26 Mar 2009

Changing the World one purchase at a time.

I found out about an organisation called Nest today and I wanted to share with you what it is they do and their ethos on how to change the World. Nest is a non profit making organisation of artists and artisans that want to empower and enable women, from around the World, to support themselves and their families from the proceeds made by their own sustainable entrepreneurial crafting businesses. Nest does this by providing micro-credit loans that allow women in poorer circumstances to purchase the tools and materials necessary to start up or maintain a small craft/art business of their own. The funds used to finance these micro loans comes from the sales of artists/artisans specially designed exclusive to Nest goods that are sold under the Nest brand. Once the new business is established and running the artisan pays back the loan by allowing some of their goods to be sold under the Nest brand and a percentage of the profit from that sale goes back in to the fund that can then be lent out to another person starting up.

Mexican Plate by: Maria Belen de la Cruz Torres
(Click image to find out more about the item)


So in essence the scheme is a global art and crafts group all combining together to enable each member of the group to thrive. It starts out with the more money rich members assisting the less well off members to get the means to make their art/craft, but it is perpetuated by all members sharing a small portion of the profit, from the sale of some of goods they make, back with the group which then helps fund more people to become members. I think it is genius! It is empowering people to craft and create their own way out of poverty.

African basket by: Specioza Brown
(Click image to find out more about the item)

You can read about Nest's mission statement in more detail on their website.

Recycled Green Necklaceby: Guatemalan Weaving School
(Click image to find out more about the item)


It was founded by Rebecca Kousky and you can read more about this lady on her Blog

Are you feeling inspired and want to become involved in this? Well there are lots of ways you can. If you want to go into partnership with this organisation you can find details here.

Changing the World one purchase at a time.


Written by Lynne of the PiratePixieCrew and Hyperloop Hoops

7 comments:

  1. this osounds really interesting, I'll go have a look. thanks for sharing :-)

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  2. Thanks for drawing our attention to this, am off for a proper read!

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  3. You find such great things - thanks for sharing this.

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  4. Thanks for sharing! Off to have a look! :)

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  5. Thanks for posting this-such a great idea!

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  6. I saw this a while ago, but never got around to really thinking about how I could get involved. I think I have some skills that could be useful - I might just apply to become a volunteer. Thanks for blogging about this.

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