The Starbucks Foundation has come a long way since its founding in 1997.
Originally established to fund youth literacy programs in the United States and Canada, today it invests in communities around the world. How? By supporting organizations that create job and education opportunities for young people by equipping them with employment skills, and encouraging engagement in our local communities by matching our partners’ personal monetary and community service contributions.
In 2017 we launched the Opportunity for All initiative to expand the Foundation’s focus on youth, veterans and military spouses and refugees. That year, we made $1.41 million in grants to organizations like Liberty’s Kitchen, which offers job training to young people in New Orleans.
Decades after its creation, the Foundation’s reach has broadened to many places where we do business – it also invests in programs that strengthen economic and social development in the regions that supply our coffee, tea and cocoa.