When Show Me The World Project first began nearly a decade ago, its goal was relatively straightforward: figure out an effective way to raise funds to take St. Louis students from under resourced communities on transformative international trips.
Co-founder Sylvester Chisom explains the nonprofit had been experimenting with all kinds of fundraisers, eventually discovering coffee and tea products could be the perfect vehicle to raise money for travel.
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“We were in Costa Rica one year, visiting a coffee farm, and we found out some of the best coffee in the world came from there because of the high elevation and volcanic soil,” he says. “We’re like, ‘What if we incorporate this into the programming, teach students entrepreneurship, and bring the joy of this great coffee back to St. Louis and help us fundraise all at the same time.’”
The idea worked. Show Me The World now offers coffees from Ethiopia, Honduras, Peru, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, as well as teas. Proceeds from the sales cover the cost of students’ travel, Chisom says.
Now, the nonprofit is returning to its roots building Show Me The Cause, a digital platform where other entities can run their own fundraisers using Show Me The World’s products.
“We found fundraising was working for us with coffee,” Chisom says. “Now other organizations can use our coffee to fundraise. Think dance clubs, youth sports teams, schools that are taking kids places for trips, or they need new uniforms, or transportation for the volleyball club to go to some tournament. All of those things.”
Show Me The World manages the logistics of the coffee orders and splits the profits 50-50 with fundraising organizations.
“That’s really exciting because then we’re supporting other organizations in a philanthropic way, but then also supporting our mission at the same time,” Chisom says. “We’re seeing a lot of early success.”
He points to a recent fundraiser for a Kairos Academies trip to Costa Rica that brought in almost three and a half times more than the $1,500 goal.
“What we offer is a strategic fundraising opportunity. If you’re taking kids to one of these places, now you can have a fundraiser that’s aligned to that,” Chisom says.
He sees substantial opportunity to grow this business model, as the total revenue opportunity available in online fundraising runs into the billions of dollars. That was part of the reason he says the organization opted to lean into its fundraising platform for growth. That meant turning down Schnucks when the grocer offered its shelf space in 80 stores.
“That was a really hard decision to make. At one point we dreamed about [being] the coffee in Schnucks,” Chisom says. But the fundraising platform seemed to present more long-term value and aligned with Show Me The World’s goals and vision, he says, adding that the opportunity with Schnucks isn’t gone forever (the grocer was understanding about its business direction).
He estimates the Show Me The Cause platform is a $100 million business opportunity, particularly from the standpoint of gathering more data about the people purchasing its coffee.
Show Me The Cause currently averages five fundraisers running per month, but Chisom wants to grow that number to 30 monthly by the end of the year, and eventually hundreds that are active at the same time.
“There’s so much fatigue on cookies, frozen pizzas, and these random things that you don’t want. You’re just buying because your nieces ask you to buy something,” he says. “But coffee and tea are [some of the] most [consumed] beverages in the world.”
And once someone buys the coffee from a fundraiser, Chisom expects they’ll convert into repeat customers, just because of the quality of product.
“When they actually drink it, they’re like, ‘Oh crap. This is actually really great coffee. When’s the next fundraiser?’” he says.
