Costa

It is a registered charity (registered charity number 327489) set up in 2006 to put something back into coffee-growing communities within the countries from which we source our coffee beans.

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.

Costa Foundation supports the coffee-growing communities by:

• Building new schools or extending existing ones
• Furnishing the new buildings
• Investing in water supplies
• Developing land for families to grow crops
• Building teacher accommodation
• Building latrines
• Providing transport to get children to school
• Part-funding Social Workers' salaries

Coffee farmers have specifically told us that the best way to help them is to provide the infrastructure to enable a proper education for their children and that this is the best long-term solution to support the growth of their communities.

We recognise that without the farmers and co-operatives who grow our beans, we have no business. They are an integral part of Costa's success.

The Costa Foundation is funded through a number of mechanisms:

• Direct annual donation from Costa
• Match-funding by Whitbread and Costa
• National centrally driven campaigns
• National Costa Foundation Day
• Store Fundraising activities
• Individual team member fundraising
• Customer over-the-counter donations during national campaigns
• Payroll Giving contributions
• Cause related marketing activity
• Donations from partner organisations

Individual donations can also be increased through Gift Aid. Gift Aid is a government-led initiative that allows charities such as the Costa Foundation to reclaim the basic rate income tax on donations made to them by UK taxpayers who sign a gift-aid declaration.

• Costa - Direct donation from profits
• Costa - Matching customer donations pound for pound during national campaigns
• Costa - Funding the setting-up costs for the Costa Foundation
• Costa - Funding the cost of launch and on-going promotional materials
• 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.

The first example of an additional grant can be seen at 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 have been granted to build another two classrooms to facilitate this growth in numbers.

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 in terms of education
• Must be in countries from which we source our beans
• Identifying a strong partner to support the delivery of the project in the countries we support.

Costa has looked specifically at countries, which supply its beans and then looked at how needy these countries are. Since being set up in 2006, the Costa Foundation has supported 12 school building projects in Colombia, Uganda, Ethiopia, Costa Rica and Guatemala. In 2008/09 we will be building 8 schools across Costa Rica, Colombia, Guatemala, Uganda and Ethiopia.

During 2007, we purchased coffee beans direct from the communities in Colombia, Uganda and Ethiopia in which we have built schools. Discussions are underway to replicate this during 2008/09 within the new project areas; however, our main focus this year has been on procuring Rainforest Certified coffee to enable us to hit our 30% threshold by October 2008.

• 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.
• 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 targets.

• Colombia - Federacion Nacional Cafeteros de Colombia (FNC)
• Ethiopia - Oromia Coffee Farmers Co-operative Union (OCFCU)
• Uganda - Union Export Services Limited (UNEX)
• Guatemala: Federacion de Cooperativas Agricolas de Productores de Café de Guatemala (FEDECOCAGUA R.L) and Fundacion Ulrich Gurtner Kappeler.
• 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 the primary school we have extended and Intel decided to pilot an "Intel Casebook" (affordable laptops) pilot in the school as a result of our investment. This is being replicated in a new project at La Esperanza during 2008/09.

In Kilenso Rasa, Ethiopia, electricity was funded and supplied to the High School that we have built. This is the first time this community has had electricity.

In Guatemala, we are working on a joint initiative with Solidaridad to fund a Social Worker for 3 years so that they can run a "life skills" course for the community

• Leaflets
• Website
• In-store Point-Of-Sale such as posters and tray liners during national campaigns
• National PR to support Costa Foundation Day
• Collection Boxes in store and head office during national campaigns
• Internal Competitions
• Internal magazines
• DVD footage of projects for store managers and team members

We currently have over 750 stores in the UK.