Empowering Individuals in the Global Community Through Entrepreneurship
Whole Foods Market Team Members have donated over $4.5 million through paycheck contributions to alleviate poverty worldwide through Whole Planet Foundation.
The Foundation funds microlending programs in Africa, Asia and Latin America, to provide microentrepreneurs like Nagamma in India, where Whole Foods Market sources cashews, the opportunity to create or expand a home-based business and lift themselves and their families out of poverty. Through trusted microfinance partners like One Acre Fund in Kenya, where Whole Foods Market sources coffee, Whole Planet Foundation is alleviating poverty in 57 countries supporting more than 1.6 million people with the chance for a better life.
Team Members are so passionate about the mission of Whole Planet Foundation, they donated over $1 million in 2012 alone!
Watch this appreciation video by Jason Markow of TEKSTartist.com and see artwork celebrating Team Member generosity come to life. Thank you Whole Foods Market Team Members!
Do you ever bite in to a brownie and wonder what makes it so delicious? Perhaps it's the cage-free eggs? Possibly it's the perfect chocolate chip crunch? Maybe it's made with love: real, genuine, wanna-hug-your-grandma love? I found the secret ingredient to Greyston Bakery's desserts they re delightful because they re baked with a fresh start.
I recently had the honor of hearing the President and CEO of Greyston Bakery, Mike Brady, speak at Whole Foods Market®'s Global Support offices. I walked away from his talk not only inspired by a company creating a better tomorrow, but also moved by their mission. I was so enthused that I had to share their story.
One of the most unique components to Greyston is their open-hiring policy that provides employees in Yonkers, New York, with a job and a new beginning regardless of past experiences. This not only promotes economic development and positive changes for individuals and families in the community but it also is catalyst for other social enterprises.
Founded in 1982 by a Zen Buddhist, Greyston Bakery has evolved their idea of open-hiring to a larger Foundation that supports affordable housing, HIV/AIDS health services, community gardens and a child care center, among many other services. Could this company get any better? Oh yes, they can!
Undoubtedly, Greyston gives back to their local community but last year they decided to go worldwide by teaming up with Whole Planet Foundation. Since their brownie in support of Whole Planet Foundation launched last May, Greyston has donated over $6,500 to help alleviate poverty through microcredit loans. During the recent five-week Whole Planet Foundation Prosperity Campaign, they raised $4,500 for microcredit loans, supplying a loan every 3 days!
In October I had the tremendous honor of meeting microcredit clients while traveling to Peru as a Whole Foods Market Team Member Volunteer. It is impossible to put in to words the genuine gratitude and pride I witnessed and seeing the impact these loans funded by Whole Planet Foundation support will have on future generations. I have a comparable feeling after reading about Greyston's bakers on a mission. Next time you are in your local Whole Foods Market bakery department and hunting for the perfect brownie, choose one from Greyston Bakery and you'll be happy to know the life-changing impact it will have on others, worldwide.
Greyston Bakery products are available in our Northeast, North Atlantic, Mid Atlantic, Southwest, Rocky Mountain and Southern Pacific regions. Ask about them in the bakery department.
What other products do you love that also gives back to a greater cause?
You have through March 31st to help us reach Whole Planet Foundation®'s Annual Prosperity Campaign goal of raising $5.7 million by donating at your local Whole Foods Market store or online. What amazing progress we've made! So far, with your help, we have raised $3,274,338. Your donation will help us give opportunity by funding microlending programs for more than a million of the very poor in 55 countries, including the US.
Along with our generous customers and team members, some very special companies donate $50,000 every year to provide project expansion funds. Whole Planet Foundation's 2013 Supplier Alliance for Microcredit includes:
We are so grateful for the generosity of these supplier partners, and we hope you will join us in thanking them!
"ITO EN is proud to continue to support the mission of the Whole Planet Foundation," said Jim Hoagland, executive vice president at ITO EN (North America) INC, a six-year member of the Supplier Alliance for Microcredit. "Each year the in-store support and customer awareness of the program has grown, enabling the TEAS' TEA brand to have a bigger impact in alleviating poverty through microcredit."
This year, we are excited to welcome new members IZZE, BlueAvocado and HINT who have all committed $50,000 to help us fund poverty alleviation projects around the world.
We re thrilled to be supporting the Whole Planet Foundation and to join the other partners that are a part of the extended Whole Foods Market family, said Kara Goldin, HINT's founder and CEO. Fostering the same entrepreneurial spirit though which HINT Water was created in places like Latin America, Africa and Asia is an important cause for our company and continues to inspire us daily.
What's really amazing about the support from the Supplier Alliance for Microcredit is that 100% of their donation makes a difference, because Whole Foods Market covers all of Whole Planet Foundation's operating costs. Collectively, the 2013 Supplier Alliance will raise $650,000 for the Foundation, enough to create more than 3,900 microloans that will help more than 23,000 people! Each and every dollar we raise goes to microlending programs in the field, and it is repaid and re-loaned in rural communities again and again.
To deepen their partnership and make an even greater impact, Allegro Coffee is selling two regional blend coffees for a limited time this spring and giving thirty cents from each purchase to Whole Planet Foundation. Providing microcredit to borrowers in coffee-growing regions is a prime example of the work we do giving back in a sustainable way by providing the very poor access to capital that is repaid and re-loaned again and again.
Please join us in appreciating all of our Supplier Alliance for Microcredit partners, and visit Whole Foods Market stores during our Annual Prosperity Campaign to see special displays of these suppliers and learn more about how their impact is making a difference.
Last year we proudly launched the Do Something Reel Film Festival, an online collection of provocative, character-driven films that focus on food, environmental issues and everyday people with a vision of making a world of difference. Simply put, it's a celebration of people who understand that small steps can create big change. The Do Something Reel Film Festival continues this month with Bonsai People The Vision of Muhammad Yunus, an uplifting documentary about one man's extraordinary humanitarian work and his influence around the globe.
Poor people are bonsai people, there is nothing wrong with their seed. Society simply has not given them the room to grow. Muhammad Yunus
What if you could harness the power of the free market to solve the problems of poverty, hunger, and inequality? To some, it sounds impossible, yet Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus is doing exactly that.
When Muhammad lent $27 out of his own pocket to 42 people, he did more than create microcredit. He supported entrepreneurship in hopes of alleviating poverty, empowering individuals and uplifting entire communities. Although microcredit has grown to help 1 out of every 1,000 people on earth, Muhammad didn t stop there.
He's now created a social business movement a mix between business and social work to provide poor people with financial services, healthcare, alternative energy and more. By tackling some of the world's most vexing problems, he's demonstrating to the world that complex problems sometimes do have simple answers.
Bonsai People isn t just a tribute to a passionate visionary but a story of hope. Watch the trailer and get inspired.
Holly Mosher is a socially-conscious award-winning filmmaker. She tackles tough issues including environmental, health and human rights issues. Her body of work includes Hummingbird, Side Effects, Money Talks: Profits Before Patient Safety, Vanishing of the Bees, Free For All, and Bonsai People The Vision of Muhammad Yunus.
Visit the Do Something Reel's web site to rent Bonsai People through iTunes for $3.99 in standard definition and $4.99 in high definition. There is also an exclusive interview with the filmmaker. There is one viewing per purchase. Also check out additional videos and behind-the-scenes talks with filmmakers from previously featured films and other materials free of charge.
Feeling inspired to support microcredit? Us too! Get involved in Whole Planet Foundation's 2013 Prosperity Campaign. Through March 31, we re working to raise $5.7 million to fund poverty alleviation projects worldwide where Whole Foods Market sources products like coffee, tea, cacao, spices, grains and tropical fruits and vegetables.
Muhammad believes that all humans are born as entrepreneurs, but many have not had the opportunity to develop that side of themselves. What do you think are the biggest challenges for people tapping into this potential? How can we continue to help others overcome these obstacles?
Thank you Whole Foods Market® shoppers! You have already raised $2.3 million to alleviate poverty around the globe, including right here in the United States!
Whole Planet Foundation® works with trusted microfinance partners to fund microcredit loans (typically loans of around $200 requiring no collateral or contract) to more than 259,000 clients (89% of them women) with a repayment rate of 97%. To date, the foundation has committed more than $34 million and disbursed more than $24 million.
Helping Alleviate Poverty in the US
In the United States our microfinance partner Grameen America is currently alleviating poverty in New York City, Omaha, Indianapolis, Oakland and Los Angeles,and Charlotte, North Carolina.
Grameen America is helping entrepreneurs like Marica change their own lives through microcredit.
Marica runs a business selling jewelry, clothing, gloves, scarves, bags and keychains from a stall/small storefront in New York City. She has been running the business for 10 years and joined Grameen America 5 years ago. She's currently on her fifth loan and is proud of her success.
How You Can Help
During Whole Planet Foundation's Annual Prosperity Campaign going on now through March 31st, you can help empower women like Marica. Donate at the registers in our stores, donate online and even start your own fundraising campaign on Whole Planet Foundation's website to spread awareness and encourage friends and family to participate.
Whole Foods Market covers 100% of the Foundation's operating costs, which means 100% of your donation benefits impoverished entrepreneurs worldwide where Whole Foods Market sources products.
For US projects, Whole Planet Foundation has committed a minimum of $250,000 to each Grameen America microlending markets and will be continuing that commitment in 2013. Potential new markets include: San Juan, Puerto Rico, Chicago, IL, Hudson County, NJ and San Jose, California. Said CEO, Stephen A. Vogel, Whole Planet Foundation's support enables us to continue serving the poor across the country. Their dedication to alleviating poverty here in the United States is an inspiration and we are grateful to team members and the hard work that they dedicate to raising money for the Annual Prosperity Campaign. It was a great joy to visit the Whole Foods Market store in Santa Monica in February and to see the Campaign in action!
Join Whole Planet Foundation's Annual Prosperity Campaign and you too can alleviate poverty in the United States!
Meet Zahara. Zahara owns a small home-based weaving business in Morocco. She sells her weavings in the market to townspeople who use in their marriage ceremonies and to visiting tourists. She raises her own sheep and uses their wool to prepare her thread for her and her daughter, who is also a weaver.
Zahara is a client of Whole Planet Foundation's microfinance partner INMAA in Morocco, where Whole Foods Market sources rosemary. Zahara is now on her sixth loan with INMAA, borrowing MAD 2,500 (USD $280) to build her weaving and livestock business. She's currently using the profits from her business to build an additional room for her home.
All over the globe, in developing countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and also here in the United States, Whole Planet Foundation helps entrepreneurial women, like Zahara and her daughter, lift themselves out of poverty by giving them access to microcredit.
It's with your help that we re able to do that! This year during Whole Planet Foundation's 2013 Annual Prosperity Campaign, going on now through March 31st, we re aiming to raise $5.7 million for microcredit. Because Whole Foods Market covers all of Whole Planet Foundation's administrative costs, 100% of the money raised benefits the very poor living in communities that supply Whole Foods Market stores with products like coffee, tea, cacao, rice, tropical fruits and vegetables, spices, baskets and apparel. It's our way of giving back to the people who live in these communities, and I hope you'll join us.
There are many opportunities to get involved:
To date, Whole Planet Foundation has committed more than $34 million and disbursed $22 million through microfinance partners around the globe, supporting 1.5 million people with the opportunity to change their own lives.
Please join the campaign and enable 200,000 more people with prosperity. Thank you!
Would you like to win a trip to Morocco? As part of their Annual Prosperity Campaign, Whole Planet Foundation is giving you a chance to experience the sights, sounds and tastes of this unique travel destination while learning about the transformative power of microcredit.
Transforming Lives
Microcredit loans that are typically around $200 with no collateral or contract provides entrepreneurial women around the world with an opportunity to create or expand a home-based business and change their own lives. What makes microcredit so transformative is its long-term sustainability the loans are repaid and that money is loaned again and again.
Born out of the desire to address the persistent problems of world poverty and hunger, the mission of Whole Planet Foundation is to help alleviate poverty by funding microcredit in the United States and 54 other countries around the globe where Whole Foods Market® sources products.
Since the Foundation's start in 2005, we ve supported more than 1.5 million people by helping women use their skills, energy and creativity to lift themselves and their families out of poverty. Through trusted microfinance partners, Whole Planet Foundation currently funds microcredit to more than 259,000 clients (89% of them women) with a repayment rate of 97%. To date, the foundation has committed more than $34 million and disbursed more than $24 million.
Giving Opportunity
During Whole Planet Foundation's Annual Prosperity Campaign going on now through March 31st we hope you'll join fellow shoppers, Whole Foods Market team members, Supplier Alliance for Microcredit vendor partners and online donors to raise $5.7 million and give financial opportunities through microloans to more than 35,000 impoverished people. Whole Foods Market covers all operating expenses for Whole Planet Foundation, so 100% of contributions benefit microcredit clients.
How can you help? Donate at the registers in our stores, donate online and even start your own fundraising campaign on Whole Planet Foundation's website to spread awareness and encourage friends and family to participate.
Win a Trip to Morocco
Starting an online fundraising campaign is your ticket to a chance to win a five-day trip for two to Morocco, courtesy of Intrepid Travel. One lucky winner and a guest will travel to Morocco to learn about the Souss Massa Draa region, where Whole Foods Market sources spices and herbs, and to witness firsthand how microcredit has changed the lives of so many women just like Zaharra (pictured here, in pink). Whole Planet Foundation partners with INMAA to provide financial services to rural populations in southeastern Morocco.
Your own online campaign page is your trip contest entry, so set your page up by March 15 and share the importance of microcredit! Feel free to include links to web pages that help tell the story. Entries will be judged on:
Visit the Whole Planet Foundation website to create your donation page to enter the contest and to get additional details, and a full list of contest rules and criteria.
Thank you for your help to give opportunity around the globe!
Please note, while we love to hear from you in the comments, this is not a blog contest. To be entered to win a trip to Morocco you'll need to create an online campaign on Whole Planet Foundation's website.
Whole Planet Foundation®'s mission is poverty alleviation in developing-world communities where Whole Foods Market® sources products. Through microcredit, Whole Planet Foundation seeks to unleash the energy and creativity of every human being we work with in order to create wealth and prosperity in emerging economies. Whole Planet Foundation® partners with microfinance institutions in Latin America, Africa and Asia.
Learn more and meet some of the clients in this video put together with help from our Whole Planet Foundation team members in the field.
Be a part of Whole Planet Foundation's Annual Prosperity Campaign and help give opportunity around the globe. Donate online or in stores and help us reach our goal of raising $5.7 million from now until March 31!
If you re reading this, the good news is that we re still here and the Mayans just ran out of space on their calendar. Moving on to more important things like Christmas and 2013...
Like me, you probably have lots going on. Meetings to make, appointments to keep, kids soccer practice well, I m not quite there yet and countless other things. How to keep track of it all?
*Cue music* Enter the Whole Planet Foundation calendar.
The 2013 Whole Planet Foundation calendar makes a great gift and stocking stuffer (Christmas is only 3 days away, remember?) and it can help you get organized.
It also makes a real difference in the lives of countless of impoverished microentreprenuers around the world. Fully 100% of the proceeds go to support Whole Planet Foundation's work in the field. With images captured by Whole Planet Foundation team members and our partners from all over the globe, this year's calendar features beautiful photos of the very people supported by these loans in places like Bolivia, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Morocco, Peru, Rwanda, Samoa, Senegal, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam.
If you d like to learn more about the clients Whole Planet Foundation supports, you can visit their entrepreneur's page or connect with Whole Planet Foundation on Facebook and Twitter.
The 2013 calendar is only $3 and has over $40 in savings from over 25 different suppliers; you can check out list of the coupons online.
So, what's the first thing you re putting on your 2013 calendar?
Can a calendar change a life? When it's the Whole Planet Foundation® calendar, you bet it can! Available in our stores now, the 2013 calendar features over $40 in savings from over 25 different suppliers; a list of the coupons is on the Whole Planet Foundation's website.
How is this life changing? Because 100% of the money from calendar sales goes directly toward providing microlending support in more than 50 countries around the world. With images captured by Whole Planet Foundation team members working in the field and our partners from all over the world, this year's calendar features beautiful photos of the very people supported by these loans in places like Bolivia, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Morocco, Peru, Rwanda, Samoa, Senegal, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam.
These microentrepreneurs use their microloans to start or expand their businesses in small-scale farming, neighborhood shops and textiles. Aichetou, a client of Whole Planet Foundation's partner CAURIE Microfinance, used her loan to finance her beauty salon in her village in Senegal.
At only $3 each, these calendars make great gifts and stocking stuffers, or you can buy a few for yourself, for your home and office. Thanks to sponsorships from Whole Foods Market®'s supplier partners, all of the proceeds from calendar sales support microlending.
Last year, shoppers like you raised $143,000 through calendar sales. Given the fact that the average amount of a first microloan is $164 in the developing world, your support last year funded 872 loans and provided the opportunity for over 5,100 people around the world to change their own lives.
If you d like to learn more about the clients Whole Planet Foundation supports, you can visit their entrepreneur's page or connect with Whole Planet Foundation on Facebook and Twitter.
There you have it, a calendar can make a difference. Do you champion the work of Whole Planet Foundation? Why is it important to you?
