Partner Organizations

NASCO has a long history of providing support and development to startup co-ops in the US and Canada. They should be the first stop for any group-equity co-op.

We believe housing works best when residents are in charge. Our work is to support tenants and cooperative homeowners at every stage of resident controlled affordable housing.

UHAB was founded in the midst of New York City’s fiscal crisis in 1973, when racist housing policies and disinvestment led to landlord abandonment and poor living conditions for the communities of color that called redlined neighborhoods home. UHAB sought to give residents the tools to rehabilitate and maintain their own cooperative affordable housing to seek solutions from the ground up. Our work is guided by the principle of democratic community control: that people can collectively steward their own affordable housing to strengthen their neighborhoods.

Through the past half century of democratic community control, we’ve expanded and adapted to meet the needs of a changing city. We give small loans to first-time homebuyers; we develop affordable co-ops; and we work with rent-stabilized tenants to combat landlord harassment and build tenant power.

To learn more about the history of cooperative housing in New York City, visit our archive.

The mission of the Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada (CHF Canada) is to inspire, represent and serve our members in a united co-operative housing movement.

Our members are housing co-ops as well as the organizations and people who support them.

The National Association of Housing Cooperatives is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit national federation of housing cooperatives, mutual housing associations, other resident-owned or controlled housing, professionals, organizations, and individuals interested in promoting the interests of cooperative housing communities.

Shared Capital Cooperative is Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) loan fund that provides financing to cooperative businesses and housing throughout the United States. Shared Capital’s mission is to build a just, equitable and democratic economy by investing in cooperative enterprise.

Shared Capital is a cooperative association, democratically owned and governed by its members, with 300 cooperatives in 35 states and the District of Columbia. By borrowing from and investing in the fund, members directly engage in our work, connecting cooperatives and capital and supporting shared economic prosperity and ownership. Shared Capital Cooperative also raises investments from social investors who support the cooperative economy and are aligned with our mission.

Headquartered in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Shared Capital Cooperative is managed by a small, professional staff and governed by a board of directors that is nominated and elected by our members.

LEAF, a nonprofit CDFI founded in 1982, has funded the cooperative economy since our inception. LEAF provides financing and advisory services to cooperatives nationally, and to underserved businesses in Massachusetts.

For 45 years, National Cooperative Bank has served businesses that seek to make a positive local impact, because we believe it’s simply the right thing to do.

 Since our founding, NCB has an uncommon mandate to ensure our efforts benefit those most in need, supporting low-income communities and the expansion of cooperative initiatives. With this guiding principle, we contribute to the building blocks of sustainable communities: investing in clean energy, small businesses and affordable housing, expanding access to healthy food and affordable health care, plus much more.

Financing is one key tool that we use to help communities break barriers to success. As a certified Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), we provide access to capital for projects in underinvested areas that are often overlooked by traditional banks. We work directly with our borrowers to get the most complicated transactions done. For more than 40 years, we have partnered with mission-aligned developers, organizations, and businesses to revitalize neighborhoods and deliver social impact.

Scholz Nonprofit Law serves the needs of nonprofits, businesses and social entrepreneurs by providing practical legal and strategic advice. We help clients do what they do best – whether that involves creating jobs, changing policy, building places to live or gather, funding an opportunity or advancing a new idea.

We offer the services you would expect from a corporate attorney, including business, tax, employment and real estate law advice. We pride ourselves on the practical perspective we apply to our clients’ issues: we focus on solving problems, finding opportunities for collaboration when possible, and supporting creative, risk-taking entrepreneurs who make our world a better place.

Scholz Nonprofit Law offers big firm talent at small firm prices. We have many years of experience on complex issues, but we also understand the financial constraints of the nonprofit sector and start-up initiatives. We strive to provide quality, efficient service, while also teaching clients to understand the issues and options for self-help. We are happy to provide whatever level of service is appropriate for each client and each situation. We tailor our work to the specific needs and subtleties of the nonprofit sector and social entrepreneur.

Focused on commercial real estate, land use, cooperatives, nonprofits, business and tax law.

Carlson Black O’Callaghan & Battenberg LLP is honored to have once again been recognized with First Tier rankings in the Madison region for Real Estate Law and Land Use & Zoning Law by U.S. News – Best Lawyers® “Best Law Firms” in 2024.

like an axe, the law can be used as a weapon or a tool.

Small Axe’s target clientele are oppressed people – people who have intentionally been set back and set upon by the state. Generally, this includes racial, ethnic, and religious minorities, poor people, and others who otherwise would not have access to quality legal representation. As a part of our mission of building less extractive relationships and increasing legal acumen, we provide educational programming in each program area and upon custom request. We utilize a popular education framework to continue to develop the breadth of our educational capabilities and capacity to empower the Madison community. We want to serve the communities that helped empower us by providing the expertise and education needed to wield the law with skill, confidence, and power.

Simply stated, we know cooperative, homeowner association and non-profit corporation law and choose to devote a substantial portion of our practice to the representation of homeowner associations. Our firm currently represents several cooperatives and several hundred homeowner associations on an ongoing basis and many more intermittently. Over the years, we have been active members of the Minnesota Chapter of the Community Association Institute (“CAI”) and the Minnesota Multi Housing Association (“MMHA”), including its CIC Midwest division. Several of our attorneys are current and/or past Board members of CAI-MN. We continue to be actively involved with both organizations, including serving on the Boards and/or chairing various committees, teaching seminars and authoring articles for industry publications; one of our attorneys is currently serving as president of CAI-MN.

Austin and Kotono Watanabe are designers and partners living and working in the Twin Cities.

Austin Watanabe, AIA, is a licensed architect in Minnesota and holds both a Bachelors and Masters in Architecture from the University of Minnesota (B.S. 2016, M. Arch, 2019). He is a founding member of Interesting Tactics and was a Project Architect at Alchemy Architects for 7 years.

Kotono Watanabe has been practicing interior design since graduating from the University of Minnesota (B.S. IDes, 2020). Her focus is on the personal, tactile, and experiential aspects of design. She grew up in Ibigawa, Japan before moving to Minnesota in 2014.

Say hi or inquire about our services at:

hello@keep.archi

(612) 234-2425

Tom is the managing principal of Firm Ground. He is a registered architect and interior designer with experience in the design of retail, commercial, office, hospitality, healthcare, multi-family, student and senior housing projects through his many years working for the likes of KKE, Ryan Companies, and Hartford Group. Tom’s greatest strength may be his ability to blend architectural and engineering design services into a collaborative team with the owner and contractor in the design/build delivery system.

Having worked directly for national development companies has given him an owner’s focus and an understanding of what it means to create “Raving Fans” and deliver outstanding customer service.

Notable Projects: People Incorporated Treatment Center, Ronald McDonald House, Valley Community Presbyterian Church, Temple of Eck, Seasons at Apple Valley, Regent at Plymouth, Minnesota Renaissance Festival

Associations & Affiliations: American Institute of Architects (AIA), Certified Interior Designer (CID), National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB), Professional Business Consortium (PBC), President of Board of Twin Cities Community Gospel Choir

Contact: twasmoen@firmgroundae.com