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Inspired by TOMS Shoes and One Laptop Per Child, we wanted to make donations an integral part of our business model. We've been lucky to maintain profitability while becoming a giving-based business and hope to give 100% of our net profits over the coming years to positively effect our world and environment.

World Centric currently donates a full 25% of our annual profits to grassroots community projects around the world. In 2009, we gave away nearly $25,000 in cash to charities that contribute to a more environmentally sustainable and economically viable way of life in India, Kenya and North America.

Cash Donations
People for Progress in India	$15,450.00
GRID Alternatives – USA	$5,000.00
OTEPIC – Kenya	$3,037.00
Solar Maasai – Kenya	$1,500.00
Total Donations	$24,987.00

People for Progress in India (PPI)

World Centric contributed to People for Progress in India (PPI), a volunteer-run organization for sustainable development, based in Seattle, with overhead expenses held at 5% or less of their annual budget. PPI enables grassroots projects that significantly impact the socio-economic conditions of marginalized rural families across India, often for under $3,000 per year, per project.

Some of the inspiring work carried out by PPI in 2009 includes

Bio-Sand Water Purification (Land for Tillers' Freedom (LAFTI), Tamil Nadu, India)

Water-borne illnesses are the second leading cause of childhood mortality in India, with dysentery also being common. Stove fuel shortages are on the rise and so sterilizing water by boiling has become less of a viable option. PPI helped setup the fabrication of the bio-sand water filters, a virtually maintenance-free filtration system that costs less than $10 per filter.

Bio-sand filters purify drinking water by removing particulates; 99% of pathogens; and 60% of metals like manganese, iron and arsenic at a rate of about one liter per minute. Bio-sand filters were also installed at local clinics, schools and area youth hostels.

Kitchen Gardens for Rural Women (Karnatak Health Institute (KHI), Karnataka, India)

Educating and training rural women is an important way toward healthier and more self-sustaining communities. PPI's grassroots partner KHI launched a successful kitchen garden project that supports 100 rural Indian women through the construction of farm ponds, organic composting sites, and the training of nearby villagers on organic farming methods. The new gardens are now an important source of food and self-reliance for villagers and the KHI hospital.

OTEPIC – Biodynamic Farming in Kenya

Over the last 30 years, the number of people in Africa facing malnourishment nearly doubled. In Kenya, more than 18.5 million people are in dire need of assistance following four consecutive poor rainy seasons amounting to the worst drought in that country’s history. The drought in turn is causing food insecurity, hunger and disease to rise. World Centric donated more than $3,000 to our local partner, Organic Technology Extension and Promotion of Initiative Centre (OTEPIC), a grassroots organization that works with hundreds of collaborating poor farmers, especially women, in Kenya’s Western North Rift. Developing local capacity to grow food and maintain livestock are crucial to helping families become self-sufficient during this crisis and eventually move toward earning an extra income. Trainings cover biodynamic and organic farming for increasing soil fertility, crop diversification, and technologies for increasing yield.

Solar Maasai Project – Rural Photovoltaics

In September 2009, the Solar Maasai Project began construction on a solar-powered photovoltaic (PV) electrical system for an off-grid schoolhouse, Empruken Primary in Enoosaen, Kenya. World Centric supported the 5-kW Solar Maasai Project with a $1,500 contribution. When the lights came on, sundown was “postponed” for the first time in that part of the world. The PV systems render unnecessary the expensive and unhealthy kerosene lamps most families are forced to use. The solar power station now provides electricity to classrooms, a laptop charging station, a fee-based cell phone charging station, and refrigeration units holding vital vaccines.

Homeowner Energy Choices

World Centric also contributed $5,000 to California-based GRID Alternatives, which brings the power of energy efficiency and solar electricity to low-income homeowners. GRID Alternatives manages the Single-family Affordable Solar Homes Program for the California Public Utilities Commission. This program provides low-income homeowners with access to PV systems. The effect is two-fold: decreasing electricity usage and increasing local green-job opportunities. World Centric staffers joined other GRID Alternatives volunteers in Solarthon 2009, shown here.

World Centric invites you to learn more about the good works being carried our by these organizations. Our local partners are solutions-oriented, working to create positive change by building pathways to sustainable livelihoods. We look forward to expanding our community giving programs together with our growing customer base, made up of caring individuals like you.

In-Kind Donations

Soup kitchens, peace organizations, animal welfare groups, Boy Scout Troops, faith-based organizations and public radio stations are just some of the organization that received free World Centric bowls, cups and utensils for official functions. World Centric made thousands of dollars in direct product donations to dozens of worthy organizations working to serve their communities in the U.S. and Canada. In all, our in-kind donations in 2009 were valued at nearly $14,000.

InKind Donations
In-kind Donations - Charities - USA & Canada	$7,806.81
In-kind Donations - Other - USA & Canada	$6,187.02
Total Donations	$13,993.83

Product Discounts

Under our unique product discount programs, we provide schools and other nonprofits with our biocompostable foodservice product lines at a discount. We wanted to give organizations working in the public service a chance to make their operations greener by offering a 15% discount to charities and a 25% discount to K-12 schools.

In all, World Centric provided a total of more than $166,000 in discounts for worthy causes. Among the many recipients of World Centric’s discounted foodservice items:

• AutismSpeaks for National Autism Day;
• California Student Sustainability Coalition, which hosts networking events for the student sustainability movement;
• kidSTRONG, directly benefiting over 950 families battling childhood cancer at Stanford Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital;
• The National Multiple Sclerosis Society of Northern California;
• Stevenson House, which provides affordable housing to low-income seniors;
and many others.

Total Discounts
Discount Program - Nonprofits (15% off) - USA & Canada	$16,227.72
Discount Program - K-12 Schools (25% off) - USA & Canada	$23,575.92
School Trays Discount Program - K-12 Schools (at cost) - USA & Canada	$126,831.98
Total Discounts	$166,635.62

School Lunch Trays Program

By far, our highest impact discount activity is our school lunch trays program. All over the country, many schools persist in using unsustainable lunch trays made from Styrofoam or expanded polystyrene (EPS), exposing our children to polluting and potentially toxic materials. New York City public schools, for example, use 4 million EPS lunch trays a week. That’s 850,000 trays every day! Stacked together, you’d have a wall of trays 30 feet high by 75 feet long, five days a week.

We make our fully biocompostable trays available to schools at cost. World Centric offers accredited K-12 schools in the U.S. and Canada our durable, fully biocompostable 5-compartment cafeteria trays for the price we pay, making environmentally responsible purchasing a no-brainer. Made from agricultural waste like wheat straw or bagasse, our trays are a healthy, non-toxic addition to any school lunch program.

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