The Canadian Worker Co-op Federation (CWCF) offers technical assistance grants to worker co-ops that are, or agree to become, members of CWCF to hire a co-op developer or other professional to help with a challenge that the co-op is facing. Assistance can be sought in any area needed such as marketing, financial administration, governance, conflict resolution, legal issues, etc.
Grants of up to $4,000 (an increase from the previous $3,500 maximum) are now available thanks to the sponsorship of Vancity, although smaller amounts may be awarded depending on the co-op’s needs. We encourage members — or prospective members — to apply for these grants in a timely fashion, as there is a maximum amount allocated for them in CWCF’s annual budget.
Recent recipients of the grants have put them to use in a wide range of areas. For two recent grant recipients, London Brewing and La Siembra, the grants provided an opportunity to engage in long-term planning.
London Brewing received its grant late in 2023, which enabled it to develop a strategic plan it lacked the in-house expertise to create. Working with Susanna Collins of GIA Consulting Co-operative, the Co-op reviewed its mission, values and objectives for the coming years and conducted a SWOT analysis, all of which the Co-op’s David Thuss believes wouldn’t have been possible without the funding the grant provided.
“Without that, I’m pretty confident in saying we would not have an updated strategic plan, nor would we have tactical steps to take next,” he says. “So it was instrumental in making that happen.”
La Siembra received its grant in the summer of 2023, as it was grappling with rising costs and smaller profit margins. The Co-op worked with consultant Russ Christianson, who provided an external perspective on the opportunities for La Siembra as a mature brand in the Canadian market and was able to validate their assumptions about market changes. Equipped with this information, La Siembra was able to move forward with a revised organizational structure that allowed it to maintain its commitment to the cooperative values.
“We would definitely recommend the TA grant because sometimes, particularly if you’ve worked inside your business for a long time, you automatically build in a number of biases and assumptions about what you think will work,” says La Siembra’s Executive Director, Kelly Storie. “And change is really difficult and sometimes you actually need someone else’s lens in order to see and consider not just changes, but different ways of working that you’re not culturally already set up to do. And so having a new process to bring to that decision making path I think is very, very helpful.”
We encourage all of our members (or prospective members) to consider how these grants might be of value to your co-op. If you are unsure about any details or would like more information, please contact Communications and Member Services Manager Kaye Grant at communications@canadianworker.coop. The application forms for technical assistance grants are available here.