research Alliance - Atlantic Cluster Halifax, Nova Scotia

3. Supported by & Partnered with Southern Ontario Node, Social Economy Centre SOCIALECONOMY. UTORONTO.CA

4. 3/20 Today’s Presentation – An Overview 1.Scorecard’s purposes 2.Research Partnership Main Goal 3.The Partners 4.Partnership in Research 5.Tool design process 6.Scorecard’s structure 7.Next steps 8.Time frame and responsibilities 9.Objectives and research priorities

5. 4/20 Scorecard’s Purposes A Scorecard to : Define and measure the Co-operative Difference. Guide strategic planning of the Co-op Difference. Help benchmark and improve your economic, social and ecological performance. Provide valuable information to members. Raise cooperative’s public image. Develop leadership among co-operatives as well as other organizations in social responsibility reporting and planning.

6. 5/20 Research Partnership Main Goal To develop a self-assessment and planning tool that measures co-operative sustainability (including the social, economic and environmental performance) in relation to targets and priorities set by the co-op’s key stakeholders. = a pilot project initially for consumer co-operatives Actual tool’s name : The Consumer Co-operative Sustainability and Planning Scorecard

7. 6/20 The Partners 1.Co-op Atlantic Léo LeBlanc, Corporate Secretary and Vice-President of Human Resources and Corporate Affairs Monique Bourque, Corporate Marketing & Communications Manager Roméo Cormier, Manager of Public Affairs 2. Academic Partners from 2 universities Leslie Brown and Elizabeth Hicks, Mount Saint Vincent University; André Leclerc, l’Université de Moncton = 6 members of the Research Advisory Committee (RAC)

8. 7/20 The Partners (con’t) 3. Pilot Project Co-ops and CFM (7) 5 retail food co-ops (out of 57) & 2 co-operative food markets (out of 13) set up Pilot Project Committees (PPC) 3 - 8 persons selected by the Board (Co-op) or the Advisory committee (Co-operative food markets - CFM) Includes board or committee member(s) and other key individuals such as general members, managers, member relations officers and other employees. May consult with other stakeholders

9. 8/20 The Partners (con’t) La Coopérative Régionale de la Baie La Coopérative de St-Louis La Coopérative de Dieppe Musquodoboit Valley Co-op Pictou County Co-op Food Market Morell Consumers Co-operative Sackville Co-op Food Market

10. 9/20 Partnership in Research Community-University Research Alliance = “ … partnerships between community organizations and postsecondary institutions which, through a process of ongoing collaboration and mutual learning, will foster innovative research, training and the creation of new knowledge...” “These partnerships must demonstrably increase research capacity across university and community- based participants in the research, and result in knowledge that is valued and useful for all the partners.” (SSHRC, emphasis added)

11. 10/20 Tool design process 1. Drafting the tool, Recruitment of PPCs + Workshops; 2. PPC review of the main themes and practices; 3. Re-drafting the tool based on feedback from the PPCs 4. PPC reports on their co-op’s priorities for each of the practices + researchers develop the indicators for each practice; 5. PPC reports on performance using the indicators + commenting on the process and critiquing the indicators; 6. Re-draft tool based on feedback from PPCs, making it available; 7. Review stakeholder approaches and encourage co- operatives to develop a stakeholder engagement strategy; 8.Pilot project co-operatives and other interested co- operatives use the third draft of the tool and report on the results.

12. 11/20 Scorecard’s Structure Initial version of the scorecard presented at 2009 Co-op Atlantic AGM : –178 practices structured in 5 sheets : co-operative principles; operations; economic measures; social measures; environmental measures. After the first evaluation by PPCs : –Discard 31 practices. –Revise or move elsewhere in the scorecard : 10 practices. Further revision by the RAC based on the PPCs comments.

13. 12/20 Scorecards Structure after revision Two scorecards : –Autonomous consumer co-ops 145-150 practices organized in 4 sheets ( co-operative principles,economic measures,social measures, and environmental measures) practices related to co-op values indicators for each practices –Co-operative food markets 130-135 practices organized the same way

14. 13/20 Scorecard’s Structure - co-op version ThemeSubgroup# of pract. First Sheet : Co-operative Principles Open & Voluntary Membership12 Democratic member controlI. Governance14 II. Member Engagement7 Member Economic Participation7 Autonomy & Independence3 Education, Training & InformationI. Inform. & Image Manag.5 II. Member Education4 III Staff Education4 Co-operation Among Co-ops5 Concern for Community3 Subtotal64

15. 14/20 Scorecard’s Structure - co-op version (con’t) Second Sheet : Economic Measures I. Budgets and planning6 II. Strategic reporting and monitoring 13 Subtotal19 Third Sheet : Social I. Our customers / members5 II. Our employees19 III. Our suppliers9 Subtotal33 Fourth Sheet : Environment Subtotal15

16. 15/20 Scorecard’s Structure : example of practices Principle 1 - Open & Voluntary Membership PRACTICES Please indicate how your co-op would prioritize each practice. Please circle the appropriate number on the scale of 1 – 5, where 5 is the most important and 1 is the least important. Least ImportantMost Important Does Not Apply 1 The co-op makes sure that the membership list is updated regularly. 1 2 3 4 5 N/A 2 Our database (or manual list of members) allows us to identify inactive members. 1 2 3 4 5 N/A 3 The co-op has a member relations policy to provide strong member focus. 1 2 3 4 5 N/A

17. 16/20 Scorecard’s Structure : example of indicators Principle 1 - Open & Voluntary Membership Indicators Metrics - Adjust as appropriate for your co- operative Our Metric Benchmark 1 # of hours annually provided to pertinent staff to review co-op membership information, member sign-up procedures. 2 % increase or decrease in membership 3 # of new members recruited, year over year 4 # of inactive members, year over year 5 # of member resignation 6 # of re-engaged members

18. 17/20 Next steps PPC reports on their co-op’s priorities for each of the practices Develop indicators associated to each practices (in collaboration with managers) –to measure the current state of co-op sustainability and will help your co-op identify opportunities for improvements. Using the indicators, PPC reports on performance Web version of the tool?

19. 18/20 Time Frame and Partner Responsibilities

20. 19/20 Objectives and Research Priorities  Identify the performance practices and indicators that best express the « co-operative difference » and allow a co-op to evaluate and improve its social, environmental and economic performance; [i.e. produce a useful scorecard]  Understand the ways that co-ops use the information to engage in operations and in strategic planning; [i.e. info’ feeds into plan for action]  Learn from this stakeholder approach to the creation of a tool; [i.e. capacity building for all]  Contribute to the development of the theory of co- operative organizations & their impacts on community [i.e. synthesis of info’ for co-ops too]

21. 20/20 There you have it - a partnership for change THANK YOU ! QUESTIONS?