How The Crusade Works

The Fair Trade Coffee Crusade… 

…is an innovative program designed to:

* Raise money for your Church Group through the on-going sale of fresh roasted “Fair Trade Certified” coffees *

* Promote public awareness to the plight of the coffee farmers around the world *

* Funnel a portion of the profits from the sale of coffee back to the coffee farmers and their communities *

HOW DOES THIS FUND-RAISING PROGRAM WORK?

It’s very simple….

1) Your church group will take orders for ‘Fair Trade Certified’ Coffee at Fellowship Hour after Sunday services each week.

2) The order will be faxed to the Fair Trade Coffee Company (a Unitarian Universalist owned enterprise) the next day.

3) The coffees ordered will be custom-roasted and packaged for your customers and sent to your church for distribution at Fellowship Hour on the second Sunday after the order was placed (two weeks later).

FOR EVERY POUND YOU SELL, YOUR GROUP GETS $3.00

Now $3.00 per pound may not sound like a lot of money right off, but over time the amount can grow quite nicely. For example; the sale of seven pounds a week will net your group $21.00, which, over the course of a full year (52 weeks) will net your group $1,092.00!

Now that’s MONEY!

Ask yourself how many members your congregation has and how many of them drink coffee at home at least once a day. Now, imagine how much money you will raise if your group is able to sell FIFTEEN, TWENTY or even FIFTY pounds of coffee per week!
This really could be your best fund-raiser EVER! In fact, this fundraising program is guaranteed to out-do any Pancake Breakfast or bake-sale!

IT’S SO EASY….

We’ve done most of the work for you!
This program was designed to be user-friendly! Everything your church-group will need to start and to operate this fund-raiser has been anticipated and is provided right here on this website in easily downloadable form. All of the necessary promotional materials (such as the brochures, the order forms, the posters and even blurbs for your church newsletter) are already waiting for you here on this website in PDF form. Of course, if you need more personal assistance, we are always a phone call away!
Note: To help you raise awareness to the plight of the coffee growers, we have educational materials (including a ten minute video) for a presentation on the need for Fair Trade Coffee.

HOW DO YOU JOIN THE CRUSADE?

Once your group has decided to lead the Fair Trade Coffee Crusade at your church, one of your group members must be designated as the Head Crusader. The Head Crusader will make contact with us (by e-mail or by phone) to let us know of your group’s participation. This person will be the link between your group an the Fair Trade Coffee Company.

The only cost to your group is the cost of the Printing!
Someone at your end will need to download the necessary promo materials from this website and e-mail the files to a printer of your choice (like Kinkos or Staples). You will find suggested quantities of each item to be printed beside the PDF files.

The commitment of three or four people is all you need to succeed! 
Naturally there will be a bit of legwork, but only a little! Posters will need to go up around the church, a blurb will need to go into the church bulletin on a regular basis, and at least one member of your group must be present each week at Fellowship Hour after Sunday Services to visibly lead the Crusade (i.e. passing out coffee brochures, taking coffee orders and distributing the coffee previously ordered). Finally, the coffee orders need to be faxed to the Fair Trade Coffee Company right away.

All of the billing will be taken care of by us!

When you take the FIRST order from a member of your congregation, you’ll get his/her credit card billing information, which we will keep on file for subsequent orders. They won’t have to give you that info again.

We’ll simply process the coffee orders and send the credit card receipt along with the coffee ordered right to your church. Your commission check will accompany each shipment.

The WIN! WIN! principle leads to success!

The inherent beauty of this fundraising program is that:

EVERYBODY WINS!!!

1) The coffee farmers and their families WIN!
By leading the Fair Trade Coffee Crusade at your church, your group will be selling a product that needs to be sold! By the very nature of selling Fair Trade Certified Coffee you are raising awareness to the plight of the coffee grower and are directly supporting a better life for farming families through fair prices, direct trade, community development, and environmental stewardship. The Fair Trade Coffee Company is dedicated to helping you promote this awareness and will provide the resources necessary to do it easily and effectively.

2) Your Congregation WINS!
By leading the Fair Trade Coffee Crusade at your church, your group will be providing your congregation with easy access to Fair Trade Certified Coffee, a brand of coffee that not only tastes great but feels great to purchase. Your congregation will learn about a very real problem in the global marketplace and be given an opportunity to participate in a positive, socially conscious way.

3) Your Church Group WINS!
By leading the Fair Trade Coffee Crusade at your church, your group will raise necessary funds with minimal effort. This will be accomplished with the able assistance of the Fair Trade Coffee Company.