The Coffee Trust’s Executive Director and Coffee Exchange co-owner, Bill Fishbein, has worked in sustainable development for over 30 years. In 2008, he founded The Coffee Trust with the mission of helping “indigenous coffee farmers improve their agricultural practices, diversify their incomes, and raise healthy families.” Working within the municipality of San Gaspar Chajul, located in the Western Highlands of Guatemala, The Coffee Trust focuses on economic, agricultural and educational programs, designed alongside community leaders. Believing that communities know best what they need, The Coffee Trust provides the framework and guidance to help these communities design successful and self-managed projects, such as Honey and Coffee projects, Women’s Savings and Micro-credit projects and  ​​providing higher education scholarships to qualified Chajulense youth since 2009. 

Knowing the importance of giving back to the communities that provide us with some of the world’s finest coffee, we are committed to supporting The Coffee Trust and their work with farmers and their families in San Gaspar Chajul, Guatemala. There are several ways we express that commitment. Each year, and for over 30 straight years, on New Year’s Day, we hold our 1st Cup fundraiser, a community event dedicated to coffee farmers—Our suppliers donate their goods, our baristas their time, customers, local merchants and artists donate hundreds of items for a silent auction, and every year every dollar we bring in goes directly to The Coffee Trust. 

Coffee Exchange, and our customers and staff, have been proud supporters of The Coffee Trust since its inception, and we are proud to sell Guatemalan products that support The Coffee Trust including: coffee (American Roast & French Roast), chocolate bars, honey, and textiles from Chajulense de Mujeres (a women's group in San Gaspar Chajul).

For over 20 years, 95% of our green (unroasted) coffee comes from Cooperative Coffees, a green coffee importing cooperative comprising 25 community-based coffee roasters in the U.S. and Canada, who are committed to building and supporting fair and sustainable trade relationships with coffee farmers. Our goals are (1) to focus our businesses along Fair Trade and Organic principles and securing some of the world’s finest coffees, and (2) to assist our farming partners in improving infrastructure, providing technical assistance and developing procedures to improve both the quality of their products and the health and safety of their families and communities, as well as ensuring they receive a fair price for their coffee. Since 2019,  Coop Coffees added our member-funded Cooperative Coffees Impact Fund to help coffee farmers deal with Climate Change, concentrating on the Cool Farm Tool,  reforestation, carbon sequestration, and other initiatives, and In response to current global challenges, the coop transferred $160,000 to our producer partners to support their efforts in confronting the impacts of Covid-19. More recently, the Cooperative Coffees Impact Fund has helped farmers from Peru to the Democratic Republic of Congo recover from  landslides and drought.