Fair Trade

Ecocentricity blog by Ray C. Anderson Foundation.

Kate Danaher, RSF Social Finance Lending Manager, talks with Chris Mann of Guayakí and Rob Everts of Equal Exchange.

Human Rights Day is celebrated internationally each year on December 10th to commemorate the day in 1948 when the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This declaration was a milestone in recognizing fundamental human rights to be universally protected, such as the right to free choice of employment or the right to education. Why not celebrate Human Rights Day everyday by purchasing Fair Trade Certified products at your favorite local supermarket?

General wisdom - and the occasional ‘feel good’ stories covered by local news channels about corporations that went above and beyond to serve their local communities - tell us that a company garners a lot of goodwill when it champions local causes, fair business practices and responsible environmental stewardship… and now, a 2015 Community Involvement survey by Boston College’s Center for Corporate Citizenship shows that corporate philanthropy programs that include local community oriented development projects provide a huge boost to a corporation’s business goals.

Earlier this year, hundreds of people from around the world took on a challenge to fix our global food system by looking to nature for design solutions. Now, eight finalist teams have been invited to prototype their solutions in an accelerator program that will award $100,000 to the top contender in an effort to increase speed to market for biomimetic solutions to global problems.

American companies understand that strengthening individuals, communities, and ecosystems around the globe is good for business. The U.S. Chamber Foundation Corporate Citizenship Center’s (CCC) latest report, Mapping the Food Security Landscape, aims to help the private sector maximize their impact in the food security space.