Thank you for coming to Design Action’s workshops at the CA Co-op Conference in May 2026. It was invigorating to connect across sectors around the challenges and benefits of being cooperatives!
Below we have a quick outline of our presentation, “3 Ways We’re Staying Resilient in a Bad Economy,” along with links to resources we mentioned in it.
Strategy One: Give yourself more runway by managing your cash flow
- Create a regular space to share finances in a way that all co-op members can understand
- Use a cash flow projection tool to identify how much runway you have
- Put guardrails around difficult financial conversations together.
- Understand and pull levers to get yourself more runway
Resources
- Financial Update Sheet
- Uptima Cash Flow Projection Template
- DAC Living Wage Calculator
- Participatory Layoffs Case Study
- California Workshare Program
Strategy two: Build your business by building your community
- Develop your marketing funnel
- Identify tasks that were informally distributed, and consolidate them into roles and teams
- Realign staff with strengths to ensure coverage and also redundancy
Resources
Strategy three: Business planning to make strategic decisions
- Take a holistic look at your business
- Identify your strengths and weaknesses
- Identify your goals
Resources
If you have questions about any of these templates or just want to connect after the conference, please feel free to reach out!