Starbucks Passion

Ethos Water Fund - a great CSR initiative

One of the main reasons for starting this blog, starbuckspassion, was to express my appreciation for Starbucks’ great CSR work. Starbucks cares for community, environment and people and I felt it was necessary to highlight some of their promising initiatives. My 3-part CSR series touched on several of their initiatives and examined their CSR mandate. (scroll through my older posts to find the 3-part CSR series.)

With that being said, in this post I want to highlight one of my favourite CSR initiatives Starbucks partakes in; the Ethos Water Fund. Starbucks.com says: “Ethos® Water was created to help raise awareness about this terrible crisis and provide children with access to clean water. Every time you buy a bottle of Ethos® Water, you contribute 5 cents to the Ethos® Water Fund, part of the Starbucks Foundation.” (In Canada, Starbucks donates 10 cents to the Ethos Water Fund. )

Even though 5 cents (10 cents in Canada) seems like small numbers, when millions of bottles are sold, the amount of money raised is staggering. Since its inception in 2005, Starbucks has donated over $6 million to the fund and helped more than 420,000 people around the world. With that many people being helped, the Ethos Water Fund proves to be a valuable component in Starbucks’ CSR campaign.

The world water crisis is one of the largest health concerns in the world. More than 1 billion people lack clean drinking water and over 2.6 billion people lack access to sanitation services. Ethoswater.com says that this crisis affects children most. Almost 4,500 children die every day from the lack of safe drinking water. Children need clean water to help fight diseases and without access to safe drinking water, millions of children will die every year until the crisis is resolved. Whether it be climate, geography or poor sanitation systems, billions of people lack access to safe drinking water. The Ethos Water Fund is dedicated to resolving this crisis.

The Ethos Water Fund currently has 10 projects in several regions across the world. The projects are located in:

Cholusnate, Honduras

Ginchi, Ethiopia

Benishangul Gumuz, Ethiopia

Nairobi, Kenya

Northern Province, Rwanda

Kivu, Congo

Manyara, Tanzania

Sader, Bangladesh

Sumatra, Indonesia

Madhya, India

Ayinapatti, India

Keelakarthigaipatti, India

Starbucks was committed to raising $10 million to the Ethos Water Fund by 2010 but because of the recent economic downturn, that timeline has been extended and Starbucks remains committed to reaching the $10 million goal.

But for Starbucks it’s not just about donating money to help people gain access to clean drinking water, it’s also about educating people on the world water crisis. The Ethos Water bottle label explains the program’s mandate and educates consumers on how they are helping to resolve the world water crisis.

I think this project is one of Starbucks’ most admirable CSR initiatives. Obviously, you can’t rate the CSR initiatives in terms of importance, but the Ethos Water Fund is a project that not only helps people gain access to clean drinking water but also educates consumers on the world water crisis.

So next time you’re in a Starbucks, reach down and grab a bottle of Ethos water and know that you’re doing something good; you’re helping people gain access to clean, safe drinking water.