Successful co-op campaign supports Native American food systems

Photo courtesy of United Indians of All Tribes Foundation
Co-op shoppers around the nation raised more than $150,000 for organizations supporting Native American communities in a recent campaign.
As part of the fall fundraiser, PCC Community Markets contributed $15,000 to the United Indians of All Tribes Foundation, which provides social, cultural, and educational services for Indigenous people in the Puget Sound region, which was linked to sales of Field Day products in PCC stores. Leaders of the nonprofit wrote an accompanying article offering readers a Native American perspective on Thanksgiving and Indigenous traditions of generosity and community.
In a national expansion of the concept, National Co-op Grocers (NCG) donated 5 cents for every Field Day product purchased by shoppers from Oct. 30 to Dec. 3 at member co-ops across the country (including all PCC stores) to the North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems nonprofit (NATIFS) dedicated to revitalizing Indigenous food systems and promoting cultural preservation within Native American communities.
Co-ops and nonprofits
The Field Day brand, owned by supplier United Natural Grocers, Inc (UNFI), is a value-priced brand of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) organic, non-GMO certified products. The national fundraiser raised more than $139,000 for NATIFS from 165 member co-ops.
NĀTIFS, founded by Lakota Chef Sean Sherman (known as the Sioux Chef) is dedicated “to addressing the economic and health crises affecting Native communities by re-establishing Native foodways,” according to its website. Its programs include the Indigenous Food Lab, a Minnesota-based training ground to develop and support Indigenous kitchens and food enterprises in tribal communities.
“NCG’s promotion provides critical and timely support for NĀTIFS,” Sherman said in a press release. “We’re grateful for their work and for the contributions from their members and shoppers in helping us achieve our goals.”
The partnership made sense because of the shared core values of the co-ops and the nonprofit — “concern for community and food sovereignty, or the right for people to have a stake in their local food system,” said C.E. Pugh, NCG Chief Executive Officer, in a press release. “NCG was also deliberate in our choice to put our most popular line of “value” goods on sale and tie a donation to that, because more affordable food options rarely get discounted further. We want to send a message that not only is the food co-op a more affordable option, when you shop with us, even if you’re on a tight budget, you get to participate in supporting positive changes in our society.”
Noting that the original concept came from PCC, Pugh added that “Cooperation among cooperatives is why NCG exists.
Expanding an “exemplary” idea
Other member co-ops amplified the program too. The team at the Skagit Valley Food Co-op, which had raised $930 for NATIFS, decided to match that donation to a Northwest-focused group, 13 Moons at Work, a community environmental health initiative of the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community. Ultimately they used the national campaign as a springboard to raise $6,020 for the local group, plus building awareness “of a stellar Indigenous food access program right here in Skagit,” Nicole Noteboom, the co-op’s marketing and outreach director, said in an email. (How did that add up? The co-op matched the initial Field Day products contribution, added on 5% of sales of Native Northwest products from the month of October, successfully applied for a grant from Organically Grown Company, receiving an additional $2,500 donation, then won $2,500 more through an NCG contest.)
The concept was supported by many individual co-op members and shoppers – and also by some national onlookers.
Errol Schweizer, a longtime grocery executive, wrote in his “Grocery Nerd” newsletter about coming across the fundraiser at Wheatsville Food Co-op in Texas, calling it “the closest any business has ever come to acknowledging American civilization’s debt to the original inhabitants of this continent.” He added that it is “profound to see this at retail, usually a very risk averse, apolitical and even reactionary environment for such topics.”
Praising the national organization, Schweizer also wrote: “The genius, the heart, the sheer moxie of the National Cooperative Grocers organization to leverage their best in market cost plus relationship with UNFI towards the greater good, while offering greater prices and higher quality items. Unique, in the fullest sense of the word. Exemplary. And essential.”
While national plans have not been finalized for 2025, PCC has committed to a fall fundraiser that will once again benefit UIATF, a longtime PCC partner.
“On behalf of the community we serve, the United Indians of All Tribes Foundation deeply appreciates the people of the Seattle region who utilized PCC Community Markets to assist us in advancing our mission,” foundation leaders said in a statement. “Through collaboration, understanding, and recognition, PCC and United Indians have worked together to significantly broaden and strengthen our impact, and we are very excited to continue another campaign in 2025.”