tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-41231194842433300142024-03-05T00:35:26.377-05:00Community-Owned BusinessesA resource companion to "Community-Owned Businesses: How Communities Become Entrepreneurs" (Main Street Now, April 2010).Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4123119484243330014.post-76625820875290320182010-03-05T15:24:00.022-05:002010-03-19T15:38:32.210-04:00Resources for community-owned businesses<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">This blog is a companion to the article, "Community-owned Businesses: How Communities Become Entrepreneurs," published in <i>Main Street Now</i>, April 2010. <i>Main Street Now </i>(formerly <i>Main Street News</i>) is the journal of commercial district revitalization published by the </span></span><a href="http://www.preservationnation.org/main-street/" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">National Trust Main Street Center</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Throughout the nation, engaged community members are organizing themselves in new ways to become community entrepreneurs. Often motivated more by mission than capitalistic ambition, community groups are opening new businesses.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Community-owned businesses differ from traditional businesses in that they are motivated by a </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">purpose</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. They usually arise to fill a void where the marketplace is too slow to act on its own, or the risks appear too high (think decayed downtown). Founders of community-owned businesses see an opportunity which the market has failed to see, and in times when capital to fund new ideas is scarce, community-based entrepreneurship can give life to new business ideas. In many ways, a community-owned business is the same as any other mercantile endeavor: it must satisfy a market need and it must offer the potential to generate a profit.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';">Community-owned businesses fall into four broad categories:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><ul><li style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://communitybusinesses.blogspot.com/p/cooperatives.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Cooperative</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">: A </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">communally</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> owned and managed business, operated for the benefit of its members;</span></span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://communitybusinesses.blogspot.com/p/community-owned-corporations.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Community-owned corporation</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">: A traditional, for-profit corporation that integrates social enterprise principles;</span></span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://communitybusinesses.blogspot.com/p/small-ownership-groups.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Small ownership group</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">: A small, ad hoc investor group that capitalizes and/or operates a business as a partnership or closely-held corporation; and</span></span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://communitybusinesses.blogspot.com/p/financing-tools.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Investment fund</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">: A community-based fund that invests debt or equity in local business ventures.</span></span></li>
</ul><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">For examples and resources, click the pages listed at the top right. For assistance in starting a community-owned business, see <a href="http://communitybusinesses.blogspot.com/p/services.html">Consulting services</a> or contact us at josh[at]cluegroup.com.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';">A few of the businesses linked on these pages were also profiled in a 2008 article, "<a href="http://www.newrules.org/sites/newrules.org/files/forumnews.pdf" target="_blank">Community-Owned Stores: New Anchors for Older Main Streets</a>," written by Stacy Mitchell of the <a href="http://www.newrules.org/" target="_blank">NewRules</a> project and published in the National Trust's <i>Forum News</i>.</span></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com