Empowering Individuals in the Global Community Through Entrepreneurship
These organizations help maximize our reach, intellectual capacity and effectiveness through technical support, fundraising support or communicating our mission with Whole Foods Market team members, customers and the general public.
The Eco Gift Expo (EGE) is the first ever holiday gift show for the eco-conscious consumer. The event will take place on December 15th and 16th, 2007, at The Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in Santa Monica, CA. During these two days, EGE will bring together approximately 15,000 holiday shoppers and 150 eco-conscious companies with the idea of turning people on to great gifts from great companies. The event will feature street performers, live music, a 100% organic food court and, of course, outstanding gift shopping.
Each year, EGE will partner with one or two foundations to which it will donate 5% of its gross proceeds. In addition, through its "Book of Giving and Receiving", EGE provides an opportunity for its vendors to donate 5% of their gross sales at the expo to the event's chosen charitable recipients.
This year, EGE has chosen to partner with the Whole Planet Foundation. We are very grateful for EGE's collaboration in helping individuals around the world create sustainable businesses through microlending programs.
EARTH University was created in 1990 under the sponsorship of the EARTH University Foundation. EARTH University in Costa Rica strives to create leaders for the 21st century - agents of change who will fundamentally shape the direction of environmental protection and development in Latin America and the global community as a whole.
The Whole Planet Foundation in partnership with Grameen Costa Rica is providing opportunities for EARTH students to experience first-hand the power of microcredit. Through a series of programs including lectures, site visits, technical assistance for microcredit clients and research projects EARTH students and faculty will have an opportunity to learn from the microcredit program as well as further their connection and betterment of the local community.
Whole Foods Market and the Whole Planet Foundation would like to thank our valued partner in raising $675,477 during our 2006-07 Prosperity Campaign. FOOD FOR ALL® is a non-profit organization dedicated to building a hunger-free world. Founded in 1985 by the U.S. food industry, FOOD FOR ALL has invested over $40 million in anti-hunger programs in the United States and around the world. FOOD FOR ALL operates point-of-sale campaigns in more than 6,000 grocery stores nationwide. FOOD FOR ALL's charitable fundraising programs are simple, creative and effective; last year alone they raised more than $4 million during their 10 week holiday season campaign. Retailers can run a FOOD FOR ALL program anytime throughout the year and customize the materials to reflect their own corporate theme. Retailers also decide which community non-profit agencies are funded. For more information about FOOD FOR ALL and its programs please contact Tracey Taylor or Steve Persitza at 800-896-5101 or visit their website at www.foodforall.org.
Global Giving is a unique online platform with a vision to unleash the potential of people around the world to make positive change happen. Their mission is to build an efficient, open, thriving marketplace that connects people who have community and world-changing ideas with people who can support them. Global Giving was founded by two former World Bank executives who decided to use the Internet to create a highly efficient marketplace. The Global Giving platform enables more funding to reach projects throughout the globe, while providing a transparent, engaging way for donors to give.
Global Vision International (GVI) was formed in 1998 to provide support and services to international charities, non-profits and governmental agencies, through volunteering opportunities and direct funding. GVI is guided by the unique belief that to be successful, volunteer and service efforts must work at the invitation and under the direction of those they are attempting to assist. Through an international network of over 150 personnel in over 30 countries within six continents, GVI continues to support many of the most critical conservation and humanitarian projects around the globe. GVI is a non-political, non-religious organization, which through its alliance with worldwide aid-reliant organizations provides volunteers with opportunities to fill a critical void in the fields of environmental research, conservation, education and community development. International partners include the South African National Parks Board, Diane Fossey Gorilla Fund, Jane Goodall Institute, Rainforest Concern and Kenyan Wildlife Service. In 2006, 78% of all volunteer contributions received were spent directly in field.
Kiva is an innovative online tool that allows lenders to connect with and loan money to unique small businesses in the developing world. By choosing a business on Kiva.org, you can "sponsor a business" and help the world's working poor make great strides towards economic independence. They partner with existing microfinance institutions that are experts in choosing qualified borrowers. Kiva is using the power of the Internet to facilitate one-to-one connections previously prohibitively expensive.
RESULTS is a nonprofit grassroots advocacy organization, committed to creating the political will to end hunger and the worst aspects of poverty. RESULTS is committed to individuals exercising their personal and political power by lobbying elected officials for effective solutions and key policies that affect hunger and poverty. Creating the will to end hunger and the worst aspects of poverty requires working on multiple fronts to resolve complicated issues that keep hunger and poverty in place.
The first Microcredit Summit, held February 2-4, 1997, in Washington, D.C., brought more than 2,900 people together from 137 countries. The Summit launched a nine-year campaign to reach 100 million of the world's poorest families, especially the women of those families, and offer credit for self-employment and other financial and business services by the year 2005. That goal was nearly reached and in November of 2006 the Campaign was re-launched and extended to 2015 with two new goals:
Universidad Francisco Marroquín (UFM) was founded in 1971, as a private, secular, coeducational, nonresidential, and nonprofit university. Its mission is to teach and disseminate the ethical, legal and economic principles of a society of free and responsible persons. Academic disciplines cover diverse areas including architecture, business administration, clinical nutrition, dentistry, economics, education, international relations, law, medicine, political studies, public accounting, psychology and social sciences.
In partnership with the Whole Planet Foundation, UFM is giving their students an opportunity to learn from the Guatemala microcredit program. A number of site visits have been conducted by students to witness the impact of microcredit. Recent projects have included joint research with MIT MBA students and participation in the international SIFE (http://www.sife.org) competition.
