Become an Owner-Member!
As an Owner you will help Daily build a thriving, local cooperative economy; grow as a fun, inspiring place to shop and learn; and be a hub for community and civic engagement and a source of excellent food. Cooperative ownership is powerful. Being a cooperative means that the benefits we provide depend on broad participation in ownership.
Becoming an Owner-Member is easy! Here’s how it works:
Come into the store, fill out an application and purchase your Owner Member Share.
A full Owner Member share is $100 – a one-time share purchase, not an annual recurring fee.
Don’t have $100? – pay as little as $20 and become an Owner.
Daily has a payment plan in increments of $20. You can pay $20 and receive all owner-member benefits, excepting patronage dividends (read on for an explanation of dividends). You must reach the $100 investment to be entitled to a share of the Co-op’s profits, but you will still be considered an owner, provided you remain timely with the payment plan.
What does it mean to be an Owner-Member of Daily Groceries?
Joining a co-op means you own this store! As owners of this business you may:
- Receive all financial benefits of membership.
- Vote for the directors – annual election.
- Receive a copy of the Co-op Bylaws upon joining.
- Review reports on financial performance at the annual meeting.
- Run for the Board of Directors.
- Vote on questions before the membership.
- Vote for changes in the Articles and Bylaws as proposed by the Board of Directors.
- Attend board meetings. Meeting dates are posted in the store and on facebook.
- Participate in member surveys.
Daily Groceries operates under a patronage structure.
Patronage is a structure that allows the Co-op to share our profit through the patronage dividend. Co-op owners receive a portion of the Co-op’s profits through annual patronage dividends. The Board of Directors determines annually if the Co-op can afford to distribute dividends. Yours will be determined by the amount you spend in a given year. There’s no guarantee, but if the Co-op’s fiscally healthy, we all benefit.
A patronage dividend…
…is a more traditional form of co-op member discount. Cooperatives are structured so that when business operations are profitable, the annual surplus may be returned to owner-members as patronage dividends based on their purchases.
This is how we calculate patronage dividends each year:
Step 1: Daily Groceries Co-op provides its Owner-Members delicious food and other fun things.
Step 2: Every Owner Member purchase is recorded in the membership records.
Step 3: When Daily is profitable, the board and management review plans and financial obligations.
Step 4: The Co-op sets aside any profit needed to pay for those and records it in each members account as non-voting shares in Daily.
Step 5: The money that is not needed to reinvest in the business is returned by check to our owner-members. Your patronage dividend is based on the amount of your purchases over the fiscal year.
When you get your check, the stub will mention the part of the profit that Daily is reinvesting in the business. This is called “qualified equity certificates,” a type of stock share. The law requires us to let you know about the retained portion of the year’s profits in this manner. Co-op shares are not like stock in other kinds of business because they do not change in value, cannot be sold, and do not increase your voting power in the Co-op. It is really an accounting method that shows who the Co-op belongs to. These reinvested (retained) shares are our legacy to future generations.
Read More about Owner Membership in our Owner Member Manual.
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