Over the second half of 2025, the National Cooperative Business Association, Cooperative Development Foundation, CooperationWorks!, U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives, Federation of Southern Cooperatives and Montana Cooperative Development Center hosted conversations about the future of cooperative development—and what we need to be building now to ensure long-term growth and resilience.
Through surveys, focus groups, staff and leadership calls and in-person dialogue, cooperative developers from across the country shared candid reflections on the challenges facing cooperatives and new ways we can move forward.
These conversations were grounded in a common reality: significant funding uncertainty, rapid shifts in the federal landscape and real strain on organizations and staff. At the same time, they surfaced strong alignment around the need for deeper collaboration, long-term vision and collective action.
At NCBA’s Cooperative IMPACT Conference in October, our co-op development partners distilled these ideas into four areas for collective action:
- Rethinking funding for cooperative development
- Aligned messaging and communication
- Collaborative policy development
- Connecting cooperatives by expertise and region
This work is just beginning. NCBA and our partners have formed a steering committee to shepherd this effort going forward. We invite you to read the summary report and consider how your organization can plug into this next phase of collective action.
If you want to help shape a more resilient, collaborative future for cooperative development, this is your opportunity. To get involved, reach out to CDF Executive Director Julie Bosland at jbosland@cdf.coop or NCBA’s Senior Director of U.S. Cooperatives and Economic Development Cristine Nardi at cnardi@ncba.coop.