Buy Coffee or Juan Valdez Gets It
TOMS, known for their shoes, is about to get into the coffee business. And “like the shoes that made TOMS famous, the coffee comes with a built-in plan for doing social good. In this case, the ‘give,’ as TOMS employees call it, is water: For every bag of TOMS beans sold, a person in Rwanda, Malawai, Guatemala, Honduras, or Peru – the areas where TOMS is sourcing beans – will get clean water for a week; for every cup, someone gets water for a day.” So either I drink a million cups of coffee today, or I don’t know, we just give the thirsty people the damn water.
+ Here are some numbers from Lady Gaga’s charity. They “gave out $5,000 in grants in 2012, after spending $1.85 million on lawyer, PR and social media fees.” This contrasts with many charities that raise millions of dollars so the founders can meet celebrities like Lady Gaga.
+ Those numbers might not be all that unusual. Take a look back at the Center for Investigative Reporting series on the dirty secrets of the worst charities.