Starbucks donates £250,000 to support farmers in East Africa

Starbucks Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and Send a Cow join forces to help 3,000 people in Rwanda with the new Coffee + Cows project

26th July 2017; Starbucks has collaborated on a new project with international development charity, Send a Cow, to help farming communities in Rwanda develop effective and sustainable farming practices. Today’s launch of the three-year Coffee + Cows project will directly benefit over 3,000 people by providing them with training in sustainable farming techniques, gender and social development, and the supply of livestock.

Starbucks and Send a Cow’s partnership began when Starbucks partners (employees) visited a project run by the charity in Rwanda during a company trip to visit coffee farms. Partners were so inspired by their experience, they began a fundraising campaign in Starbucks UK stores for Send a Cow. This activity raised £100,000, which is equivalent to 153 farming families being provided with a dairy cow.

For the Coffee + Cows project launching today, Starbucks will be donating 50p from every sale of at-home coffee sold in stores, including bags of whole bean coffee, espresso capsules and VIA.* Customers will also see the Send a Cow partnership displayed on Starbucks Chilled Classics range of chilled coffees, found in supermarkets and local convenience stores, until October.

Through the partnership Send a Cow and Starbucks will:

Support over 3,000 people to have access to a reliable food source, improved nutrition and the help to step-up out of poverty

Provide over 2,300 hours of training that will teach essential skills in sanitation, gender equality, agronomy, sustainable farming practices and entrepreneurship

Provide life changing resources of livestock (cows, goats, chickens), tools, fruit trees and seeds

Martin Brok, president, Starbucks EMEA said: “This partnership was born from the passion of our partners, something we are incredibly proud of. We want to raise awareness of the essential work Send a Cow do to help farming communities in East Africa, through the at-home coffee sold in our stores and our chilled coffees in supermarkets. We are committed to ethically sourcing the coffee we serve, and that includes giving back to the farmers who grow such a wonderful product for us to enjoy. We’re looking forward to sharing this message with our customers and seeing how our donation is supporting Send a Cow projects in Rwanda.”

Send a Cow CEO, Paul Stuart said: ‘‘We have built a fantastic partnership with the team at Starbucks and we are delighted to launch the new Coffee + Cows project today. Our two organisations share many of the same values and commitment to supporting smallholder farmers and a responsibility to encouraging sustainable practices. We are looking forward to working together to implement real change to communities in Rwanda.’’

*From 27th July 2017 to 6th September 2017, to a maximum value of £100,000.

Editors' Note

Starbucks is proud to have reached the milestone of 99% certified ethically sourced coffee through its Coffee and Farmer Equity (C.A.F.E) Practices, developed with Conservation International. C.A.F.E. Practices is a set of sustainability standards, which are designed to help farmers grow coffee in a way that’s better for both people and the planet. Over one million coffee farmers on four continents have benefitted from the programme. Starbucks is also a founding member of the Sustainable Coffee Challenge with Conservation International, with an ambition to make coffee the first sustainable agricultural commodity in the world.