The Silent Auction and Apple Watch drawing to benefit the Howard Bowers Fund at the 2016 Consumer Cooperative Management Association (CCMA) Conference in Amherst, Mass., raised $10,000 to support scholarships and training for the staff and boards of food cooperatives.
More than 135 co-op items from 54 organizations were donated to this year’s Silent Auction. In addition, the Bower’s Family generously donated the Apple watch used in the drawing. The Bowers Fund also provided scholarships for 27 people to attend the 2016 CCMA Conference.
To see the impact of your donation, watch this video and follow the fund on Facebook.
The Howard Bowers Fund is currently offering grants to support leadership training and education for the staff and boards of food cooperatives. Applications are due on September 1, 2016. Click here to download an application.
The purpose of the Bowers Fund is to strengthen the food co-op community through the training and education of food co-op staff, managers, and board members. While contributions are raised through activities at CCMA and other fundraising events, the fund welcomes donations at any time.
Since its establishment in 1994, the Bowers Fund has made over $390,000 in grants to support the food co-op sector. The fund is administered by the Cooperative Development Foundation (CDF), a 501(c)(3) non-profit foundation committed to promoting community, economic and social development through cooperative enterprises.