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It’s been a little while since we provided an update on the impact of Commonfolk’s social initiative The Cup That Counts. For those of you somewhat unfamiliar with the initiative head on over to the TCTC page for some context.
We’ve got a little bit of ground to cover here, but it’s worth it I promise.
Brew yourself a nice cup of ethically sourced coffee and sit down for some heart warming impact!
If you can’t be bothered reading the entire thing, no judgement.
But check out these stats:
- $20,000 donated to the Zukuka Bora coffee project in October 2022 and $209,771.98 of total donations since 2014
- 2000 farmers and more than 20,000 people directly impacted by the commercial opportunities created by Zukuka Bora throughout the 2022 harvest
- Over $4000 raised for Home Ground by running a marathon from Commonfolk Franga to Beauy and back again
- Over 3000 kg of coffee donated to Home Ground since 2018 with a wholesale value of over $100,000
- 80 young people have completed Home Ground’s 10 week holistic hospitality training program with many gaining employment
- $2000 committed to supporting Ben Whittaker and Shared Value Project
- To date a combined $389K of value raised for The Cup That Counts
Not too shabby at all.
Zukuka Bora
The Zukuka Bora coffee project was the first partner we supported. From humble beginnings in 2015 we’ve been able to invest, both philanthropically and commercially, to help build it into the industry leading coffee producer it is today. For the first time we were lucky enough to host a member of the ZB team in Australia. Dave Bishop, ZB’s volunteer project leader, stayed with us in September to exhibit with Commonfolk at the Melbourne International Coffee Expo. We were hoping that he would also be joined by Ivan Khuaka but unfortunately immigration are tough nuts to crack [if anyone has any tips let us know]
It was incredible to be joined by someone so invested at a farming and producing level. We hosted a Q&A evening at our Mornington HQ and an engaged crowd peppered Dave with dozens of questions ranging from worker conditions and wages, experimental processing, and how to best tell the incredible story of crop to cup to our communities here in Australia.
The cherry on top was witnessing Dave serve his very own coffee to some of the industry's heavy weights at MICE. We’re clearly biased but we reckon his coffee was among the absolute best being poured at the event. With the attention of some of Australia’s best roasters captured we’ve no doubt Zukuka Bora is even better placed to expand its operations in the coming years.
It’s now time for Zukuka to dig deep into the new harvest. Quality is looking high but it is already looking like a slightly smaller crop. This, partnered with a high commodity price and strong US dollar, will likely see farmers fetch record prices on Mt Elgon. We’re committed to partnering with Zukuka regardless, but the ability to juggle cash flow while forward paying for coffee we won’t see for another 12 months will be a challenge.
From a funding perspective we’re excited to share that we have just sent over an additional $20,000 to help with infrastructure and transport needs for the new harvest. This brings our total funds donated to Zukuka Bora up to $209,771.98 to date. Without this money Zukuka Bora would never have been able to expand to all of the farming communities it works with. The funds raised have brought hope and opportunity to more than 20,000 of Mt Elgon’s most vulnerable people.
Home Ground
A week ago I pulled on my runners, chucked some tape on my nipples, and embarked on the first of 42 km to raise funds for Home Ground. Through the generosity of our donors we managed to raise $3855 through gofundme, and will be able to top up that total with funds raised from the sale of coffee donated by Marcelo and his team at Minas Hill and our farming partners Cafe Labareda. I’m no Eliud Kipchoge but I managed to finish in the respectable time of 4 hrs 14 mins with one less big toenail, some seriously chaffed nips, but a whole heap of funding for Home Ground’s training program.
To date Home Ground has helped more than 80 young people complete their 10 weeks holistic hospitality training program, with many gaining meaningful employment upon completion. We recently welcomed the latest cohort of trainees into Commonfolk’s barista training facility and we’re excited to see their progress as they journey towards developing the skills and confidence required to work in our great industry.
The future's looking bright for Home Ground as they continue to broaden their impact in the Tanti community. They have recently been gifted a house to be used to run community programs and further strengthen their positive influence on the lives of their neighbors. Franki and the cafe team have launched Home Ground catering and are already reaching capacity. What a fantastic thing to have your next event catered by young people who otherwise wouldn’t have had the opportunity.
To date Commonfolk has donated more than 3000 kg of roasted coffee to Home Ground with a wholesale value of over $100K. We have also provided industry leading barista training to all of Home Ground’s staff, volunteers and of course trainees.
Shared Value Project
It’s been a difficult time for anyone working internationally in the impact space and Commonfolk partner Ben Whittaker has had to face up to many challenges. Originally launching the Shared Value Project in Nicaragua with a focus on making safe and clean biomass stoves for coffee workers – he has chosen to relocate to Mexico to relaunch the program in the Chiapas region. He has teamed up with a fellow Kiwi and school teacher to work towards opening a social enterprise cafe in San Cristobal de las Casa. We’re following Ben’s progress closely and have committed $2000 towards the transition into Mexico.
You can keep up to date with everything Ben’s doing by subscribing to his substack blog.
Climate
Commonfolk’s values of investing with integrity into quality, people and pioneering has always guided our decisions in business. Our values are the reason we started The Cup That Counts and the reason why we choose to operate the way we do. Coffee tastes so much better when you know that it’s actively doing good for all the hands it passes through. We have been incredibly intentional about the social impact of our business.
Something that we’ve always been aware of is the way that our social impact is intrinsically linked with our climate impact. For us to be truly invested in our farming and producing partners we also need to be invested in making a climate positive impact. If climate change isn’t addressed nearly 50% of all land suitable for growing arabica coffee will be wiped out by 2050.
To date our approach has been very organic. We’ve made commitments to always choose a climate positive option if it was available and we have invested in a number of projects to minimise our impact. We have a 35kw solar system with two Tesla batteries installed at our headquarters and this has cut our power consumption by more than half. We’ve chosen to eliminate plastic from all of our venues, and consciously choose the most environmentally friendly option available [reusable > compostable > recyclable > waste] for our packaging. However with the news like the suspension of REDcycle’s soft plastics recycling scheme we realise that even the best made plans are fraught with risk. Long story short… we can all do better.
This is why we’re dedicating 2023 to focusing on ways Commonfolk can become climate positive. We want to become intentional about our climate impact and understand in detail; a) what impact we actually have, b) how to best measure it, and c) what we need to start doing asap. We’re dedicating time and resources to ensure that this doesn’t just become lipservice. Our climate impact will be led by Bec, our brand & purpose guru, who will explore new ways that we can do better, become more collaborative, support existing initiatives, and create new things that leave our world better in better shape than we found it. We’d love you to reach out if you have any ideas about how we can up our climate game.
Thanks you so much for your attention
We’re proud to be doing our bit. We’ve got a long way to go, but it’s nice to know that we have the unwavering support of our incredible community.
Coffee that tastes good is nice. Coffee that tastes good and does good is bloody fantastic!
Cheers
Sammy ‘the Badger’ Keck
Managing Director
