I love it! Please check this out:
The Association debuted the video last Tuesday at the Medvil Cooperative in Goffstown, N.H.
The video was played for the 50 or so folks following comments by Howard Brodsky from CCA Global Partners. He was speaking with us about an international push to make co-ops better understood. He shared some research on cooperatives that is pretty important to all of us. He said:
1. That 74% of people cannot accurately describe what a cooperative is; and,
2. Once they knew about cooperatives, 78% said they would be more likely to buy a good or service from a business that they know is a cooperative.
Whether your community is owned as a cooperative (or co-op) or as a membership nonprofit or as another type of corporate entity, all resident-owned communities (ROCs) in the ROC Association conform to the basic principles of cooperatives: 1 Membership/1 Vote.
This research is important because like all businesses, your community has to attract homebuyers. You need to be competitive in your local market with other communities. The most brutally honest feedback you’ll get on the operation of your ROC is the market – it’s whether homebuyers are attracted to for-sale homes and, if you have them, vacant sites in your community.
This came up last weekend at Wayside Village in Shirley, Mass., where Donna – the president and a Community Leadership Institute grad – told me that they have a wait list for their community. That’s good! That’s the best place to be!
We use “resident-owned” more often than cooperative or co-op to describe resident-owned communities because consumers more quickly know that that means. We’ve tested it. It’s true.
But, because you share so much with co-ops generally and because there’s a very large sector of co-ops, the ROC Association Directors and we felt attaching ourselves to this larger sector of co-ops would help you raise your profile and help some people better understand what you’re doing.
More news will follow on co-ops and the campaign Cooperatives for a Better World. Please share this video on Facebook and other social media accounts, and if you “hashtag,” please use #cooperatives when you post about your ROC!
If you want to be successful, you have to meet people where they are at. If “resident-owned” is what helps them understand, then great! If that’s co-op, that’s fine, too!
ROC on! Paul
