Community Relations

"Contribute positively to our communities and our environment"
- as stated in Starbucks mission statement

Starbucks is committed to getting together to help build stronger communities and conserve natural resources.

Focus:
Starbucks concentrates its community relations in three particular areas: literacy, environment, and coffee origin communities. In addition, a large portion of the company's giving supports local organizations that employees personally care about.

The Starbucks Foundation:
Howard Schultz, Starbucks founder and chairman, established the Starbucks Foundation in 1997 based on his inspiration from Jonathon Kozol's book, Amazing Grace, about children in the South Bronx. The foundation's mission is to create hope, discovery, and opportunity in communities where Starbucks employees live and work. Since its creation, the Starbucks Foundation has maintained a focus on improving the lives of young people by supporting literacy programs for children and their families. Over the past ten years, the foundation has provided over $12 million to more than 700 youth focused organizations in the United States and Canada.

Employees and the Community:
Starbucks fulfills its commitment of contributing positively to its communities and environment with the help of employees, at all levels of the company, by working together and getting involved to help build stronger communities and conserve natural resources. The company strongly encourages and rewards its employees who volunteer and participate in organizations that are important to the employees. These organizations include, but are not limited to local schools, literacy programs, walk-a-thons, and Earth Day activities.

Giving Back to Seattle:
Starbucks Coffee Company began over 32 years ago in Seattle. Since its inception, the company's hometown has been an important part of what the company is about. In celebration of the company's passion for Seattle, Starbucks supports efforts to improve the quality of life there. The Starbucks Foundation granted $500,000 to the Seattle Public Library to fund the Literacy Outreach Program. Since 1998, Starbucks has donated $550,000 to the Seattle Symphony and Benaroya Hall, which recently sponsored to popular culture concert series. The Starbucks Neighborhood Parks Program provides $100,000 each year to support grassroots volunteer organizations, which work to create safe and welcoming gathering places for the community.

Partnering Organizations:
Over the years, Starbucks has developed relationships with numerous organizations that work with the retail stores, employees, and local communities. These organizations include Jumpstart, America SCORES, and Earth Day Network.

Jumpstart is a program in which college students are recruited and trained to serve in a yearlong one-on-one relationship with preschool children from low income backgrounds.

America SCORES is an after school program that uses soccer, poetry, and community service to inspire a lasting dedication to education, healthy living, and civic responsibility.

Earth Day Network is a unique approach to environmental education, which encourages students to become more responsible, civic-minded citizens.

Grants for Giving:
Five years ago, Starbucks created Grants for Giving as part of an overall effort to give back to its communities. This particular program has awarded grants totaling more than $1.7 million to local non-profits dedicated to the future of youth and families in Northern California. Starbucks employees often donate coffee, food products, and time in support of numerous programs and events.

Make Your Mark:
Starbucks' Make Your Mark program is a volunteer program where employees and customers unite to work on projects which directly impact the community. Company employees organize projects including park cleanups, AIDS walks, and reading events in conjunction with local nonprofit organizations. In addition, Starbucks donates $10 to Make Your Mark projects for every hour volunteered by employees and customers, up to $1,000 per event. In 2006, employees and customers in the United States and Canada volunteered more than 300,000 volunteer hours and Starbucks contributed approximately $1.5 million to the program.

Caring Unites Partners Fund:
The Caring Unites Partners Fund is a Starbucks program dedicated to supporting other employees in need. The program is funded by employees through voluntary payroll deductions and fundraisers. The CUP Fund provides financial relief to employees facing emergency situations that affect their economic quality of life.

Starbucks and Magic Johnson:
In February 1998, Starbucks and Earvin 'Magic' Johnson's company, Johnson's Development Corporation (JDC), entered into a joint venture partnership. Urban Coffee Opportunities develops Starbucks locations in diverse urban and suburban areas throughout the United States. Urban Coffee Opportunities combines Starbucks' retail strength and JDC's knowledge of communities in key metropolitan areas to enhance the development of Starbucks retail stores in ethnically diverse neighborhoods across the country. This joint venture has helped Starbucks reach more customers and bring the Starbucks experience to areas that lack a wide variety of retails choices. The joint venture has also promised to hire local residents whenever the opportunity presents itself.

Sustaining Coffee Communities:
Starbucks strongly believes in the importance of building mutually-beneficial relationships with coffee farmers and coffee communities with which it works. Starbucks participates in social development programs in various countries. These programs help to build schools, health clinics, and other projects that benefit the coffee growing communities. The company is also involved in programs that support and encourage environmentally sound coffee-growing practices and help to improve the livelihood of farmers.

Community Relations and Company Reputation:
The programs in which Starbucks is involved greatly help to enhance the company's reputation. The company's focus on the environment and coffee origin communities is very important. In the past, Starbucks has encountered controversy in regards to their treatment of farmers and coffee trading. By supporting the environment and the coffee origin communities, Starbucks shows its retail communities that it is committed to keeping the environment safe and treating the countries in which it does business with well. Although literacy is not necessarily directly related to Starbucks key businesses or products, many of the stores can be found in areas where the literacy rate may be low. By supporting literacy, Starbucks shows that it is not only focused on the environment and foreign countries, but it wants to support its local communities and the people who inhabit these areas.

Starbucks is Unique:
Despite being such a large, recognizable company, Starbucks proves that it must still be conscious about the environment and give back to its communities. In addition to providing for the local communities, Starbucks is committed to its employees. The company strongly encourages its employees to become active participants in their communities and rewards them for doing so. Starbucks is also interested in supporting projects and organizations that the employees care about. The employees are given an opportunity to choose where the company should make contributions and put in volunteer hours. By giving the employees some control of this, Starbucks creates a positive working environment.

Program Effectiveness:
In my opinion, Starbucks community relations program is very effective. The company seems more like a local mom-and-pop coffee shop, rather than a large Fortune 500 company. Customers who see that Starbucks is dedicated to their community will choose Starbucks over a competing company which does less for the community. Starbucks' community relations program is also effective in that it encourages its employees to become active participants in their community and rewards them for doing so by donating money to match volunteer hours. The employees feel a sense of belonging and most people who work at Starbucks seem content with their jobs. The communities in which Starbucks supports also benefit from all that Starbucks does because as a result the communities have cleaner parks and literacy programs, amongst many other things.

Starbucks' Efforts and the Public:
The public is made aware of Starbucks' efforts through a variety of ways. On the company website, Starbucks provides extensive information about its community relations program and the organizations which it supports. The website also has a 'press room' which contains the most recent stories about the company and what it is doing in its communities. Some of these stories include how much the company donated to a particular organization or upcoming events. At each location, Starbucks also provides information about community involvement and customers can ask employees how they can become involved in the company's efforts.