About TPRN
TPRN raises funds for community development projects originated, managed, and sanctioned by the fair trade organic, farmer-owned coffee cooperatives that grow our coffee. We don’t choose the projects. We fund them, and we report what happens.
TPRN was born out of the cooperative model itself, and out of the Cooperative CoffeesCooperative CoffeesA green coffee importing cooperative owned by its roaster-members, which sources directly from farmer-owned cooperatives at origin. supply chain — specifically, out of Tripp Pomeroy’s own long participation in it. Years of working inside that chain made two things plain: the cooperatives were already doing remarkable development work in their own communities, and the resources to finance it were not reaching them at the scale they actually needed.
So TPRN is an independent fundraising nonprofit. We are not a coffee company, and we are not a subsidiary of Cooperative Coffees. Fundraising is the whole of what we do.
What we raise money for is grassroots development work created, run, and managed by the farmer-owned cooperatives with whom Cooperative Coffees and its members work — the cooperatives we call Trading PartnersTrading PartnerA fair trade organic, farmer-owned coffee cooperative with an established trading relationship with Cooperative Coffees.. We don’t originate any of it. We tap into work that is already underway: projects the cooperatives identified, designed, and took up themselves, long before we had anything to do with them.
Campesino Organic Coffee Co. and Sweetwater Organic Coffee Co. are TPRN Members, and both are members of Cooperative Coffees themselves. Cooperation runs the length of this chain: a cooperative grows the coffee, a cooperative imports it, cooperatives and their members roast and sell it. TPRN is how resources move back along it — not as charity, but as solidarity between partners who already trade with one another.
Why we exist
TPRN fills a gap in the cooperatives’ financial resource needs — and it fills it in smaller chunks. The larger funding mechanisms available to cooperatives are built for larger work, and a great deal of what a community actually needs never reaches the size those mechanisms are designed to handle.
Cooperative Coffees runs an Impact Fund for Trading Partner development work, with a minimum project size of $10,000. Below that threshold sits a whole category of work: a women’s committee, an anniversary history book, a leadership program, a depulper, a small roaster to add value at origin. Our $7,500 cap is drawn deliberately underneath that floor — purpose-built for projects too small for the larger fund and no less important to the people who proposed them.
How it works
A project reaches our board only after the cooperative’s own board has sanctioned it, and reaches supporters only after ours has approved it.
Trading Partners identify their own needs and write their own proposals. Each must be formally sanctioned by the cooperative’s board before it reaches us.
Fixed criteria: cooperative board sanction, a budget of $7,500 or less, demonstrated community need, a funding scenario certification, and a commitment to regular reporting.
Approved projects publish to the site and open for six months. No Trading Partner has more than two open at once. Supporters give to a named project or to the general pool.
At the close of the window the cooperative receives everything raised, whether or not the goal was met. Monthly reports follow: narrative, photos, and use of funds, published here.
TPRN does not select projects, set priorities, or manage implementation. We make no promise that a project will reach its goal — our commitment is to fundraise in good faith and disburse everything we raise, promptly and in full. The work belongs to the cooperative before we’re involved, while we’re involved, and after.
Three roles
TPRN is supported three different ways, and none of them works alone.
Coffee roasters, cooperatives, and wholesale organizations pay annual dues that fund our operations — so no overhead is ever deducted from a project contribution. Members also bring their own customers into the effort.
Become a Member →Individuals give to TPRN’s operating fund, one time or recurring. Those gifts cover whatever dues don’t and absorb any uncovered transaction fees — what makes the 100% commitment a mechanism rather than a slogan.
Become a Sponsor →Contributions go straight to approved cooperative-led projects — a named one, or the general pool. Progress reports come from the cooperative itself, first dollar to final report.
Fund a project →Member dues and Sponsor gifts cover TPRN’s operating costs. Where payment processing or wire fees apply, we ask Contributors to cover them at checkout — and where they aren’t covered, Sponsor funds absorb them. The cooperative receives the full project amount, every time.
Governance & accountability
TPRN is governed by a Board of Directors of between three and five members, each serving three-year terms with a limit of two consecutive terms. The board approves every Trading Partner proposal, sets and enforces the approval criteria, oversees finances and fundraising, and keeps the organization in good standing with its legal and compliance obligations.
Publishing progress reports isn’t a courtesy we extend when things go well. It’s a condition of every approval, agreed to before a dollar is raised.
Request any of these, or ask us anything about how the money moves: get in touch →
“The cooperative model already connects us. Coffee roasters and farmer-cooperatives are partners in the same economy — members of cooperatives, trading with cooperatives, building something together. TPRN makes that visible.”
Tripp Pomeroy — TPRN
Our Trading Partners bring decades of experience and a clear vision for their own communities. Contributing here puts resources behind people who have been building for generations.