Community Giving

  • staff member holding up promotion for donations to members of our community who are homeless

With the need in our community so great and resources so small, the Olympia Food Co-op makes efforts to give to the community every day by affordability and access to healthy foods. We also have a community giving program, where we help to support events and organizations.

If you are considering to participate in this program, think about how you can most effectively use our generosity, willingness, and desire to support our community. The descriptions below will help determine how we may be of service to your cause.

Donations
We work hard to spread donations in our community as widely as possible. These donations tend to be small amounts of products and/or finances.  We find the most effective use of our donations program is to support fundraisers. Any group in line with our purpose statement is welcome to request a donation. Requests for donations need to be made seven days in advance of the event. Contact staff to request a donation by emailing donations@olympiafood.coop

Sponsorship
Our sponsorship program allows us to support individual events with larger amounts of products and/or finances (past sponsorships). For tax purposes, sponsorship requires public acknowledgement of the Co-op. Sponsorship is available for events that are in line with our purpose statement. Requests for sponsorship needs to be received at least one month prior to the event. Contact staff to request a sponsorship by emailing outreach@olympiafood.coop

Round up at the Register
We invite our members to support various organizations through rounding up at the registers (current Round Up!). All round ups go through a process of approval by the Board of Directors. We also have an ongoing round up for the

Community Sustaining Fund:

The Community Sustaining Fund of Thurston County (CSF) awards grant funds to organizations and individuals implementing projects that create positive change in our communities. Funding for CSF grant cycles is provided by customers who generously choose to Round-Up their purchases at the Olympia Food Co-op. CSF returns 100% of these donations back to the community via their Spring and Fall grant rounds.  Visit their website for more information

Free Store at the Westside Co-op
It began as a large wooden box in front of the westside, where folks dropped off clothing for folks in need. As the need and donations increased, working members teamed up with staff to create the “FreeStore”, now fully attended and organized, with racks for clothing, drawers for pants, shelves for books and kitchen ware, etc. You can walk up and take anything you want – actually the more you take, the better, as donations get turned away from lack of space.
FreeStore website … this is was also donated by a working member… thank you!