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F O A M : N E W S COFFEE KIDS CLOSES ITS DOORS IT'S SAFE TO SAY that no one was expecting the news, announced this past December, that Coffee Kids, the longtime nonprofit dedicated to improving the lives and communities of coffee growers, would be ceasing operations at the end of the year and looking to merge with an "appropriate orgnization." Reactions ranged from saddened to stunned. For 26 years, Coffee Kids worked closely with numerous people and organizations on projects in Latin America, and partnered with companies like DaVinci Gourmet, Café Imports, and Holly Brown Coffee on specific efforts and general operations to support coffee farmers and their communities, focusing primarily on health, education, and the environment. "Needless to say, this has been one of the toughest things I've had to go through," says Coffee Kids board president Mike Ebert. "But I do believe 100 percent the board is acting as proper stewards of the organization, and to continue operations as they were would have meant bad things for the future of Coffee Kids, and, most importantly, our partners. As it stands now, the worst thing is we close. Everything committed to has been paid for, we just won't do work going forward as of the moment." He also explained that all donations given to the organization after December 4, 2014, can be refunded, or Coffee Kids will use the money to help support final payments on 2014 activities, the pursuit of a merger with another NGO, and costs related to the transition. All donations made prior to December 4 went to directly fund projects in 2014. "If you are interested in supporting another small NGO dedicated to working directly with coffee- growing communities to make them stronger and more resilient, we can recommend the following organizations with which we have close relations: GFH, Pueblo a Pueblo, Coffee Trust, Food4 Farmers," Mike says. Rebecca Singer, Coffee Kids' executive director, explained that a number of difficult factors combined to make the organization's efforts too prohibitively costly to continue. "The current slew of challenges specifically facing coffee—roya, climate change, drought, etc.—has resulted in a great deal of focus there and less space for the challenges facing the communities: lack of education, lack of health care, poverty, etc., which Coffee Kids and other NGOs try to address," she says. "Yes, it was ultimately a lack of funding that resulted in our having to close our doors. And that lack of funding was a result of issues both internal and external to Coffee Kids." Going forward, Rebecca says, "I hope that there will still be space in the coffee world for people to learn about the challenges facing coffee- producing communities, and to have an outlet for people to support the development of those communities." Mike agrees that much of the reason for closing Coffee Kids has to do with the unique challenges facing today's coffee industry. "Due to the changing landscape within the coffee industry, as well as within the developing world, over the past several years, Coffee Kids has experienced challenges in raising funds sufficient to support its mission," he says. "These challenges have come to make it impossible to continue working as we did previously. In addition to lacking sufficient funds to continue to support our partners, we also realized that we did not have a sustainable business model that balanced disbursements of grants with our administrative and operational costs in doing so. "As individuals, the board of directors and staff are completely committed to the mission of Coffee Kids, and are thus hopeful that another organization will take on our work," Mike says. "We believe that supporting coffee communities as they solve their own most pressing social problems is the best way to build a more resilient coffee supply chain." No doubt even if it were the best solution, closing down Coffee Kids feels to many like a heartbreaking defeat. Hopefully, however, the good people, ideas, and efforts behind the organization can continue to move forward and assist in improving lives in struggling communities at coffee origin. "Suffice it to say, I left Coffee Kids with the hopes and expectations that the organization would continue for many years to come," Bill says. "In one way or another, I hope the board finds a way for the organization to continue as long as it can maintain an independent voice in the specialty-coffee trade." —Kenneth R. Olson Coffee Kids founder Bill Fishbein (top) is pictured on one of his first trips to visit coffee-producing families on behalf of the nonprofit organization, which was founded in 1988. "Today, the issues that Coffee Kids sought to beat so early on have become part of the specialty-coffee conversation," Bill told Barista Magazine in the February + March 2014 issue, where he was profiled in the close up Q + A column. 24 barista magazine