Promoting Fair Trade -- Fair Trade Stalls
Your church can help widen the market for fairly traded goods by increasing people's ability to access them.
Fair Trade Stalls
Setting up a Fair Trade stall in your church can be a good way to introduce a congregation to Fair Trade, to offer a wider range of Fair Trade products than is available in many shops, and to assist parishioners who find getting to shops difficult.
Most Fair Traders sell goods from either Traidcraft or Tearcraft. Traidcraft offers a wide range of its own foods as well as clothing, jewelry, home furnishings, stationery and crafts. Tearcraft offers jewelry and accessories, home furnishings, stationery and crafts.
You can order online or by mail. If you are going to be placing regular, fairly large orders, consider becoming a "Fair Trader" (Traidcraft rep) or Tearcraft rep. This can give you access to discounts, a credit account with the organisation, promotional materials, and advance screenings of the companies' lines.
If you are just starting off and are concerned about buying goods without being sure you can sell them, many local Fair Trade shops and also Traidcraft “key contacts” will do a sale or return box. Contact Traidcraft at 0191 491 0591 to find the number for your local key contact or go to the Tearcraft sellers list for a postcode listing of all Tearcraft sellers.
Some church stall holders also buy in stocks of Fair Trade foods from local shops or supermarkets for resale. This allows them to bring in fresh goods (such as bananas) and also to indicate which local shops sell Fairtrade products.
Fair Trade Stalls with a Plus
Some churches occasionally have more specialised Fair Trade producers or importers come in for “one-off” sales. Wheatley URC, for example, had a talk during their service by Colin and Carol Morton who run Hadeel, followed by a sale during coffee. And St. Matthew's, in Oxford, had a series of different retailers in over a period of time. Have a look at our list of local Fair Trade shops and Fair Trade representatives for ideas.
And if you want to take the opportunity outside the church . . . why not follow the lead of one local congregation which has proposed having a stall in the local car boot sale, as a way of having a Christian presence at the event and promoting Fair Trade at the same time.
Supply Chains for Fair Trade Stalls
If you're a small church, ordering Fair Trade goods for a stall may seem problematic – as may storage of the goods in between stalls.
A number of area churches cluster together to order as a group: in one town, for example, two Anglican churches work together; in another, the local Roman Catholic and Anglican churches share a common store of goods.
In two areas – Abingdon and Milton Keynes – large numbers of churches, groups and/or individuals have joined together to create a single entity that orders for all. This has the benefit of ease – and of enabling small churches to benefit from the economies of scale that large orders produce.
The Abingdon Traidcraft Group is a task force of Abingdon's Churches Together group. It has a network of 20 member churches and “Regular Local Customers” as well as sharing a retail outlet with the “Action for Children in Conflict” charity shop. Members are able to order online via the group's website. Deliveries are made to, and can be collected from, the shop.
Milton Keynes' “Just Trading” is the trading arm of the Milton Keynes Peace and Justice Network. Based at the Church of Christ the Cornerstone, it sells Traidcraft products through a kiosk in the church, but also supplies large numbers of area churches. Deliveries are made to Christ the Cornerstone, whence churches can pick up their orders. For further information