Kula 2022 Annual Report

We believe charity will not eradicate poverty, business will. Kula eradicates poverty through the development of entrepreneurs in Rwanda’s coffee communities.

From Our Founder From Our Executive Director

To our Kula Family –

Thank you. Thank you for helping make our tenth year as magical and fruitful as we hoped it would be. For the tenth year in a row, it was our best year ever. Not many small nonprofits make it to a decade, so for us to hit such a huge milestone with more wind at our back than ever before, we are sincerely grateful. There were many programmatic wins that you’ll read about in this annual report, and our entire team is exceptionally proud of them. For me though, one of our greatest achievements came internally.

Leading Kula over the last ten years has been the highlight of my life, but being able to pass it to Nic Lauten, Jackie Mutesi, Fred Nsengiyumva, Lindsay Holben, and the rest of our Rwandan team is perhaps my greatest achievement. While the decision for me to move into a purely fundraising role did not come easily, it came with an immense amount of certainty. We are thriving because of this remarkable team and their commitment to this work, and it's clear they are the ones to lead us forward.

We hope you’ll continue to come along with us.

Thank you so much. Murakoze cyane.

Sarah Buchanan-Sasson

2022 was a milestone year for Kula, marked by celebrations and transitions. Over the past months we’ve challenged ourselves to reflect on what it means to have reached 10 years. We’ve sifted through key moments and turning points in the organization’s history, noted numerous learnings that will inform our future, and appreciated the individuals and groups that have been vital in getting us here. We’ve sat with impact stories and impact data, energized by the life change we’ve been a part of and by the farmers we partner with. And we’ve made decisions to set us up for the years ahead.

Through role transitions, program refinement and impact clarity, we’re building to focus ever more effectively on what matters most- ensuring that coffee farming families are rising out of poverty. More fellows graduated, coffee trees planted, and businesses launched continue to mark our efforts, while harvest and income increases, business profitability and vision achievement tell us it’s working. 10 years in, we can see kula’s original inspiration throughout it all, now seasoned by experience and guided by insight.

When I joined Kula and moved to Rwanda in 2017 as Program Director, I counted it as my dream job. Now with Kula in a new season of growth, in July I moved back to the US and into this role thrilled for the next dream job- leading a team that I love, in work that I believe in wholeheartedly. We are partnering with farmers and their families to envision a new reality, and to support them in its creation.

Thank you for joining us in this transformational journey.

Nic Lauten

TOGETHER, WE CELEBRATED 10 YEARS OF LESSONS, MILESTONES

planted our first 5,000 trees with 20 families in rwanda

AND IMPACT.

20 15

closed all projects outside of rwanda, expanded to a new region in rwanda to work with 270 families, planted 33,500 trees

20 16

started our first women’s vocational program after a devastating landslide, built a community washing station, planted 66,000 trees

20 20

opened ntango washing station, operated a covid relief program distributing 55,000lbs of food to 4,500 families, planted 70,000 trees

20 21 launched third fellowship cohort, planted 150,000 trees

20

22 planted 200,000 trees, graduated 271 fellows

celebrated 10 years,

a very special thank you to Market Wake for helping us create our ten year anniversary campaign

“It’ll be okay, boss—let

“It’ll be okay, boss—let me do my thing.”

A DECADE OF IMPACT

Our Work by the Numbers

850 ENTR EPRENEURS GRADUATED 100+

BUSI NESSES INVESTED IN 20,000 HOURS OF TRAINING PROVIDED

600,000

COFF EE & SHADE TREES PLANTED

500

TONS OF COFFEE PURCHASED

Key Impact Metric Spotlight: Percentage of Ongoing and Profitable Businesses

Consilia joined our program as a coffee farmer aiming to not only improve the production of her coffee business but also to learn how to create additional innovative and lasting sources of income to support herself and her family.

After many months of training and mentorship, Consilia crafted a business plan for her idea of a beekeeping business. Based on past beekeeping experience and market research, she realized there was a need for honey in her local market and saw an opportunity to fill it. She then pitched her business plan during the final stages of the Kula Fellowship, outlining her projected profit, associated costs, and both the strengths and risks she would undertake in starting her business. After reviewing her plan and witnessing her potential, Kula invested in her idea and most importantly, in her.

Today, over two years have passed since graduating and Consilia is now running two thriving businesses, and in the midst of starting a third. Applying her investment, she started her honey business with 100 beehives; now she has 203. Since starting her business, she has increased her honey production per day by 200%. Through this growth and newfound financial security, she tripled her monthly savings, expanded her coffee farm by 50% through reforestation, and purchased a cow to provide organic fertilizer for her farm and milk for her children. Additionally, outside of providing nutrition-rich honey to an increasingly wide market, including transporting her product to Kigali, Rwanda’s capital city, Consilia’s honey business is now supporting the overall pollination and vibrancy of food-producing

crops in her community. And, as a new venture, Consilia has also begun growing and selling hard-to-find grass varieties that can be used as valuable, organic mulching materials in her region’s coffee farms.

On top of all her accomplishments thus far, she is most proud of the fact that she is now able to afford the school fees to send all four of her children to school. She and her family are now well on their way to achieving their dream of building their very own home and continuing to invest in the future of her children through the growth of her businesses. Consilia’s story demonstrates that investing in agricultural entrepreneurs not only transforms the lives of individuals and their businesses, but also the land they depend on and the generations that follow them.

“Consilia is now running two thriving businesses, and in the midst of starting a third.”

HELEN & KAMARI

Key Impact Metric Spotlight: Increase in Income and Savings

Helen and Kamari have been a part of Kula’s community for over 6 years, and through their infectious energy, joy and ongoing growth, continue to be an inspiration to us. They go beyond utilizing resources and support for their family’s benefit- their successes overflow to their community and pour out with contagious passion.

We first met Helen and Kamari in 2016 after their home had been destroyed by a landslide. After helping them rebuild their home in a low-risk area, we included them in our first Fellowship cohort. Previously, Helen and Kamari harvested 800 coffee trees, but according to them they were tended without good advice. After learning best farming practices in the Fellowship they saw their harvest increase, prompting them to plant an additional 300 coffee trees as well as adding some shade trees, and from this they’ve earned new income which has allowed them to pay their children’s school fees and renovate their home. But they haven’t stopped there.

Because of the program they began keeping a home vegetable garden which has been so helpful that now even other people in the community come to them to get their produce. Additionally, through the Fellowship Helen learned how to write a business plan-something that she used to pay for before joining the programand now not only does she create her own, but she also assists neighbors who seek her out for their business planning. Personally, Helen is dedicated to serving as a local healthcare provider, giving care and advice to their community, and Kamari, always passionate about playing music, has felt the space and freedom to dedicate more of his time to it, now joining a band to play traditional instruments at local events and to keep the culture vibrant. Both of their daughters have graduated from the Kula Women’s Center as well, learning skills of their own and uniting with their parents in creating a stronger vision for their family’s future.

This summer we will cheer on Helen and Kamari as they celebrate 25 years of marriage, continuing to grow their sphere of impact in their family and community.

On average, Fellows increase their income by 210% two years after graduation.

STORIES OF IMPACT

MARIE ROSE

Key Impact Metric Spotlight: Household Vision Achievement

For many of our fellows, visions of the future include improving and renovating their houses. We’ve seen that this often provides a foundation of security from which so many other dreams can thrive. For some, the process includes relocating entirely. During Rwanda’s rainy season landslides can be a danger in many parts of the country, and for homes that have often been built on very steep hills this can cause disaster.

Before joining the Kula Fellowship Program, Marie Rose and her husband Flavier lived with their children in a high risk area, but after experiencing a landslide they moved to a new region with the hope of establishing a safe home and future. They began building slowly, but still did not have a clear direction or vision for their house, career or family in general.

Upon beginning the program, the family began working with their mentor to chart a household vision and action plan, an endeavor that proved to be a significant spark. After all was discussed and set to paper, Marie Rose and her family had developed seven clear goals; improving their house with better flooring, walls and roofing, creating a home produce

“Marie Rose and her family have fully achieved the household vision they set during the Fellowship.”

garden, covering their children’s school fees and all other basic needs, family planning, increasing their fresh fruit intake, rearing livestock, and growing her weaving business. They also thought through action steps to help achieve these goals including investing more in their coffee trees, increasing their savings, accessing local financial institutions, and ensuring that they were using best health practices at home to keep their family healthy.

With this plan in place, the family began seeing gradual change. Marie Rose attributes much of the progress to the self-esteem training early on in the program; she says it made her who she is today and gave her the confidence that she can make her dreams come true. Over the course of the fellowship, they saved enough money to renovate their home into what they hoped it would be, a beautiful place for the whole family; all of her children are now in school, they purchased goats, pigs and a cow to provide further sources of income, she now harvests fruits and veggies from a healthy produce garden she built at home, she’s planted other fruit trees to provide income, and she is steadily expanding her weaving business with help from a grant won in Kula’s business plan competition.

From this success, the family’s vision continues to grow. While renting new weaving equipment that can help support their business, they also plan to increase their coffee farm and play a bigger role as an example to their community. They express confidence that they will continue increasing their income and budgeting wisely to cover all their family’s needs.

be planted to spur new creativity. From their planning, commitment and belief they have built a safe place for their family to grow and dream, secure in their day to day needs and hopeful for new ideas and opportunities to take root.

At the core of it all is their home, in which they take immense pride. It’s not just a structure, it’s a sign and a reminder that progress is possible, that what was once unstable can become firm, and that a base can

DONATILLE

Key Impact Metric Spotlight: Increase in Coffee Harvest

Several years ago, we met Donatille: a vibrant woman with so much potential but, at the time, very little hope. She and her husband were struggling to provide for their family solely from the income generated from their under-producing coffee farm, encumbered by debt and unable to afford to send their children to school.

Then, in 2018, that hope started to grow. Upon hearing about an opportunity to participate in a program supporting coffee farmers, Donatille decided to join the Kula Fellowship.

For 15 months, she attended trainings, met regularly with her mentor, and learned new skills side by side with her neighbors. Towards the end of the program, she became especially inspired by the business training she attended. She put all her energy into learning how to build an effective business plan, how to strategically think through opportunities and gaps in her local market, and how to understand the best ways to create and manage a lasting and profitable business. Filled with ambition, Donatille began preparing a plan to pitch in Kula’s business plan competition.

Her hope was to create a flour milling business, the first of its kind in her community. Finally, she pitched her idea to our panel of judges, and we

excitedly awarded her business investment to purchase a flour mill.

Today, the Donatille we met in 2018 is not the Donatille we see now. Her face shines as she tells us how her life has changed since graduating from the program. Through implementing what she learned in the way she cultivates her coffee farm, she has grown her farm by 37% and increased her coffee harvest threefold. Her flour milling business is continuing to thrive, generating enough income to pay back all of their debts, purchase livestock, and even send her granddaughter, Bonne Fillette, to school.

One of the things she’s most proud of is the way that the funds we invested in her business have now given way to her own investment into her son, Elysee’s business. In support of his idea

“Donatille has increased her coffee harvest by 200%.”

of becoming a moto taxi driver, she was able to purchase a motorcycle and enroll him in a moto drivers cooperative, empowering him to create a lucrative business of his own.

Now, Donatille’s hope overflows as she looks toward the future with a plan and a vision to continue using her businesses to better not only her life, but the lives of the people she loves.

Two Years Later On Average

210% INCREASE IN INCOME

364% INCREASE IN SAVINGS

92% INCR EASE IN COFFEE HARVEST

93% OF BUSINESSES LAUNCHED ARE ONGOING AND PROFITABLE

Five Steps of the Kula Fellowship

We run a 15-month business fellowship that provides industry training, business investment, and life and leadership skills, empowering our fellows to protect their land, build profitable businesses, raise healthy families, and send their children to school.

STEP THREE:

Life and Leadership Skills

Kula mentors conduct intensive training and one-on-one mentorship to Fellows in areas of Household Visioning and Action Planning, Financial Literacy, Business Leadership, Family Health and Nutrition, Family and Gender Equity, Self-Esteem, and Entrepreneurship. Kula mentors also provide personalized follow-up, guidance, and relationship to each Fellow as they are applying lessons learned.

STEP ONE :

Kula’s Rwandan staff conducts extensive baseline assessments with our cooperatives and spends relational time with Fellows and their families to know them both quantitatively and qualitatively.

STEP TWO:

Industry Training

Fellows participate in consistent and in-depth industry training, support, and follow-up to each of our fellows in their specific industry: coffee farming for Coffee Fellows and tailoring, weaving and agribusiness for Artisan Fellows. These industry trainings equip Fellows with the skills, techniques, and equipment to continue to improve the performance and productivity of their businesses.

STEP FOUR:

After completing training, Fellows have the opportunity to submit a business plan based on their learning which meets specific investment criteria. Selected Fellows are then provided a business investment upon graduation, equipping them to improve their current businesses or launch new ones.

STEP FIVE:

Relationship Building Business Investment Impact Measurement

We collect qualitative and quantitative data to monitor and evaluate the impact of our work throughout the Fellowship and after graduation. As a result, Kula will be able to demonstrate in the short, medium, and long-term, the capacity of Fellows to sustain livelihood improvements independently, and to spark positive outcomes for themselves, their families, and their communities.

Where We Work

Kula Fellowship Graduation

271 ENT REPRENEURS GRADUATED 97% GR ADUATION RATE

Coffee Update

In 2022, we processed 132 tonnes of coffee cherries at our Ntango Washing Station in Nyamasheke, paying farmers $89,000 in purchase price and bonuses, and securing green coffee contracts from 10 buyers across 4 continents.

As an organization, we are constantly learning and growing in how we see our role in the coffee industry while being wholeheartedly committed to supporting coffee farmers in the process. Through the cyclicality of coffee harvest increases and decreases, we are investing further in coffee and shade tree distribution, teaching best farming and pruning practices, and providing effective soil amendments to support production overall.

Amidst the continued volatility in the global coffee market, we are committed to a long term approach with farmers and coffee buyers – paying above market, sustainable prices for coffee cherries, bringing farmers into greater knowledge of the effects of farming practices on cup quality, and bringing buyers into both the production process and the impact their partnership has on farmers and their families.

Coffee Partners:

• PREVAIL COFFEE

• MAKEWORTH COFFEE ROASTERS

• KULA COFFEE CO

• INTENT COFFEE ROASTERS

• SOUVENIR COFFEE CO

• PEACH COFFEE ROASTERS

• SERVANT COFFEE

• SLIDE COFFEE ROASTERS

• INDABO CAFE

• FARMHAUS COFFEE COMPANY

• KWIZERA COFFEE

• ANTHEM COFFEE IMPORTS

• PLANTABLE

• MOCHA CAFE

• WORKSHOP COFFEE

• BENCHMARK COFFEE TRADERS

• ATLANTA TECH VILLAGE

• THE LITTLE MARKET

• SOCIAL GOODS MARKETPLACE

Our Financials

2022 Total Revenue -

$1,085,286

Our Partners

Foundation Partners:

• WOVEN FOUNDATION

• SEGAL FAMILY FOUNDATION

• ONE DAY’S WAGES

• MIGMIR FUND

• JOURNEY CHARITABLE FOUNDATION

• LIVELIHOOD IMPACT FUND

1% for the Planet Partners:

• ONE TREE PLANTED

• MiiR

• PLANET WOMEN

Corporate Partners:

• BERKADIA

• SEE BEAUTIFUL

• KREGEL & COMPANY CPA

• MARKET WAKE

• SACRED WILL ROASTERS

• FULLER WEALTH MANAGEMENT FIRM

Looking Ahead

Thanks to our generous supporters, 2022 was our most successful and impactful year yet. We begin 2023 looking ahead to a year of internal strengthening, preparing for increased growth to come.

The 4th Kula Fellowship

Our programs will continue steadily throughout the year with 315 fellows in three regions of Rwanda set to graduate in November, totaling 1,165 entrepreneurs graduated from our program – our first graduation to include a women’s center in each region – and subsequently enrolling 315 new fellows into our 5th Fellowship cycle.

Our Environmental Focus

This year, we will plant 250,000 coffee and shade trees, increasing our previous seedling distribution by 25%, as well as continuing to research and trial the most effective farm inputs to provide coffee farmers so that they can cultivate healthy and sustainable farms in spite of the increasing climatic challenges they face. We will also continue to provide attention, awareness, and education on the interconnectedness between the women we partner with and the land they depend on through our environmental initiative: Of Land & Women.

Ntango Washing Station

We will process coffee at our washing station for the 4th year, projecting to export a full container to a growing list of over 15 coffee partners across 3 continents, while supporting over 800 farmers with good prices and bonus payments.

Our Women’s Centers

We will open a new women’s center building in Rusasa, Gakenke District, while breaking ground on another, creating a centralized and intentional space out of which our Artisan Training will operate and Kula Field Staff will work and invest further into the communities we partner with.

Long Term Impact Measurement

Perhaps most importantly, we will conduct long term measurement and evaluation with our graduates from 2020 and 2022, receiving vital data and feedback on what our program impact looks like for these fellows one and two years after graduation and using that information to evaluate and strengthen the programs themselves moving forward.

Kula’s Organizational Strengthening

Amidst it all, we are building our internal processes for the future: engaging in detailed conversation and technical work to deepen and clarify our impact definitions, metrics, and analysis, ensuring that we have system efficiencies in place to deliver our approach in the best way possible, and exploring growth opportunities in tree distribution and farming support at a larger scale.

Our most successful and impactful year yet