Therese Tuttle and Kim Arnone will discuss the related concepts of inclusion and investment by comparing two recently formed agricultural cooperatives: F.E.E.D. Cooperative, Inc., and Bay Area Ranchers Cooperative.  F.E.E.D. Cooperative is organized as a multi-stakeholder cooperative, and Bay Area Ranchers Cooperative is organized with significant community financial investment through two different but simultaneous securities offerings. The presentation will consider technical mechanisms for achieving social benefits.

This activity has been approved by the California State Bar for 1.0 hour of MCLE credit.

About the Speakers:

Thérèse C. Tuttle

Therese Tuttle represents California consumer cooperatives, agricultural cooperatives and worker cooperatives. She also advises clients on business formation and estate planning matters. In 2000, she founded Tuttle & Van Knonynenburg, LLP, a firm focused on cooperative and agricultural law, with her law partner Frank Van Konynenburg; in 2001 the firm successfully defended the 400 members of Tri Valley Growers, a processing cooperative, from claims of creditors in the cooperative’s bankruptcy. Prior to founding the firm, she worked for California Farmers Union and served as Director of Cooperative and Economic Development for National Farmer’s Union, managing cooperative project requests from 23 state-based member organizations. In 2013, she drafted amendments to California’s cooperative law that enabled preferred-share financing and capitalization of cooperatives. She has spoken on this topic at annual meetings of the California Center for Cooperative Development and has been awarded USDA’s “Great Cooperator” Award. She serves on the non-profits committee of the California State Bar Association.

Kim Arnone

Kim specializes in developing community capital raising strategies for impact funds, social enterprises, cooperatives and nonprofits. She works primarily on investment offerings that can be publicly offered and that are open broadly to her client’s community members and supporters. Kim has assisted a wide range of enterprises in successfully raising capital including offerings from professional sports teams, worker- and consumer-owned businesses, farms and food producers, impact investment funds and nonprofit loan funds, among others. Kim has served on the advisory boards of a variety of enterprises including a renewable energy financing company, a local business development coalition and a socially responsible ecommerce marketplace. She has served on various nonprofit boards including as chair of AIDS Legal Referral Panel of San Francisco and as a member of the Oakland Chamber of Commerce. She earned her Juris Doctorate from Hastings College of Law, where she was editor-in-chief of the Women’s Law Journal.  Kim lives, works and plays in Oakland, and is committed to helping her community be vibrant, socially responsible, and inclusive.

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