Our proposal is going to center around creating a Non-Profit arm for the cooperative. It will probably be related to education within the community, but this is still up in the air... We plan to research first by looking into what other coops have done already, then we plan to talk to local attorneys to find out more about 501(c)3's and the processes to do one, plus we plan to some of our own reading and research to help us gain a better understanding of what they can do....
Adding a non-profit arm will a be tremendous amount of time and work but is probably not a bad idea for a food coop like People's, that is one of the Davids amongst the now present Goliaths of the natural food industry. Either adding a non-profit arm, or broadening their products and merchandise to become more of a profitable and competitive business in the ever expanding natural food industry, especially in a city like Portland with a significant amount of Natural food stores to choose from.We have our project pretty nicely divided up in to four parts for the four members of our group.
Preliminary work and research shows that there is a lot of time, effort and even some capital that goes into adding a non-profit arm to an existing business, and there is even more time and research involved in finding out how to go about it, or even people to possibly help. I expect that our group will significantly provide the framework for adding a non-profit arm to the business, and a number of resources to make it possible, which we will present to People's board members in the form of a powerpoint presentation.
My focus for the group project is predominantly in helping to search for what resources are available to assist in the process of establishing and running a 501(c)3, as well as looking for pro-bono lawyers in Portland, and or students from Lewis and Clark that would be willing to help, or might need to help for some community hours towards their graduation, much like we are doing with this capstone class. I am also going to be organizing the powerpoint presentation, and most likely doing a majority of the presenting.
I think this inquiry relates to the University Studies Goals in every way. It has provided a definite opportunity to apply some aspects of my college education to a real life situation. I mean, I am definitely not going to be a business consultant of any sort, but it definitely encapsulates the University studies goals in a mulitude of ways. Having to work with a real community partner, and doing work and research that will acutally be used and is for more than yourself or your teacher is gratifying.And it has certainly been another test of strength in working with a team and having to collaborate with people's with dilfferent educational backgrounds, ways of doing things, and schedules. This class has in very much so been the culmination of College experience. If I could do one thing differently I wou have taken it by itself in a term rather than squeezing it in with other classes in an attempt to finish up. But regardless, has been one of the most positive experiences I've had with a college class.
Adding a non-profit arm will a be tremendous amount of time and work but is probably not a bad idea for a food coop like People's, that is one of the Davids amongst the now present Goliaths of the natural food industry. Either adding a non-profit arm, or broadening their products and merchandise to become more of a profitable and competitive business in the ever expanding natural food industry, especially in a city like Portland with a significant amount of Natural food stores to choose from.We have our project pretty nicely divided up in to four parts for the four members of our group.
Preliminary work and research shows that there is a lot of time, effort and even some capital that goes into adding a non-profit arm to an existing business, and there is even more time and research involved in finding out how to go about it, or even people to possibly help. I expect that our group will significantly provide the framework for adding a non-profit arm to the business, and a number of resources to make it possible, which we will present to People's board members in the form of a powerpoint presentation.
My focus for the group project is predominantly in helping to search for what resources are available to assist in the process of establishing and running a 501(c)3, as well as looking for pro-bono lawyers in Portland, and or students from Lewis and Clark that would be willing to help, or might need to help for some community hours towards their graduation, much like we are doing with this capstone class. I am also going to be organizing the powerpoint presentation, and most likely doing a majority of the presenting.
I think this inquiry relates to the University Studies Goals in every way. It has provided a definite opportunity to apply some aspects of my college education to a real life situation. I mean, I am definitely not going to be a business consultant of any sort, but it definitely encapsulates the University studies goals in a mulitude of ways. Having to work with a real community partner, and doing work and research that will acutally be used and is for more than yourself or your teacher is gratifying.And it has certainly been another test of strength in working with a team and having to collaborate with people's with dilfferent educational backgrounds, ways of doing things, and schedules. This class has in very much so been the culmination of College experience. If I could do one thing differently I wou have taken it by itself in a term rather than squeezing it in with other classes in an attempt to finish up. But regardless, has been one of the most positive experiences I've had with a college class.
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