How can I help now?

First and foremost, become a Member-Owner today and invite your friends, family, and neighbors to do the same (joining the Co-op is easy!).  Second, if you are in a position to contribute financially, please invest in our Cooperative Dream Team Fund to help initiate our contract with National Cooperative Grocers.   More generally, you can also like us on Facebook and Instagram, sign up for our newsletter, join a committee, join us for events, nominate yourself or another Member Owner to serve on the Board of Directors, invite us for a presentation to a community group, send articles to newsletters of organizations to which you belong, write grants, and use other skills you have to move us forward.  Email us at eatlocal@electriccityfood.coop or complete this volunteer form to get more involved!

How do I become a member?

It’s easier than ever to join – for just $25, you can join us today online.  If you would like to join via a paper form or with a payment by check or cash, please contact us at eatlocal@electriccityfood.coop, or print and follow the directions in this form.

If I’m not a Member-Owner can I still shop there?

Absolutely! Our doors will be open to one and all.  Only Member-Owners enjoy the right to vote and receive ownership benefits like patronage refunds.

How will my membership money be used? Can I invest More?

Whether a Member-Owner invests the minimum $25 or $1000, all financial capital will be strategically managed by our Board of Directors to accelerate the opening of our community-owned grocery store. Until the Co-op opens its doors, membership funds may be used to further the Co-op’s advancement in the community by way of funding market and/or feasibility studies and advertising to increase our community support.  The Co-op also hosts several small fundraisers and events throughout the year to help cover administrative costs and reduce the need to access membership funds. Once our site is secured, we will be launching a larger capital campaign.  If you’re in a position to invest more than $25 as a Member-Owner, we welcome you to do so today (click here to contribute financially to the co-op, or click here to contribute to our Dream Team Fund to help initiate our contract with National Cooperative Grocers).

Why is it only $25 to join? Won’t it take a lot more capital to build, open, and run the store?

Great questions!  Until the end of 2022, the minimum investment to become a Member-Owner was $200; for the past ten years, the only source of capital to open our community-owned grocery store was through the individual investments of Member-Owners. This changed after the pandemic when the federal government recognized the need to significantly increase investments in food security as part of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.  Supported by ARPA funding, the City of Schenectady committed to investing $1 million in ECFC and the County of Schenectady committed to investing $3 million.  With this unprecedented support from local government, Member-Owners voted to reduce the minimum investment required for Member-Ownership to $25, aiming to grow our community and reduce barriers to member-ownership.  Start-up food cooperatives rely on growing social capital as much as financial capital – in fact, community buy-in is the essential ingredient that makes community-owned grocery stores thrive where conventional supermarkets fail.

• To help us grow our social capital, please invite your friends, family, and neighbors to join!

• To help us grow our financial capital, you can make your financial contributions here!

Why does Schenectady need a community-owned grocery store?

For over two decades, conventional chain supermarkets have been unwilling to invest in a grocery store in downtown Schenectady – the profit margins have not been attractive enough to private companies and corporate shareholders. As a result, the United States Department of Agriculture has classified most areas of Schenectady as a “food desert” – defined as an area where there is a substantial number or share of residents with low levels of access to retail outlets selling healthy and affordable foods.  Research shows that community-owned grocery stores have proven to be much more successful in such areas than corporately-owned supermarkets.  To learn more about the difference a community-owned grocery store can make in the Electric City, click here.

Will you carry bulk items, and what does “bulk” mean?

Buying in bulk means that the item is not in individual packages. You bring a container to fill and you pay by weight or volume. We plan to carry bulk items such as spices, grains, or cooking oils. We’re excited to reduce packaging waste and our collective use of plastic.

When will you open?

Once we build the community support, fundraise and build out the Co-op.  Your support is one more step towards that goal!  To follow our progress, check out our Latest News page or sign up for our e-Newsletter to get updates in your inbox.

Will the store create jobs?

Absolutely! Right now we’re all volunteers.  As we move toward opening, we will need paid staff and management.

In what ways are your board members qualified to serve?

Our board and leadership team consists of a variety of seasoned community leaders and experienced professionals from our city and region. To learn more about them, visit our Leadership page

Have you talked to other cooperatives for advice?

Yes! We continue to seek and receive advice from all of the local cooperatives, as well as cooperatives all over the country. Cooperatives cooperate with one another as a part of their ethos. We are especially grateful to strong support from the Niskayuna Co-op and the Honest Weight Food Co-op who have led the way in cooperative economic development in the Capital Region for decades. Honest Weight has been exceptionally generous in their time, having engaged with us for a year to explore the possibiity of ECFC becoming a second Honest Weight location. In the end, we realized that this particular strategy wouldn’t serve our collective needs, and we continue to support each other and other cooperatives in the region.

Some co-ops require members to work. Will you require that?

Nope!  There are no member work requirements for our Co-op.  Each Member-Owner gets one vote, no matter what. That said, we pride ourselves on being a cooperative, self-governing organizations, and we offer our Member-Owners many opportunities to contribute their talents and abilities towards the success of the Cooperative.  Interested in volunteering?  Please consider joining one of our core committees (click here to express your interest), or sign up for ad-hoc volunteer opportunities (e.g. tabling at events and other ad-hoc opportunities)