Costa

It is a registered charity (registered charity number 327489) set up in 2006 to put something back into coffee-growing communities by providing access to education for children.

The Costa Foundation has been set up under the charitable status of Charities Trust, which is already a registered charity. Charities Trust are handling the administration and finance of the Costa Foundation, and one of the reasons for using them is to minimise overhead costs. If the Costa Foundation is as successful as we hope it will be, we will apply for our own charity registration in the future.

The Costa Foundation supports coffee-growing communities by:

• Building new schools or extending existing ones
• Furnishing the new buildings
• Investing in water supplies
• Providing electricity
• Providing computers
• Developing land for families to grow crops
• Building teacher accommodation
• Building latrines
• Part-funding Social Workers' salaries to enhance life skills
• Maximising leverage opportunities for the communities

We recognise that, without the farmers and co-operatives that grow coffee, we have no business. They are an integral part of Costa's success; giving long-term support where we can seems like a natural thing to do.

The Costa Foundation is funded through a number of mechanisms:

• Direct annual donation from Costa
• Match-funding by Whitbread and Costa
• Annual national centrally driven campaigns in July and August
• Store fundraising activities
• Individual team member fundraising outside of stores (e.g. sponsored walks)
• Ad hoc customer donations during national campaigns
• Payroll Giving contributions
• Cause related marketing activity
• Donations from partner organisations and suppliers

• Costa - Direct donation from profits
• Costa - Funding the setting-up costs for the Costa Foundation
• Costa - Funding the cost of communication materials and website
• Costa - Funding annual centrally driven campaigns
• Whitbread - Matching employee fundraising pound-for-pound
• Whitbread - Matching new Payroll Giving donations pound-for-pound

The 'grant-application' process, which is there to provide additional resources for existing projects, has no time limit - this will ensure the long-term sustainability of the projects.

Examples of such grants are:-

• Mushasha school in Ntungamo, Uganda where the popularity of the new school built by the Costa Foundation in 2007 resulted in an additional 200 children turning up for lessons. Extra funds were granted to build another two classrooms and a Headmaster's office to facilitate this growth in numbers.
• Kilenso Rasa high school, Ethiopia where 2,750 text books have been provided and additional sanitation blocks are being built to cater for increased numbers of students.
• Las Brisas, Pueblo Viejo and El Sillon schools, Yupiltepeque, Guatemala where drought has been severe and funds have been donated towards a child nutrition programme and land for the production of staple crops.
• Dimtu Hambela high school, Ethiopia where an old classroom is being upgraded and turned into a new library block complete with text books.

Costa works in partnership with its UK brokers who have a close relationship with the co-operatives in the countries we support. The decision-making process is based on the following set criteria:

• Identifying a real need for education
• Must be in coffee-growing communities
• Identifying a strong partner to support the delivery of the project in the countries we support.

Costa has looked specifically at the countries that supply its beans and then looked at the needs of these countries. Since being set up in 2006, the Costa Foundation has supported 11 school building projects in Colombia, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Guatemala and Uganda. In 2010/11 we will be completing the construction of five further new projects in Ethiopia, Guatemala and Uganda.

We have purchased coffee beans direct from the communities in Colombia, Uganda and Ethiopia, in which we've built schools. However, in an effort to further support coffee farmers, our main focus has now shifted towards the ongoing procurement of Rainforest Certified coffee. As a result of this activity, 100% of our entire Mocha Italia blend worldwide is now from Rainforest Certified farms. This gives a broader level of support to coffee growing communities, as Rainforest Certified coffee beans are produced using sustainable practices that ensure:

• The environment is protected
• Workers are paid a decent wage and treated well
• Coffee-growing communities can support a better quality of life

• We work closely with our Brokers who have long-term relationships with the Non Government Organisations and Co-operatives who are responsible for the day-to-day project management in the countries we are supporting.
• In certain countries, the Costa Foundation employs Project Managers who are responsible for all budget management throughout the project build and beyond.
• Regular project updates are provided and there is a robust auditing process in place to evaluate and measure progress. The staged release of funds is based on achieving agreed project targets.
• Costa Foundation accounts are independently verified by Price Waterhouse Cooper to ensure transparency of payments direct to the projects at source.

• Colombia - Federacion Nacional Cafeteros de Colombia (FNC).
• Ethiopia - Oromia Coffee Farmers Co-operative Society Union (OCFCSU).
• Uganda - Union Export Services Limited (UNEX) and Promoting Equality in African Schools (PEAS).
• Guatemala: Federacion de Cooperativas Agricolas de Productores de Café de Guatemala (FEDECOCAGUA R.L), Fundacion Ulrich Gurtner Kappeler, The Neumann Foundation, Embden Drishaus & Epping Consulting and Insituto Mixto de Educacion Basica Por Cooperativa Santa Teresa.
• Costa Rica: Cooperativa de Servicios Multiples de los Productores de Café de San Vito RL (COOPROSANVITO R.L) and Consorcio Cafetalero de Exportacion R.L (CAFECOOP R.L).

Yes. In Colombia the local authority agreed to provide kindergarten facilities within both of the primary schools we have built and Intel decided to donate affordable laptops to the schools as a result of our investment. In La Esperanza School, Vergara, Colombia, Bogota University have funded a "Tele-Medicine" scheme, enabling the remote diagnosis of illnesses using Skype technology. Indeed, this scheme has become so successful that the University has now provided two full-time GPs, equipment and medicine to treat patients in Vergara. For seriously ill people within the community, this has saved eight hours of travelling to Bogota and back.

In Kilenso Rasa, Ethiopia, electricity was funded and supplied to the high school that we have built. This was the first time this community had electricity and, as a result, the local authority has donated eight wide-screen TVs, enabling teachers in Addis Ababa to give lessons remotely to the children within this isolated community. In Hambela Warana, Ethiopia, the local authority will be investing in a full upgrade of the 1st and 2nd Cycle feeder schools as a result of Costa Foundation's investment in Dimtu Hambela high school.

In Guatemala, we are working on a joint initiative with Solidaridad to fund a Social Worker for three years so that they can run a "life skills" course for the community.

• Leaflets
• Website
• In-store point-of-sale such as posters and table talkers during national campaigns
• Collection devices in-store and at head office during national campaigns
• Internal competitions
• Quarterly internal magazines
• DVD footage of projects for store managers and team members

We have over a thousand stores in the UK and over 500 stores overseas.