Stewardship
synonyms: protect, pledge, shell-out, provide, give back, grant.
We are all stewards of what we’ve been given; because of this, we will donate a portion of our profits to environmental and social issues.
Our goal at Woodshed Coffee & Tea is to be successful. For us, success is more than generating a profit for our shareholders — it is generating a profit for our shareholders to the benefit of our stakeholders, not to the detriment. This means we have a responsibility not only to the health of the business, but also to our workers, our customers, our community, and to nature (we’ll unpack each of these stakeholders in our write up of the value of Responsibility). The short and sweet version is this: we need to be profitable to be able to give back to our community and to nature.
In a startup, there are many ways to hide profitability. Investing back into the growth of the company, opening new stores, improving packaging, and increasing inventory — these are all good things that need to happen for our company to grow and mature. The challenge is how to give generously without stunting our growth. Like most things, there will be a healthy tension in the early stages, but our goal will remain the same. By year two, we will be giving 1% of our sales to environmental and social issues of our time.
It’s a radical vision and even more scary to implement on the front end of the business, but we believe this to be the right path for our business. If you are interested in hearing more about what 1% for the Planet is about, I encourage you to peruse their site and watch some videos of the impact that this organization and its participating businesses make throughout the year. We believe that stewardship of financial success is the most important issue of our time, and we want to invest a portion of our profits to make the earth and its wondrous, awe-inspiring, inspirational, jaw dropping, peace-filling landscapes a better place for our kids and future generations.
1% for the planet — http://onepercentfortheplanet.org/
As we explore our Core Values, please be sure to check out our beginnings, and the rest of the values we aspire to evoke in our everyday.
- Inspiration
- Sincerity
- Stewardship
- Responsibility
- Design (an all encompassing aesthetic)
