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Mission

World of Good: Development Organization is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization focused on building strategies to substantially improve economic and social conditions for millions of artisans and their families living on less than $4 per day. Our organization promotes fair trade practices and invests in fair trade artisan communities around the world. We strive to educate US consumers and corporations about the benefits of engaging in ethical trade practices to bridge the gap between the global north and south.

Key Initiatives

  1. Catalyze the Development of Transparent Fair Trade Craft Standards: Very low income artisans benefit most when they can advocate for fair prices and when more retailers and traders buy products under fair trade practices. In order to stimulate these shifts for craft producers, World of Good Development Organization believes that in addition to existing qualitative standards for craft organizations, there must be more transparent quantifiable standards for fair trade crafts on the product level. In partnership with other industry stakeholders, we are catalyzing the development of a strong floor pricing method and technology which relies on international indicators to define the “fair wage in the local context.” Our philosophy is based upon cooperation and collaboration among the Fair Trade organizations leading the movement.
  2. Promote Fair Trade among Craft Trading Companies: The Fair Trade movement began in Europe in the late 1970s and has been positively embraced by European consumers. In recent years, the Fair Trade movement has gained significant momentum and popularity in the US and consumers have shown a strong interest in purchasing fair trade products. World of Good Development Organization aims to promote the fair trade movement in the United States through initiatives to educate businesses to fair trade practices, standards and product adoption. As the standards become more clear and transparent, we aim to help many companies implement their own fair trade programs thereby increasing the market opportunity for the artisan producers. We believe there will be a day when all retailers and traders who carry handcrafted products are aware of fair trade and work to honor these prices and practices in their purchasing behavior.
  3. Community Development Projects: In addition to the benefits of fair trade practices and ethical working conditions, most producer communities also need improvements in basic infrastructure and support systems. The World of Good: Development Organization partners with donors and retailers to invest in social and economic development projects which improve the quality of life for artisan communities. The Development Organization partners with local NGO’s and international development agencies to implement these projects in order to maximize the contribution to the artisan community.

A Philosophy of Partnership

We are focused on philosophy of partnership to accomplish this broad mission. Our partners include producer groups, fair trade organizations, main stream businesses and our donors. While we may all see the issues from different perspectives, we believe that all these partners benefit when trade is practiced in a manner that is just to all. Thus, we encourage open dialogue, listen to criticism, and welcome your thoughts.

Board of Directors

Priya Haji (Board Chair and Co-Founder) CEO of World of Good

Priya is an experienced social entrepreneur that started creating social enterprises in high-school. Her first endeavor was helping her father establish a free health clinic called ‘Health for All’ in their Texas hometown. During her senior year at Stanford University she co-founded Free at Last, a broad based substance abuse and social services organization in East Palo Alto. As the Executive Director she grew the program to become a national model program serving 3,000 people per year, with 10 facilities, an annual budget of $2.5 million, and a staff of 60. Priya was recognized in 1998 as one of America's 10 Most Outstanding Young Leaders (Brick Award) by the Do Something Foundation, MTV and Mademoiselle Magazine. After finishing her MBA at the Haas School of Business in May 2003, she traveled for six months in Asia and Latin America to focus on source cultivation and understanding the artisan communities. She is now the CEO & President of World of Good Inc. a company which buys and sells fair trade crafts. Her passion to ensure that artisan communities are treated fairly has been a driving force for the partnerships which have brought together the initiatives within the World of Good: Development Organization.

Charlotte Opal Co-Author, Fair Trade: Market Driven Ethical Consumption & New Products Manager, Transfair USA

Charlotte is the Coordinator of the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels, a multi-stakeholder initiative to develop standards for sustainable biofuels production and processing, at the Swiss Federal Technical Institute in Lausanne. She is the co-author of Fair Trade: Market-Driven Ethical Consumption (Sage 2005), the world’s first textbook on Fair Trade. For the past four years Ms. Opal has worked in Business Development and New Product Development at TransFair USA, the Fair Trade certification and marketing agency in the US. She currently serves as Vice-Chair of the Standards Committee at Fairtrade Labelling Organisations (FLO) Int’l, the international multi-stakeholder organization governing Fair Trade certification. Ms. Opal earned an MBA and an M.Phil in Development Studies while a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, and a BA in Economics at Wake Forest University.

Cheryl Musch International Development Manager, SERRV International

Cheryl is the International Development Manager for SERRV International in Madison, WI. In this position, she travels extensively to visit partner artisan groups to develop and manage growth strategies. Before working for SERRV, she was the Executive Director of the U.S.-based Fair Trade Federation, a trade association for organizations and businesses practicing alternative trade. She is the former Director of the Fair Trade Resource Network and currently serves on their board, as well as on committees of the Fair Trade Federation and the Fair Trade Futures conference. Cheryl has also been active in fair trade on the retail level.

Lori Bonn President, Bonnventures

Lori is the Founder & President of Bonnventures LLC, a consulting company she launched in 2005 to utilize innovative development strategies connecting global philanthropy to social enterprise for progressive causes and social venture investments. She has over 25 years of experience in finance, civic and charitable organizations, campaign management, international organizations and national politics. Past projects have included development to provide technology solutions to promote the delivery of financial services to the world’s rural and urban poor; legislative support to address the critical economic role that women play in developing countries; green business solutions to mitigate climate change; and sustainable ecology curriculum development for the social sciences at the high school level. She is a board member of the World of Good Development Organization, working on global fair trade standards, and a member of the Women Donors Network, the Natural Resources Defense Council, Clinton Global Initiative 2006, National Finance Director, Women for Kerry 2004, World Affairs Council, Women Advancing Microfinance, American Fundraising Professionals, a past board member of the International Museum of Women and a TEDster. Previously, she enjoyed a ten-year career as Vice President, Investments with Sutro & Co. Inc. and Prudential-Bache Securities. She holds a BA in Business Economics, UC/Santa Barbara and is the mother of two children.

Susan Dawson Global Strategy Expert

Susan was president and executive director of the Sapling Foundation for the past ten years, where she provided strategic and financial support to organizations working in the developing world to harness the power of technology, media and market forces for sustainable change. The majority of projects were in the areas of economic security, public health and access to water. She now advises non-profits on issues of strategy, operations and marketing. Susan serves/has served on the Board of Directors of a number of companies and non-profits, including Tivix, Consilient, Population Communications Intl and the Acumen Fund, the Advisory Council of Care2.com and the National Council of Environmental Defense. Previously she was a management consultant for many years and a senior executive in a technology company. She has a BA in economics from Dartmouth College, and an MBA from the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University.

Team

Holly Harbour email
Co-Founder and Executive Director

Holly has extensive work experience in program management, communications and marketing with both international nonprofit and for-profit organizations including the Population Institute, Global Education Services and Trilogy Software. Most recently, Holly worked at the Population Institute leading the Educate America Campaign, a program designed to raise awareness of international issues in targeted US communities. She was awarded the Future Leaders of the World Fellowship while at the Institute. At World of Good: Development Organization, Holly manages the fair trade pricing tool project leading the beta development of the technology and the initial testing of the tool. Holly is also responsible for all aspects of the organization's operations including partnerships with stakeholders and economic development initiatives in producer communities. Holly has an MSc from the London School of Economics in Population and Development and a BA from The Colorado College in International Political Economy.

Audrey Seagraves email
Program Manager

Audrey's main focus is on the development of the Fair Trade Calculator, including research, design and product testing. Previously, Audrey worked as the public relations and promotions coordinator for Foreign Policy magazine (FP). Prior to working at FP she was awarded the Future Leaders of the World Fellowship from the Population Institute, where she was responsible for building a public relations campaign around the Educate America and World Population Awareness Week programs. In 2002, she participated in the United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa, as the Director of the Hometown News Service. Audrey has a passion for international development. She believes the key to poverty alleviation in the developing world lies in the empowerment of individuals through access to information and the creation of sustainable businesses. A native of Atlanta, Georgia, she graduated with honors from Elon College with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and communications.

Field Research Team

Priti Mody, Priti is currently a summer intern with World of Good in India where she will be spending five weeks working with ASHA. ASHA is a fair trade exporting organization and a member of the International Fair Trade Association. Priti will be working with ASHA’s artisans for three weeks collecting and assessing product information and testing the Fair Wage Guide. She will also be working on additional projects for ASHA, including assisting in the development of ASHA’s micro finance initiative and consulting on ASHA’s domestic retail initiative. In the fall of 2007, Priti will be a first year MBA student at the Kellogg School of Management and is a Forte Foundation Scholarship recipient. Prior to joining World of Good, Priti worked as a corporate banker with Natixis in Houston, TX where she specialized in leveraged buyout transactions within the oil field services sector of the energy industry. She also worked at Prudential Capital Group in Dallas, TX as an investment analyst. Priti graduated from the University of Texas at Austin’s Business Honors Program in 2002.

Emily Clough, Emily is an intern working in India with Tara Projects, Conserve and Orupa on the Fair Wage Guide project. She is spending three weeks collecting wage data and talking with artisans about the project. Most recently, Emily worked for World of Good, Inc. as the office manager and director of special projects. She is looking into attending graduate school and is interested in conducting living wage research. Emily is a graduate of Swarthmore College.

Fair Trade Wage Guide Advisory Board

Carol Bergin, Dutch World Shops (DAWS)
Lorraine Caruso, CEO, Oxfam Australia Trading Pty Ltd
Eileen Davenport, Chair, Monitoring and Standards Committee, IFAT
Claribel David, IFAT, AFTF
Ruth DeGolia, Executive Director, Mercado Global
Doug Dirks, Director of Public Relations, Ten Thousand Villages
Stefan Durwael, Executive Director, IFAT
Tex Dworkin, Manager of Online Store, Global Exchange
Pushpika Freitas, President, Marketplace: Handwork of India
Karen Gibbs, VP Marketing, Aid to Artisans
Priya Haji, World of Good
Tony Hall, ICS – Asia Fair Trade Forum
Lacey Johnson, Labor Economist
Srikanth Jujare, Razorfish, Technical Advisor
Joan Karanja, COFTA, Africa
Shiran Karunarantne, Director of Production, Gospel House
Helen Lentze, Director of Programs, Maya Traditions
Jennifer Marcy, Program Officer, Craft Center at CHF International
Alex Mas, Ph.D, Professor, Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley
Yannina Meza, Director, Manos Amigas of Peru
Leslie Mittleberg, Swahili Imports
Mike Muchilwa, Monitoring Coordinator, IFAT
Cheryl Musch, International Development Manager, SERRV International
Charlotte Opal, New Products Manager, Transfair
Mimi Robinson, Aid to Artisans
Dan Salcedo, Founder and CEO, Peoplink/Catgen
Stephen Salmon, Director, Thaicraft
Siddharth Sanghvi, World of Good, Inc.
Erika Spil, Dutch World Shops (DAWS)/ European World Shops (NEWS!)
Lawrence Watson, Citizen Dream
Kelly Weinberger, Owner, WorldFinds
Carol Wills, Honorary Member, IFAT
Michael Wray, ICS- Asia Fair Trade Forum

5900 Hollis Street
emeryville, california 94608
510.528.9400 (p)| 510.528.8440 (f)
info@worldofgood.org