Caring for Cocoa Communities We provide hands-on support to our cocoa growers by donating tools and resources to improve their harvests. When you buy Sunspire, you're directly contributing to the well-being of cocoa farmers and their communities.

Sunspire Chocolate & Caring for Cocoa Communities

When Janet Jennings founded Sunspire Chocolate over 20 years ago, she set out to do several things: make deliciously natural and organic chocolate; pioneer the use of healthier sweeteners; and have a positive impact on the communities of the world that produce cocoa, also called "cacao."

As the beneficiaries of Janet's founding work, Sunspire has become one of the largest chocolate makers in the natural foods industry. We have done this by keeping quality at the heart of our products. To us, quality extends all the way back to the farmers who grow our cacao beans: quality of life, quality of the environment, quality of farming and processing.

Now we're taking quality a step further and increasing our positive impact on the chocolate-growing world. We call this intention: "Caring for Cocoa Communities." What this means for us is that we will seek the best ways to directly support the well-being and livelihood of our cacao growers.

The life of a cacao grower is not easy. This is true in all three major cacao-producing regions of the globe: Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia. Farming can be difficult, demanding, and unpredictable; and the ups and downs of relying on a commodity crop, such as cacao, can be trying for even the best.

That's where "Caring for Cocoa Communities" begins. We see our program as a journey rather than a rigidly defined plan because we know we don't have all the answers. As such, our journey is rooted in continually asking questions, both of ourselves and our suppliers. The most obvious ones are: "How can we have a positive impact on cacao growers? And what do they need to grow high quality cacao?"

By asking these questions we have received a world of guidance and education on the issues that face cacao farmers everywhere. Different growers have different challenges, and they must determine what support will improve the well-being of their communities as well as the quality of their cacao.

We realized that we needed like-minded partners to help us enact our mission of direct grower support. So the first official action of our program has been joining our support, both financially and practically, with the World Cocoa Foundation (WCF), an organization dedicated to helping cocoa farmers, and to improving the quality of cacao worldwide.

The World Cocoa Foundation (WCF)

A wide-reaching umbrella organization, the WCF focuses on the social and ecological aspects of cacao farming in all the countries where cacao is grown.

Whether this is in developing health care services in under-served communities, or working with growers on sustainable pest management, WCF believes that long-term sustainability, which incorporates social justice, ecological wisdom, and craftsmanship, is the way to help cacao growers-and thus to help us all continue to enjoy the pleasures of chocolate.

Sunspire has proudly joined with other chocolate processors, suppliers, and manufacturers to participate in WCF's cacao sustainability initiatives that are enacted at the farm level. You can learn more about WCF's vast array of programs at www.worldcocoafoundation.org.

Large families are common in the West African communities where cocoa is grown. Finding enough money for all of the uniforms, school supplies and other costs associated with school attendance can be challenging for families. To address this issue, SunSpire contributes to the World Cocoa Foundation's ECHOES program by funding family support scholarships. Communities select parent-student pairs to receive a scholarship equivalent to three years of school-related expenses. One third is directly used to support the student's education while the remaining funds are invested in the parent's small business. The parent receives training and support with the goal of developing a business that generates enough income to support the child's education. As a condition of the scholarship, the parent commits to sending the child to school for at least the next three years.

A mother and daughter receive their family support scholarship from a school official in Kwafukaa, Ghana.

Letter from Bill Guyton, President of the World Cocoa Foundation

On behalf of the World Cocoa Foundation and the Sustainable Tree Crops Program (STCP), I sincerely thank you and Sunspire for the donation. Your donation to the women's Farmer Field School program will truly make a difference for women cocoa farmers in Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire. Along with the Chocolate Manufacturers Association and Nestle, Sunspire's support will help to bring this program from the pilot phase to larger scale implementation. STCP will receive 100% of the funds.

The World Cocoa Foundation will continue to monitor the program and report on progress. For information on the women's Farmer Field School program, click here.

Our Journey Continues

For us, joining with the WCF to improve the lives of cocoa growers has been an excellent start to our journey. Our Caring for Cocoa Communities program is an ongoing commitment to supporting the needs of cacao farmers around the world.

As a new expression of our commitment, in the fall of 2006 Sunspire will introduce Certified Organic Fair Trade Chocolate Chips to the US marketplace. This is the first fair trade certified chocolate baking chip in the organic foods marketplace.

We will continue to ask develop products, ask questions, and seek out partners who share our mission to support cocoa farmers. We invite your questions, suggestions, and comments. Please email us at info@sunspire.com or contact our consumer relations team at (510) 346-3860.