Thanks to investors, RSF is able to broaden its lending program to support social enterprises.
Most recently, RSF provided a $3 million line of credit to Numi Organic Tea, a specialty organic tea company committed to Fair Trade, social justice, and environ-mental sustainability.
“In searching for the best financial part-ner, Numi chose RSF for many reasons. First, RSF shares a similar vision to sup-port and sustain the global environment and its people through various measures including organic farming, fair trade practices, and an overall philosophy of sustainability,” says Ahmed Rahim, co-founder and president of Numi. “This is rare to find in the financial marketplace, but RSF is a unique organization that strides to be a leader and set an example of how financial partnerships can be formed.”
Founded in 1999, Numi, based in Oakland, California, works directly with many of their tea suppliers using fair trade practices ensuring fair treatment of the workers, better working and living conditions, and an overall improved quality of life for their families. Eleven of Numi’s teas are Fair Trade Certified by Transfair USA.
Numi is committed as well to improv-ing the lives of those who supply their packaging materials. Last year when parts of Guangxi Province, in the southern region of China where Numi obtains
bamboo and wood for its tea chests, was struck with the worst flooding in 100 years, the company donated a percentage of its profits to help rebuild the bamboo factory, which is a primary economic driver for the surrounding community. Ongoing proceeds will help maintain the facility and ensure fair wages for the workers.
“It is an honor to be of service to Numi, a socially conscious organization,” says Joe Avenatti, lending manager of RSF. “Numi exemplifies how social responsibility can be purposely and successfully integrated into the core of a company’s business model—proving that doing well while doing good is not just a cliché.”
For more information about Numi Organic Tea, please visit www.numitea.com.
Inspired by the work of Rudolf Steiner
GET INSPIRED AT BIONEERS AND THE GREEN FESTIVALS
RSF is a proud sponsor of this year’s Bioneers and Green Festivals, large gatherings that focus on issues and actions around economic, environmental, and social sustainability. We hope you can come and meet us there.
Bioneers October 20–22, 2006 (San Rafael, CA) www.bioneers.org
Green Festival October 14–15, 2006 (Washington, DC) November 10–12, 2006 (San Francisco, CA) April 21–22, 2007 (Chicago, IL) www.greenfestivals.org
RSF INVESTS $1M IN THE FJC AGENCY LOAN FUND
RSF has made a $1 million social debt investment in the FJC Agency Loan Fund from its Charitable Asset Management (CAM) Program. The CAM program invests philanthropic funds in socially responsible portfolios to maximize the social impact of donors’ charitable gifts.
The FJC Agency Loan Fund makes loans to help finance projects that include: establishment of group homes for the disabled, classes for special needs children, programs at community centers for the aged, and adult literacy programs.
Contact us today to learn more about our Philanthropic Services program.
Women Secure a Better Life for ThemselvesAna Lilia Martinez wanted to improve her family’s economic situation. She was married, had a son, but did not have a job or any immediate job prospects. A chance meeting with a staff member from the Women’s Action to Gain Economic Security (WAGES) changed her life dramatically. By participating in WAGES’ training program and becoming a member of the Natural Home Cleaning coopera-tive, Ana gained work experience, inde-pendence, and financial security.
“I’m excited to be a co-owner of the cooperative. Little by little, the business continues to grow. Now that we are able to obtain benefits like medical insurance, I feel much better about my health and safety,” says Ana. “I never had health insurance before, and it’s great to be able to go to the doctor before I get too sick instead of waiting until it becomes an emergency.”
WAGES is a non-profit organization whose mission is to promote the econom-ic and social well-being of low-income women through cooperative business ownership. Founded in 1998, they provide technical assistance, education, manage-ment services, and governance training to cooperatives. Their main focus has been to help low-income Latina women in the greater San Francisco Bay Area establish housecleaning cooperatives using envi-ronmentally friendly cleaning methods
A grant from RSF supports Class Action’s efforts to help break down the barriers of class and economic injustice. Executive Director Felice Yeskel says, “Our grant from RSF has given us the resources to illuminate these issues and reach out beyond our workshops.”
According to Class Action, classism is the systematic assignment of characteris-tics of worth and ability based on social class and leads to the subordination of some groups and increased privilege for others. Class Action’s mission is to raise consciousness about the issues of class and money, and the powerful impact these have on individuals’ lives, relation-ships, organizations, institutions, and culture.
Discovering Class Action is a profound experience for many people. “Spending time on classism.org was a watershed event for me! I will be in a better posi-tion to help others as well,” says Kim.
For more information about Class Ac-tion, please visit www.classism.org or call 413.585.9709.
Class Action’s vision
is an economy that
is more fair, without
extremes of wealth
and poverty, where
everyone gets a fair
chance at develop-
ing their talents and
becoming prosper-
ous.
Kim Anthony discovered Class Action’s website after she experienced an inci-dent of class bias while on a business trip. She wrote to tell us her story, “I could not shake the experience! Driving the next day to a speaking engagement in Beverly Hills…in this affluent en-vironment, on this day I felt an over-whelming sense of powerlessness, self-condemnation, and shame that actually just made me want to cry. This incident affected me so deeply that I just had to get to the bottom of it; it ultimately led me to classism.org.”
Class Action creates a community for Kim and hundreds of others where they can be inspired and feel empowered through workshops, lectures, and con-sulting services. The organization’s goal is to heal the wounds of classism, support the development of cross-class alliances, and join with others to increase the movement of resources to where they are most needed.
“I’m excited to be a co-owner of the cooperative. Little by little, the business
continues to grow.”– Ana Lilia Martinez (Shown top, far right, with members of
Natural Home Cleaning cooperative)
Beyond a Financial Partnership
Twenty-five years have passed since the Waldorf School of San Diego first opened its doors. Located today in a quiet residential area of central San Diego, the school has grown steadily to house the parent/infant/tot program, pre-school, four mixed-age kindergartens, and grades one through eight.
As is the case with many fledgling Waldorf initiatives, the beginning years were blessed with joy and challenge. It took a full seventeen years before the school was prepared to break free of the rental market and purchase a permanent location—a dream realized primarily because of the support provided through a loan from RSF. That first loan financed the purchase of two acres and a big old building that was previously a church. This lovely property, located on a grassy hilltop, is the solid basis upon which the school continues to thrive and grow.
Interest in Waldorf education in San Diego is skyrocketing and enrollment matches that enthusiasm as the school began the 2006/2007 year with 215 students plus another sixty families served by the parent/tot program. There is also intense inner community interest to carry the Waldorf curriculum into the
high school years; this has spurred the school to seriously address the subject and move to have a high school in 2008.
With this in mind, when the only two vacant, buildable pieces of property adja-cent the school came up for sale within six months of each other, the school had to move quickly. “Our impulse was to move forward and secure the property for immediate future growth, “says Board of Trustees President Siri Kay Jostad. “This was something everyone agrees was only made possible by the provision of two additional RSF loans.”
“The involvement of RSF with the growth of our school has gone beyond financial. RSF provides stability and advice from their greater Waldorf experi-ence for our bursts of enthusiasm and thus becomes a true partner and a deeply embedded pillar that allows our love for this school to manifest into a viable nurturing education for our children.” Lori Williamson, second grade parent and registrar.
For more information about the school, please www.waldorfschoolofsandiego.com.
Women Secure a Better Life for Themselves
and products. The coops have been on the cutting edge of “greening” the clean-ing industry and have attracted local and national media attention.
Women involved with WAGES have seen their income increase. According to WAGES, coop members earn 50–100% more than they would make working for a conventional cleaning company and, on average, their household income increase by 40%. Additional benefits include: having the opportunity to own a business, obtaining health insurance, and receiving leadership training.
Through a grant from the RSF New Initiatives Fund, WAGES is able to help women like Ana become more empow-ered to improve their standard of living.
“Without funders like RSF who are will-ing to support new and innovative proj-ects, we could not invest the time and expertise necessary to help low-income women become co-owners of success-ful green businesses,” says Ellen Love of WAGES. “We are grateful to RSF for its commitment to innovation and socially responsible entrepreneurship.”
For more information, please visit www.wagescooperatives.org. To support the RSF New Initiatives Fund, please e-mail [email protected] or call 415.561.3900.
“The involvement of
RSF with the growth
of our school has gone
beyond financial.”
– Lori Williamson,
second grade parent and registrar
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Y“I’m excited to be a co-owner of the cooperative. Little by little, the business
continues to grow.”– Ana Lilia Martinez (Shown top, far right, with members of
Natural Home Cleaning cooperative)
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Do your investments promote fairness? Or do they perpetuate the status quo?
Fair trade. Education. Organic farming. Organizations that hold the most hope for building a more equitable world have the least access to funds for survival and growth. You can help them improve the standard of living for those in need by investing with RSF.
Help us provide urgently needed funding for solutions to our planet’s most pressing problems. And see the immediate impact of your investment. Coffee farmers earn a living wage and send their children to school. Organic farmers get their food to market.
Earn a financial return and help heal the world.1-888-RSF-3737RSFSocialFinance.org
IN THIS ISSUE• A New Partnership with Numi Organic Tea• Building Bridges Across the Class Divide• Women Secure a Better Life for Themselves• Beyond a Financial Partnership
