Through donations and a community-driven auction, the nonprofit aims to prepare its partners for the next potential crisis to come.
BY KATRINA YENTCH
BARISTA MAGAZINE ONLINE
Photos courtesy of The Chain Collaborative
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted countless individuals—including those in the coffee world. With many of their partners in coffee-producing countries struggling, The Chain Collaborative (TCC) has introduced an end-of-year campaign to help their change leaders within a quicker turnaround time. The Chain Collaborative is a nonprofit that utilizes consulting, education, and alliances to strengthen leadership within the coffee community.
“The question for us over the past several months has been the following,” explains the Rapid Response campaign. “In light of a global pandemic, record high temperatures, and the renewed call for anti-racist legislation and civil rights around the world, how can we as TCC use our platform to account for these realities and increase our resilience as a nonprofit moving forward?”
Earlier this year, The Chain Collaborative collaborated with Coffee at Large to raise over $30,000 for laid-off baristas and established an emergency food aid for their partners in Uganda. It took time to get this together, though, and TCC wants to make sure their people can get the help they need ASAP if and when the next tragedy strikes. In producing an “emergency spending” fund, The Chain Collaborative hopes to offer food support, disaster relief, and cash transfers to their partners even more quickly than they did the last time.
To participate in the fund, coffee people can donate to the campaign directly starting today, tie a promotional or sale item to donations, or contribute an item to the end-of-the-year auction, which takes place entirely online from December 1-15. As an incentive to participate, any donors will be granted exclusive access to a webinar about equity, inclusion, and anti-racism led by Bethany Wilkinson of The Diversity Gap on November 5. Several participants have already signed on board, including Coffee Project NY, Collaborative Coffee Source, Sourceress, Cimbali, Be Leaf Green, Bee Our Guest, Junior’s Roasted Coffee, Project Buna, Semilla, Women in Coffee Project, and Urnex.
To tie a promotion to donations or contribute items to the auction by November 4, email Nora Burkey at nora@thechaincollaborative.org.
