Saturday-Sunday, November 7-8

The Annual General meeting is a chance to get plugged into the broader NASCO movement, network with NASCO co-ops across the US and Canada and develop an understanding of what NASCO is and how it fits into the international cooperative movement. All NASCO members are invited to attend the AGM, which is held on the Saturday and Sunday mornings of Institute weekend.

Download Annual General Meeting Materials here:

AGM Overview

AGM Materials

Consider running for the Active Member Representative position on the NASCO Board.

Working Groups

a. Environmental Justice: Generate discussion and engagement around environmental justice.

i. Distinguish between definitions of environmental justice and environmental sustainability.
ii. Discuss what coops are already doing around sustainability, and what they might be able to do for environmental justice. Address how to raise awareness about environmental justice within cooperatives.
iii. Activity/task: work towards adopting a statement about NASCO member cooperative's commitment to support local environmental justice causes, and action steps that cooperatives can take to support environmental justice; include a definition of environmental justice from (i.).

b. Mapping 2010: Introduce and give shape to 2010 Institute theme of Mapping.

i. Broad brainstorming, what types of maps do we think about and what are the utility of those maps?
ii. Activity/Task: Create a map/diagram that explores issues, categories, geographies, or topics that could be mapped, and how they're related.

c. Anti-Oppression Education: Evaluate NASCO's current anti-oppression programming

i. Introduction to anti-oppression as a priority in programming, governance, leadership, networking, how anti-oppression is connected to cooperative principles; brief overview of how anti-oppression education surfaced in NASCO;
ii. Snapshot of current anti-oppression efforts: Action Camp, Cooperative Leadership Track/anti-oppression training at Institute, training & consulting upon request/member visits, online resources, networking with anti-oppression and social justice organizations.
iii. Review the costs and benefits of current anti-oppression programming and recommendations, from the Inclusion Committee of the Board, for how to proceed.
iv. Activity/task: report feedback on Inclusion Committee's suggestions in (iii) and any additional options for Action Camp & anti-oppression programming to discuss.

d. Building a More Democratic Election Process for NASCO Ed Board: Learn about the current election process, challenges and benefits.

i. Learn about the current election process, challenges, and benefits
ii. Review various ideas for improvements to the election process
iii. Activity/Task: Brainstorm additional ideas for improvements and provide feedback on existing ideas, to give to the Board.

e. Strategies for Pooling Resources and Information: Discuss strategies for pooling resources for mutual benefit.

i. Overview initiatives NASCO staff & board are already working on (Connected Bookkeeping, collecting energy usage data, pooling property insurance policies, larger co-op systems lending money for developing/expanding co-ops, shared resource library).
ii. What are suggestions for ways that NASCO co-ops can connect to your coop with these collaborative initiatives? Brainstorm ideas for pooling resources in the future.
iii. Discuss ideas for initiatives that would better position NASCO co-ops to advocate for cooperatives as more sustainable (financially, ecologically, socially) model than comparable forms of housing and business.

f. Open Space
i. Members will be given time at the beginning to propose open space discussions. The top one or two topics will be selected. If there is little interest in open space discussions, participants will be asked to join a standing working group.