SINGING ROOSTER INC
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Mission Statement
Want long-lasting change in Haiti? Buy Haitian coffee, art, chocolate. At great We're Singing Rooster - a 501 (c)3 nonprofit; we offer a direct buyer relationship & on-the ground assistance to coffee farming communities in Haiti for the sake of self-sustainability, dignity & economic autonomy. We help farmers to cultivate and process high quality, gourmet coffee. Then we buy/export tons of it at higher than fair trade prices and create new markets for it: roasted coffee, green coffee, fundraising with coffee, & wholesale Haitian coffee for roasters, cafes, stores, and nonprofits. This enables a stable outlet for our farmer partners, rids them of middlemen, and provides partial funding for our comprehensive approach. We work towards strengthening co-ops -- to make them leaders and innovators of their communities in the hope of keeping families together. By helping co-ops to be effective businesses, they, in turn, can provide leadership in their communities by supporting local entrepreneurs.
About This Cause
We may be a nonprofit - but Singing Rooster's goal is entirely profit-driven: to help Haitians be economically autonomous through SMART business practices, by improving their product and offering insight for growth. We provide pre-harvest financing to these small scale producers & return 100% of proceeds from roasted and green coffee sales to Haiti. Our approach requires co-ops to re-invest a portion of these proceeds towards self-sustainability where we offer matching grants & guided support. Since 2009, we have returned over $86,000 to our Haitian coffee partner farmers. Here's how we do it (it keeps evolving as we learn, meet new partners, as co-ops develop) It's About the Money: preharvest financing training in accounting helping cooperatives to build working capital (no more 36% interest loans!!) Backstory: coffee harvests around the world span months. The coffee harvest in Haiti begins as early as September on lower elevations. Harvesting continues up the mountain side where highest elevations are picked as late as April. Coffee exports from early to late spring. Pay Me NOW: When farmers bring cherries into cooperatives, they expect payment immediately. And yet, the product won't ship until the harvest is complete. Farmer cooperatives get paid by the exporter when coffee ships. Some farmers are willing to defer payment until the harvest ships/co-ops get paid; in some instances, corruption intervenes & farmers never get paid - so they're not likely to wait. This brings about an interesting situation: how can farmer cooperatives pay for cherries being brought in across MONTHS when they, themselves, won't be paid until the harvest ships? Answer: most can't. That's why farmers sell to coyotes (Dominicans who cross the border for valuable coffee) at lower prices because it's a bird in the hand. There are amazing groups like Root Capital who provide access to credit; however, most small scale cooperatives can't meet basic requirements and turn to other lending agencies in Haiti where interest rates range from 25-36%. A better answer: help farmer cooperatives to build then reserve their own capital. How? We have no idea but we do have a loose plan: our system depends on the strengths and goals of the cooperative. Our current ways include: providing interest-free or low-interest, preharvest loans (cannot tell you how popular we are in Haiti) requiring co-ops to put a portion of their profits towards working capital & redevelopment reserves helping cooperatives to open bank accounts, teaching basic accounting, putting into place anti-corruption, anti-theft measures (the stealing of coffee beans is an art form in some communities) helping to establish coffee seedling programs - a GREAT source of income for co-ops and reforestation for Haiti providing access to equipment that facilitates production/saves money seed money & assistance for business start-ups - strong co-ops are ready to create new income-generating businesses