Why gmcr

Wake up daily to our latest coverage of business done better, directly in your inbox. Get your weekly dose of analysis on rising corporate activism. By signing up you agree to our privacy policy. You can opt out anytime. Looking back, was a rough year for coffee, but also a year of great opportunity. Coffee market prices saw one of the biggest price slumps in decades, and a severe outbreak of a coffee leaf-killing disease — called coffee rust or "la roya" — decimated crops and affected about 75 percent of Central American coffee farmers.

Despite these market challenges, some businesses were still able to celebrate profits, and consumers were still able to drink their daily cup of coffee. Watching the ups and downs in the coffee marketplace, I have seen firsthand how Fair Trade acts as a sourcing model that provides a great cup of coffee for consumers and a better quality of life for coffee farmers. By setting a minimum buying price for coffee beans, Fair Trade is able to deliver "premiums" or community development funds that provide opportunities to not only positively impact coffee quality and sustainability, but the people behind the coffee as well.

Fair Trade levels the playing field by providing financial means to improve communities and create new opportunities for education, healthcare or advancing the way farmers run their businesses.

At the source, the beginning of our coffee supply chain, it is easy to see the impact of Fair Trade in empowering coffee-growing communities and why GMCR believes so strongly in this movement. While GMCR buys the majority of its coffee from importers, Bolger says the company has cultivated a high level of engagement with the players at all stages of the supply chain. Adding new origins to the fold involves more than simply finding good coffee, however.

Bolger says it often also includes work on establishing quality standards and helping producers engage with other stakeholders to improve infrastructure, as well as introducing standards about business practices for smaller partners. It does so, however, so that others will follow, Bolger says, pointing out that one company alone cannot solve the problems facing the industry globally.

Bolger says this can be done by any company around the world by becoming involved with WCR, either through individual donations or direct involvement with other initiatives. The organisation has also recently launched a global program where roasters can opt to pay a levy of half a US cent per pound of coffee that they buy to help fund its work. While sales have surged, GMCR has worked closer with suppliers and expanded its offerings of sustainable coffee products.

And while GMCR has a strong reputation for ethics and doing good in the communities in which it works, the company is doing things right internally as well with an employee retention rate of 90 percent. And GMCR has launched a bevy of creative programs to instill better farming practices across the globe. As a result GMCR estimates 4. A GMCR employee has up to 52 paid hours annually he or she can use to volunteer for the community organization of choice.

As a result the average number of hours volunteered per full time employee spiked 25 percent between and and the total amount of volunteer hours more than doubled last year.