We work for economic, social, and racial justice by advancing community based, cooperative, and democratically owned or managed enterprises with a preference to assisting cooperatives in low-income communities by:

  • Providing financial products at reasonable rates
  • Developing business skills
  • Offering an investment opportunity that promotes socially conscious enterprise
Site Type
Eligibility

CFNE considers an organization to operate on a “cooperative” basis if it exhibits most of the following characteristics:

  • its purpose is supportive of the common good;
  • its membership is open to persons who will use its services and accept its responsibilities;
  • its membership policies are not applied to discriminate in any arbitrary or prohibited manner;
  • its activities are broadly participatory by its members;
  • its governance is democratic or based on consensus;
  • its monetary return on invested capital is strictly limited;
  • its earnings are either equitably used with within the organization or distributed on the basis of patronage.