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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To celebrate our ongoing Whole Planet Foundation Prosperity Campaign, we’re sharing some recipes that were inspired by microcredit clients. In addition to expanding your cultural horizons by trying these recipes, you can also participate in helping solve the persistent problem of world poverty and hunger! 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.

And now to the recipes, along with some comments from readers who have made these dishes!

Coconut Bread

This Honduran staple, known as “pan de coco,” is like a plump dinner roll. It’s delicious served alongside a meal of rice, beans and fried plantains. Or enjoy a roll simply with a cup of coffee in the morning or afternoon. This recipe was inspired by Euceria Bernandez, a baker and Whole Planet Foundation microcredit client.

Reader comment from nicjojen: When I went looking for a coconut bread recipe, I was looking for a bready dinner roll that isn’t too sweet but had a mild coconutty flavor to it. I got what I was looking for with this…a bun that is more like a dinner roll and not a cake. YUM! It is also light and pillowy…what a nice surprise to have a nice texture to go with the great taste. I would definitely make this again and again.

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Today we are launching our 2011 Whole Planet Foundation Prosperity Campaign and we hope you will join us! (Read on for a chance to win a trip to Peru to witness the benefits of microcredit firsthand.) 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.

Together we can solve the persistent problem of world poverty and hunger! Whole Foods Market has funded over $7 million for Whole Planet Foundation and microlending projects. Shoppers have donated nearly $6 million to Whole Planet Foundation^® in past campaigns. Whole Foods Market Team Members have donated $2 million through our paychecks and suppliers have donated $1.6 million for microcredit. With this support and through valued microfinance institution partners worldwide, 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 and give a hand up to 70,000 more people.

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Buy a calendar, change a life! For $2, really. The fourth annual edition of the Whole Planet Foundation calendar is on sale now at Whole Foods Market stores throughout the U.S. You may recall that Whole Planet Foundation funds microcredit in 24 countries where Whole Foods Market sources products, and this year’s calendar features beautiful photographs of inspiring microcredit clients in Turkey, the United States, Indonesia, Ethiopia, India, Thailand, East Timor, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Kenya, Peru, and Guatemala.

In addition to a beautiful calendar for only $2, fantastic vendors have provided over $20 in coupons on your favorite products. Thanks to their support, all proceeds from the sale of these calendars will benefit Whole Planet Foundation microcredit clients. You’ll find coupons for $1 off any Seeds of Change Certified Organic product and $1.50 off Nature’s Path Eco Pac Cereal and $1 off any two Honest Teas. You can see the full list of 20 vendor coupons. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s our last day of school in Pena Blanca; we’ve been volunteering at a rural community school for the past three weeks and today the kids in the first grade class are surprisingly quiet. I’ve grown accustomed to the morning madness of the children in the classroom I was assisting in and to deal with it I learned five ways to ask them to quiet down in Spanish. Today was eerily calm because, as I would learn later, the kids had been assigned to draw me goodbye pictures of Lake Atitlan and were diligently coloring in the volcanoes and the lake. In this moment, I wondered if I’d come here to help make their lives better, or if they had a greater impact on mine.

In my three years working for Whole Foods Market, I’ve had constant reminders of my good fortune. From working for a company whose values I truly believe in to being mere steps away from the food wonderland we call our flagship store in Austin, TX, I know that I’m one lucky gal.

This summer, I was chosen to participate in the Whole Foods Market Team Member Volunteer Program. Twenty-five team members from stores and offices around the US and Canada were given the opportunity to travel to Guatemala for 2-4 weeks to experience the power of microcredit first-hand, to see where some of our Allegro coffee beans are grown and to volunteer in a rural community, teaching and building stoves.

Not only do I feel fortunate to have been able to spend part of my summer volunteering in Guatemala with the Whole Planet Foundation, but also I’m thankful for the wonderful people with whom I got to share the experience. Here are some words from my fellow Team Members about our journey to Central America.

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Katherine Rosenberg is the Director of Education and Evaluation at Grameen America in New York City. Whole Planet Foundation funds microcredit in the communities where Whole Foods Market sources products.

Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize recipient and founder of the Grameen Bank, recognized that while New York City was the capital of banking, it also held one of the most significant disparities between rich and poor. In 2008, he opened the doors of Grameen America, a replication of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. Whole Planet Foundation was one of the early supporters of Grameen America’s lending operations in New York City, providing a $150,000 grant over three years to support low-income entrepreneurs in Queens, New York. Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve always known that I work with some of the nicest, most giving, mission driven people I have ever met. And now I have concrete proof! As of June 25^th, over 15,000 Whole Foods Market team members have donated over $1.5 million directly from their paychecks to Whole Planet Foundation to alleviate poverty through microcredit around the globe! Check out this video of team members talking about why they contribute.

How’s that for inspiring? And now for some numbers:

• 15,553 Team Members currently contribute.
• $1,512,512 has been donated thus far.
• 8642 small loans funded (average of $175 each).
• 1 microcredit loan recipient affects the welfare of about 4 other people.
• 43,200 individuals empowered through these loans to lift themselves out of poverty.
• 97% of the loans are repaid — so the money circulates to new recipients.

Every year more Team Members sign up to donate. In fact, at our New Center Point store in the Rocky Mountain region, 100% of Team Members donate! Want to get involved too? It’s easy to do. Learn more about Whole Planet Foundation and how you can help.

A huge shout out to the awesome 15,553!

Recently I was lucky enough to be able to travel to Africa (for the first time!) as part of my work with the Whole Planet Foundation. We attended the Africa Middle East Microcredit Summit in Kenya, which was wonderfully informative and attended by dignitaries from all over the world — including our Foundation’s advisor and the “father of microcredit,” Professor Muhammad Yunus of Grameen Bank.

After the Summit, our team visited Kibera, the largest slum in Africa and one of the biggest in the world. When impoverished people come in from the countryside to live and find work in Nairobi, Kibera is about the only place they can afford to live, often with up to eight people living in one small hut.

Ingrid Munro founded Jamii Bora Trust in 1999 in order to help the mothers of classmates of her sons — the mothers were beggars in Kibera. That initial group of 50 women beggars who joined together to save money has grown to over 260,000 members of Jamii Bora Trust, which empowers families throughout Kenya. “Jamii Bora” means “better families” in Swahili and, as a microfinance institution, they help families create or expand small, often agricultural businesses, enabling clients to buy a cow or tools for irrigation or seed for their crops. They believe that any family, however poor or hopeless, is capable of getting themselves out of poverty.

In October of 2008, Whole Planet Foundation teamed up with Unitus and Jamii Bora Trust, authorizing a grant of $657,000 to fund expansion of loans in the coffee growing regions of Kenya where Whole Foods Market sources coffee through Allegro Coffee Company, providing access to microcredit for over 70,000 families. Our partnership was formed in order to make a significant impact on global poverty by increasing access to life-changing microfinance services for the working poor.

From Kibera, we headed to Nyeri to visit several branch offices and meet some Jamii Bora Trust members, including a lovely couple named John and Mary. Their loan from Jamii Bora Trust has helped them expand their small farm where they have added rain catchment systems for irrigation and are growing sweet potatoes, Irish potatoes, coffee and kale.

Thanks to John, Mary and other Jamii Bora Trust clients who raise kale and a traditional Kenyan meal that we ate just outside of Kibera, we developed this microcredit client-inspired recipe for sukuma wiki. The name translates roughly to “push the week,” implying the ingredient’s stellar ability to stretch meals, making them last to the end of the week. Throughout the country, the popular dish is eaten without utensils, with chapati (a variety of flatbread) or ugali (a type of cornmeal mush) used to scoop up bites instead.

Give this recipe a try and let us know what you think. Seems to me that our countries share a taste for healthy food!

Thanks to Jimmy Dunne, President of Inspire — a music and branding company partnering on music initiatives with Whole Foods Market — for providing this blog post.

We’re excited to announce a wonderful charity promotion now in Whole Foods Markets across the country.  Acclaimed singer-songwriter, Beth Nielsen Chapman, is generously donating to Whole Planet Foundation all profits from in-store sales of her new album, Back To Love. (For a sneak peek of Back To Love, download 3 tracks below for free).

Beth Nielsen Chapman is one of the most celebrated singer-songwriters of our time.  She’s topped the charts countless times, and her songs have been performed by Faith Hill, Elton John, Trisha Yearwood, Martina McBride, Willie Nelson, John Prine, Emmylou Harris, Jim Brickman, Mary Chapin Carpenter…to name a few.  Beth’s heart shines through her music; listen to the earliest moments of “How We Love,” and you will know Beth.  Beautiful, caring, inspiring, true.

Her extraordinary artistry extends to her banner advocacy of numerous causes, from women’s health (Beth is a Breast Cancer survivor), to Healthy Child, Healthy World—and now, the Whole Planet Foundation.  What a perfect charity for Beth to partner with— the Whole Planet Foundation fosters creativity and love, empowering individuals to rise out of poverty by means of their own innovation and by the synergy of a community’s collective support.

Beth’s music elevates the human spirit, embodies a hope for collective progress, and offers the assurance that, as she so eloquently sings, “all that matters is how we love.”

Lucky us to share in the songs and heart of Beth Nielsen Chapmen.  Enjoy the free downloads, and support Whole Planet Foundation by purchasing Back To Love at your local Whole Foods Market today.

How We Love

Shadows

The Path of Love

Downloads are no longer available, but you can still listen to them through the players above. Thanks!

Photo credit: Judith Burrows

For more info on Beth Nielsen Chapman, please visit www.bethnielsenchapman.com

Jimmy Dunne is a Grammy-nominated songwriter, TV and film composer, and television writer and producer; with songs that have been recorded on 27,000,000 records worldwide and garnered a number of CMA, ACMA, Juno, and BMI and ASCAP songwriter awards and multi-platinum Billboard recognitions.