Equal Exchange

Equal Exchange

Company type	cooperative
Founded	1986
Headquarters	West Bridgewater, Massachusetts, Hood River, Oregon, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Products	coffee, tea, sugar, chocolate, almonds, pecans, dried cranberries
Number of employees	100
Website	www.equalexchange.coop

Equal Exchange is a for-profit Fairtrade worker-owned, cooperative headquartered in West Bridgewater, Massachusetts. Equal Exchange distributes organic, gourmet coffee, tea, sugar, cocoa, and chocolate bars produced by farmer cooperatives in Latin America, Africa and Asia. Equal Exchange also partners with small farmer co-ops in the United States for their Domestic Fair Trade line that includes pecans, almonds, and cranberries.

Founded in 1986, Equal Exchange is the oldest and largest Fair Trade coffee company in the United States.
The highest paid employee of Equal Exchange may not make more than four times what the lowest paid employee receives.

Mission

Equal Exchange's mission is to build long-term trade partnerships that are economically just and environmentally sound, to foster mutually beneficial relationships between farmers and consumers and to demonstrate, through our success, the contribution of worker co-operatives and Fair Trade to a more equitable, democratic and sustainable world.

Guiding Principles

• Trade directly with democratically organized small farmer cooperatives.
• Facilitate access to credit for producer organizations.
• Pay producers a guaranteed minimum price that provides a stable source of income as well as improved social services.
• Provide high quality food products.
• Support sustainable farming practices.
• Build a democratically-run cooperative workplace.
• Develop more environmentally-sound business practices.

Vision

In June 2006, Equal Exchange's worker-owners approved a powerful vision for Equal Exchange's next 20 years:

A Vision for Equal Exchange
There will be... A vibrant mutually cooperative community of two million committed participants trading fairly one billion dollars a year in a way that transforms the world.

Worker-Ownership

Equal Exchange is organized as a democratic worker cooperative, now one of the largest in the country.

This includes:

• the right to vote (one vote per employee, not per share);
• the right to serve as leader (i.e. board director);
• the right to information;
• the right to speak your mind.

Awards

• 2008 Worldblu World's Most Democratic Workplaces
• 2008 Fast Company magazine Social Capitalist Award
• 2007 Worldblu World's Most Democratic Workplaces
• 2006 SBANE Innovation Award
• 2000 Business Ethics Magazine Stakeholder Award

External links

• Equal Exchange Web site
• Equal Exchange Review and Video about their Coffee process
• The Equal Exchange blog on building a greener and more just food system