$15, the card provides discounts at participating stores). BIBA planned to explore other
possible services it could provide, such as gift certificates and pooled insurance.
The success of the Boulder IBA led to large numbers of requests for information on how
to form an IBA, so in 2001 Milchen and BIBA's assistant director, Jennifer Rockne,
established AMIBA (the American Independent Business Alliance). AMIBA's role is to
help launch IBAs in interested communities, network their organizers, and continue to
build a national movement to reverse the decline of independent businesses. (Mitchell
2003)
A similar program started in Minneapolis in 2002. (ILSR 2002) Holders of a community
"Hero Card" who purchase at any participating store receive rebates good at any of the
local participating businesses. A portion of the rebate is either donated to a nonprofit of
the cardholder's choice or goes to the purchaser if he or she volunteers at local
nonprofits. The costs to businesses are for the fixed cost of card readers and rebates only,
which are set by the individual stores and average 10%. Rebates also include a fee that
goes to the organizers of the program.
Another example of small retail business cooperation is the cooperative marketing and
purchasing done among Vermont's country stores (ILSR 2001). There are also several
localities that have started a local currency, which is one way to encourage more
patronage of local businesses. (For a description of how to start a local currency, see
Solomon 2004.) A very advanced form of the local currency idea is the Economic Circle
in Switzerland, a barter association of 60,000 business and individual members set up in
1934 (Douthwaite 1996, pp. 100-105).
Also from Vermont comes an example of cross-sector cooperation in the recently formed
Vermont Alliance of Cooperatives (Davis 2004). The Alliance was formed "to raise
awareness of co-ops and to educate Vermonters on the role and benefits of co-ops in their
community." (Davis 2004) All Vermont coops including food, electric, housing, and
agricultural cooperatives and credit unions are invited to participate in this joint
marketing and education effort.
Any type of activity that seeks to enhance cooperation among existing organizations
should take into account established principles of successful collaboration. Vogelsgang
(1999) describes some of these general guidelines and gives a concrete example, studied
by John Selsky (1991), of the Delaware Valley Council of Agencies (DVCA), a
collective of social-service organizations.
network and resource bank of donated equipment and furniture. Those efforts
were soon followed by joint contract purchasing arrangements for office
supplies, photocopy paper, and fuel oil; and programs for health, dental, and
retirement insurance. DVCA moved on to design events, conferences, and
newsletters to facilitate interaction among the members. As trust grew, DVCA
also advocated for public policy changes which directly benefited member