How Our Impact Fund Helps Communities During COVID-19

At Desert Sun one of our main priorities is to maintain strong, lasting relationships with farmers around the world. The onset of COVID-19 negatively impacted many of our producer partners, and many struggled to meet their contracted quotas of coffee beans. Fortunately, Desert Sun, as a roaster-member of Cooperative Coffees, was able to step in to bridge the gap through our ongoing Impact Fund.

What is Cooperative Coffees’ Impact Fund?

The Impact Fund is an environmental service fund that invests directly in our coffee producing partners. The money is collected through a 3 cent per pound voluntary fee paid by all roaster-members on coffees imported through the Coop.  Such direct investment in small scale coffee producers is extremely rare in today’s coffee economy, and we at Desert Sun are proud of our role. It testifies to our enduring commitment to doing the right: for people, for the planet, and for the perfectly roasted bean.

How is the Impact Fund helping communities impacted by COVID-19?

Throughout the last several months, the roaster-members of Cooperative Coffees have chosen to direct $130,000 from the Impact Fund to go towards COVID relief. This has enabled our partners in regions around the world to respond quickly and effectively to the challenges brought by COVID-19 to their communities.  

For a deeper dive on how our Impact Fund is helping coffee farmers and greater communities, check out Cooperative Coffees’ recent blog post, “Solidarity as an Antidote to COVID-19.”