Hot off the presses, our Whole Planet Foundation calendar is on sale now at Whole Foods Market stores throughout the US and Canada! At just $3 each, these calendars are perfect for home, office, stocking stuffers, gifts and more. Thanks to funding from our vendor partners, 100% of calendar sales goes to provide microlending support to our global communities. In addition to feeling good about helping, you’ll also receive more than $16 (Canada) and more than $20 (US) in coupons from the Whole Foods Market’s supplier community! You’ll save on your favorite items from companies like Nature’s Path, Earth’s Best, Amy’s Kitchen and Seventh Generation.  Visit our calendar page to see the full list of coupons.

This is our fifth year to create a calendar, and each year gets better. More value for you through coupons and more funds raised to help our microcredit clients. Last year, shoppers purchased more than $70,000 in calendars, which funded 312 microloans that empowered nearly 2,000 poor women and their family members to create or expand a home-based business and create prosperity. Each year these loans are repaid and re-loaned again and again, and with your help this year, Whole Planet Foundation can empower 2,000 more women with an opportunity to lift themselves out of poverty through entrepreneurship.

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We recently teamed up with our friends at Sambazon to offer one lucky winner and their guest a week-long trip to Brazil, to visit the beautiful beaches of Rio de Janeiro and explore the Amazon Rainforest. Katie T. from Houston, Texas is our lucky winner. Not only will she get to see the typical Brazilian sights, she’ll also visit Sambazon’s production facilities and meet the family farmers who grow the organic açaí used in their products.  Her trip will give her a comprehensive look into the lively Brazilian culture and Sambazon’s rainforest roots.

Known for introducing açaí into the US market, Sambazon has been working with Brazil’s local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to build the supply of organic açaí. Over 10,000 people in the Amazon now help Sambazon harvest açaí through their fair trade program. This incentivizes farmers to  manage their land and protect it for generations to come. “A HUGE thank you to Sambazon and Whole Foods for awarding me with this incredible experience and adventure!” Katie said. “I can’t wait to be immersed in the sounds, tastes, smells and culture of Brazil!”

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This post comes from Steve Wanta, Executive Program Director for the Whole Planet Foundation. Steve oversees the existing portfolio of microfinance programs and analyzes new projects for funding.

In this edition of Dispatches from the Field, I travel to Indonesia and meet with clients from our partner, Grameen Trust, to profile three very different clients, each of whom has their own story.

Microfinance means different things to different people. At the most basic level, it is the provision of financial services that are tailored to people without access to formal banks. Whole Planet Foundation chooses partners who design programs focused on alleviating poverty for the world’s poorest entrepreneurs, specifically in communities where Whole Foods Market sources products.

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In Brazil, açaí (ah-sigh-ee) palms grow wild along the Amazon river near Macapa. These palms produce small purple berries that are packed with powerful antioxidants and are very versatile. Açaí has a unique flavor, reminiscent of berries but with a hint of chocolate. In Brazil, açaí is traditionally served in bowls as a thick pulp. Since it requires freezing to preserve its flavor and nutrients, açaí is a natural for smoothies and other frozen concoctions. It also makes a great mole, an awesome salad dressing and an incredible BBQ sauce.

Read on to learn how to enter for a chance to win a trip to Brazil.

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We are so excited that Whole Trade® Guarantee Francique mangoes are in stores companywide!  Make sure you get them while you can – the plump and juicy Francique variety is unique to Haiti and available only during a short season each spring.

If you watched this video, you got to see Haitian mangoes being harvested from family trees and learned how Whole Trade ensures the farmers are getting the most for their crop. And if you read this previous blog post, you got all the details on how in addition to the superior taste and texture, you can also feel good about the mangoes you are buying. Whole Foods Market is the sole buyer of organic and Fair Trade Certified mangoes from small Haitian growers, sometimes buying from a family with just one tree. The Whole Trade Guarantee ensures growers receive equitable pay — a key point since this mango crop is a major source of income for many of these farmers.

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We are so very thankful to everyone who contributed to our 2011 Annual Prosperity Campaign. Together, we raised $4 million  — well over our $2.5 million goal — to help end poverty. Because of you, Whole Planet Foundation will be able to reach 100,000 more impoverished women and their families who live in communities that supply Whole Foods Market stores with product, helping them to lift themselves out of poverty.

100% of this $4 million goes to poverty alleviation through microfinance partners in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Your donation is repaid and reloaned in rural communities again and again, helping about 100,000 people change their own lives. With a microcredit loan, usually $200 or less, an impoverished entrepreneur can create or expand a home-based business, such as small-scale agriculture, weaving, jewelry, prepared foods, raising livestock and others.

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To celebrate the five-year anniversary of funding the first microcredit loan by Whole Planet Foundation, we are launching a special new Whole Foods Market gift card. Check out the image here of this really unique card made from all natural wood with a cellulose overcoat. In addition to looking cool, when you purchase this card you donate a dollar to help alleviate poverty. That’s what making a difference is all about.

It’s very simple to do. When you initially buy the gift card, you pay $1 more than the face value of the card and that goes directly to the Whole Planet Foundation. Then you (or your gift recipient) can use the card to pay at our registers just like any other retail gift card. When giving them away, your recipient gets two gifts: one for themselves (who doesn’t love a gift card to Whole Foods Market?!) and another by helping others in their honor (by making a lasting impact through microcredit).

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Our annual 2011 Whole Planet Foundation Prosperity Campaign runs for two more weeks and we hope you will join us in the home stretch! Thanks to your generosity, $2.97 million has been donated so far!  That’s enough for 16,500 microloans supporting 82,500 people with a chance to lift themselves out of poverty.  It’s easy to donate either in our stores or donate online. You can also spread the word to your social network or start your own campaign.

Our stores and facilities have truly gone above and beyond this year to raise awareness and funds for Whole Planet Foundation. Impactful in-store displays and merchandising, combined with largely attended out-of-store events have helped surpass this year’s Campaign initial fundraising goal. But there’s not need to stop there! Let’s keep going to $3.6 million dollars so we can empower 100,000 people with a better life.

Here’s just a quick look at some of the creative fundraising from our stores. Whole Foods Market’s Park Royal Village Created “Meal Solution” tables based on Whole Planet Foundation borrower-inspired recipes, including Ethiopian-style Chickpea Stew.

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Thanks to Joy Stoddard, Director of Partnership Development and Internal Programs for Whole Planet Foundation, for this post.

As Whole Planet Foundation’s Executive Partnership and Internal Programs Director, I get to work with incredible people who donate their time and money to serve the very poor. Our Annual Prosperity Campaign is being celebrated in Whole Foods Market now, so you may already know about Whole Planet Foundation’s poverty alleviation programs where Whole Foods Market sources products in the developing world.

Through worldwide microfinance partners, Whole Planet Foundation has reached over 130,000 microcredit clients with an opportunity to lift themselves and their families out of poverty, supporting over 650,000 people to live a better life. This empowerment is possible thanks to the generosity of Whole Foods Market, Whole Foods Market shoppers, team members and suppliers. In fact, hundreds of suppliers to Whole Foods Market donate to Whole Planet Foundation and their commitment is critical, especially members of our Supplier Alliance for Microcredit. This alliance of like-minded companies planting seeds of prosperity around the globe includes Allegro Coffee Company, Back to Nature, Cascal, Earth’s Best, Naked Juice, Seventh Generation, Stacy’s, Teas’ Tea and Whole Foods Market. Their 2011 contributions of $450,000 will enable Whole Planet Foundation to empower over 2,000 more entrepreneurs with a microcredit loan and the chance to create or expand a home-based business to support their families.

Why do Supplier Alliance for Microcredit partners donate so much money and promote Whole Planet Foundation? It’s a win-win partnership to make the world a better place. Some of these suppliers support Whole Planet Foundation because they source ingredients from the countries where Whole Planet Foundation is creating prosperity, like Allegro coffee from East Timor, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Indonesia, Kenya, Nicaragua, Rwanda, and Uganda. That coffee is why Whole Planet Foundation is giving back to the people who live there. When you purchase Allegro coffee, you too are creating prosperity.

Claire Sidman explains why Earth’s Best joined the Alliance: “Earth’s Best and the Whole Planet Foundation share the goal of enriching the lives of families everywhere. Just as Earth’s Best enables parents to nurture their children in the purest way possible, Whole Planet Foundation paves the path to a better way of life for people around the globe and we are proud to support their mission and hope to help them realize their vision.”

You can see this commitment when suppliers meet microcredit clients in person. In 2010, I had the pleasure of travelling to Peru with Jill Griffith from Naked Juice, Sreten Gaijic from Cascal and Joe Browne from Seventh Generation to meet clients of Whole Planet Foundation’s partner Pro Mujer. The year before that Seventh Generation’s Sheila Hollender joined me in Costa Rica, along with Jennifer LaFontaine and Steven Polonowski from Naked Juice and Stacy’s, and we got to meet clients of our partner Grameen Trust in Costa Rica, where Whole Foods Market sources bananas and pineapples. Seventh Generation’s Susan Johnson joined Whole Planet Foundation’s Genie Bolduc and me in Kenya in April to meet clients of our partner Jamii Bora Trust.  After their trip, these suppliers are powerful ambassadors, telling everyone they know how we can all empower the 3.8 billion people living on less than $2 a day to live a better life. It’s that kind of commitment that makes this Alliance successful in helping families worldwide.

Finally, Supplier Alliance for Microcredit partners also support Whole Planet Foundation because 100% of their donation makes a difference because Whole Foods Market covers 100% of Whole Planet Foundation’s operating costs. Each and every dollar (and pound sterling!) donated to Whole Planet Foundation goes to microlending programs in the field, and it is repaid and reloaned in rural communities again and again. You can see special displays of these suppliers in Whole Foods Market stores during our Annual Prosperity Campaign that is running now until March 31. It’s our opportunity to say thanks for their generosity and we hope you will join us in supporting these companies that support families all over the world.

As part of our annual Whole Plant Foundation Prosperity Campaign, we want to take the opportunity to introduce you to some of the microcredit clients who have benefited from our work thus far. With support from shoppers, team members, vendors and microfinance institution partners, Whole Planet Foundation has empowered 130,000 clients with microcredit loans in five years, supporting over half a million people in 30 countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America with a chance to escape poverty. Please join our 2011 campaign to help give a hand up to 70,000 more.

Norzina, Haiti

Norzina has a business on a back street behind the market, which is on a major transit route in Gonaives, Haiti where Whole Foods Market sources mangoes. Norzina is a microcredit client of Fonkoze, a Whole Planet Foundation partner. She sells charcoal in bulk to businesses, schools and individuals who then sell much smaller amounts at a time to others. Norzina supports her community by feeding the neighborhood children, setting an example of how to be successful and lift oneself out of poverty while helping others.

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