Vote For Your Co-op Board Members
By: Deb Shapiro, Board Member
Willy Street Co-op governance is based on 8 cooperative principles developed by the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) The second of these principles is “Democratic owner control,” or one Owner, one vote. Co-op Owners use their one vote to elect members of the Board of Directors, and the election is coming right up from October 1–21.
The Board functions by what is called policy governance. The way this works is that the Board creates and monitors policies and hires the General Manager. The General Manager is in charge of implementing the policies and hiring additional staff and managers who carry out the day-to-day operations of the Co-op. Policy governance means you can think of the Board as the body that really creates the foundation for the Co-op, and ensures the Co-op adheres to the values of our local community and the 8 cooperative principles.
The Board represents Co-op Owners because not only do Owners elect Board members, candidates for the Board must themselves be Co-op Owners in good standing. “In good standing” means that the Owner is up to date on equity payments and has made a purchase at the Co-op in the last year. The Board also works to ensure that a slate of well-qualified candidates is provided for Owners to choose from. Last month’s Board report outlined the process for applying to become a candidate for the Board. Applications are now closed but you can still check willystreet.coop/run-for-board on the website to see this process. In addition to being an Owner in good standing, Board candidates need to attend a Board meeting or information session that outlines how the Board works. They also answer application questions designed to help you, the Owner voters, get to know them.
In 2025, 5.7% of the Co-op’s more than 34,000 Owners, a little over 1,900 Owners, elected the new members of the Board. While this number might seem low, it’s actually not unusual for a large and well-established co-op like ours. However, last year’s numbers are a little down from previous elections. For example in 2022, just over 8% of Owners voted.
Voting for your Co-op Board members is easy. You can review candidate statements in next month’s issue, in the stores, or at the link in the letter (and email, if we have your email address) sent to you. You can vote by mail, online, by phone, or in the stores.
So use your voice! Let’s see if this year we can get out more Owner votes than 2025. Maybe we can even beat 2022!
