Outreach to
organizations to
connect them with
solutions
membership,
survey respondents,
and other
organizations on
contact list have
been contacted
on list have been
contacted
place in April and
May, beyond the
scope of this report.
up to see if
program(s) had
intended effect
surveyed
respondents are re-
surveyed
of current project]
In summary, the project achieved some of its major goals within the timeframe of this
report. Faced with limited resources, the project employed a methodology that made
maximal use of volunteer time and skills, including those of the community. The
minimum needed for maintenance of the project is in place, and interest exists for
continued development. The project should find a way to generate a small amount of
funding from donations in order to continue to meet the needs of the cooperative
community.
Sustainability
As described above, the project was designed to need require a minimum of resources to
continue indefinitely. Volunteer web development and web-hosting are in place.
Cooperative Life lacks paid staff and its sponsor organization, the Cooperative
Development Institute, has been withdrawing funding over the past year and a half, but
the staff requirements of maintaining the directory are so minimal and the goals of the
project fit within CDI's mission, so it is likely that the project will continue to be
supported by CDI. In addition, the directory will likely set up a way for users to
contribute to its maintenance through a donation button on the site. The costs of
maintenance are roughly $430/month at market rates. All but the domain name
registrations, at $42/month for two domain names, have been pledged as in-kind
donations.
For the project to develop and flourish, additional resources will need to be devoted to it.
To the extent that the further developments fit in with the mission of CDI, the project
may expect some support. Other possible sources of funding include the National
Cooperative Business Association and other national associations of cooperatives and the
users of the directory tool. In addition, Cooperative Life is currently developing online
products for sale, which may be able to cross-subsidize the development of the free
directory service. These avenues require further research and development.