Faith-based purchasing co-operatives cut costs and support causes

Religious denominations in the United States have supported the creation of co-operatives for decades. Organisations and individuals of the Protestant, Catholic and Jewish traditions all have provided critical...

Religious denominations in the United States have supported the creation of co-operatives for decades. Organisations and individuals of the Protestant, Catholic and Jewish traditions all have provided critical help to the co-operative movement for economic and social justice. Now these same faith-based organisations have organised a co-operative for their own benefit.

Having spent most of my career promoting co-operatives at the national and international level, I have found it rewarding to work with a new co-op called the Community Purchasing Alliance in developing what we hope is a model that can spread across the nation.

For many years, I sat in the pew of my church thinking about how we could harness the economic power of faith- and community-based organisations for social justice. In CPA, I believe we’ve made an important step toward fulfilling our missions together in a way that makes each congregation more environmentally and economically sustainable.

Faith- and community-based organisations suffered a significant drop in contributions in the 2008-09 recession. This led a group of religious leaders in Washington, D.C. to discuss forming a purchasing cooperative to cut costs.

In 2011, a dozen congregations purchased electricity together and saved nearly $100,000. By 2012 there were more than 110 participants and soon they were expanding to other services. The co–operative was formally incorporated in March of this year.

James McClelland, finance chair of Washington’s Emory Fellowship and Moe Battley, facilities administrator for the Baltimore-Washington Conference of the United Methodist Church, consider documents during the Community Purchasing Alliance Cooperative's founding meeting and launch celebration, held on March 18. Photo: Devin Greene.
James McClelland, finance chair of Washington’s Emory Fellowship and Moe Battley, facilities administrator for the Baltimore-Washington Conference of the United Methodist Church, consider documents during the Community Purchasing Alliance Cooperative’s founding meeting and launch celebration, held on March 18. Photo: Devin Greene.

CPA has three goals: saving money for its members through bulk purchases, organizing for social change, and aiding the environment. Rebates and dividends are used for investments in sustainability, worker equity and community organising. While it’s not always possible, the cooperative tries to support only vendors who engage in business practices consistent with the group’s values and social mission.

The co-operative has achieved major savings in contracts for electricity, natural gas, trash hauling, copier services, heating and air conditioning, cleaning supplies and solar panels. With many members having large sanctuaries, utility bills have been a particular source of savings. Priority is given to local vendors that show a commitment to worker fairness, economic justice, concern for community, renewable energy and environmental sustainability.

More than 150 institutions have participated in CPA purchasing programs, with average annual savings of over $8,000. For the group, that’s a savings of more than $1.2 million. But with more than 1,200 eligible institutions in the Washington-Baltimore area, savings could eventually exceed $8 million annually.

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Most of the facilities of these organisations are managed by people with little experience in negotiating contracts. An early participant, Rev. Donna Claycomb Sokol of Baltimore’s Mount Vernon Place United Methodist Church, put it this way: “These are not the kinds of things that are taught at seminary.”

One church was paying $2,000 a month for trash hauling; it now pays $300. Another institution saw its monthly copier bill drop from $2,400 to $600. In both cases, the organisations had no idea their previous contracts had such unfavorable terms.

The purchasing decisions of these organisations can have a significant impact. In addition to houses of worship, CPA members may own schools, rental housing, daycare centers, retirement communities and community centers. Their shared values and concern for their community binds them together. As steering committee member Ellen Agler of Washington’s Temple Sinai stated, we come from different faiths and we use different words but we are all saying the same thing.

• Find out more about the Alliance: cpa.coop

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