Dividend Refunds:
The Cooperative Way of Sharing Profits  

We just completed our second full fiscal year at the Co-op -- another successful year of building value for our Member-Owners and our community at large.  We greatly appreciate your support along this journey and want to update you on our process for distributing patronage refunds to Member-Owners, the cooperative way of sharing our profits.

We certainly made great strides in achieving our mission over the past year.  Sales for the year totaled $8.5 million and we generated a healthy profit for the year.   Our formal annual audit process is underway and we expect to share another good financial report at the annual meeting in October. 

In order to distribute patronage refunds, we must follow strict criteria dictated by the statutes of incorporation in the State of New Hampshire.  One such criteria is that we must consider our cumulative profitability since incorporating as a business before we can consider distributing refunds.  The graph below shows our yearly progress towards this goal.  While we generated a strong profit this past fiscal year, we did not quite reach breakeven.
  
We are confident, however, that we will pass this critical milestone this fiscal year.  When we do, the flow chart below outlines the process we must follow to determine if and how much of the profit (net income) we can distribute as patronage and the method by which each Member-Owner's patronage refund is determined.  Key points in reviewing this flow chart are:

• We may only distribute the net income 'sourced' or generated by Member-Owners (income generated from general shoppers is not included).  A benchmark for this is that Member-Owners generated 47% of our sales for last fiscal year.
• The Board determines the portion of Member-Owner sourced net income allocated for distribution to members as a patronage refund and what is unallocated equity retained as capital.
• The Board also determines the percentage distributed to Member-Owners as a cash refund and what portion is deferred to further capitalize the business, within the minimum and maximums as dictated by IRS guidelines.

Patronage refunds can vary widely based on the decision tree above, but we expect if and when they are distributed, roughly 0.5% - 1.0% of Member-Owner purchases will be distributed in cash to Member-Owners.  If you have any questions about this process, please contact me at gm@monadnockfood.coop.

Yours cooperatively,

Michael Faber

Monadnock Food Co-op General Manager 

 

Feedback Period Open: Bylaw Changes

Preserving the Harvest: Canning  

By Mary Veerkamp, Marketing Department

The Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA) Summer Conference features 144 individual sessions with 27 different topic areas. Workshops address organic farming, gardening, land care, draft animals, homesteading, sustainability, nutrition, food politics, activism, and more. The theme for this year's Conference is "Healing the Climate, Healing Ourselves: Regeneration through Microbiology." Cost: Varies.  View conference details.

Learn to take advantage of the summer's bounty of wonderful vegetables and fruits to create nourishing and delicious soups -- cold and hot -- with ease. Is your garden overflowing with cucumbers or zucchinis? Do you wish you knew what to do with produce from the farmer's market? Soups are a wonderful way to use many great vegetables and fruits -- and the possibilities are endless. View more event details. Cost: $10 donation (collected at door).  Register today!