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 participation 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.

Round-Up at the Register
We invite our members to support various organizations through rounding up their sale at the registers to the nearest dollar (or to a customized amount). All Round-Ups go through a process of approval by the Board of Directors.

There are two choices where shoppers can direct their Round-Up donations:

• a local charitable organization.  These recipients apply for consideration to be a Round-Up recipient, and if approved by the Board, they are on the Round-Up roster for 6 months. 
  To receive an application, please contact memberrelations@lists.olympiafood.coop.
• the Community Sustaining Fund of Thurston County (CSF). CSF awards grant funds to local organizations and individuals implementing start-up projects that create positive change in our communities. CSF returns 100% of these donations back to the community via their Spring and Fall grant rounds.  Visit ThurstonCSF.org for more information.

If your organization is interested in becoming a Round-Up recipient, please email memberrelations@olympiafood.coop.

Pay-It-Forward Program
This program collects donations to a collective mutual aid fund at the Olympia Food Co-op, which people can use at either store when they otherwise don’t have resources. More info

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. Any group in line with our purpose statement is welcome to request a donation. Requests for donations need to be made at least seven days in advance of the event. More notice is even better. You can 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 

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 “Free Store”, 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.
Be sure to visit the Free Store website (this website was also donated by a working member; thank you!).