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Thank you for your interest in joining us! Oakland Grown is a program of the Sustainable Business Alliance. Oakland based members get the benefits of being part of the SBA with additional Oakland Grown programs and campaigns.

Sign Up for Membership

For businesses and artists interested in a better world, and a stronger, more just and sustainable local economy.

What We Do

Help socially-minded East Bay businesses and artists thrive, through

• Promoting “shopping local” to the community
• Connecting / networking
• Workshops and Resources
• Member Promotion
• Building government support of independent business

1 Shop Local Initiatives
Inform, inspire, remind, and make it easy for the community to support local businesses and artists

• Online directory of independent businesses and artists
• Advertisements
• East Bay Express (print, web, e-blast)
• Oakland Local
• Movie theater previews
• Billboards
• Bus shelters
• Oakland Grown local spending and rewards card
• e-Newsletters
• T-shirts & Bags
• Window posters
• Tables at fairs, festivals and other events
• Searchable online gift guide for the holidays – members can put several items in the guide
• Hosting discussions & movies about the local economy
• Plaid Friday campaign
• National Shift Your Shopping campaign
• Shop Local Pledge
• Shop Local Holiday Concierge
• Articles and interviews with local newspapers and radio
• $70,000 worth of shop local advertising during the holidays

2 Member Networking and Connecting – Locally Inspired 
SBA hosts and partners with like-minded organizations to offer networking opportunities throughout the year. We strive to ensure that each mixer offers both inspiration and practical value. We offer events at different times of day to accommodate varying schedules. We also make a point of proactively connecting members to each other for specific partnerships.

Our 2013 evening mixer series is called Locally Inspired, and offers a Q&A session with a successful East Bay social business leader.  The first event is Thursday, January 24th, and the subsequent mixers will be on the 4th Tuesday of the month.  Learn more and RSVP for the current month.

3 Member Workshops
Determined by member interest, we bring in experts or partner to provide discounts on workshops on topics such as

• Social media and marketing
• Business development
• Professional development
• Social responsibility and sustainability

4 Local Capital

We believe passionately that individuals should be able to invest in the businesses around them, and that socially-minded businesses should be able to get capital from mission-aligned lenders and investors. We are working to connect businesses who need capital with the people and institutions that want to support them financially.

5 Member Promotion

• Promoting individual members to each other and the community
• Ability to post announcements, coupons and deals in several places at once:
• Oakland Grown and SBA Facebook and Twitter
• Oakland Grown and SBA Websites and Directories
• East Bay Express Indie Biz Directory
• Listing in Oakland Grown and SBA online directories
• Promote products or services in our Holiday Gift Guide (Online)
• Opportunities for discounted ads in local media
• Occasional member highlights in our
• e-newsletter (5000 subscribers)
• Facebook (3800 fans) & Twitter (2697 followers)
• Expo and vendor opportunities

6 Building government support
SBA works ad hoc with local government agencies to encourage support of independent business. We also support campaigns by the American independent Business Alliance and the American Sustainable Business Council, of which we are members.

Membership Levels

Sound interesting?  
Sign Up for Membership Here