News Round Up

APPLY for the Cooperative Education Fund: CDF’s Fall Cooperative Education Fund Grant Cycle is closing soon! Have a project that advances cooperative education for individual cooperators, co-op support organizations, and co-op economies? We'd love to hear from you. Applications are due October 1. Grants support cooperative convenings and scholarships, research, and educational materials and programs. Grants range between $1,000 - $10,000. Learn more and apply here. 

LAST CHANCE to Buy Hall of Fame Tickets: Every year the cooperative business community honors cooperative heroes with induction into the Cooperative Hall of Fame. These heroes embody the cooperative values – self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity, and solidarity – and have all left an indelible mark on the cooperative community. This year’s inductees are:

• Margaret Bau, Cooperative Development Specialist, USDA Rural Development (retired)
• Fannie Lou Hamer, Unsung Hero, Founder, Freedom Farm Cooperative (posthumous award)
• Crystal Long, President & CEO, GECU (retired)
• Kevin Still, President & CEO, Keystone Cooperative (retired)
• Michael Toelle, Former Board Chair, CHS, Inc. and Board Chair, Nationwide

Order your tickets by September 25 to join us at the Hall of Fame on the evening of October 8, 2026, to be inspired and support CDF's work to build the capacity of the cooperative business community.

REGISTER for the Co-op IMPACT Conference: For 10 years, our sister organization, the National Cooperative Business Association, has hosted the Cooperative IMPACT Conference, which brings together leaders, innovators and advocates from across the cooperative movement to explore what's next—and shape the future together. Under the theme, “Built for This Moment,” IMPACT 2026 will take place October 7-8 in Washington, DC, at Convene Hamilton Square. Register today!

In 2025, CDF celebrated the organization’s legacy of support for cooperatives while looking ahead to our next chapter. We invested $2.7 million into the cooperative business community through 74 grants; supported and engaged 14 Cooperative Leaders and Scholars; and we concluded multi-year initiatives on shared equity models for affordable housing and home care cooperatives. Most importantly, we asked: What does the cooperative community need from CDF today and in the years ahead? Through conversations with cooperators, partners, funders, researchers, developers, and other stakeholders shaped a new five-year strategic plan focused on building the capacity of individuals, co-op support organizations, and local, state and regional cooperative economies. To learn more about our work this year, check out our 2025 Annual Report and read more about our strategy for the years ahead here.

Shared Equity Housing: On June 23, 2026, Congress gave final approval to the bipartisan 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, which includes promising support for affordable housing, including cooperative housing and other community-centered approaches to homeownership. The bipartisan momentum behind the legislation is an important recognition: communities need more tools to preserve and create safe, stable, and affordable homes, and shared equity housing models offer powerful models. If you or someone you know is looking for support on what cooperative or shared equity housing model works, check out this catalog of models. We also partnered with Capital Impact Partners and the National Cooperative Bank to release an updated playbook to help communities go from start-up to maintenance of co-op housing.

America's Cooperative History: This summer marked the country’s 250^th anniversary. As we marked the occasion, we reflected on the rich tradition and practice of cooperation that accompanies our country’s history. From food systems to worker co-ops, credit unions to affordable homeownership, rural electrification to broadband service provision, there is hardly a corner of America that has not been shaped by the cooperative model. More than 64,000 cooperatives serve Americans every day—helping people grow food, build businesses, access affordable housing, save for the future, receive health care, generate electricity, and strengthen their communities.



Through the Spring cycle of our Cooperative Education Fund, we are honored to have supported 11 projects. For example, we supported CoMinnesota in hosting the 2026 Minnesota Cooperative Summit: Meeting the Moment. Our grantee shared that “There was a lot of positive energy and momentum in the room with the nearly 250 people who attended [50 more than the previous year]. This Summit is all about those attendees sharing what they learned and through the ripple effect, continuing to spread awareness about cooperatives to their communities.” They have seen an increase in enrollment for CoMinnesota education offerings as well as follow up conversations about co-op projects that meet community needs across the state.

We also supported 16 young people (ages 18 and under) to participate in an inaugural Credit Union Youth Immersion Program camp held by Resource One Credit Union and helped raise awareness about the co-op and credit union models to young people from California, Iowa, Nevada, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Washington, West Virginia. The program centered on youth learning about credit unions, cooperatives, financial inclusion, leadership, and community impact.



Reach out to any member of the CDF team to share your news and ideas, ask questions, or explore ways to partner. Or connect with us on the road this next quarter.

• Register for the NCBA’s annual IMPACT Conference October 7-8 in Washington, DC
• Reserve your seat for CDF’s Hall of Fame on October 8 in Washington, DC
• Come find us at the New York Cooperative Summit in Schenectady (October 17)
• Register for the National Home Care Cooperative Conference, which for the first time will be held in Tacoma, WA (October 19-21)
• Join us at the International Masterclass for Transformative Cooperative Leadership hosted by the International Centre for Co-operative Management at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada (October 26 – 30)

CDF is here to build the capacity of the cooperative business community. We look forward to partnering with you. We look forward to partnering with you. For regular updates on CDF grant opportunities and other news, follow us on social media.