Lincoln East Rotary Club welcomed Jullian Christy, Executive Director of Ten Thousand Villages, which is located in the Haymarket area.
Jullian started out explaining fair trade. What is fair trade? Fair Trade USA, formerly "TransFair USA", is a 501 non-profit organization that sets standards, certifies, and labels products that promote sustainable livelihoods for farmers and workers and protect the environment.
It begins with our Theory of Change. It’s the vision for how Fair Trade programs work and catalyze change in the lives of people around the globe. The Theory of Change takes into account more than farmers or fishers. It applies to multiple stakeholders — business partners, traders, retailers, and consumers.
What does that mean?
Fair Trade USA’s standards, and strategic partnerships, have led to the creation of tools (the inputs) and the development of programs (the outputs) that directly affect the lives of farmers, fishers, producers, and consumers. The outcomes seen, delivered, and experienced help Fair Trade USA and its partners make an impact by achieving system-wide goals: resilient and sustainable communities, prosperity for all, mutually beneficial trade, and conscious consumption.
Buying, selling, and manufacturing Fair Trade Certified™ goods
How you do business has a huge impact on the world. When companies source Fair Trade Certified products, they are choosing a more responsible, sustainable way of doing business. They are also demonstrating transparency, trust, and authenticity to their consumers. That’s because the Fair Trade Certified label on a product signifies that it was made according to rigorous Fair Trade standards that promote sustainable livelihoods, safe working conditions, protection of the environment, and strong, transparent supply chains.
Ten Thousand Villages is a nonprofit, fair trade organization that markets handcrafted products made by artisans from more than 120 artisan groups in more than 35 countries. One of the world's largest and oldest fair-trade organizations Ten Thousand Villages attempts to allow consumers to buy gifts, accessories, and home décor from around the world while the artisans receive a fair price for their work. Ten Thousand Villages is a founding member of the World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO) and a certified member of the Fair Trade Federation (FTF).
Edna Ruth Byler founded the organization after witnessing extreme poverty during a trip to Puerto Rico in 1946.
Byler, with the help of the Mennonite Central Committee, began selling handcrafted products from the boot of her car, eventually expanding to a storefront called Self Help Crafts in 1958. She wanted to promote sustainable economic opportunities for artisans in developing countries by creating a viable marketplace for their products. The original philosophy of Ten Thousand Villages was inspired by Mennonite values including compassion, service, mutual aid, and peacemaking.
In the 1970s, the small project moved out of Byler's basement to become SELFHELP Crafts of the World, an official program of the Mennonite Central Committee. In 1994, the company became a member of the Fair-Trade Federation. In 1996, SELFHELP became Ten Thousand Villages. The new name was inspired by a quote from Mahatma Gandhi: “India is not to be found in its few cities but in the 700,000 villages”.
In 1981 Lincoln opened its stores using the name “Helping Hands” and is currently the only Fair-Trade store in Nebraska. There was once was one in Kearney, NE.
In 2006–2007, the company increased purchases from artisans by more than one million dollars. In 2007, Ten Thousand Villages redesigned stores to minimize environmental impact in order to meet what they call their "triple bottom line" of economic, environmental and social sustainability. By 2008, the company's sales had surpassed $25.5 million, one third of which was paid to artisans directly. The other two thirds covered importing, storage, marketing, retail costs, and administration. In 2012, Ten Thousand Villages and the Mennonite Central Committee entered into a partnership agreement. Ten Thousand Villages is no longer wholly owned by MCC.
In June 2020, Ten Thousand Villages Canada closed corporate operations. Through a licensing agreement, four stores using the Ten Thousand Villages brand remained open. A few other stores rebranded and continued operating independently.
In May 2022, Dan Alonso was appointed as the new CEO of Ten Thousand Villages, succeeding Gordon Zook. In January 2025, it was announced that company-owned US retail locations would be closed, leaving independent non-profit board run stores as their brick-and-mortar channel. Ten Thousand Villages will continue e-commerce retailing as well as wholesaling to their fair-trade affiliates. Jullian said that the Ten Thousand Villages International organization is current restructuring the business. Today, there is about 20 stores in the U.S.