WHAT: BuildaNest.com 

WHY: "Nest is a nonprofit organization that empowers female artists and artisans around the world. Using a unique combination of interest-free microfinance loans, mentoring from established designers, as well as a market in which to sell their crafts, Nest helps its loan recipients create successful small businesses. Nest instills pride of ownership, preserves ancient artistic traditions and successfully moves women from poverty to self-sufficiency."

BUY:

WHAT: GlobalGoodsPartners.org

WHY: “Global Goods Partners is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to empowering women, alleviating poverty and promoting social justice in 24 countries. We partner with community based organizations in marginalized regions of Asia, Africa, the Americas and the Middle East, creating access to the U.S. market for our partners’ handcrafted products and providing technical assistance to build sustainable livelihoods.”

BUY: 

 

WHAT: Hands Up Not Hand Outs

WHY: “HANDS UP NOT HANDOUTS partners with women of the world in the design, production and marketing of unique, one-of-a-kind goods using handicraft techniques. Charity can cripple, we help people help themselves. To make a purchase with HANDS UP NOT HANDOUTS is to invest in the life of another. All proceeds are reinvested into the business, the women and their communities to make the process sustainable. Consider your purchase a thank you from women of the world...one that builds leaders, jobs, homes, schools and ultimately stronger communities.”

BUY:

WHAT: LemLem by Liya Kebede

WHY: “Supermodel / actress and World Health Organization's Goodwill Ambassador for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, Liya Kebede discovered that traditional weavers in her native country of Ethiopia were losing their jobs due to a decline in local demand for their goods and wanted to do something about it. Recognizing the beauty, quality and historic significance of their work, Liya started Lemlem in 2007 as a way to inspire economic independence in her native country and to preserve the art of weaving.”

BUY: 

WHAT: TOMS Shoes

WHY: “In 2006, American traveler Blake Mycoskie befriended children in Argentina and found they had no shoes to protect their feet. Wanting to help, he created TOMS Shoes, a company that would match every pair of shoes purchased with a pair of new shoes given to a child in need. One for One. Blake returned to Argentina with a group of family, friends and staff later that year with 10,000 pairs of shoes made possible by TOMS customers.”

BUY:

WHAT: Organic Bouquet

WHY: “Organic Bouquet is the largest online provider of eco-friendly and organic floral gifts. All of our flowers are grown in a manner that is not only environmentally friendly but also provides outstanding resources for farm workers and artisans. Organic Bouquet partners with select flower farms in California, Ecuador and Columbia. When you purchase flowers from Organic Bouquet, you are helping to improve the life of a flower farm worker, their family and the local floral community.”

BUY: