Organizations we support

Coffee KidsThere is a special place in our collective heart for the soul of the coffee industry - Coffee Kids.

Coffee Kids is an international non-profit organization founded in 1988 by Bill Fishbein, co-owner of Coffee Exchange. The mission of Coffee Kids is to help coffee-farming families in Mexico, Central America and South America to improve the quality of their lives and build sustainable communities.

By creating programs that are locally-directed, community-based, and founded on the principles of sustainability, Coffee Kids helps to reduce dependency on coffee as the sole source of income.

  • Coffee Kids creates partnerships with local organizations in coffee-growing regions that work directly with coffee-farming communities.
  • Our partners provide technical resources, training, and follow-through to communities to implement grass-roots projects.
  • We provide the resources that enable our partners and their communities to put their vision into action.
  • We facilitate idea-sharing exchanges between project participants and other organizations to find solutions to common problems.
  • All projects are designed by community members and based on their needs and priorities.

Because every coffee-growing community is unique, every Coffee Kids project is unique. What is common is an attitude of respect for all people's values, cultural integrity, intelligence and ingenuity. Coffee Kids projects can be categorized into four main types:

Health Care Through effective community organizing, women in rural Mexico, Guatemala and Peru are learning to identify and treat common illnesses with natural medicines. In turn, these women train others about preventive health care, including traditional herbal remedies, and pre- and post-natal care.

Education Thousands of children have continued their schooling thanks to education projects in rural Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Grants to elementary schools provide teaching materials and repair school buildings. Scholarships for high school and university students help families cover the cost of school supplies, textbooks and transportation.

Micro-Credit Over 4,000 women are now running their own small businesses thanks to micro-credit projects in rural Mexico and Nicaragua. By building their personal savings and taking out small, low-interest loans ($50-100), these women are able to start or expand their own small businesses, ranging from selling vegetables or tortillas to running a midwife's clinic or a general store.

Community-Based Projects Women in indigenous communities in Mexico have created a wide variety of projects that provide healthy, affordable and nutritious food for their families and their communities. Some of these projects include chicken-raising, family vegetable gardens and oyster mushroom cultivation. Coffee Kids also supports biodiesel and literacy projects in Guatemala.

Fair Trade FederationFair trade and the Fair Trade Federation

Fair Trade
Fair Trade pretty much means exactly what it says. It is all about making sure that products exported internationally from "developing" countries to "developed" countries are produced under fair conditions. That means promoting the payment of fair prices, safe and healthy working conditions and responsible environmental practices. It is an alternative way of doing business - one that builds equitable, long-term partnerships between consumers and producers. Fair Trade is based on seven principles as quoted by the Fair Trade Federation (FTF):

Fair wages,
cooperative workplaces,
consumer education,
environmental sustainability,
financial and technical support,
respect for cultural identity and
public accountability.

The Fair Trade Federation (FTF) is a trade association that strengthens and promotes North American organizations fully committed to fair trade. The Federation is part of the global fair trade movement, building equitable and sustainable trading partnerships and creating opportunities to alleviate poverty.

As a member of the Fair Trade Federation, Coffee Exchange purchases coffees from like-minded brokers and through Cooperative Coffees. Fair Trade purchases help improve the living standards of small coffee farmers, provides infrastructure improvements, and training in sustainable organic farming methods.

Cooperative CoffeesCooperative Coffees

Coffee Exchange purchases most of its green coffee from Cooperative Coffees, a green coffee importing cooperative, comprised of 24 community based coffee roasters in the USA and Canada, committed to building and supporting equitable and sustainable trade relationships for the benefit of farmers and their exporting cooperatives, families and communities.

Coop Coffees strives to promote Fair Trade and sustainable development alternatives in both the North and the South, while continuing to sell the highest quality coffee on the market.

Through Coop Coffees, Coffee Exchange pays a premium of nine cents per pound over the current Fair Trade price and an additional premium for Organic coffee.

Cooperative Coffees currently works with 18 small farmer organizations in 11 distinct coffee producing countries. Trade partners are farmer cooperatives - local organizations founded and democratically governed by the farmers themselves. Members of CC can propose new producers and the information is presented to the Green Committee for review. New producers are considered based on demand of coffee from that area, quality of coffee, political situations, and other practical issues related to the importing of coffee. Currently Cooperative Coffees works with partners in Bolivia, Colombia, Dominican Republic, East Timor, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, Rwanda, Sumatra (Indonesia).

Cafe Femenini FoundationCafé Femenino Foundation

The Role of the Café Femenino Foundation is to improve the lives of women and children in coffee producing countries throughout the world. "By supporting women coffee growers, we improve the quality of life in the entire community and build a sustainable economic system." The brainchild of Coffee Exchange supplier Organic Products Trading Company, it was designed originally to improve the quality of lives of women in Peru. Now Café Femenino programs exist in several communities in Mexico, Central and South America.

Women on coffee farms in Peru face unimaginable struggles. Many have no rights, have been abandoned and are abused. Many are alone with children and no income. With the help of Organic and Fair Trade premiums, much progress has been made in recent years to improve life in the expanding number of rural coffee growing communities, But despite the progress, the marginalization of women in these rural communities has grown worse. In urban areas of Peru the abuse rate is estimated at 41%, and that's what is reported.

With little resources, the coffee family invests available resources in educating the sons. The daughters stay home, devoted to chores around the house and watching over the farm. They usually marry between the ages of 12 and 16. Initiatives funded by Café Femenino serve to educate and change the mindset in rural Peru where coffee is grown and harvested. Similarly, a regular contribution in the name of Peruvian Café Femenino is made by Coffee Exchange to the Providence Women's Shelter.