Industry: Coffee

Headquarters: Minneapolis, MN

Founder: Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP)

Founded: 1996

Number of Employees: 12

Markets: Midwest United States

Interviewed: Andy Lambert, Event and Outreach Coordinator

Peace Coffee is Minneapolis-based 100% fair trade organic shade grown coffee company that was started in 1996. The firm buys coffee directly from farmer-owned and operated coffee cooperatives from six different countries (Guatemala, Mexico, Colombia, Nicaragua, Ethiopia and Sumatra.) The coffee is delivered locally in the Minneapolis area by bike. To deliver to suburban accounts, the firm uses a van that is 100% bio-diesel. The company’s commitment to fair trade and organic farms goes well beyond buying coffee; the firm also practices social and environmental responsibility when it delivers its coffee and operates its business. Peace Coffee is a for-profit subsidiary of a nonprofit organization. The nonprofit organization that owns Peace Coffee is the Institute for Agricultural and Trade Policy (IATP).

The community involvement philosophy of Peace Coffee revolves around the firm’s total devotion to the idea of a fairly traded, farmer-friendly product and the wonders of a great cup of coffee. The fair trade principles the firm uses to buy its coffee facilitate the farmers and their communities to thrive in a sustainable way, giving them the capacity to improve their own quality of life. The firm also believes it is important for small business to support their local community, whether in supporting the arts, education or supporting other small businesses, working and making connections to help their own business thrive.

Peace Coffee

2801 21st Ave S #120

Minneapolis, MN 55407

www.peacecoffee.com  

Fair Trade: http://www.peacecoffee.com/fairtrade.htm  

Industry: Cosmetics

Headquarters: New York, NY

Founder: Jody Weiss

Founded: 2002

Markets: Nationwide

Interviewed: Jody Weiss, President

Peacekeeper Cause-Metics is a cosmetics company that donates its after-tax profits to urgent human rights issues and women’s health advocacy issues. Peacekeeper has given one half of one percent of its gross revenues to domestic violence issues each year and will continue to do so until profitable, when all profits after costs and reasonable retained earnings will be given to charity. The firm’s first donation was given to UNIFEM (United Nations Development Fund for Women) for its work on behalf of women and girls worldwide. In addition, Peacekeeper has given over $25,000 in retail merchandise to women’s focused non-profit organizations for their silent auctions or VIP programming. Peacekeeper produces a mineral-based cosmetics line without harsh chemicals or synthetic preservatives. Even as of 2005, the company’s products were already acceptable under the European cosmetic directive of 2007, which holds cosmetics companies selling in Europe to higher standards in terms of the ingredients utilized in their products.

Peacekeeper’s community involvement philosophy is based on the idea that women of privilege and of status who have the privilege to afford lipstick and other luxuries should be able to help women with less privilege that maybe have never held a lipstick in their life. The slogan is “look good, feel good, do good,” whereby the firm helps women both in the United States and overseas who are disadvantaged.

Peacekeeper Cause-Metics

50 Lexington Ave #22G

New York, New York 10010

www.iamapeacekeeper.com  

Advocacy Issues: http://www.iamapeacekeeper.com/advocacy/advocacy.html  

Industry: Coffee

Headquarters: Seattle, WA

Founders: Chris Dearnley and John Sage

Founded: 1992

Markets: Nationwide

Interviewed: John Sage, Chairman of the Board and Co-Founder

PuraVida Coffee has grown to become one of the largest sellers of Fair Trade, organic coffee in the U.S. The mission of PuraVida is to create good by using capitalism to empower producers, motivate consumers, inspire business leaders, and ultimately serve the poor. From the very beginning, the founders viewed PuraVida as an engine to generate awareness and funding for the programs the firm runs in Costa Rica. The company is involved in four neighborhoods in San Jose with six full time staff, and a crew of about thirty volunteers providing hot food and nutritious meals six days a week to about 500 kids. It also operates four computer centers and an extensive after school soccer program that gives kids a way to get off the streets and to be in a community surrounded by people who really care for them. It is in these ways that the business makes community transformations possible. In addition, the firm builds an emotional connection between the producers of the coffee and other beverages, and the consumers who buy them. The goal is to transform the daily act of making a cup of coffee into an act that creates change in the world.

The involvement philosophy of PuraVida is based on the idea that business has enormous potential to multiply resources; capitalism is unique in its ability to take a good idea and capital and to return results to shareholders in a dramatic way. It is the basis of PuraVida’s involvement philosophy that those same principles should be applied on behalf of positive social change. As a result, the community involvement of the company inspires its customers and increases their loyalty to the PuraVida company.

PuraVida Coffee

3517 Stone Way N.
Seattle, WA 98103

www.puravidacoffee.com  

Industry: Food service, Beer brewery

Headquarters: Louisville, CO

Founded: 2000

Markets: Selected states, Nationwide

Interviewed: Jessica Newman

Rock Bottom Foundation is the corporate giving arm for Rock Bottom Restaurants, Inc. which includes, Rock Bottom Restaurants and Brewery, Old Chicago Restaurants, The Chop House and Brewery brands, Sing Sing, Walnut Brewery and Boulder Beer Company. Dedicated to combating hunger in the communities in which they live and operate restaurants, the Foundation provides support through the restaurants to organizations and programs that address this social issue. Rock Bottom Restaurants believes in giving back to the communities in which they do business. All of the restaurants are casual dining establishments featuring friendly attentive service, high-quality, moderately priced food, and a distinctive selection of micro brewed and specialty beer served in a comfortable and entertaining atmosphere.

Rock Bottom Restaurant’s mission statement is “to run great restaurants for the benefit of our guests, our communities and ourselves”. To that end, the firm started the Foundation, which became the engine for all of the firm’s volunteer projects, and the giving to and support of the community, specifically in the area of hunger and homelessness. The Foundation also facilitates the firm’s support of any of its employees who are in a crisis situation, a home fire, a medical emergency, a death in the family, or any other unexpected needs.

Rock Bottom Foundation
248 Centennial Parkway
Louisville, CO 80027

www.rockbottomrestaurantsinc.com  

Industry: Cleaning products

Headquarters: Burlington, VT

Founder: Jeffrey Hollender

Founded: 1987

            Markets: Nationwide

            Interviewed: Gregor Barnum, Director of Corporate Consciousness

Seventh Generation is a producer and seller of over 52 different environmentally friendly cleaning products, including soaps and paper products. It is the number one producer of non-toxic, environmentally safe household cleaning products in the country. The name refers to seven generation sustainability, the idea that decisions should be considered for their impact on the seventh generation to come, inspired by the laws of the Iroquois. The business began as a catalogue company and has, over the years, changed the catalogue model to retail distribution in thousands of natural product and grocery stores nationwide.

The community involvement philosophy of Seventh Generation is closely related to the philosophy that gave the company its name – the idea of doing business in a way that improves the plant and communities for future generations. As a small company starting out, Seventh Generation did not have a lot of money to throw at the problem of improving the community. Instead, the company looks for proactive ways to solve community and environmental problems. The company tries to be a satisfying company to work for and do business with; a major part of that effort is having a well-developed vision of what it means to be a responsible business and a good corporate citizen.

Seventh Generation

60 Lake Street
Burlington, VT 05401

www.seventhgeneration.com

Making a Difference: http://www.seventhgeneration.com/making_difference/  

Industry: Accessories

Headquarters: Scottsdale, AZ

Founder: Maria Simone

Founded: 1998

Markets: Nationwide

Interviewed: Maria Simone, Co-Founder and CEO

Combining fashion, culture and the allure of travel, Signature Accents helps its customers salute their hometown or pay tribute to a great city they’ve visited. The firm’s collectible line of opulent silk accessories commemorates some of the country’s favorite travel destinations. The whole concept behind Signature Accents is to create unique silk scarves and other accessories that celebrate the cities. In 1998, the first City Scarf was designed by a creative team for the San Francisco Mayor’s Office of Protocol. Mayor Willie Brown gave the elegant scarf, printed with cherished landmarks of the city, such as cable cars, the Golden Gate Bridge and Victorian row houses, to visiting celebrities, dignitaries and VIPs. Sophia Loren, Hillary Clinton and Mrs. Anwar Sadat were among the recipients. The founders of Signature Accents wanted to create new symbols of urban national pride, very colorful, artistic, unique and updated souvenirs that would excite customers to wear them and celebrate a city they care about.

Signature Accents grows its business by giving back to organizations in the community. The firm facilitates customers to support a good cause when they purchase a scarf to celebrate their favorite city. As the company makes a scarf to celebrate a specific city, it also finds local non-profit organizations to support within that city so that proceeds from a city scarf go directly to a good cause within that same city. Some of the programs that help to facilitate the company’s give back include charitable giving built into the business model, donations of products at cost for non-profit fundraising efforts, product releases timed with non-profit events, and the personal work of the CEO with national non-profits such as the American Cancer Society and Arthritis Association.

Signature Accents, Inc.

4221 N. Winfield Scott Plaza, Suite One
Scottsdale, AZ 85251

www.cityscarves.com

Industry: Insurance services

Headquarters: Bloomington, IL

Founder: George J. Mecherle

Founded: 1922

Number of Employees: 68,000

Markets: United States, Canada

Interviewed: Clayton Adams, Vice President Community Development

Tony Woller, Assistant Director

Mike Williams, Manager of Media Relations

State Farm is an Insurance firm that was founded by George J Mecherle in 1922. In a little over 80 years, State Farm has grown from a small, farming-community-based mutual auto insurer to one of the world’s largest financial institutions. Despite this tremendous growth, the founder’s original philosophy of insurance coverage at a fair price, coupled with fair claim settlement, has remained the cornerstone of the firm’s success. Today, State Farm Insurance Companies is one of the 25 largest corporations on the Fortune 500. State Farm’s 17,000 agents and 68,000 employees serve over 74 million auto, fire, life, and health policies in the United States and Canada, and more than 1.8 million bank accounts.

State Farm has been involved with the community since its inception. Community involvement is crucial to the company’s brand and slogan “like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.” This is not just a slogan; it is what the firm sincerely believes and what it practices. The company’s agents, its employees, have always been involved in the community, trying to become good neighbors. The firm’s mission is to help people manage the risk of everyday life, recover from the unexpected, and realize their dreams, and the community involvement contributes to the company’s fulfillment of this mission.

State Farm

1 State Farm Plaza

Bloomington, Illinois 61710

www.statefarm.com

Community: http://www.statefarm.com/about/part_spos/part_spos.asp

Industry: Dairy products

Headquarters: Manchester, NH

Founder: Samuel Kaymen

Founded: 1983

Markets: United States, France, United Kingdom, Canada

Interviewed: Gary Hirshberg, President and CEO

Stonyfield Farm produces and sells healthy, organic dairy products. The company makes the number-one selling brand of organic yogurt and number-three overall yogurt brand in the United States.The firm’s founders set out to try to prove that a business could make the environment and family farmers a priority and still succeed and be economical; they have proven that bottom line orientation is not a prerequisite for business success. Stonyfield Farm is committed to keeping artificial ingredients out of food. To that end, the firm uses only pure all natural and organic ingredients, with no preservatives or artificial flavors, colors and sweeteners. Stonyfield only uses premium milk from farmers who have pledged not to use the synthetic bovine growth hormone, rBGH. All of the organic ingredients are produced without the use of antibiotics, synthetic growth hormones or toxic and persistent pesticides and fertilizers.

Stonyfield Farm’s community involvement philosophy is based on the idea that business needs to be part of the solution to environmental, social, and community problems. The mission is to show consumers that they can relate to commerce in a different way, beyond just the exchange of money and products. Stonyfield wants to change the way consumers view business from a way to make some people rich at the expense of others, to a force that can do genuine good in communities and the world.

Stonyfield Farm

1050 Perimeter Road,

Manchester, NH 03103

www.stonyfield.com

Industry: Personal hygiene/grooming products

Headquarters: Port Washington, NY

Founder: Dal LaMagna

Founded: 1980

Markets: Nationwide

Interviewed: Lisa Bowen, President

Jeannie Barnet, Director of Corporate Communications

Tweezerman is a supplier of premium grade precision grooming implements for men and women. Tweezerman International (TMI) has long been recognized in the beauty industry for setting the highest standards of quality, reliability and service with every product it offers. The firm provides its customers with tools that are built to last, with a lifetime guarantee and a free sharpening policy on all its implements. Tweezerman is a subsidiary of Zwilling J.A. Henckels group which is based in Solingen, Germany. The company was founded by Dal LaMagna who started with a simple precision tweezers that did not yet exist in the marketplace, from which he launched a revolution in personal grooming products. Tweezerman International features five product lines, including its latest, His Tweezerman, introduced in 2004 to meet the special grooming needs of men. Customers can purchase the full array of Tweezerman products through professional beauty suppliers as well as top cosmetic and department stores, chain drug stores,
and specialty shops.

TMI operates a second bottom line, allocating 5% of profits to charitable organizations, while actively supporting the communities in which it operates. From the start, Tweezerman’s founder was passionate about giving back to the community. For the first ten years of business profits were minimal, and so was the amount of monetary give-back the company could afford. However, as the company has grown, so have the efforts to get involved in the communities in which the firm does business. What started out small is now a committee-run allocation of funds to causes that are decided on a yearly basis, including women’s issues, local organizations, and children’s causes.

Tweezerman International
2 Tri Harbor Court,
Port Washington, NY 11050
www.tweezerman.com
Social Responsibility: http://www.tweezerman.com/index.cfm?page=page&pageid=16

Industry: Vehicle services

Headquarters: Denver, CO

Founder: Ramon Elder

Founded: 1993

Markets: Virginia Village Neighborhood, Denver, CO

Interviewed: Ramon Elder, Owner

Virginia Village Texaco is a neighborhood Texaco gas station on the corner of Holly and Florida in Denver, CO. The location is an old style Texaco, with full service, where people pull in to have their gas pumped, their tires checked, and other services performed on their cars. Due to the full service offered, the firm is patronized by many senior citizens and other neighbors in the community. The firm thrives on its close relationship with its surrounding community, which it fosters through its community involvement practices.

Virginia Village Texaco’s community involvement is about supporting the neighborhood where the firm is located and getting support from the community in return. According to Ramon Elder, “if anyone is going to support you, it is going to be your neighbors.”

Virginia Village Texaco

1510 S. Holly,

Denver, Colorado, 80222