What is a local business?

One in which the owners or directors live in our community and have full autonomy with respect to their business practices. Local businesses or non-profit organizations have the ability to make decisions that benefit our local economy without being limited by relationships to entities outside of La Plata County.

For the local business or non-profit, there are two aspects to qualifying as a Local First member.

Geography
A primary goal of Local First is to strengthen the communities and economy of La Plata County. For our Local First campaign, Local First businesses and organizations are those located within the county boundaries. For retail businesses this is straightforward, but for other types of businesses, it is not quite that simple. For example, to include many of the farms that sell food at the Durango Farmer’s Market you need a broader geographic definition of Local First. Many of these farms, while located outside our “Local First” boundaries, still do a great deal of business in the county and benefit our economy. One of the goals of Local First and the Be Local Coupon Book is to inform the public about wrinkles such as these so that we can gain a full understanding of all the various opportunities for investing in our community’s future.

Ownership
Sometimes it’s difficult to determine which businesses are locally owned and independent. How about a locally-owned McDonald’s franchise? How about an insurance agent with a national company and a local office? Many businesses participate in cooperative marketing, offer exclusive lines, and have all sorts of other business agreements. 

Local First defines a locally-owned business or organization as one where the majority of owners live in La Plata County and have full autonomy and decision-making authority with respect to their business practices.  

We have come to this definition of Local First ownership for several reasons. Owners or directors with decision-making authority can:

• choose to purchase goods and services from other locally-owned business, increasing the economic return of every dollar for our community
• change their business practices to respond to the social and environmental needs and desires of our community
• promote their business in ways that maintain the unique character of our community
• communicate directly with members of our community on a day-to-day basis

What does this mean in practice? To qualify for the Be Local Coupon Book a business must be able to answer “yes” to the five questions listed below. If your business doesn’t qualify, but you still want to support Local First, ask us about our affiliate memberships.

1. Is your business or non-profit organization privately held? (not publicly traded)

Intent: Local First serves local owners who are available to meet with us and have autonomy to transform any and all aspects of their businesses to support local communities. While our group is not equipped to engage with national/international organizations, there are other good resources for those businesses including our local Chambers of Commerce and international groups such as Businesses for Social Responsibility, Social Venture Network, and B Corporation. Local managers of businesses that operate on a national/international scale are invited to join as Affiliate Members. Affiliate Members receive all the benefits of regular members except promotion within the Be Local Coupon Book and the rest of our Local First campaigns.

2. Do the business owners or directors who have a controlling interest, totaling greater than 50% of the business ownership, live in La Plata County?

Intent: You might have business financing that comes in the form of debt, equity, family trusts, or other innovative scenarios. This question relates to whether or not the business owners or controlling board of directors who have responsibility for that financing reside in La Plata County. Our intent is to support business owners who are actively involved in our community.

3. Is your business registered in the state of Colorado, with no corporate or national headquarters outside La Plata County?  

Intent: Local First is an organization comprised of local residents and business owners. There are other organizations better equipped to work with businesses that operate nationally or internationally and have headquarters outside of our region (see above). Local managers of businesses that operate on a national/international scale are invited to join as Affiliate Members.  

4. Do you have full autonomy to make your own independent decisions regarding your unique business and it’s purchasing, operations and distribution, as well as the name and look of your business?

Intent: Local First promotes reciprocity between local business owners and customers in order to strengthen the communities of La Plata County. By autonomy we mean the ability to choose local potatoes for French fries, (rather than having to use what’s shipped from a parent company), to change delivery methods to lessen environmental impacts, to re-organize the ownership or profit-sharing structure of the business, or to pursue any other idea a local owner has to strengthen our community through their business.  

5. Do you pay all your own marketing, rent and other business expenses (without assistance from, or payment to, a corporate headquarters)?

Intent: One of the advantages of locally-owned, independent businesses is that they’re unique and contribute to our region’s unique character. Businesses that are part of national marketing cooperatives and use the same names, signs and ads don’t contribute in the same way to this sense of place. However, businesses owners that enjoy a national marketing presence can still join as Affiliate Members and receive all membership benefits except promotion within the Be Local Coupon Book and the rest of our Local First campaigns.

If you answered yes to all five questions above, Local First welcomes you to join as a Member (view Member Categories) and you are qualified to purchase a coupon or story page. 

Membership is for 1 year and the term begins on November 1, 2010 and expires October 31, 2011. 

If you answered No to any of the questions, we encourage you to take advantage of our Affiliate Membership.