NCG’s purchasing and advocacy departments recently collaborated to donate $100,000 to support the farmer cooperatives that supply long-time food co-op brand partner Equal Exchange. This donation reflects NCG’s advocacy guidelines to support cooperatives, promote an inclusive economy and improve racial equity within our supply chain. 

We made this donation in response to fundraising efforts by Equal Exchange that began shortly after they learned that their contracted $4.9 million in U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) grant funds would not be available for cooperative development projects due to an executive order by the Trump administration that effectively ended USAID programming with few exceptions. USAID’s primary goals were to partner with other countries to reduce poverty, promote democracy and improve human health globally. 

Developing Climate Resilience, Self-reliance and Democracy 

For 15 years, Equal Exchange partnered with USAID’s Cooperative Development Program to administer grant programs that taught farmers climate-friendly methods to produce higher yields on the same amount of land while maintaining organic certification, economic self-reliance, and skills for effectively managing and stewarding democratic organizations like co-ops. Grants also supported farmer co-ops to develop youth participation and practice gender equity. 

Plans for the incoming grant money were well underway when funding was lost, so Equal Exchange has chosen to go forward with the development work planned and is raising money to do so. NCG’s donation will make a huge impact toward meeting their $500,000 fundraising goal. Fully 100% of the funds raised will go directly to support farmer-centered projects and help them thrive through this period of uncertainty and financial restructuring. 

Co-op Shoppers Love Fair Trade 

According to data from the most recent Food Co-op Impact Report, NCG member food co-ops sell more Fair Trade Certified products than any other grocer as a percentage of our total sales. If your co-op would like to share this fundraising opportunity with your shoppers and community, Equal Exchange has put together a Small Farmer Fund Media Kit to make it easy to do so.