Growing the Organization to Serve More Cooperatives

Cooperative development is so much fun, we’d almost do it for free. Too bad we all have those pesky living expenses. Here’s a breakdown of how CDI spent its money, and where that money came from, for our last fiscal year. An important note is that CDI’s overhead is very low, a little less than 10% of all expenses. We strive to pour all our resources into co-op development!

Expenses
Staff: $622,000
Consultants and professionals: $85,000
Travel and meetings: $83,000
Other expenses: $73,000
Total expenses: $863,000

Support and Revenue
USDA Grants: $245,000
Other Grants and donations: $77,000
NEROC Fees-for-Service: $452,000
Other Contracts: $96,000
Other Income: $10,000
Total Income: $880,000

How did we use the money? We helped create 6 new manufactured housing co-ops with 311 residential units, provided ongoing technical assistance to a total of 22 manufactured housing co-ops and assisted four other residents’ associations that are working to buy their land; we helped three new food co-ops form, one of which is farmer-owned, as well as one artisan co-op and one worker co-op, and we assisted in the conversion of three privately owned businesses into one worker-owned cooperative employing 62 people – the largest in the state of Maine. Overall, we respond to around 80 new inquiries a year and work with around 40 groups intensively.