Coffeekids

Dekoffiethuiswinkel steunt Coffeekids. Lees hieronder (engelstalig) wat coffeekids doet. De website van Coffeekids: www.coffeekids.org

What is Coffee Kids about?

Our mission is to help coffee-farming families improve the quality of their lives.

How did Coffee Kids begin?

Coffee Kids was founded in 1988 by Bill Fishbein, a specialty coffee roaster and retailer from Providence, R.I. Fishbein was deeply affected by the poverty he witnessed on a trip to Guatemala and created Coffee Kids as a way for coffee businesses and consumers to give something back to the families that grow coffee.

How does Coffee Kids help these families?

Coffee Kids believes that coffee-farming families and communities hold the answers to their problems. We work with community members to identify challenges they face and then partner with local nonprofit organizations to develop projects that address these challenges on a grassroots level while respecting the cultural integrity, intelligence and ingenuity of the people we serve.

What types of programs does Coffee Kids support?

We partner with local organizations in coffee-farming communities to create micro-enterprise, health care and education programs.

We also coordinate meetings between our partners that we term ‘encuentros’ to foment discourse among the groups and help them create new approaches to address similar problems.

How is Coffee Kids different from other development efforts in coffee-growing areas?

Coffee Kids believes that all programs must be community-based and founded on the principles of sustainability. Income from the annual coffee harvest is not enough, fair trade and organic premiums are not enough. Coffee-farming families need additional sources of income that can provide for year-round sustenance. We work in the world of coffee, but not in the commercialization of coffee.

Coffee Kids has a deliberate selection process for partner organizations to ensure that programs are sustainable and well-structured.

Where does Coffee Kids work?

Coffee Kids currently works in five countries: Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Peru. Several thousand families in over 100 communities benefit from Coffee Kids programs.

Coffee Kids would like to work with partners in more countries, but we are focused on developing well-run programs before expanding operations to other countries. Our partner COCLA in Peru marks our first foray into South America.

What is Coffee Kids’ annual budget?

Coffee Kids has an annual budget of approximately $1 million.

What percentage of donations to Coffee Kids goes to program expenses?

The percentage varies year by year, but the average is 75%.

How is the organization funded?

Business donations make up 82% of the budget followed by 8% from in-kind donations of goods and services, 4% from individual donors, 3% from coin drop collections and 1% from foundations.

Are donations to Coffee Kids tax-deductible?

Yes. Coffee Kids is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization.

How many employees does Coffee Kids have?

Coffee Kids has four full-time staff and two part-time staff in our Santa Fe headquarters, and two international program coordinators in our Oaxaca office. The founder, Bill Fishbein, works as a volunteer for the organization.

BACKGROUND

Coffee Facts

• ½ billion people worldwide depend on coffee in one way or another for their income.
• 125 million of them depend solely on coffee.
• Most small-scale coffee-farmers earn as little as 4¢ per pound of coffee they pick by hand.
• Everyday many of these families face chronic malnutrition, poor sanitation and little to no access to health care or education.

The Economics of Coffee

Coffee is one of the largest traded commodities in the world, but its price is determined in New York and London by speculators who buy and sell coffee based on the weather in Brazil, rainfall in Ethiopia or any number of factors. The case could be made that the fortunes of coffee farmers are bought and sold on a daily basis as well.

Coffee has always been a boom or bust crop, a volatile agricultural commodity. While prices during boom years are significantly higher than bust years, they are deceptive. In fact, the price paid to farmers has been steadily dropping for generations.

According to the World Bank, after inflation, coffee farmers earn less today than their ancestors did 100 years ago. The effect of the price of coffee is compounded by the fact that the majority of coffee farmers are completely dependent on coffee as the sole source of family income.

This dependency on coffee coupled with low prices has resulted in increased production as farmers attempt to shore up their income. In fact, when prices drop, coffee farmers do the only thing they know how to do – grow more coffee. And prices drop even further.

Over the centuries, the coffee trade has evolved to the the whims of coffee buyers. With political and economic influence on the side of coffee traders, the historical dependency that coffee farmers have on their crop has only deepened.

Fair trade and other premiums have helped establish better prices for small farmers and have provided roasters and vendors with the opportunity to pay a more just price for their coffee. Yet an equal amount of effort needs to be dedicated to alleviating reliance on the coffee crop and reducing rampant overproduction, which further pressures coffee prices.

If coffee farmers are to free themselves from the cycle of poverty, they must wean themselves from dependency on coffee harvests. By creating alternate sources of income, savings groups or other forms of economic diversification, coffee-farmer will be able to better maintain themselves and their families. Then they can continue farming coffee knowing that a dip in international prices will not have a catastrophic effect on family income.

Introduction to Coffee Kids

Coffee Kids is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping coffee-farming families improve the quality of their lives. We work with coffee-farming communities in Latin America and elsewhere to create alternatives that provide income throughout the year, not only during the coffee harvest.

Like most people, coffee-farming families identify and prioritize problems that are the most pressing to them. They solve these problems by creating strategies and implementing projects based upon their own values and culture. These projects focus on economic diversification, health care and nutrition, or education.

Coffee Kids works with community members to identify challenges they face and then partner with local nonprofit organizations to develop projects that address these challenges on a grassroots level while respecting the cultural integrity, intelligence and ingenuity of the people we serve.

Our partner organizations provide hands-on training and technical skills to implement community improvements. These partnerships are based on trust, transparency and a deep respect for cultural values and community priorities.

Coffee Kids focuses on the strengths inherent in coffee-farming communities, as they are the ones best able to address the chronic poverty they face everyday. We currently work with 12 partners in Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Peru. Our primary projects include microcredit and economic diversification, health care and education.

Our work is not related to the production or marketing of coffee, but rather creating sustainable alternatives to coffee that will allow farmers and their families to reduce their reliance on this crop, while subsequently increasing economic independence.

Funding for Coffee Kids’ programs primarily comes from businesses and individuals that are related to the coffee trade.

Coffee Kids’ History

Bill Fishbein, a coffee roaster from Providence, R.I., USA, founded Coffee Kids in 1988. Fishbein has been working in the specialty coffee industry since 1977 when it was just beginning to make an impact in the United States.

While traveling to Guatemala in 1988, his life was changed when he witnessed the poverty faced by those producing coffee throughout the world.

“I was shocked and amazed at the poverty,” Fishbein said. “It is something I still have difficulty coming to terms with. But I was amazed at the spirit of the people.

“In spite of the poverty, or maybe because of it, the families I met had strong cohesive communities and a generosity that can only be matched by the poorest of the poor.

“Honestly, I wanted to learn from them. When I returned home, I started Coffee Kids to remain connected to them and because I couldn’t sell another pound of coffee without doing something to help.”

Fishbein returned home and began canvassing fellow coffee roasters and was overwhelmed by the support. Numerous roasters were confronting the same realities of the industry and looking for an outlet to support positive change.

Since then, Coffee Kids has raised and distributed over $4,000,000 in funds to help coffee-farming families in their efforts to improve the quality of their lives.

LEADERSHIP

Carolyn Fairman, Executive Director

Carolyn Fairman began her career with Coffee Kids in 2000 as an international program coordinator. During her time with the organization, she has helped create highly successful grassroots training programs for health care and micro-enterprise in coffee-growing communities. She has also nurtured relationships with many businesses in the coffee industry, allowing Coffee Kids to continue its mission of helping improve the lives of coffee-farming families through economic diversification, adequate health care and educational opportunities.

Fairman received her master’s in Latin American Studies from the University of New Mexico, where she focused on political science and gender. Prior to joining Coffee Kids, Fairman worked in Guatemala with a non-governmental organization helping refugees returning after the country’s civil war.

Bill Fishbein, Founder

Bill Fishbein created Coffee Kids in 1988 after a trip to Guatemala opened his eyes to the poverty and difficulties faced by coffee-farming families. Over the years, Fishbein has developed a profound understanding of community-driven development.

Fishbein and his team created an innovative approach to development allowing coffee-farming families to identify their most pressing needs and create their own projects to solve problems. These programs recognize the inherent ingenuity of coffee-farming families and respect the cultural values and norms of the communities.

In 2002, Fishbein was awarded the Specialty Coffee Association of America’s highest award, the Lifetime Achievement Award, for Coffee Kids’ innovative approach to grassroots development. In 2003, Coffee Kids was the subject of a PBS documentary called the Visionaries.

Fishbein continues his advocacy on behalf of coffee-farming families nurturing new relationships in the European Union, the Pacific Rim, and looking to expand the Coffee Kids model to other industries as well.

CASE STUDY - AUGE

AUGE - Desarollo Autogestionario, A.C.

Based in the state of Veracruz, Mexico, “Desarollo Autogestionario, A.C. (AUGE),” Spanish for Self-Managed Development, works with coffee-growing communities to develop constructive programs that combat poverty in some of the poorest coffee-growing communities in Veracruz.

Over the past ten years, the Coffee Kids/AUGE partnership has helped change community beliefs regarding savings accounts and personal entrepreneurship and helped create a culture of saving.

The Situation in Veracruz

Each year, mass migrations occur in small towns throughout Veracruz as fathers and sons – sometimes entire families – are recruited to nearby coffee regions to harvest coffee.

They live in temporary migrant camps and children miss up to three months of school. The families rely on this annual journey for their yearly income and, given the meager earnings, often have difficulty surviving one year to the next. As a result families have little to spend on adequate health care or basic education.

As emigration in search of work increased, many women found themselves as heads of their households for the first time. In addition to their domestic responsibilities, they also had the added responsibilities of being the sole breadwinner in their homes.

Coffee Kids and AUGE

In 1995, Coffee Kids helped create AUGE and GMAS, a women’s savings group that promotes savings accounts and a microcredit program that allows participants to have access to small, low-interest loans.

GMAS savings groups promote savings accounts and microcredit as a way of alleviating dependence on a single income from coffee, building solidarity among community members, increasing gender awareness, and meeting immediate family needs.

The situation as of 2006

GMAS began with approximately 100 members who met on a weekly basis to pool their spare change. At these meetings, AUGE staff would frequently provide educational presentations.

Today, the project has 3,460 women, men, and children participating in the microcredit program. The project promotes family participation and as a result, low-interest loans are available to all members. Since its humble beginnings, a total of $700,000 has been saved.

This money is used for community improvements, low-interest loans, scholarships, and micro-enterprise. Through this project women and their families have generated additional income for their homes, gained personal confidence and have learned about diversification and investment strategies to better face their dependence on coffee.

AUGE Results	1995	2006
Groups/Participants	5 groups / 100 women	132 groups / 3,460 participants including men, women and children
Money Saved	$0	Over $700,000