Seattle Fair Trade

“Updated bylaws were adopted by the board of directors.”

“A copy of form 990 is distributed to the board for review prior to filing.”

“The coi policy is distributed and reviewed by governing board annually.”

“The board conducts an annual performance review of the ed/store manager. The manager's salary is generally considered to be less than that of comparable positions in the retail market.”

“Governing documents, conflict of interest policy, financial statements and forms 990 are available upon request.”

“Ten thousand villages provides vital, fair income to third world people by marketing their handicrafts and telling their stories in north america. Ten thousand villages works with artisans who would otherwise be unemployed or underemployed. The income artisans earn helps pay for food, education, health care, and housing.”

“Ten thousand villages (ttv) works to raise awareness of fair trade principals through the operation of a boutique shop, selling products crafted by artisans in developing countries. Ttv provides a marketplace for quality products, which display the richness and diversity of cultures around the world. These handicrafts are purchased at a fair price, giving underemployed vendors the opportunity to provide much needed support for their families. By offering these environmentally friendly products to the north american consumer, ttv creates a unique opportunity to learn about fair trade principals and the impact these practices have on the global economy. Our customers experience the added benefit of the opportunity to appreciate each artisan's cultural heritage. To carry out our mission, the board of the ttv store in seattle works to connect our mission with other non-profit partners through various activities, such as community shopping events, off-site sales and pop-store opportunities. The board works to support our staff to increase sales, develop a dedicated group of volunteers, support interns learning about fair trade and retail practices, and provide educational opportunities for all of these groups as well as to our community. The board of directors and our employees set and attained several goals this year as follows: board recruitment: we continue to recruit new members to the board. We have tried to focus on specific skills. We added three board members this year and lost one early in the fiscal year. We currently have a total of 9 board members. Our bylaws allow us up to 15. New board members have the following skill sets that will be advantageous to our mission: 1. Jl - joined the board in spring 2018 through a board matching program. Jl is a graphic designer and owns her own business. Jl will provide great guidance in marketing, store merchandising as well as presentation of collateral for our brochures/marketing ads/etc. Joined board just after fy end. 2. Tw - joined the board in fall of 2018. Tw is a recent graduate from law school. She has a high interest in our human resource needs and has recently taken courses in employment law. Tl will assist us in evaluating our human resources program. Tl works with the university of washington in advancement. She brings with her a wealth of experience in fundraising. 3. Jc - joined the board in the last month of our fiscal year. He brings a wealth of data management skills. He operates his own start up business. Jc will assist with analysis of data to enhance our marketing opportunities as well as other store operations. Update bylaws: the board updated and approved new bylaws. Volunteer recruitment & engagement: we created a volunteer management committee. They surveyed our volunteers to determine points of satisfaction, motivation and discover areas needing improvement. They established a plan to provide volunteer management training to our employees. Community shopping events: the board evaluated our outreach to area non- profits and the structure of our current community shopping event. We felt that we should change the structure to target groups with a charitable component as part of their mission. We anticipated that a group that is philanthropically minded and meet to socialize would be good candidates for this program. We held a test event that we felt was rather successful. In anticipation of this change, we created new marketing collateral for these groups. Offsite sales & pop ups: we increased offsite sales per our goal as well as found new and more beneficial opportunities. We continue to look for good opportunities to increase sales with "pop-up" arrangements. Once we determine an opportunity, we will evaluate the pop-up contract. Marketing: this is an ongoing activity to evaluate new opportunities. With a limited budget, the board looks for creative opportunities. Data management: all documents have been transferred to a google drive. Our contact information”