Cooperative development

Cooperatives are one way to structure a business that involves individuals working together to accomplish goals not possible by working alone. NNFP views cooperatives as vehicles for accomplishing a variety of important outcomes for rural forest-based communities. In the case of landowner cooperatives, some of these outcomes include:

• Creating jobs focused on improvement of the forest resource base for future generations
• Enabling landowners to have a greater say in how their woods are managed
• Keeping more economic value closer to the resource base, through value-adding processes
• Providing a social context within which caring and committed landowners can embed their forest stewardship efforts

From idea to expansion

We work with existing and prospective cooperatives along the entire range of development trajectory, from idea to exploration and research of feasibility, to planning, start-up, and expansion.

NNFP's cooperative development work is carried out through our Center for Cooperative Forest Enterprises, with other program areas contributing as necessary based on the needs of the groups we support.

Learn more about cooperative forest enterprises at www.forest.coop.

Get connected

If you are an existing cooperative or exploring the idea of organizing a cooperative, please get in touch. We offer a variety of support services to help prospective and existing cooperatives get to the next level, with a strong emphasis on peer-to-peer sharing between leaders of cooperatives in order to disseminate lessons learned, reduce the need to "reinvent the wheel," and provide input and support to each other. This peer-to-peer sharing takes place through a combination of our web-based learning and networking platform and occasional regional and national gatherings.

NNFP Cooperative Development contact:

Scott Bagley (scott at nnfp dot org)

Call our main office number to talk with us: 740-593-8733.