Sustainable

Equity Research Program

Drafted: 18 October 2015

Goals of the Research Program:

1. Creates and enacts a comprehensive sustainable economic development
agenda for Southern Virginia.

2. Researches and formulates proposals and/or business plans for worker-
owned cooperatives that strategically meet specific needs of the local
region in terms of sustainability and self-sovereignty.

3. Collects and maintains a library of resources for cooperative owners and
local entrepreneurs to utilize as needed.

4. Formalizes its community development methodologies through relevant
research and publication projects as permitted by human and financial
resources.

More about the Research Program:

The signature effort of the research program will be to develop a Comprehensive
Sustainable Economic Development Agenda (CSEDA) for the region. It is hoped
that this will be produced within the first year of full operations. However, it will
not be considered late until the end of the second year of full operations, due
to the complex nature of the endeavor. The Sustainable Development Agenda
will address all of the concepts and precepts listed earlier in this document:
sustainability (all aspects of the term), equity, economic democracy, living wage,
community development, regional self-sufficiency, and local self-sovereignty. It
will be a living document that will be amended and revised as Sustainable Equity
does its work, refines its group perspective, and specifically investigates research
topics in its second and third phases of development (discussed later in this
document).

Additionally, the research program will endeavor to assist the coaches and the
community in general by formulating, researching, and documenting pre-canned
business plans (PCBPs). The intention for these plans is that they will be utilized
by coaching clients and/or community members that wish to start a certain type

of business corresponding to the plans. The research efforts will include

feasibility studies and market samplings as appropriate.

Finally, the research program will continually endeavor to apply major themes
and concepts from the global cooperative movement to the local context, and
incorporate these into the original CSEDA as well as the PCBPs. Each year, the
research program will examine a single Yearly Research Theme (YRT). At the end
of the year, there will be a culminating conference in which the team shares what
it has learned pertaining to the given theme throughout the year. The last page of
this document depicts the first 12 YRTs for years 2016-2027, as they are currently
conceived and proposed. The same page also depicts the annual YRT research
cycle by quarter.

The research program will at first be a collective responsibility, but it is hoped
that resources will eventually allow for an administrative position specifically for
this purpose. In this case, specific research needs for the organization can be
assigned to the research division as such needs arise.

A continuous element of the research program will be amassing a resource
library for the community. These resources will primarily pertain to cooperative
economics and to the nuts and bolts of starting and running a business or
nonprofit. Additionally, through the coaching program, modules will be formed
to assist individuals with starting their own businesses/organizations, and these
will become part of the resource library. The resource library will be physically
housed in the office of Sustainable Equity, and it may entail digital components as
well.

501(c)3 Compliance of the Research Program:

The Research Program falls into two categories designated by the IRS as tax-
exempt activities. The first is that it contributes to the advancement of
education or science.1 The Research Program contributes to the advancement of
education locally, by providing the community with a Comprehensive Sustainable
Economic Development Agenda. This will be made widely available throughout
the catchment region, and can be utilized by researchers of any discipline to
inform themselves about the sustainability needs of the greater community.
Furthermore, educational efforts conducted by Sustainable Equity or any
organization within the region can benefit from the knowledge produced,
specifically applied to the catchment region. The second activity involves the
above-mentioned alleviation of government burden. As the CSEDA will lay out

an economic development strategy tailored to the region, it will serve as either

an alternative or a complementary agenda with respect to that determined by
locally elected officials. Municipal governments within the catchment region may
choose to implement all or parts of the CSEDA into their economic development
strategies, or they may simply refer their local potential entrepreneurs to our
coaching program. Regardless, the development of thoroughly researched
strategic thought pertaining to economic development and poverty alleviation
serves a public good that would typically be relegated as a governmental
responsibility.

Note:

1. 1. Information relevant to IRS requirements for 501(c)3 organizations in
this section was obtained through the document Frequently Asked
Questions for 501c3 prepared and presented to Sustainable Equity by an
associate of Floyd Green, CPA based in Atlanta, Georgia. Mr. Green will be
hired to assist Sustainable Equity with obtaining its 501(c)3 status. Mr.
Greens associates freely give out informational PDF documents regarding
this topic via email. For more information, visit: http://fgfservices.com/.


(Yearly Research Themes depicted on the next page)