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Thinking Bigger Than Fair Trade

Quadrupling Foreign Aid with our Gift Purchases

Thinking Bigger Than Fair Trade

Quadrupling Foreign Aid with our Gift Purchases

Published 09-04-09

Submitted by ZOË Alliance Inc

As North Americans we are keenly aware of the global recession we are in and the suffering it has caused for people everywhere. We are experiencing a new reality that many of us have never faced before however, the truth is that for over 1 billion people, this is not new.

Angela Draskovic, Founder & President of ZOË Alliance Inc., left her 22-year career as a telecommunications and non-profit executive to create a way for each of us to be able to effect lasting change, addressing the urgent and truly unacceptable conditions that people are living in. When asked why she founded ZOË Alliance, Angela shared: "The truth is that financial and social challenges know no boundaries, as a child I grew up in city housing and experienced abuse. Thanks to the fact that I was born in Canada; there were places to go for help that enabled me to succeed. For over 1 billion people who happen to be born in slums or villages there is nowhere to go. Hard work and self-motivation can't help when there is no water, no work, nothing. When I came face to face with the conditions that people around the world live in, there was only one choice - action."

ZOË Alliance is a social enterprise that has created a unique model to help us harness what we would normally spend to help break the cycle of poverty. The ZOË Alliance model takes each dollar spent on gifts and stretches it 3 ways:


  • To purchase a unique gift that tells the story of hope

  • To create jobs with dignity for people in rural villages

  • To donate funds toward a school or village project



North American consumers spent over $508 billion during the holiday season of 2008. This occurred in a year that saw the worst retail spending in 9 years. On top of that we gave away $341.7 billion dollars in donations in 2007. * That is $849.7 billion dollars in expenditures and donations during difficult economic times. It is expected that 2009 will be close to the same levels.

Through Thinking Bigger Than Fair Trade and by harnessing even 10% of our spending, we would direct $84.9 billion dollars toward aid easily exceeding the $30.4 billion dollars given in Official Development Assistance by Canada and the United States in 2008 and effectively quadrupling the total.

The prevailing view of development professionals can be summarized by what Steve Beck and Tim Ogden of Geneva Global stated in the Harvard Business Review: "Look for opportunities to support the growth of small and medium size companies in regions of poverty. Businesses that create stable, productive, non-exploitative jobs and vibrant local economies are the only sustainable program for mass poverty alleviation ever created."

Developed based on the prevailing wisdom of international development practitioners, the ZOË Alliance model links the market to the village turning our purchases into a way to break the cycle of poverty. The model's strength is long-term partnerships with the leaders of local businesses and charities in each village. Working cooperatively, ZOË Alliance and their partners are able to create a way for the gifts we purchase to create jobs, hope, economy and a donation.

In it's first year, ZOË Alliance Inc has established projects in rural India and Haiti that are helping to employ over 46 people who are now providing for their families, getting education, and building a future. "I am buying cement blocks with my pay so that I can build a house for my family." Sam, Bois de Lance, Haiti.


Company Background

Angela Draskovic founded ZOË Alliance because of a life long passion for people in developing nations. In speaking about her international business partners, Angie recently stated: "People in developing nations are no different than we are in that they desire dignity, the opportunity to work, provide for their families, and invest in their communities. They are different in that they face significant challenges socially, economically, geographically, and politically that make it impossible for them to break the cycle of poverty without strategic and respectful support and intervention."

"©After over 22 years of senior and executive leadership experience in both the business and non-profit sector, the vision of a company that would tightly link the interests of market forces to tangible and lasting change in the developing world emerged. Based on research and collaboration with the international development community the ZOË business model blends the collective wisdom of life long practitioners as well as the marketing and sales expertise of the founder.

In it's first year ZOË Alliance has established two active projects, one in the south of India and one in Haiti. A pilot project is being launched in Guatemala this fall, and collaborative relationships exist that together comprise a network of producer groups that span the globe.

ZOË Alliance Inc. (www.zoealliance.com) is a social enterprise that harnesses market spending to help developing nations break the cycle of poverty. ZOË Alliance helps people and companies transform impoverished villages with their regular purchases. We stretch each dollar spent on a personal or corporate gift three ways: to purchase a gift that tells the story of hope; to create jobs with dignity in villages; and to donate funds toward a school or village project. We also help companies link their Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives to the bottom line by making it easy to source high quality, profitable products from producer groups in villages around the globe.

*(Sources: National Retail Federation, Giving USA Foundation, Imagine Canada 2007 Survey of Giving, Volunteering, and Participating, Harvard Business Review Sept. 2007 p21)

ZOË Alliance Inc logo

ZOË Alliance Inc

ZOË Alliance Inc

ZOË Alliance Inc. is a social enterprise that harnesses market spending to help developing nations break the cycle of poverty. ZOË Alliance helps people and companies transform impoverished villages with their regular purchases. We stretch each dollar spent on a personal or corporate gift three ways: to purchase a gift that tells the story of hope; to create jobs with dignity in villages; and to donate funds toward a school or village project. We also help companies link their Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives to the bottom line by making it easy to source high quality, profitable products from producer groups in villages around the globe.

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