Ethical Shop Fairtrade Fund

*******************

Fair Trade Fund News

Thanks to everyone who donated to our Fair Trade Fund from October to December last year, 2023. You helped raise over £1,000 for the Amos Trust Emergency Appeal for Gaza. Sending donations to this fund was a direct suggestion from Zaytoun.

*******************

The Fairtrade Fund was set up in 2011 to enable Ethical Shop customers to support small, independent producers and suppliers in times of crisis. The team at Ethical Shop review the income on an annual basis and use the fund to help fair trade producers hit by natural disasters or at times of particular hardship. The fund is restricted to supporting fair trade producers and suppliers, directly linked to the items that are sold in the shop. These items are carefully sourced from Fairtrade or otherwise ethical suppliers, many of which are funding social causes or providing disadvantaged people with a fair income.

The fund accrues so that there are sufficient amounts to be able to offer help when it is needed most.

To date, donations have been used to help fair trade projects when they are hit by natural disasters such as the Nepal earthquake in 2015, or times of conflict such as the Gaza war in 2014. We also donated some funds to Coronavirus hit projects in India via Dalit and Just Trade in 2021.

TOTAL FUNDS RAISED TO DATE (2022/23): £26,688

Thank you.

Spotlight on where the funds have been used:

 

May 2023

Transform Trade launched their Producer Fund following the closure of Traidcraft in January 2023. Traidcraft's demise resulted in fair trade and ethical producer groups around the world losing a market for a proportion of their sales.  Donations will be used to support producers in Bangladesh, India, Kenya and Tanzania become more financially resilient through equipment, training, mentoring, and network building. It will also support work to amplify producer voices and power throughout supply chains and spread benefits beyond the producers and into their wider communities. Thanks to your donation to the Fairtrade Fund we were able to contribute £2,000 towards the Transform Trade Producer Fund.

 

May 2021

Dalit Goods was created as a way to fund Life Association, providing employment and care for the poorest, most vulnerable people and children in India. In May 2021, the double mutation of the virus led to 300,000+ new cases every day and the death rate topped 200,000. Hospitals were overwhelmed and turning people away. Oxygen and medication was scarce. Dalit Goods circulated a fundraiser appeal on behalf of Life Association that was focussed on funding vaccinations. Thanks to your donation to the Fairtrade Fund we were able to contribute £1,000 towards the Life Association vaccine appeal.

April 2015

On 25 April 2015 Nepal was shaken by a deadly 7.8 magnitude earthquake, the strongest to hit the country in over 80 years. Only two weeks later a 7.1 magnitude earthquake near Mount Everest brought even more destruction. The two earthquakes that struck Nepal in 2015 were devastating, causing a total of 8,891 deaths and over 22,000 injuries. Hundreds of thousands of homes were destroyed or damaged leading to the displacement of over 200,000 people. Infrastructure including health facilities, schools, access roads and places of worship were also destroyed. In total some 2.8 million people were left in need of humanitarian aid. Thanks to your donation to the Fairtrade Fund we were able to donate £500 towards the WFTO and DEC appeal.