SFAC’s Stacey Horowitz Writes for Fast Company Magazine

Shopping For A Change founder Stacey Horowitz recently wrote an insightful article for Fast Company business magazine called 6 Steps to Building a Purpose-Driven Business. In the piece she discusses her perspectives and advice on starting a business (through her experience starting the nonprofit Shopping for a Change) and seeing it through its initial years of growth and challenges. Her 6 steps include: Take It Slowly, Do Things Differently, Don’t Go It Alone, Master The Art Of Fundraising, Be Prepared To Go Off-Road, Look At Your Accomplishments—Not Just Your To-Do List. Click here to read full article. 

She writes: I’ve ridden over many potholes while building the (Shopping for a Change) business, and the journey has been slower than I expected. Despite some angel funding, we’ve had to bootstrap our growth. As a result, I wear many hats, and we’re still an all-volunteer organization.

Because of these ongoing challenges, I have to remind myself to look back at our achievements rather than focus solely on where I still want to take the organization. In the four years since our launch, the business has grown from partnering with 11 artisan groups in Africa and South America to over 40 artisan groups spanning four continents and 28 countries, touching more than 25,000 lives domestically and abroad.

Fundraising for Shopping For A Change continues strongly during the 60-day Indiegogo campaign that began on September 5^th. There are 8 days left to contribute and participate in this crowd-funding effort that will take SFAC to the next level. Please visit our Indiegogo campaign here to contribute as a prelude to the upcoming Holiday Season. Click here to visit the SFAC Indiegogo contribution page. 

Southern Lady Magazine Features Our Ventana Necklace

The Southern Lady magazine—which celebrates and inspires women of the south—included the fair trade necklace Ventana Necklace in its Savvy Traveler section. This is a show-and-tell section that features special items that are particularly good for travel. The Ventana Necklace—from the Faire Collection, and made by artisans in Ecuador, South America—was laid out at the top of the page under the heading: Cute for a Cause, with a brief intro reading: Show support for fair trade practices with this stunning necklace, handmade by artisans in Ecuador. Other items surrounding the necklace included metallic luxe luggage on wheels, sunglasses, a gauzy scarf and a small purse with a plethora of pockets. The Ventana Necklace is available for purchase as part of our jewelry collection. Click here. One of our first Shopping for a Change partnerships was with Faire Collection and we carry many stunning pieces from them. The artisans from Ecuador who make this necklace and many others have greatly expanded their workshops and employees since working with Faire Collection, beginning in 2008.

For fair trade jewelry Christmas Holiday shopping and many other categories, please go here to explore all we offer this season. 

Guatemalan Women Seeing Great Improvement in Lives: Fair Trade Work

Recently, as a result of fair trade employment among Guatemalan women, there has been a huge increase in individual and community purchasing power. The increase in global fair trade purchasing in fashion items (including jewelry) which highland Guatemalan women are particularly skilled at making has meant a corresponding increase in what they are earning from the fair trade guilds or companies they’re working for. Some have seen a three to four fold increase in their take home pay. This translates into the ability to invest in their children’s education, bring meats and fruits into their diets, build additional rooms in their homes, and buy their first plots of land. Considering that Guatemala has the third highest malnutrition rate in the world at 54.5 percent, this is truly welcome news, and speaks for the expansion of fair trade employment in Guatemala. It also means that fair trade fashion items from Guatemala and other South American countries are having an impact on global fashion, and becoming a viable competing force.

At Shopping For a Change we have  partnerships with several South American fair trade artisan groups and manufacturers including Altiplano of Guatemala. Please visit our jewelry section to shop for many items from South America. Fair trade eco friendly jewelry from SFAC combines fashion trend aesthetics, highest quality and handmade crafting, and socially conscious buying in which each piece bought helps many. And, in addition, we are nonprofit so not only are the artisans paid fairly, but your purchases are funding community improvement projects in the artisans’ communities focused on  clean water, health care and education, as well as supporting U.S. nonprofits of your choice.

Fair trade jewelry shopping, including for upcoming holiday Christmas season, shop here>