Remember when you were told that you had to give 100% commitment to be the best you could possibly be ? It applies to most things in our lives of course but when we're talking about helping to save our planet then giving just 1% is a good start.
A year ago I was inspired by a book I was given as a gift. It was one of those awakening experiences which motivated me to make a statement of my own values and the values I've tried to build into Crankhouse as a brand and a company . The book was called "Let my people go Surfing" written by Yvon Chouinard and is a description on his journey as a mountain climber who reluctantly became a businessman and the philosophy and values of the company he created, Patagonia. One of the take-home messages of the book is that as a business owner he could make ethical decisions which affected the environmental wellbeing of our planet. In 2001 he started an alliance of businesses that committed at least 1 percent of their net annual sales to groups on a list of researched and approved environmental organisations.
Crankhouse Coffee has just joined this alliance: 1% for the planet. Their mission is to build, support and activate an alliance of businesses financially committed to creating a healthy planet.
We have for the past few years been making a small contribution via green coffee purchases through the Checkoff program to World Coffee Research. WCR are a nonprofit organisation performing collaborative research and development within the global coffee industry to grow, protect, and enhance supplies of quality coffee while improving the livelihood of the families who produce it. They are a 1% for the planet partner and we're very happy to make a significant increase in our contribution to them.
Our second non-profit partner of 1% for the planet that we will be contributing to is Rainforest Trust UK. They are a UK registered charity with a mission to protect our planets threatened tropical rain forests and endangered wildlife. They partner with local community organisations in and around vulnerable areas.
If you've been a fan of Crankhouse for a while then you'll know that we have run some special events and giveaways for UK Coffee Week which normally happens around April. Previously we've held a Latte Art throw-down, a public cupping (pre covid of course) featuring some of the UK's best coffee roasters and made a percentage contribution of a weeks online coffee sales during UK Coffee week. Moneys raised from these efforts go to UK Coffee Weeks charity partner Project Waterfall whose mission is to bring clean drinking water, sanitation and education to coffee growing communities. We'll be increasing our efforts to contribute to this charity going forward so look out for an announcement regarding this when UK Coffee Week comes around this year via our social channels. Another 1% for the planet partner.
Closer to home we'll be making a contribution to Devon Wildlife trust (since we're based in the beautiful county of Devon), a conservation body who run and manage a number of wildlife reserves and projects with a vision of Devon that is rich in all wildlife, where people enjoy and care about the natural world and take steps to safeguard it for the future.
In addition to these direct contributions we will endeavour to choose suppliers that have made similar commitments to causes such as 1% for the planet.
Part of the motivation to make this commitment is down to one of Crankhouse's oldest customers who has become something of a business mentor and friend, who gave me a nudge in the right direction. Thanks William.
Warm regards
Dave
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