How we do it:
When a villager in Kenya creates a hand-made, wooden chess board and that chess board is sold in the developed world via NonprofitProducts.org for $50.00, the Kenyan villager that created it will receive a full months worth of a typical Kenyan income. The villager can then use that money for simple things most of us in the developed world take for granted: Food, clothing, education, shelter and medicine.
So, what’s the fuss about? Consider this: If an average person in the US makes 4,000 USD a month, a person living in poverty by making/selling only one item (for example, a chess board) will generate a full months income in his/her local currency. Imagine making a single chess board, selling it abroad, and receiving 4,000 USD for it. Now imaging making and selling 10, or 100, or 1,000. That's the kind of impact ones purchase will make at NonprofitProducts.org.
Nonprofit Products International, Inc. is a strong supporter of fair-trade. However, we believe we can greatly improve fair-trade as it is practiced today. The fair-trade label is too often used to benefit the pockets of manufacturers, importers/wholesalers and retailers in the developed world. By giving the poor the actual retail profits one’s products create, fair-trade will finally become fair.
Through this process an amazing psychological change will occur in the poor and their community. Through the sale of their products, these micro-entrepreneurs will finally gain a vision of hope. They will see the results from their own labor, and in doing so, they will inspire the masses around them to join in the goal for a better life.
Ultimately, through putting fairness back into fair-trade, we hope to provide a new light that portrays the poor's daily struggle, but most importantly, the poor’s unique potential.