If you’ve been thinking about how to buy masks, disinfectant supplies, PPE…
Perhaps our co-op effort to find suppliers that can deliver may be of help…
- Curious how others are thinking through re-opening and estimating PPE supply needs?
- Curious what co-op pricing looks like for masks? Or “no contact” thermometers? (coop price: $50… vs $85)
- Worried about making sure you get what you need on time?
- Interested in buying from a worker-owned coop? A local NC person-of-color-owned manufacturer?
If one of these 4 questions resonates with you, read on…
Our Process
- Complete this interest form (takes 2 minutes — simply estimate what you think you might need)
- Review initial Pricing, Terms, potential Suppliers — Q&A on May 26 at 9am ET & Update Call on June 2 at 10am
- Make your order with pre-negotiated terms, pricing & more — June 3-10
Deadline to Submit 2-min Interest Form: Sunday, May 24, 2020
What do folks say about working with CPA?
“The process was exceptionally transparent and well-run. Thank you for the hard work and dedication to providing an optimum result for everyone.”
~ Bill Casson, Building & Grounds Team Chair, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church-Bethesda
“Pricing for some items was 30-40% lower with CPA.”
~DC School Administrator who purchased $50,000 of masks and thermometers with CPA last week
Want to stay in the loop?
Just fill out the 2-min interest form (ideally before Sunday) and we’ll keep you posted.
Feel free to share this with others & spread the word far and wide: https://bit.ly/coop4ppe
We’ll be in touch with more soon.
How do I estimate how much I might need?
Here is a profile of a school we worked with & how they thought about estimating their needs.
Who are our suppliers?
- We’ve been in conversations with 23 suppliers over the past 8 weeks and my colleague Juan Francisco Hidalgo is in the process of pre-qualifying more. We plan to release an RFP and so we expect to have a wide range of options.
- We’ve executed a few transactions with 5 primary companies that we’ve found to be very reliable and so we’ll likely have a variety of options to suit different needs.
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One of our favorite suppliers is Carolina Textile District PPE — Take 10 seconds to check out their website right now. – “In response to COVID-19, a consortium of 60 American manufacturers, The Carolina Textile District has come together to help produce medical supplies in response to a request from local healthcare providers.”
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Read this story about how the group of US manufacturers (including worker-owned co-op — Opportunity Threads) came together in response to the pandemic: https://
nonprofitquarterly.org/masks- mutual-aid-and-our-broken- supply-chains-a-north- carolina-story/
Who is CPA?
Community Purchasing Alliance (CPA) is a social-purpose cooperative that leverages the buying power of community institutions to help lower operating costs, while also making investments in sustainability, worker equity, and community organizing. As a cooperative, CPA is wholly owned by its members, creating a business that serves their needs first. Through aggregation and group procurement of services, CPA helps its members save money and get better service, while also holding vendors to high standards in terms of environmental and worker practices.
In 2019 CPA worked with over 120 organizations across 10 product/services areas to facilitate $17 million in purchasing. CPA offers expertise and competitive group procurement for services including energy (electricity and gas supply), waste pick-up, HVAC maintenance, solar development, janitorial, security, copier, and landscaping.
Check out CPA’s latest videos, including this member testimonial.