Whole Foods customers donate $2.2M to empower women

AUSTIN, Texas Whole Foods Market announced that its customers have given more than $2.2 million after a six-week prosperity campaign for Whole Planet Foundation, a non-profit founded by the company to empower the poor in developing countries to lift themselves out of poverty through microcredit loans.

"Thanks to shoppers' generous donations, we'll be able to provide enough loans to empower more than 12,200 poor entrepreneurs, supporting 61,300 people in developing world communities with a chance to change their own lives," said Phillip Sansone, Whole Planet Foundation's president and executive director. "It's through Whole Foods Market customer support that the Foundation continues to make a lasting impact in impoverished communities around the globe where the company sources products."

Whole Foods Market said it covers all overhead costs for the Foundation, to ensure that 100% of all donations go directly to fund microlending projects. Typical clients are women who use microcredit loans –usually less than $200 each– to start home-based businesses, such as tailoring, tortilla making and small-scale farming.