2019 Report: Strengthening Our Communities


At Starbucks we take actions to strengthen our communities by listening, supporting, investing and uplifting in meaningful ways – whether that’s the neighborhoods that host our stores, or the regions that grow our coffee. In late FY19 at Starbucks Leadership Experience, we rolled out new resources and tools to empower 12,000 store leaders in the U.S. and Canada to serve their communities in ways that align to Starbucks global social impact priorities and are also locally relevant. We’ve seen success from this especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, with examples tracked here.

Community support


16 Community Stores

Goal: Open Community Stores in 15 diverse, low to medium
income urban communities in the U.S. by the end of 2020

We’ve invested globally in 16 Community Stores, 14 in the U.S., one in South Korea, and one in Thailand, which provide extra services and resources specific to their communities. In the U.S. in FY19, new stores opened in Dallas, Birmingham, Ala. and Jonesboro, Ga., with an expanded commitment in early 2020 to operate 100 of them by 2025.

65 Military Family Stores in the U.S.

Our Military Family Stores create a welcoming space to bring active duty military and their spouses together with their communities.

3 Signing Stores globally

Our Signing Stores are designed to provide employment opportunities for deaf and hard of hearing people and drive greater connection within that community.

1,500+ Coffee with a Cop events in Starbucks stores since 2017

Goal: Promote dialogue, empathy and stronger neighborhoods through by building relationships with law enforcement and first responders
Building trusted relationships with law enforcement is an important part of sustaining a welcoming and safe environment in its stores. Starbucks has continued to build relationships and trust with law enforcement through alliances with national organizations as well as interactive Coffee with a Cop events.

Over 20 million meals donated in the U.S., with ~60% of eligible stores participating

Goal: Rescue 100% of food available to donate in all U.S. company-operated stores
Starbucks FoodShare program in the U.S., which launched in 2016 in partnership with Feeding America, packages eligible unsold food and provides meals to food banks and mobile pantries. As of June 2020, we’ve now donated more than 25 million meals, with recent spikes as food bank needs increase. We continue to learn from the many logistical challenges of ongoing perishable food delivery as we increase the scale of this program.

Internationally, similar programs exist in several markets, including a FoodShare launch in Canada in FY19 and food waste programs in 13 countries across EMEA.

The Starbucks Foundation


Service Fellows program launch

Goal: Test an innovative community service model
After a successful test in FY19, we expanded The Starbucks Foundation Service Fellows program, in which 100 Starbucks hourly store partners in 20 cities work 20 hours in their store each week while spending another 20 hours with a local nonprofit. The program is catalytic in communities that need support and provides an opportunity for Starbucks partners to build local nonprofit capacity and further serve their communities.

Nearly $16 million in grants

Goal: Strengthen local communities
The Starbucks Foundation provided nearly $16 million in grants in FY19, including:

  • $1 million toward disaster relief
  • Nearly 500 Neighborhood Grants in the U.S. and Canada totaling more than $700,000
  • 63 Opportunity for All Grants totaling $1.4 million
  • $2 million generated during holiday giving to 8 nonprofit organizations
  • Origin grants as detailed in the Leading in Sustainability section

Internationally, The Starbucks Foundation invested in programs that promote opportunity, from refugee employment programs in Europe to youth-focused grants in partnership with the Alsea Foundation across multiple Latin American markets.

In the U.S., The Starbucks Foundation has a partnership with the American Red Cross supporting disaster preparedness, response and recovery in the U.S. Responses in FY19 included those to Hurricane Dorian and mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton. 

The Starbucks Foundation’s Neighborhood Grants help build sustained local impact and inspire increased partner volunteerism with nonprofit organizations that work in our communities. This program was launched in FY19, inviting hundreds of store managers to nominate local nonprofit organizations that are meaningful in their communities. Similarly, The Starbucks Foundation awarded Greener Apron grants to multiple environmental organizations submitted by Greener Apron-certified partners.

The Starbucks Foundation’s Opportunity for All Grants help support organizations creating pathways to lifelong opportunity and programs, which create job and training opportunities for people who may face barriers.

The Starbucks Foundation celebrated the holiday season by matching customer donations to eight nonprofit partners through the Match the Magic campaign.

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2024 EMEA Barista Championships