FAIR-TRADE
COFFEE BOOST:
CALVERT FOUNDATION DISTRIBUTES STARBUCKS
INVESTMENT AIDING NEARLY 25,000
LATIN AMERICAN COFFEE GROWERS
One
Year After Investment: Pre-Financing Used
to Make Possible the Sale of Over
22.3 Million Pounds of Coffee, Improve Circumstances
for Small Coffee Farmers.
BETHESDA,
MD. and SEATTLE, WA. June 21, 2005///One
year after the Starbucks Coffee Company
(Nasdaq: SBUX) invested $1 million to support
Latin American coffee farmers, the Calvert
Foundation reported today that it so far
has “recycled” those funds into
$2.7 million worth of loans to coffee cooperatives,
benefiting 24,400 of the world’s smallest
coffee farmers and supporting them in their
efforts to export more than 22.3 million
pounds of Fair Trade and shade-grown coffee.
Since
the spring of 2004, when Starbucks announced
its $1 million investment in the Calvert
Foundation to finance coffee farmer cooperatives,
Calvert Foundation initially distributed
the investment to three coffee cooperatives
– located in Costa Rica, Mexico, and
Nicaragua -- and EcoLogic Finance, Inc.,
a Massachusetts-based nonprofit. When that
financing was repaid by coffee cooperatives,
it then was loaned out again by Calvert
Foundation to other coffee growers.
Today,
Calvert Foundation announced that, based
on the success of the first and second round
of investments, it is recycling another
$650,000 in new investments in Fair Trade
coffee cooperatives. The new third round
of financing will enable Calvert Foundation
to further extend the impact of the capital
initially provided by Starbucks, using repaid
funds from the first and second rounds to
provide financing for coffee-producing cooperatives
in Peru and bringing the total amount of
recycled financing so far to $2.7 million.
Calvert
Foundation Executive Director Shari Berenbach
said: “Calvert Foundation is all about
helping individuals and institutions make
a real difference in the world through the
power of investment. That emphasis on results
is clearly on display in the $1 million
invested in Calvert Foundation by Starbucks.
This investment demonstrates the success
that we can achieve when corporations and
non-profits work together on sustainable
strategies that address the needs of those
outside the economic mainstream. Calvert
Foundation makes available to the public
a financial instrument, called a Community
Investment Note. This safe and convenient
investment instrument makes it possible
for investors to channel capital to low-income
communities in the US and abroad. By investing
with Calvert Foundation, institutions and
individuals achieve a real impact that directly
benefits people who otherwise might have
few hopes -- and even fewer opportunities.”
Starbucks
Vice President of Business Practices Sue
Mecklenburg said: “Starbucks is proud
to work with the Calvert Foundation which
is empowering thousands of smallholder farmers
in Latin America by enabling them to get
money when they need it. When farmers have
access to credit, we believe they are able
to negotiate better prices for their crops,
build credit histories and improve their
lives and that of their families and the
local communities. These are important components
in ensuring sustainable development as it
helps farmers gain more control over their
lives and build more secure futures for
their families.”
William Foote, president, EcoLogic Finance,
Inc., said: “We’re thrilled
to count both Calvert Foundation and Starbucks
as our partners. The farmers we extend loans
to play a vital role as stewards of the
land. Without financing, many of these coffee-farming
communities cannot invest in scaling up
their operations; they are therefore unable
to invest in quality for the specialty markets.”
Calvert
Foundation provided the following details
about the Starbucks-supported coffee investments:
•
$200,000
to COOCAFE –
Consorcio
de Cooperativas de Caficultores de Guanacaste
y Montes de Oro R.L., a certified Fair Trade
Coffee cooperative in Costa Rica. The funds
were used for the pre-financing of the purchase
of coffee for export. The investment affected
a total of 4,500 farmers in nine different
cooperatives.
•
$200,000
and $300,000 to
Union Regional de Huatusco (Huatusco), a
certified Fair Trade coffee cooperative
located in Mexico and with 14 percent of
the land involved dedicated to organic coffee
production. The investment had an impact
on 1,908 coffee growers, including 438 women
farmers.
•
$250,000,
$250,000 and $387,500 to
Prodecoop Central de Co-operativas, a nonprofit
owned by 40 cooperatives in Nicaragua. The
investments focused on sales and distribution.
The nonprofit focuses on providing credit
and technical assistance to member cooperatives.
The financing benefited a total of 2,300
coffee growers, including 504 women farmers.
•
$300,000
to CEOCOAFEN – La
Central de Cooperativeas Cafetaleras del
Norte, a Fair Trade registered federation
of small coffee farmer cooperatives in Nicaragua.
Fair Trade coffee represents 23 percent
of sales and Fair Trade organic coffee represents
18 percent of sales. The investment has
an impact on 2,016 farmers, including 329
women.
•
$250,000
to EcoLogic Finance, which
has operations in Belize, Bolivia, Brazil,
Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala,
Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, Rwanda
and Uganda. The investment was used to capitalize
a fund generating 135 loans totaling $21
million for Fair Trade agriculture, eco-tourism
and sustainable fisheries. Additionally,
EcoLogic joined Calvert Foundation in founding
the Finance Alliance for Sustainable Trade
(FAST), the members of which leverage each
other's resources to identify producer needs,
raise loan capital, and mitigate the risks
involved in lending.
The
new third round of $650,000 in Fair Trade
Coffee investments by Calvert Foundation
involves three cooperatives:
•
COCLA
is located
in the Quillabamba region of Peru, east
of the Incan city of Machu Picchu. The cooperative
is composed of 7,500 producers from 22 co-ops
and 10 associations, with women comprising
25 percent of the membership. In an area
with very few economic options, Fair Trade
offers an alternative to growing coca, the
main ingredient in cocaine.
•
CECOVASA
is federation
of coffee-producing cooperatives in the
Peruvian Andes, with 5,000 members (30 percent
of whom are women).
• La
Florida started
out as a group of 100 small-scale family
coffee farmers from Peru’s Chanchamayo
region who joined together in 1965 to form
their own cooperative. Their efforts focused
on education, infrastructure, credit, and
environmental restoration for their remote
corner of the Peruvian jungle. Today, the
cooperative has grown to include more than
1,200 farmers who work together to improve
the quality of the cooperative’s coffee.
Starbucks
and Calvert Foundation have worked together
on a range of projects in recent years.
In 2001, Starbucks invested $150,000 to
help grow affordable housing programs and
small-business facilities in disadvantaged
communities across United States. Starbucks’
initial investments in Calvert Foundation
benefited The Low Income Housing Fund in
San Francisco, the Corporation for Open
Land in Illinois, and ACCION New York, Inc.
Starbucks
is helping EcoLogic Finance work on an even
larger scale. In September 2004, Starbucks
approved a $2.5 million loan to EcoLogic
Finance for lending to coffee farmer cooperatives
across Latin America and in East Africa.
From 2001 through 2003, Starbucks provided
$650,000 in credit to EcoLogic Finance and
Conservation International to support short-term
harvest loans for small holder coffee farmers
operating in Chiapas, Mexico.
Fair
Trade certification is a program that guarantees
coffee farmers a fair price while also encouraging
social and environmental sustainability.
The Fair Trade system currently includes
670,000 farmers. Fair Trade certification
guarantees a price of $1.26 for coffee,
or $1.41 for organic coffee.
With
Fair Trade premiums established, farmers
are often able to purchase equipment and
machinery that ordinarily would be financially
out of reach. Drying beds and cupping laboratories
aide important aspects of the coffee farming
process, and the farmers in turn make larger
profits for their coffee harvest. Fair Trade
also impacts the farming community outside
the scope of the farming business. Children
who would otherwise be forced to work in
order to take advantage of free labor are
in school, and more money means more food
on the table, a higher standard of living,
and an elevated sense of pride in the farmers
themselves.
ABOUT
CALVERT FOUNDATION
The Calvert Foundation
(http://www.CalvertFoundation.org) is an
independent 501(c)3 nonprofit organization
that uses the power of investment to revitalize
poor communities, reverse inequality and
create hope and opportunity where it's most
needed. The Calvert Foundation receives
investment capital from individuals and
institutions, and uses industry-leading
due diligence to select and manage a diversified
portfolio of high social impact investments.
Over the past 10 years, Calvert Foundation
has recycled more than $250 million in investments
that have helped to create over 100,000
jobs for low income individuals, built of
rehabilitated approximately 6,000 affordable
homes, and financed more than 5,000 nonprofit
facilities, including daycare centers, community
health clinics, and schools. Calvert Foundation
makes available a wide range of innovative
financial instruments. Its Web-based information
services and philanthropic products include
Community Investment Notes, the Community
Investment Profile Database, the Calvert
Giving Fund, and Community Giftshares. Calvert
Foundation is a separate entity from Calvert
Group Ltd. and its products should not be
confused with any Calvert Group-sponsored
investment product.
ABOUT
STARBUCKS COFFEE COMPANY
Starbucks Corporation
is the leading retailer, roaster and brand
of specialty coffee in the world, with more
than 9,000 retail locations in North America,
Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and
the Pacific Rim. The Company is committed
to offering the highest quality coffee and
the Starbucks Experience while conducting
its business in ways that produce social,
environmental and economic benefits for
communities in which it does business. In
addition to its retail operations, the Company
produces and sells bottled Frappuccino(R)
coffee drinks, Starbucks DoubleShot(R) coffee
drink, and a line of superpremium ice creams
through its joint venture partnerships.
The Company's brand portfolio provides a
wide variety of consumer products. Tazo(R)
Tea's line of innovative superpremium teas
and Hear Music'sTM exceptional compact discs
enhance the Starbucks Experience through
best-of-class products. The Seattle's Best
Coffee(R) and Torrefazione Italia(R) Coffee
brands enable Starbucks to appeal to a broader
consumer base by offering an alternative
variety of coffee flavor profiles.
ABOUT
ECOLOGIC FINANCE
EcoLogic Finance provides
low-interest loans and financial training
to help struggling farming communities in
the developing world maintain their livelihoods
in environmentally sustainable ways. Launched
in 2000, the organization manages a portfolio
of $25,000 to $500,000 loans. Their borrowers:
small- and medium-sized farmers’ co-ops
which are too large for microcredit agencies
and too small or untested to be “bankable”
with a commercial bank. EcoLogic Finance
loans benefit villagers involved in agroforestry
(shade-grown and sustainable agriculture),
wild-harvested products, sustainable fisheries,
and ecotourism, with a particular focus
on small-scale producers of sustainably-grown
coffee.
CONTACT:
Patrick Mitchell, (703) 276-3266 or pmitchell@hastingsgroup.com
EDITOR'S
NOTE:
A streaming audio replay of a related news
event will be available online at http://www.CalvertFoundation.org
as of 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT on June 21, 2005.
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