Pura Vida Coffee is the subsidiary of a charity targeted at helping children in coffee-growing communities break the cycle of poverty. As the subsidiary of a charitable umbrella organization, all of its profits go to the charitable endeavors of the non-profit. Yet this hasn’t stopped the company from rapid expansion: Pura Vida Coffee has become one of the largest distributors of fair trade organic coffee and sustainable beverages, and is penetrating college campus coffee shops across the country.
The unique company/charity was founded by two long-time friends and business school colleagues with the primary goal of making profits to support cofounder Chris Dearnley’s charitable programs in Costa Rica.
On top of incremental economic benefit that comes from purchasing high grade and premium priced Fair Trade Coffee from communities, Pura Vida Partners (the parent non-profit) now operates multiple after-school programs and soup kitchens. In the city of San Jose it serves meals to 500 kids six days a week, and it is expanding to Ethiopia as sales and the popularity of programs grow.
Pura Vida Partners focuses on using local groups and pre-existing infrastructure to develop regional programs rather than importing its own systems. In order to do this, it generally tries to find a separate native organization to help with each of the three pillars of community transformation: physical health & well-being, education, and strength of spirit & character. This fusion of grassroots organizations and corporate funding is ultimately what stands out about Pura Vida.
The official mission of the Coffee company is to: “create good by using capitalism to empower producers, motivate consumers, inspire business leaders, and ultimately serve the poor.” The combination of business strategy and philanthropic and community goals led them to the tag line: ‘tough minded, tender hearted’ and won them a Better Business Bureau award for Philanthropy.
This philanthropic mission has also earned Pura Vida a very loyal customer base. Sales have spread predominantly by mouth, and the company has counted on devoted customers who are willing to go out of their way to buy sustainable and responsible products. Coffee must be ordered online, and customers often donate directly to the charity when ordering coffee. This is the kind of commitment that can be especially hard to find in the convenience-oriented beverage market. One of the most loyal customer segments has naturally been the college community, and as such Pura Vida Coffee is aggressively searching deals to serve coffee on college campuses.
Cofounder John Sage attributes much of this loyal customer base to the emotional connection between coffee growers and coffee consumers, as Pura Vida Coffee links these two communities. It goes beyond monetarily and emotionally linking them, Pura Vida also runs volunteer programs. The programs bring consumers and other willing volunteers, whether they be children, families, or adults, to the communities it serves.
As for the challenges of marrying a business and non-profit, there are certainly plenty. The two greatest obstacles for Pura Vida have been at the intersection of the ‘tough mind’ and ‘tender heart,’ where approaches and perspectives clash.
There are often significant cultural differences when operating between different countries and between businesses and non-profits. For Pura Vida this has manifested itself in the disparity between stories and data. The Coffee company is often most interested in numbers — how many people they are serving, meals provided, programs started, impact per dollar, etc. Yet the Partners charity can be more focused on stories of individuals who have benefited, and who cannot be quantified. Respecting the merits of each approach to evaluation can be one of the hardest tasks for organizations embarking on partnerships, and one which John Sage is still struggling with.
The second main obstacle has been that of risk. Sage explains that non-profits are often very risk-averse because of their mission and funding sources. However in order to raise capital and expand it is necessary to take risks and try new programs. By operating as the subsidiary of the charity, Pura Vida Coffee can take on more of the risk that accompanies aggressive expansion. Yet the Pura Vida Partners also takes risk, both in trusting the company to be a steady financial support and in expanding projects from Central America to Africa.
John Sage summarized the struggles and rewards for the company: “it has been a challenge for us to finance the growth with the commitments we’ve made&my encouragement would be for business leaders to think very boldly, rather than compartmentalizing their social activism&it really is about ‘how can you bake social commitment into every aspect of what you do?’
By Louise Doyle
Based on interview with John Sage, Cofounder Pura Vida Coffee, conducted by Susan Hyatt.
More information on Pura Vida Coffee can be found at: http://www.puravidacoffee.com/
