Conscious consumers crave non-GMO coffee, or coffee without genetically modified ingredients.
Customers are also increasingly conscious of ethical trade issues.
Many want to ensure that companies pay fair wages to farmers.
Others want to minimize the impact that their coffee has on the environment.
That’s where Coexist comes in.
All of the company’s coffee is Non-GMO Project Verified. But, there’s much more involved.
Coexist has a moving story of strengthening communities behind it, all while striving to bridge cultural and religious gaps.
It’s about more than livable wages for farming. Most importantly, it’s about improving lives as a whole.
Thus, Coexist is a smart, ethical coffee choice to sell in your store.
Coexist: The Beginnings
Coexist is much more than a non-GMO producer of coffee. Explore the slideshow to find out more about how Coexist got started. Most importantly, you’ll learn about the mission of intercultural understanding that grounds the company.
You’ve probably seen or heard of the Coexist bumper stickers. Well, Coexist is behind them.
Coexist is dedicated to bridging the gaps between people of different religious and cultural backgrounds.
Dr. Tarek Elgawhary is behind the ethical business model of Coexist. As a person of Middle Eastern descent, he wanted to bridge the gaps he saw between Jewish, Christian and Muslim individuals, especially after 9/11. In 2006, Elgawhary became the liaison between a high-ranking Muslim official and the newly founded nonprofit known as Coexist.
At the time, Coexist was a charity that three British businessmen had founded. Their aims were to foster inter-religious and intercultural understanding around the globe. As part of its efforts, Coexist had brought Muslim, Jewish and Christian leaders together.
Coexist’s mission was right in line with Elgawhary’s life goal. Fittingly, when the CEO of the charity stepped down, Elgawhary was offered the position. He’s still the president of Coexist today.
Dr. Elgawhary switched Coexist from a traditional charity model to a business model. After all, he needed some way to secure long-term, sustainable funding for the aid the organization gave out.
The business is grounded in the idea of making people “consumers of philanthropy.” In other words, buyers of Coexist goods are first and foremost people who buy into the mission of Coexist. They want to support the organization’s ideals and efforts through their purchases—it’s more than just buying coffee.
Coexist mainly sells three varieties of coffee, all verified as Non-GMO by third parties.
In addition, Coexist sells shirts made from sustainably harvested cotton, and of course, the famous bumper stickers.
Even though it’s a business now, Coexist still stays fully committed to its original mission of bridging cultural and religious divides.
The company mainly does so through the way it buys coffee from people in divided areas.
Coexist: A Community-Based Coffee Model
Coexist sustainably and ethically sources its coffee. The company uses direct trade in communities of conflict. In other words, it buys coffee straight from farmers so the farmers receive the greatest benefit. Then, the profits from the non-GMO brews return to these communities, to help further education.
Click through the slideshow for an in-depth look at how Coexist helps communities around the world.
Coexist uses a direct trade model to source its coffee. This means that Coexist buys coffee right from the farmers at a fair market price. Direct trade cuts out the “middleman” between farmer and large producer. “Middlemen” usually force farmers to sell the coffee for an unfair price (below market value), exploiting the farmers and hurting their community.
Direct trade (Coexist’s model) is different from fair trade because fair trade usually involves a separate cooperative that pays out fair wages from a farmer to a producer. With direct trade, the coffee producer hands the fair payment right to the coffee farmers—there’s no cooperative in the middle. Both direct trade and fair trade are committed to giving coffee farmers an ethical wage.
In the communities of conflict where Coexist sources coffee, direct trade gives an economic incentive for people of different religions and cultures to work together. This cooperation to harvest coffee helps lift entire communities out of poverty. Also, it helps build understanding that bridges the gaps caused by conflict. Thus, Coexist builds communities economically and socially, through coffee that’s Non-GMO.
Profits from the Coexist coffee sales return to the people who grow it. Coexist uses the money to fund educational efforts for children in these divided communities. The company builds schools, sources school supplies, and covers the cost of sending children to school.
As Dr. Elgawhary attested in a National Geographic interview, the profits from each Coexist “bag of coffee… [can] put one kid in school for a week.” And this schooling encourages intercultural unity within societies, from the foundational years.
Coexist: High-Quality Coffee Without GMOs
Your consumers can enjoy Coexist Coffee with confidence. After all, it’s non-GMO. Farmers also grow it in ways that are healthiest for consumers and environmentally sustainable.
Find out more using the slideshow.
Every single bean of Coexist Arabica coffee is directly sourced from one of several international conflict zones, and is grown without GMOs.
Each coffee comes in whole bean and ground varieties. Every bag is single-origin, or filled with coffee from a single source. And most importantly, all three coffees are Non-GMO Project Verified.
Coexist never uses pesticides, petrochemicals, or artificial fertilizers in coffee production. This organically grown coffee, without GMOs, is thus better for consumers’ health and the environment.
Coexist even named two of its non-GMO coffees after its efforts to reduce conflict! First, there’s the Peacemaker (purple label), a fruity, floral take on light roast coffee. Then, there’s the Diplomat (green label), a medium roast designed to appeal to diverse coffee tastes. For lovers of dark coffee, there’s a third non-GMO option, the Espresso Roast (yellow label).
Ready to sell coffee that’s non-GMO? Inspired by the mission of Coexist? Interested in dropshipping Coexist’s non-GMO beans? Learn more.00
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Jessica Huhn is a graduate of Mount St. Mary's University and a content writer for GreenDropShip.com. When she is not engaging in her passion for writing, there is a good chance that Jessica is singing, whether by herself or with one of her choirs. She might also be admiring cows, animals that she has seen a unique beauty in since the age of two.
