Pursuing Our Ends Policy
By: Sarah Larson, Board President
Happy May!
We are nearing the end of our fiscal year (June 29, 2025) and in the throes of budgeting for the new year. WIth this comes reflection on the success of Willy Street Co-op—and one of the beautiful things about the cooperative business model is that success is more than profits.
We acknowledge that formally through the seven —now, eight!—foundational cooperative principles and codified ends, which is just a policy way to say “purpose” and a platform to explicitly state intentions.
This is your annual reminder of our ends policy:
Willy Street Co-op will be at the forefront of a cooperative and just society that:
- Has a robust local economy built around equitable relationships.
- Nourishes and enriches our community and environment.
- Has a culture of respect, generosity, and authenticity.
I wanted to share some ways this shows up, in particular in the last calendar year. One of many ways in which we contribute to “a robust local economy built around equitable relationships” includes supporting local vendors. In 2024 we added nine new local vendors, bringing the total number of local vendors we work with more than 400, offering over 4,000 local products. From those vendors, more than $3 million dollars in produce sales alone were from local producers.
We “nourish and enrich our community and environment” by promoting access to local foods, food security, and collaboration among businesses in the community. Some ways that shows up is through our Eat Local Month celebration in September; collecting groceries for our food donation shelves; the Pantries of Plenty Community Fund Drive; and by offering 270 public and 52 private classes for free or at a fair price.
Some ways in which we “foster a culture of respect, generosity, and authenticity” include acknowledging and adding an eighth cooperative principle: diversity, equity, and inclusion; adopting and implementing an inclusive environment policy; accepting SNAP; providing and continually improving the staff onboarding process; and developing training and professional development opportunities.
Much of what we do as a Co-op touches many cooperative principles and our ends philosophy. But without setting the intention through policy and principles, we don’t have a framework to reflect on success and impact.
Though we can always improve, we also want to acknowledge the meaningful contributions and strong intentions behind Willy Street Co-op’s work.
You all contribute to this impact and to our pursuit of these ends. Thank you.
