Coffee Leading the Way for Community Impact
Contact Name: Karen Cebreros
Email: karen@coffeecares.net
Phone: 619.889.1997
Project URL: http://www.coffeecares.net/
Organization Name: Track What Counts
Project: Coffee Cares
Location: The United States
Projected Impact: 100,000
Project Description
The past two decades have seen a lot of buzz about corporate social responsibility (CSR). Consumers are increasingly demanding transparency, authenticity, and consideration of more than just the bottom line. Instead, the success of a business is being judged by the strength of its triple bottom line – people, planet, and profit. In many ways, the values of the coffee industry, which are quality, relationships, and community, are already aligned with the idea of a triple bottom line. However, despite admirable progress on protecting the planet, the first pillar, the people, has received relatively little attention in the realm of corporate responsibility, particularly when it comes to measuring the impact of businesses on communities. In response to the need to bring more awareness and data to the human impact of the coffee industry, Karen Cebreros decided to create Coffee Cares.
Even before corporate social responsibility was a hot topic, the coffee industry was actively engaged in strengthening communities, both in the United States and globally. Coffee Cares’ founder, Karen Cebreros, is recognized as a pioneer in the global certified organic and sustainability movements. Like Karen, many in the coffee industry are dedicated to serving people, whether it is by donating coffee to community events, making philanthropic donations to non-profit organizations, or by volunteering their time and expertise in growing communities. With all of this activity, and much more to be done, there is a strong business case for tracking and telling the story of that positive impact. However, within an industry that is already doing so much to support employees, the supply chain, and communities, many in the coffee industry are missing an opportunity to maximize profits when they do not share that impact story.
For many roasters, distributors, and café owners, dedicating limited time and resources to tracking and reporting social impact is a major challenge. Coffee Cares is the employee engagement and corporate social responsibility solution that will help overcome that challenge. An end-to-end solution, Coffee Cares equips companies with the tools and expertise necessary to execute outstanding social impact programs. From designing initiatives to involving employees to tracking and reporting on the impact being made, Coffee Cares delivers a custom corporate social responsibility solution that will strengthen the people and profit pillars of the triple bottom line with one-on-one support and access to some of the industry’s top coffee and corporate social responsibility experts. The software service provides an intuitive and effortless way to track employee and community volunteer hours, in-kind donations, and philanthropic contributions, plus photos and stories from community events and volunteer engagements. Employees within a company and between coffee businesses have the opportunity to connect and collaborate on volunteer projects, community initiatives, and fundraising campaigns. This type of employee engagement in the social mission of a company has been shown to improve loyalty and productivity, and draw more talented staff. Once the good work has been done, Coffee Cares will help craft a compelling report and narrative about a business that truly cares about people.
From tree to cup, the coffee industry is already doing quantifiable good in the lives it touches. Coffee Cares enables businesses to do well as a result of doing good.
