Each October, Whole Planet Foundation celebrates its global impact on poverty and the partners who further its mission. In 2005, Whole Foods Market launched Whole Planet Foundation, its non-profit dedicated to global poverty alleviation in countries around the world where the company sources products. The Poverty is Unnecessary Project spotlights Poverty is Unnecessary Fund donors who collectively are committed to donating $325,000 to alleviate poverty through microcredit.
Each quarter Whole Planet Foundation compiles field metrics from our microfinance partners who are disbursing and collecting microcredit loans to low-income entrepreneurs living in countries where Whole Foods Market sources products. With a small loan – the current average first loan size is $174 – an impoverished entrepreneur has the opportunity to create or expand a business, often home-based, and generate income for herself and her family.
Three-year, $15 million initiative taps entrepreneurs to develop new technologies to alleviate hidden burdens of low-income communities, improve economic opportunity for all
Press Release
SAN FRANCISCO, July 30, 2021 /3BL Media/ - Millions more Americans slipped into poverty over the past year, creating fresh concerns about deeply rooted racial inequities and structural barriers to financial prosperity.
For two weeks beginning June 23, supplier partners are supporting the Whole Planet Foundation Prosperity Campaign in select Whole Foods Market stores to alleviate poverty in countries that supply the company’s stores with products.
For two weeks beginning June 23, supplier partners are supporting the Whole Planet Foundation Prosperity Campaign in select Whole Foods Market stores and online to alleviate poverty in countries that supply the company’s stores with products.
by Dr. Cathy Key, President of World Tree USA LLC, an agroforestry company that grows trees for the purpose of carbon drawdown and timber production. Dr. Key oversees the Company’s operations in 5 countries.
How do women founded companies make their mark in what is still very much a man’s world?
Hunger and malnutrition, limited access to education and other basic services, social discrimination and exclusion, disabilities, restricted access to participation in the democratic process. These are just some of the many manifestations of poverty. More than 40 million Americans live in poverty, but we can eradicate poverty. As Nelson Mandela said, "Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the action of human beings."
According to US SIF: The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investing, Socially Responsible Investing (“SRI”) has reached the $12 trillion asset mark. Unfortunately, the vast majority — 97 percent, to be precise — comprises investments in the traditional capital markets in which decisions are made using Environmental, Social, or Governance (“ESG”) criteria. While I applaud people adding ESG screens to their portfolio, it is imperative that we find ways to support direct, community-level investments.
