Members of the Beersheva Food Cooperative pay a minimal monthly membership fee (NIS 5) and are required to volunteer between 6 – 12 hours monthly in the coop, carrying out duties such as ordering, stocking, marking food prices, shelving, cleaning, carrying out inventories, staffing cash registers, etc. The cooperative is managed by a Management Committee made up of members. Community Advocacy sponsors a cooperative coordinator whose job is to coordinate work of the volunteers and the Management Committee and organize outreach activities around the work of the cooperative.

The goals of the  Beersheva Food Cooperative are to guarantee food security by making inexpensive food and commodities, including cleaning materials, available to the members; To maximize community volunteer potential towards economic development; To involve members in an educational program where they will learn consumer sills as an added tool to maximize limited financial resources; To provide a framework where residents have the opportunity to address issues of poverty and hunger; To place the subject of nutritional security on the public agenda; To lead to the sustainability of affordable commodities and food through the power of the cooperative.

The Beersheva Cooperative voluntary management committee consists of nine members: seven women and two men. They meet every two weeks to discuss both internal matters (prices, dates of holiday parties, shift schedules, etc.) but also to discuss and learn more about matters such as different models of nutritional security, globalization, and the effect of energy prices on food. The cooperative is currently open on Monday and Tuesday between 15:00 – 20:00 (an hour less in the winter months).

Currently there are 150 families active in the cooperative, and the goal for the next year is to add another 80 families. Of the 150 families, around 70% are from the former Soviet Union. Many of these are elderly and living on their own, without any children living with them. Around 30% of the members are "veteran" Israel's, many of whom are part of "multi-child" families – between 6 – 7 family members in each family. The food cooperative also has an outreach program which is aimed at attracting new members and to teaching others more about nutrition and proper financial management in the home.

Average savings are around 20%. Due to the competition in Beersheva among the discount food chains, this is an impressive figure, especially as most of the cooperative members have no accessibility to transportation and the elderly especially are unable to take the busses to the discount stores and carry back all the items they need. The savings on basic food items such as sugar and flour is minimal, but the savings on canned and tinned foods is around 15% and on dry foods (beans, lentils, grains, etc.) is over 20%. The highest level of savings in the food cooperatives is on commodities such as cleaning materials and detergent, which are sold at prices extremely lower than any of the discount supermarkets.

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