Selling Coffee for Good: A Nonprofit Love Story

By Otis Fulton, Ph.D. and Katrina VanHuss

The Well Coffeehouse is the setting for a beautiful love story. The Well Coffeehouse is a nonprofit organization in Nashville, Tenn., that sells coffee to build wells for those in water-risk. There are five stores and a roasting facility in Nashville, and one franchise location.

The Well helped a guy fit all his passions into one neat package of a job: coffee, building wells for people at water-risk and business.

Until six months ago, Mike Lenda had been happily installed for three years as the national director of mobilization at Compassion International. Prior to that, Mike had spent five years at Blood: Water. And before that, he spent eight years at Starbucks. The fact that he landed a job as a CEO selling coffee to help people build wells is freaky serendipitous. Or maybe it was fate.

Source: www.wellcoffeehouse.com

Lenda's first touch with The Well was at The Well's grand opening six years ago. Lenda both agreed to attend, but also recognized that The Well would need a well-digging partner. Voila—partnership accomplished.

Lenda says, "Life makes sense in reverse. Nothing is wasted in terms of my background, that's for sure. Every role prepared me for something. This job is a combination of all my loves. It is a crazy alignment of my background."

Last fall Lenda was invited to be CEO, going from a 65-year-old charity to a six-year-old startup. When he started, The Well did not have a benefits program, job descriptions or much of the infrastructure that would be needed. The effort had grown fast, and systems and processes were tough to install during that growth. Lenda's first effort was prioritizing people: getting a benefits package in place, designing job descriptions, etc. He said, "You just have to take care of the people or nothing works."

As Lenda looks to the future, he struggles with an idea that Turnkey folk study ad nauseam—how do you convert buying a thing (coffee) into a mission connection? He pondered, "How do you take that transaction and make it a transformation? And how do you measure the cost of creating an evangelist?"

"People will come in once for the cause, but the coffee has to be great," Lenda said. "We must figure out how and if consumers want to be communicated with about the mission. Do they want to know when and how they make an impact with their purchase?" Lenda and I spoke at length about the difference in the kinds of relationship connoted by a purchase versus a donation. See this blog for more on that.

Growth on the Horizon

The Well leadership also ponders the link between its mission and the growers of the coffee itself. "We are trying to more closely link coffee at its origin to the impact we are making. The world's greatest coffee is also grown in the countries with the biggest water problems. What are we doing to help globally and locally?" Part of what The Well does is select importers of coffee paying fair-market prices to growers.

With six current locations and a weekly call asking about bringing The Well to new locations and cities, Lenda sees growth on the horizon and strengthening the connection to mission. As an example, On World Water Day, customers were particularly excited about buying coffee. That day, 100% of the sales went directly to build water projects in Uganda. Likewise, employees were excited about feeling part of the mission, even more than other days. Lenda is trying to build that connection every day for both employees and patrons.

The Well plans to be close to $2.5 million in revenue this year with only 3% received as direct donations. The majority of the revenue is received through customer purchases either online or at their retail store locations. Their future goal is to find engaging ways to invite customers into donation opportunities to directly impact the global water work they support in the countries from which they source our coffee.

Since opening, The Well has donated over $200,000 toward clean water projects through local partners in over 35 communities in 15 countries, providing access to safe water access for over 30,000 people. Lenda says, “I believe through more mobilization efforts, targeted campaigns and business efficiencies, I would like to double that impact in the next five years.”

Source: www.wellcoffeehouse.com

Prices are competitive with other good coffee purveyors, and in the future, Lenda sees a potential subscription model for coffee and the commensurate "good" that comes with it. Interest is strong from the public regarding the concept, as evidenced by the weekly calls Lenda gets regarding opening new locations. Growth, combined with efficiencies of scale, improvements in process and fundraising make the future smell like a good Cup of Joe for The Well Coffeehouse and Mike Lenda.

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Otis Fulton, Ph.D. Author's page

Otis Fulton, Ph.D., spent most of his career in the education industry, working at the psychometric research and development firm MetaMetrics Inc., Pearson Education and others. Since 2013, he has focused on the nonprofit sector, applying psychology to fundraising and donor behavior at Turnkey. He is the co-author of the 2017 book, ”Dollar Dash: The Behavioral Economics of Peer-to-Peer Fundraising,” and the 2023 book, "Social Fundraising: Mining the New Peer-to-Peer Landscape,"  and is a frequent speaker at national nonprofit conferences. With Katrina VanHuss, he co-authors a blog at NonProfit PRO, “Peeling the Onion,” on the intersection of psychology and philanthropy.

Otis is a much sought-after copywriter for nonprofit fundraising messages. He has written campaigns for UNICEF, St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, March of Dimes, Susan G. Komen, the USO and dozens of other organizations. He has a Ph.D. in social psychology from Virginia Commonwealth University and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Virginia, where he also played on UVA’s first ACC champion basketball team.

Katrina VanHuss Author's page

Katrina VanHuss has helped national nonprofits raise funds and friends since 1989 when she founded Turnkey. Her client’s successes and her dedication to research have made her a sought-after speaker, presenting at national conferences for Blackbaud, Peer to Peer Professional Forum, Nonprofit PRO, The Need Help Foundation and her clients’ national meetings. The firm’s work is underpinned by the study and application of behavioral economics and social psychology. Turnkey provides project engagements, coaching, counsel and staffing to nonprofits seeking to improve revenue or create new revenue. Her work extends into organizational alignment efforts and executive coaching.

Katrina regularly shares her wit and business experiences on her and Otis Fulton's NonProfit PRO blog “Peeling the Onion.” She and Otis are also co-authors of the books, "Dollar Dash: The Behavioral Economics of Peer-to-Peer Fundraising" and "Social Fundraising: Mining the New Peer-to-Peer Landscape." When not writing or researching, Katrina likes to make things — furniture from reclaimed wood, new gardens, food with no recipe. Katrina’s favorite Saturday is spent cleaning out the garage, mowing the grass, making something new, all while listening to loud music by now-deceased black women, throwing in a few sets on the weight bench off and on, then collapsing on the couch with her husband Otis to gang-watch new Netflix series whilst drinking sauvignon blanc.

Katrina grew up on a Virginia beef cattle and tobacco farm with her three brothers. She is accordingly skilled in hand to hand combat and witty repartee — skills gained at the expense of her brothers. Katrina’s claim to fame is having made it to the “American Gladiator” Richmond competition as a finalist in her late 20s, progressing in the competition until a strangely large blonde woman knocked her off a pedestal with an oversized pain-inducing Q-tip. Katrina’s mantra for life is “Be nice. Do good. Embrace embarrassment.” Clearly she’s got No. 3 down.