We've always believed in doing business a different way.

Since 1971, when we opened our very first store in Seattle, to today with nearly 17,000 stores around the world, we've always been committed to doing business responsibly and conducting ourselves in ways that earn the trust and respect of our customers and neighbors. We call this Starbucks™ Shared Planet™ – our commitment to doing business responsibly.

The heart of the neighborhood.

Starbucks stores can be found in thousands of communities around the world. We want to be a good neighbor and give back in meaningful ways. Two ways we do this is by encouraging our partners (employees) and customers to participate in community service and by supporting young people to make positive differences in their communities.

By 2015, our goal is to contribute more than one million hours of community service each year. We're also working to engage 50,000 young people to take action and solve problems in their communities.

There are so many great stories we want to share, of remarkable people who work for or with Starbucks to make extraordinary impacts in their communities. Here are a few of the programs that help make this happen.

What we're working on.

Global programs

Connecting volunteers through social networking V2V (Volunteer to Volunteer): Our online social network encourages volunteerism and connection.

Inspiring youth leaders for change Youth Grants: Starbucks is working to help the next generation of youth leaders realize their natural potential to reinvent the world.

Regional programs

Supporting partner volunteerism Community Service Grants: Our long-standing volunteer program in the United States and Canada continues to inspire and motivate Starbucks partners.

Matching donations We encourage our partners in the United States and Canada to make charitable gifts to organizations they care about. Starbucks partner matching grants are part of a flexible matching gift program in the United States and Canada that matches each partner's charitable contributions, up to $1,000 annually. In fiscal 2008, Starbucks matched $836,000 of our partners' charitable contributions.

Supporting education in China In 2005, as part of our ongoing commitment to social responsibility and in recognition of China's rich tradition of placing importance on education, Starbucks established the Starbucks China Education Project. This $5 million commitment supports educational programs in China through Give2Asia, a U.S. nonprofit organization founded by The Asia Foundation to promote philanthropy in Asia. Since that time, the inaugural grant made to the China Soong Ching Ling Foundation has supported training for nearly 2,000 teachers in rural communities, provided scholarships to 600 teaching college students in need, and created or improved libraries for 75 schools in remote regions. The partnership with the All China Women's Development Foundation provided training to more than 8,000 women who in turn helped teach water sanitation practices to approximately 40,000 women in remote villages.

Nurturing Community Development As part of our Starbucks™ Shared Planet™ commitment to communities, we partnered in 2008 with the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), a U.S. organization with a community focus. Under our partnership a portion of each purchase using a Starbucks Card Duetto® Visa® is donated to LISC in support of their community development work. To date $60,000 has been contributed to LISC.

NAACP Starbucks and the NAACP work together to identify and support projects reflecting our shared commitment to social and economic equality.

What we're working on.

Starbucks is committed to being actively involved in the communities we're a part of. We hope we can do that by contributing more than one million hours of community service per year and engaging 50,000 young people to create positive change.