Corporations can play an important part in reducing poverty. Here are five brands fighting global poverty and how they are doing it. 

Airbnb

Airbnb began fighting global poverty in 2017, and since then it has been providing emergency accommodation for people around the world. The Airbnb Open Homes program works by allowing Airbnb hosts to offer their properties to those in need on a temporary basis. While the program mainly aims to provide shelter for refugees and displaced people during emergencies, it also provides accommodation for relief workers who are offering help in struggling areas. Since its beginning, The Open Homes program has helped over 100,000 people find shelter. Recently, Airbnb has also announced the start of Airbnb.org, a nonprofit organization that aids housing provisions in times of crisis. It plans to take control of Airbnb’s Open Homes program, using Airbnb’s technology and resources to further power this long-running program.

KFC

KFC is currently the World Food Program’s (WFP) largest corporate partner. Each year, KFC engages millions of employees and consumers in its Add Hope initiative, a project that is also the WFP’s largest international consumer outreach project. Since Add Hope began 14 years ago, KFC has supplied 30 million nutritious meals to children in South Africa. 

By leveraging its global presence with in-store donations and special fundraising events, the company has made a meaningful difference for families and children suffering from hunger. In cooperation with WFP, KFC has helped raise funding for over 460 million school meals in more than 50 countries, and the partnership has generated over 1 billion media impressions. 

Whole Foods

Whole Planet Foundation is a nonprofit organization started by Whole Foods Market, and it dedicates its movement to alleviating poverty through empowerment. The main goal of the project is to provide microloans to people in poverty, especially in areas where Whole Food’s sources its produce. 

The foundation began in 2005, when Whole Food’s stores dedicated 5% of its nationwide earnings that day as seed money for the project, and since then the project has gone on to disburse up to $107 million in microloans. 

The loans have a 98% repayment rate, and all the repaid money is put towards future loans for small businesses. With the average first loan only being $181, Whole Planet Foundation has helped over 1 million people in poverty provide for themselves through their own business, supporting a sustainable route out of poverty. 

Starbucks

Starbucks purchases about 3% of the world’s coffee, and they also account for a large amount of support in the industry. The Starbucks Foundation is an organization that supports people both at home and abroad. By donating grants to existing nonprofit organizations, The Starbucks Foundation helps communities to thrive, from your local stores down the street to coffee farmers outside of America. Since its start in 2005, the foundation has invested more than $25 million in coffee- and tea-growing communities across the world. In 2022, Starbucks also committed to helping 1 million women in the coffee, tea and cocoa-growing industries, ensuring they support workers with fair pay. 

PepsiCo

Collaborating with local and international organizations, nonprofit organizations, and employees around the globe, the PepsiCo Foundation is on a mission to promote food security, provide safe water, encourage economic opportunity and strengthen the community. The PepsiCo Foundation dedicated a total of $62 million towards its goals in 2022, and it has reached millions of people worldwide. Since 2009, the foundation’s programs and partners have distributed more than 270 million meals. Since 2006, they helped 3 million people gain access to safe water by 2015.

In recent years, great strides have been made in fighting global poverty, but the battle continues. Approximately 719 million people still sustain on less than $2.15 per day. From a daily cup of coffee to a cheeky chicken dinner, people can support change no matter how big or small.

– Jodie Donovan
Photo: Flickr