Growers First Blog

Christmas shopping? Check.

Here at Growers First, we're excited about the holidays, and even more excited that we don't have to search far and wide for the perfect holiday gift. The answer is obviously Growers First coffee.

We just sent out our holiday email promoting this gift, as well as announcing the chance to get free Growers First swag and sharing a pretty cool story about Rito. If you didn't get the email, you can check it out below.

This holiday season you can help the Growers First Foundation by giving the gift of coffee! Stuff stockings or tie bows 'round bags of Growers First as you treat friends, family, customers and employees to a coffee that empowers the farmers who grew it. Giving coffee is easy - we'll deliver it with a personalized message from you right to the doors of the people you care about most. Visit our store, add coffee or a coffee club subscription to your cart, and at the checkout, put in the address of the friend, loved one, or colleague that deserves being treated to a warm gift. Add a personalized note in the comment field, and it will be delivered along with their coffee.       With every 6 month or greater subscription to the coffee club, we'll add a free Growers First Coffee mug! Let the world know the empowerment you support with every cup you drink.     If you've seen the Growers First video about Rito, you'll be happy to know that the impact you've made on his life is getting paid forward. Several board members and their families worked alongside Rito to put in another cement floor over Thanksgiving. Chavalito is pictured here with his wife and youngest daughter. Rito used to make $97/year when he started with Growers First, now he makes $1500/year and has the nicest home in the village. Chavalito has 11 kids and had a dirt floor...until today.

Growers First Foundation just got back from a trip to Honduras to visit all of the farmers that it does such great work with. The coffee crop for this year is looking amazing with growers having planted nearly 1 million seedlings this year!

Check out more about the work of the Growers First Foundation here: growersfirst.org.

Annie Dillard on caffeine and the writing life:

 "I drank coffee in titrated doses. It was a tricky business, requiring the finely tuned judgment of a skilled anesthesiologist. There was a tiny range within which coffee was effective, short of which it was useless, and beyond which, fatal."

Where does this product come from? Does it help or hurt people and the planet? Can you prove it? As more and more consumers ask questions like these they create an environment where companies are rewarded for making a demonstrably positive impact in the world. Companies are scrambling to show how they are doing good and the transparency that communication technologies bring is helping to keep them honest.

We think this is a new consumer revolution that can translate the everyday activity of buying into sustainable life-change for the world's poor.

Coffee played a substantial role in the first consumer revolution (google consumer revolution) and will play a pivotal role in this one. 2.5 billion cups are consumed everyday globally. Join with us. Demand traceability, transparency and transformation.

In 2010 we decided that the best way to help Growers First go from serving 600 remote coffee farmers to 6000 was to begin to market and sell their coffee directly, creating the revenue and awareness needed to expand the work.  Growers First Coffee is a new-world business enterprise designed leverage the power of a for-profit company to help substantially expand the work of Grower First Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. The Growers First Foundation is an owner of Growers First Coffee.

Reach out to us to learn more about our social enterprise model or tell us about your venture. Business as mission, LC3s, B-Corps — we love to talk about new-world business. Do good, do well, repeat.