Business and Philantropy
At the October meeting, PABC hosted two quests, who talked about combining business and philanthropy:
Monika Jabłońska – President/CEO of Nurture the World and Nurture the World Foundation, and Jim Monnier – Senior Development Officer at Habitat for Humanity International.
The meeting was held at the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences in New York.
Monika Jabłońska holds a law degree from Poland and the US. She’s now working on her PhD in international relations. In 2012, she established the World Nurture Foundation, a non-profit organization, in New York. The official launching of the foundation took place during a United Nations conference on Balanced Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. To mark the momentous occasion, World Nurture Foundation, World UN Nutrition Program, and Brazil’s Ministry of Environment organized a special concert which took place at the Tom Jobim theater, in the very heart of the most beautiful botanic garden in Rio de Janeiro.
A year later she established a company called Nurture the World. It is a for-profit organization with a social mission: its aim is to sell high quality products around the world, and a portion of the profit is earmarked to nurture children in schools in Poland, USA, and other parts of the world. The UN World Nutrition Program (WFP Centre of Excellence against Hunger) and other organizations fighting to eliminate the problem of hunger among children joined the project.
Nurture the World manufactures its products (from bags to clothes and accessories) locally in Brazil, USA, and Europe. This way it contributes national economies, takes part in reducing local unemployment, promotes local businesses and their services, and supports regional charity organizations, including a program of nurturing children at schools. Where possible, Nurture aids local farmers who deliver the fresh products to the school cafeterias.
In Poland the company is so successful that such stars as Edyta Górniak and Marta Żmuda-Trzebiatowska, who is Nurture’s brand ambassador, strongly support and promote the idea created by Monika. Nurture the World products are also worn by such people as Anna Lewandowska, Małgorzata Socha, and Agnieszka Maciąg. Łukasz Jemioł joined us to designe a t-shirt for Nurture.
Habitat for Humanity is an international, non-governmental, and nonprofit organization, which was founded in 1976. Habitat has been devoted to building “simple, decent, and affordable” housing, a self-described “Christian housing ministry,” and has addressed the issues of poverty housing all over the world. There are five area offices located around the world: United States and Canada; Africa and the Middle East (located in Pretoria, South Africa); Asia-Pacific (Bangkok, Thailand); Europe and Central Asia (Bratislava, Slovakia); and Latin America and the Caribbean (San Jose, Costa Rica).
The mission statement of Habitat for Humanity is “Seeking to put God’s love into action, Habitat for Humanity brings people together to build homes, communities and hope”. Homes are built using volunteer labor and Habitat makes no profit on the sales. In some locations outside the United States, Habitat for Humanity charges interest to protect against inflation. This policy has been in place since 1986. Habitat has helped more than 4 million people construct, rehabilitate or preserve more than 800,000 homes since its founding in 1976, making Habitat the largest not-for-profit builder in the world.