GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Schuil Coffee Company is partnering with Wedgwood Christian Services to pilot a new fundraising program.
The Grand Rapids-based coffee roaster has curated three coffee blends whose sales will support the nonprofit.
Tim Volkema, CEO of Schuil Coffee, said he began brainstorming the idea for a program like this more than six months ago.
“We were trying to figure out as a company how to engage more effectively with organizations that we'd like to partner with and support,” Volkema said.
He said the company is happy to fulfill requests for gift cards and gift baskets for auction, but he wanted to be involved more proactively.
Many people buy coffee anyway, so he thought selling on behalf of a nonprofit would work well to raise money for a good cause.
Randy Zylstra, Wedgwood president and CEO, said Wedgwood and the company felt as though they had comparable values, so they decided to try the partnership.
“It's an organization I'd been familiar with for a long time, and I knew that they had a strong management team, and I believe in what they do,” Volkema said. “It just seemed like a good fit to try to work through what I knew would be some kinks, and that they'd be pretty easy to work with, and they have been.”
The Wedgwood Blend is a medium roast blend of Brazilian and Colombian coffees, with rich, smoke and brown butter tasting notes; the cost is $12.
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