non profit organization founded 1985 headquarters madison wisconsin st. paul minnesota key people kevin edberg executive director gary sloan chair website cdsus.coop cooperative development services cds is a non profit organization engaged in cooperative development in the united states . cds works primarily with food cooperatives and senior housing cooperatives providing consultation services and co sponsoring conferences and programs for board members managers and other professionals in the cooperative sector . cds has staff in madison wisconsin and st. paul minnesota and is run by a 12 member board of directors . contents 1 history 2 programs 2.1 forestry cooperatives 2.2 food co op 500 2.3 renewable energy 2.4 value added agriculture 3 references 4 external links history edit cooperative development services was founded in 1985 by rod nilsestuen . 1 programs edit cooperative board leadership development cbld is a program providing support to the boards of food cooperatives . cbld works with cooperatives to help define the role that boards play in relation to staff . 2 policy governance a complete system of board leadership that is proactive future based and clearly differentiates between governance and management responsibilities . it empowers management while assuring accountability of performance . forestry cooperatives edit cooperative development services assists in the development of sustainable forestry cooperatives and associations . since 1998 cds has been involved in the formation of 25 forestry cooperatives . cds has received nearly 1 million in grant assistance from the usda s rural cooperative development grants program . 3 cds is a founding partner in woodworks a network of organizations that provide services to forestry cooperatives . food co op 500 edit food co op 500 is a program to increase the number of food cooperatives in the united states to 500 by 2015 . 4 as of 2009 there were approximately 300 food cooperatives in operation . the program is supported by cds along with the national cooperative grocers association and the national cooperative bank . 5 cds offers free outlines detailing the seven steps in forming a cooperative . 6 renewable energy edit cds assists organizations with founding businesses and funding projects in the renewable energy industry . cds has helped organizations with projects involving biodiesel and wind energy . value added agriculture edit cds works with agricultural and livestock businesses to create revenue through value added products . the organization assists businesses in obtaining grants such as the value added producer grants available through the usda . references edit chaptman dennis . doyle enlists farm co op leader . milwaukee journal sentinel . 3 january 2003 . stone mary . natural foods co op finds solid ground . rochester business journal . 27 november 2009 . ncba honors sen. kohl . rural cooperatives . 1 july 2001 . gutierrez bertrand m. group calls meeting to explore setting up food co op ; residents say they need convenience of a nearby grocery store as downtown develops . winston salem journal . 21 january 2006 . petersen laura . trying to be cooperative community owned market envisioned on h street corridor . the common denominator . 19 september 2005 . dresang joel . co ops give power to the customers . milwaukee journal sentinel . 16 august 1996 . external links edit official website . cds consulting co op website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title cooperative development services & oldid 740271643 categories 1985 establishments in the united statescooperatives in the united statesnon profit organizations based in wisconsinnon profit organizations based in minnesotaorganizations established in 1985hidden categories use dmy dates from july 2013 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 20 september 2016 at 02 13 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view