The $110 Million Chocolate Bar

Winter 2007/2008

	Illustration: Chris Mullen

Of all fund-raising products, chocolate is one of the most accessible. It's a small, kid-friendly product that nearly anyone can afford. Certainly, many adults have avid memories knocking on neighbors' doors with a box of World's Finest Chocolate in hand. The three-generation company is still going strong. With estimated annual sales of more than $110 million, World's Finest ranks among the eight largest chocolate companies in the United States. And as one of QSP/Reader's Digest's primary products, it reaches more than 40,000 schools and youth groups across the United States each year.

However, chocolate is also increasingly under attack as a product that relies on child labor, slavery, and blatantly underpaid farmers. Global Exchange, an international human rights group, is currently campaigning to get World's Finest Chocolate to buy 5 percent of its cocoa from fair trade cooperatives. Chocolate, along with coffee, has become a major touchstone in the world of fair trade, to the extent that one human rights organization, Lutheran World Relief, even bought a chocolate company-Divine Chocolate-to support farmers in Ghana.

Other Alternative Fund-raising Programs

Worldgoods
www.worldgoodsgb.com/fundraising.html
Provides fair trade artisan products for fund-raisers.

Fundraising Green
www.fundraisinggreen.com/fundraising.php
This is a new Internet-based, fund-raising system that provides redemption books for online, eco-friendly, fair-trade products.

Alterra Coffee Roasters
www.alterracoffee.com

Phone Fund
www.phonefund.com

Eco Phones
www.ecophones.com
Each of the two companies above offers fund-raising opportunities for recycled cell phones, printer cartridges, and old computer equipment.

Reuse This Bag
www.reusethisbag.com

Chico Bag
www.chicobag.com
Each of the two companies above offers reusable bags for fund-raising.

TerraCycle
www.terracycle.net
Pays for containers that cannot presently be recycled, such as juice drinks and small yogurt containers. Schools have done lunchroom collection drives for these items.

Winter 2007/2008