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Did you miss our luncheon?

Watch the entire program online at www.globalpartnerships.org/2020

EXPANDING OPPORTUNITY FOR PEOPLE LIVING IN POVERTY

IMPACTIN THIS ISSUE

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e-version of IMPACT at www.globalpartnerships.org/newsletter

FEATURE ARTICLEInvesting in Coffee Co-ops to Make

an Impact (page 1)

20/20: GP’S PAST, PRESENT & FUTUREGP’s President & CEO Reflects on Our Two Decade Journey (page 2)

LUNCHEON RECAPResults and Photos (page 3)

GUEST SPEAKERSHighlights From Our Luncheon’s

Guest Speakers (page 3)

SPECIAL THANK YOUSThanks to Our Corporate Partners

(page 4)

GO GREEN Sign up for e-newsletters at www.globalpartnerships.org/signup

Investing in Coffee Co-ops to Make an Impact by Karina Vadillo, Legal Services and Fund Operations Officer, GP

Frank Fuentes, general manager of our partner Crediflorida, was a guest speaker at Global Partnerships’ (GP’s) 12th annual luncheon on October 22. One story he shared was about Geronimo Richle, a Crediflorida member and coffee farmer. Geronimo lives with his wife and son in rural Peru. To get to his house, you must drive on a broken road through a steep ravine with a creek running through it, and then up a hill that is always shrouded in mist. Mr. Fuentes joked,

“You have to be pretty brave to drive to Geronimo’s house. And in the rainy season, it’s likely that no one except Geronimo can get there.” It was a funny yet sobering moment because millions of farmers like Geronimo live in remote areas, disconnected from access to markets. They traverse rough roads to access financing or deliver their coffee.

At GP, I’m responsible for structuring and servicing loans with coffee cooperative partners, so I am acutely aware of the challenges and financial risks that producers face. Mr. Fuentes’ talk reinforced the things I heard during my visit with coffee co-ops in Colombia earlier this year. I had traveled with Vanesa Sandoval, one of our portfolio directors, to perform screen visits with six coffee cooperatives in Cauca, a verdant region teeming with agricultural activity. The screen visit is the first step of our thorough due diligence process to determine whether an organization meets our social and financial requirements to become a partner. The co-op managers we visited spoke candidly about the challenges that coffee farmers are currently contending with:

• Climate events such as severe droughts in Central America and Brazil, and more generally speaking, climate change • Crop diseases such as coffee leaf rust (La Roya) • Volatile markets

These are all factors that affect a coffee harvest season. And the stakes are high since farmers rely on income earned from coffee sales to support their families. How do GP’s investments help? To assist farmers in earning a better and more stable living, GP invests in cooperatives that connect them to specialty markets, technical assistance, and timely and affordable finance.

For instance, during the last Central American harvest (cont’d on p. 2)

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season, one cooperative opened up to us about their cash constraints. The drought in Brazil caused a dip in the global coffee supply. This drove up demand, which caused the market price to rise.

The co-op didn’t have enough working capital to purchase coffee from their farmers at such high prices. GP approved a loan adjustment that resulted in an additional disbursement, allowing our partner to purchase sufficient coffee volumes at an above-market price. This helped them fulfill their orders to international buyers. It also meant that the cooperative’s members – the farmers – were paid above-market prices for their coffee. Before our luncheon last month, Mr. Fuentes updated our staff on a major epidemic that has caused an estimated $500 million in coffee crop losses: coffee leaf rust. He shared that Crediflorida is working with farmers to diversify their crops. Diversification will be critical to shielding farmers from losing everything they have worked so hard for. Technical assistance also plays a crucial role in certification maintenance (e.g. fair trade, organic) and in producing high quality coffee yields. By investing in partners that provide access to technical assistance, we help farmers produce high quality products that fetch better prices in specialty markets.

To serve more farmers, we’re constantly seeking more cooperatives to partner with. These partners create lasting impact by going beyond delivering access to financing. Your support of our work ensures that this impact can continue. Together, we can expand opportunity for people living in poverty.

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Global Partnerships celebrated our 20th anniversary at our 12th annual luncheon on October 22. President and CEO Rick Beckett reflected on our two-decade journey.

FIRST DECADE (1994 – 2004)GP spent its first decade as a family

foundation making grants in the pioneering days of microfinance. We learned four lessons that shaped our second decade and strategy as an impact investor.

1. “It takes more than a small loan to make a real difference.” The loans are important. But we need to combine access to credit with training and access to markets. Together, this combination helps families stabilize and slowly increase their incomes.

2. “There’s power in the channel.” One of the great challenges in global development is getting basic products and services to families living in poverty. We can leverage the microfinance channel for greater impact. For example, village banks and microfinance institution branches can be used to deliver health education and screening to help women detect and survive cervical cancer.

3. “It takes markets to reach millions.” Microfinance now reaches almost 200 million families worldwide because it’s market-based. If we want to expand opportunity globally, we need to continue to find and invest in new market-based solutions, like social enterprises that deliver solar lights to impoverished, off-grid families.

4. “We need to think differently about capital.” Philanthropy leads the way by fueling innovation and testing out new ideas. Investment capital that values people and the planet, not just profit, can sustain and grow market-based solutions that have real impact.

SECOND DECADE (2004 – 2014)By applying these four lessons we learned, Global Partnerships has invested more than $130 million in dozens of social enterprises that empower people living in poverty to earn a living, obtain better health, and bring clean energy into their homes. We increased our impact from 23,000 lives touched in our first decade to over 2.5 million in our second.

NEXT DECADE (2014 – 2024)Looking forward, our goal is to touch 30 million lives by: sustaining our commitment to market-based solutions, finding basic products and services that make a real difference in impoverished households, broadening the types of social enterprises we invest in, innovating in terms of how capital is used to achieve mission, and expanding geographically, beginning with East Africa in 2015.

20/20: GP’S PAST, PRESENT & FUTURE

Watch allour luncheon’s

speakers online at www.

globalpartnerships.org/2020

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GUEST SPEAKERS

Keynote speaker Elizabeth Littlefield, President & CEO of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the U.S. government’s development finance institution, spoke about the tremendous role that capital and markets can play in global development. Ms. Littlefield noted that impact investment dollars are far more sustainable than traditional philanthropy because they create and fuel a self-sustaining market for a good or service that can benefit large populations of people living in poverty. OPIC has helped finance several GP funds since 2006. GP received the inaugural “Access to Finance” impact award from OPIC in 2014.

Frank Fuentes, General Manager of Crediflorida, a Global Partnerships partner in Peru, shared two powerful client stories. He told the stories of Geronimo and Nerida, the heads of two households that built successful coffee farms despite facing steep financial and political hardship. They did so with access to financing, training and markets provided by Crediflorida and its affiliates. Mr. Fuentes also thanked GP supporters for helping to make Crediflorida’s work possible. GP has invested in Crediflorida since 2010.

We raised $643,000 at our 12th annual luncheon on October 22! Thank you

for your support!

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SPECIAL THANKS Thank you Grounds for Change for donating samples

of delicious Opportunity Blend

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IN THIS ISSUE

Our CEO Talks About GP’s 20-Year Journey

The Results From Our 12th Annual Luncheon Are In!

Update On Our Rural Livelihoods Work

oportunidad

oportunidad

a blend of fair trade, organic, shade grown coffee from peru, meXico and guatemala

opportunity blend

Generously donated by Grounds for Change

To purchase your own bag, visit www.globalpartnerships.org/coffee

2014-GroundsforChangeCoffee-label-V2.indd 1 9/10/2014 10:32:41 AM

Global Partnerships and local coffee roaster Grounds for Change have partnered to create Opportunity Blend, a dark, rich and aromatic blend of beans from three of the countries where Global Partnerships invests: Peru, Bolivia

and Guatemala.

Global Partnerships receives 15 percent of the sales price from every bag of Opportunity Blend coffee sold. These dollars are used to find sustainable solutions that expand opportunity for families living in poverty. Learn more: www.globalpartnerships.org/coffee

Thank you to our all corporate partners, who helped make our 12th annual luncheon a success!