Selling Just Coffee®
One of the goals of the Just Coffee project is to provide a means of raising funds for local Church groups. Any Catholic group anywhere in Canada or the United States can apply to be authorized by the BC/Yukon Regional Council of the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace to sell Just Coffee as a fundraiser for its own group programs. Contact apconradi@telus.net for further information.
General Information
The group or individual needs a volunteer to take responsibity for the following:
- take orders;
- place the order with Ethical Bean or Bean North and clearly specify your parish (school, etc.) and that you want Development and Peace "Just Coffee®" labels;
- arrange pick up, delivery or shipping;
- decide on a time and place to sell and distribute the coffee, usually after a selected event (e.g. mass every week, every two weeks, every month or even every three months depending on the time available to the volunteer);
- decide on the retail price and collect the money (coffee is not subject to tax);
- pay the supplier within 30 days; and
- keep the profit for your own group. Or, if you wish to send the money to the CCODP BC ® Yukon Region, inform apconradi@telus.net and we will give you the Regional Treasurer's address
Note: It's worth restating how important it is to clearly tell the suppliers your parish (school, etc.) and that you want Development and Peace "Just Coffee" labels.
An important point to remember is that even if you only sell 5 lbs a month you are helping the growers, so don't worry about not being the salesperson of the month! Just imagine if every parish in Canada sold 5 lbs of "Just Coffee®" a month the difference we'd make.
The way to get started in a parish is to ask the pastor if you can put a short notice in the bulletin about "Just Coffee®" (or Fairly Traded tea, cocoa, etc.) and put a notice on the church notice board with tear-offs with the volunteer's phone number. Then slowly by word of mouth sales will grow and stabilize at between 15-25 lbs a month depending on size and cultural background of the parish. In some parishes the orders fluctuate quite dramatically and in others remain stable. This project is handled a little differently in each parish and the volunteer seller decides what, how, when etc. After all, the volunteer is the one doing the work. Some people will buy for their friends at work and other family members. Some volunteers want the money up front, some wait for the coffee to be distributed. Generally you can trust people but be careful about ordering coffee without having received orders for it. You do not want to be stuck with unsold coffee for long because it goes stale, whereas tea, cocoa and chocolate keep for a long time. You can, of course, freeze coffee but gourmets recommend against this unless your circumstances leave you with no alternative.
Other Fair Trade Items
As stated above, in addition to coffee, we also promote Fairly Traded tea, chocolate, sugar and dried fruit. The underlying reasons for supporting these products are the same as for coffee. For more information, contact us.
Presentations
If your school or group would like a slide and speaker presentation on Just Coffee®, again please contact us.
Just Get Involved!
Want to help third world farmers and fundraise for CCODP and your school, youth group or parish?
For more information on how to become a vendor of Just Coffee®, please contact us.