Frequently Asked Questions
Below are answers to some common questions about Good News Goods. If you’re still curious about something after reading this page, please feel free to contact us.
Who is Trade as One?
Trade as One is a Fair Trade company founded in 2006 by Nathan and Cath George. The mission of Trade as One is to equip American church members to use their spending power to help free captives, release the oppressed and bring good news to the poor. Despite the fact that the Bible has a lot to say about our stewardship of the resources God has entrusted to us, we sometimes don’t see the connection between our spending habits and the Kingdom of God. By directing our spending to help the people Jesus called “the least of these,” (Matt. 25:40), we support his mission to “bring good news to the poor,” (Luke 4:18) which was so central to his understanding of God’s Kingdom.
Is Trade as One a non-profit or for-profit business?
Fair Trade is built on the premise that as you move from immediate relief into sustainable development, enterprise rather than charity is the way to break cycles of poverty and dependency. For such enterprises, there are many pros and cons to both for- and not-for profit structures and there are Fair Trade companies on either side of the fence. After a lot of careful consideration, we decided that a fair, for-profit business was the best and fastest way for us to do the most good in the world.
What is Trade as One’s take?
While the margin Trade as One makes varies considerably depending on the type of product, how much it costs to get it from overseas to the US, etc, we try to ensure that on average our gross margin is around 45 percent, leaving 55 percent of the retail dollar going to our suppliers. This margin was reached through a combination of market research and fervent prayer, and allows us to pass as much as we can back to the producers while still growing and expanding the good we do all over the world.
What about money changing in the temple?
By bringing our spending in a small way into our churches, we very visibly state that even our spending is a discipleship issue — particularly when so many of our purchases actually hurt (through human trafficking, slavery, and oppressive labor practices) the people God loves - the poor, the marginalized and those excluded from the global economic system. By purchasing products which benefit the poor, we are saying that we stand in solidarity with them. Contrast this with the scandalously usurious way in which the money changers in Jesus’ day were using commerce in the temple to exclude the poor from gaining access to spiritual health. By driving them out, he invited the poor in. We believe that by diverting some of our existing spending from large corporations into job creation for the poorest and most desperate people in the developing world, we invite them into the life of our church. Such purchases are not only acceptable within the four walls of the church, but there is no more appropriate place for them to take place. Our mission is to help the church to take the lead in the Fair Trade Movement in America.
Are all of your suppliers Christian ministries?
Because we believe the absence of work is a missions issue, Trade As One exists to create jobs for the poor, the abused, the marginalized and the oppressed. Most of our partner organizations are in fact Christian, but not necessarily all. We believe that Jesus very often met people at their point of need before he invited them to follow him and change the way they lived. Not everyone who was helped by Jesus did what he said was required of them. This did not prevent Him from being outrageously inclusive and expansive in meeting people’s needs as he came across them. Following Jesus in this regard, we work with almost any organization that creates jobs among our target groups (trafficked women, people with HIV / AIDS, the poorest of the poor), that creates beautiful and useful products, and that conforms to the principles of fair trade.
Is a Trade as One purchase a donation to the Hunger Offering?
The Texas Baptist Offering for World Hunger, like any effective poverty ministry, consists of two key elements: relief (providing food and other necessities) and development (helping the poor escape poverty). A Trade as One purchase is an investment in job creation, sustainable development, and the restoration of dignity and security to women and men in the developing world. By purchasing from Trade as One, you are deciding to switch some of your spending from the shopping mall to benefit the poor. Purchasing products which benefit the poor complements the development ministries supported by the Offering, but is not the same as giving to the Offering. The single exception to this rule is the Good News Goods tote bag. One dollar from the purchase of each bag goes directly to the Offering.
Fair Trade is an organized social movement and market-based approach to empowering developing country producers and promoting sustainability. The movement advocates the payment of a fair price to the producer as well as social and environmental standards in areas related to the production of a wide variety of goods.
