Giving Back: Purely’s Corporate Social Responsibility Pledge
When you buy online, do you think about the business practices of the company from which you are buying?
Corporate Social Responsibility - or CSR for short - refers to when a company aims to be more socially accountable as well as demonstrating philanthropy and a consciousness for the impact they are having socially, economically, and environmentally. In recent times, more and more businesses are pledging to be more ethical and are taking active steps to achieve this. CSR is a broad concept and can take many forms - some companies are ethical down to the core while others participate in programs. CSR can benefit everyone in the business from stakeholders to customers and everyone in between.
Some examples of Corporate Social Responsibility include:
- Environmental management, such as waste reduction and sustainability
- Responsible sourcing, such as using only fair trade ingredients
- Improvement of working standards and conditions
- Contributing to educational and social programmes
- Employee volunteering
- Socially responsible investment
- Development of employee and community relations
(Source: nibusinessinfo.co.uk)
At Purely, our mission has always been to give back to the communities where we source our wonderful plantains - Portoviejo in Ecuador. Ecuador is part of a global crisis for children born into poverty and the most common reason for living parents placing their children into orphanages is an inability to afford food. According to children’s charity humanium.org, in Ecuador 40.7% of children and adolescents live in poverty and 15.1% in extreme, multidimensional poverty. This places the country among the highest averages, taking into account ethnic differences in South America. Nearly 15% of births are not officially registered with the government.
For this reason, Purely have decided to partner with an orphanage in Portoviejo called Casa Hogar de Belen. This orphanage provides a safe haven to 42 children who have experienced severe trauma.
Sadly, due to lack of funding, the orphanage is in a state of disrepair. The perimeter fence is not secure, meaning the children cannot feel completely safe. They also have problems with their plumbing and poor condition of mattresses.
Purely have decided to donate a portion of profits to this well-deserving cause in order to help fund the charity and provide better accommodation for these children. One project that Purely will be helping to support is the building of a small bakery onsite at the orphanage. The intention is for the older children to be able to get experience working, baking, and providing for the other children. With the money raised by Purely’s CSR scheme, the orphanage will be able to buy everything necessary to make this a reality.
What this means is that every time our customers purchase a bag of Purely plantain chips, they will be helping to give back to this community and make the lives of these children better. Not only this, Purely work exclusively with sustainable farms, meaning sales of our plantain chips help to support these workers and their communities.
