Starbucks has always been about more than serving coffee. It’s also about creating community in our coffeehouses and supporting the communities where we operate. From the first store in Seattle in 1971 to tens of thousands of coffeehouses around the world today, Starbucks has been grounded in the belief that connections matter and communities are stronger when we care for one another.

It’s part of our mission statement:

“To be the premier purveyor of the finest coffee in the world, inspiring and nurturing the human spirit — one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time.”

And over the years, as Starbucks has grown, so has the potential to do good around the world.

Our scale matters because of what it makes possible – it allows us to help positively impact more people around the world in meaningful ways.

This month, during Global Month of Good, we want to pause to look at the impact that Starbucks partners (employees), The Starbucks Foundation and licensed business operators have on the communities they serve, all year long. It’s about more than just a month but rather creating lasting action that can make a difference for people the world over.

Helping fight hunger, one meal at a time

Hunger is a daily reality for far too many people around the globe. In the United States alone, more than 47 million people, including more than 7 million children, are food insecure, according to a report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Starbucks is committed to doing something about that. The Starbucks FoodShare program helps divert unsold food to food banks and community organizations across the United States.

Since the program began in 2016, more than 144 million pounds of surplus food have been donated, helping reduce food waste while getting it to the people in local communities experiencing hunger.

Over the winter holidays, Starbucks partnered with World Food Program USA to roll out a global hunger-relief campaign. Across Asia Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean and North America, the campaign provided 12 million meals globally through the World Food Programme’s school meals program.

Creating opportunities for the next generation

Sometimes just getting an opportunity can be life changing.

The Starbucks Foundation and Alshaya Group made a historic investment in youth empowerment in 2024 across the Middle East and Eurasia through the EmpowerME program, in partnership with Habitat Derneği and INJAZ Al-Arab/JA MENA part of JA (Junior Achievement) Worldwide.

The impact has been profound with more than 132,000 young people given training and new skills to support career development and advancement.

Helping support coffee farmers around the world

Coffee connects people, from the farmers who grow it to the baristas who serve it and the customers who drink it.

In October 2025, Starbucks Puerto Rico celebrated the 20^th anniversary of the Don’t Let It Fall (No lo Dejes Caer) volunteer initiative. Each harvest season, green apron partners visit local farms during the busy harvest season to support farmers in picking coffee cherries before they fall and go to waste. As part of the celebration, The Starbucks Foundation announced two Global Community Impact Grants to:

• Banco de Alimentos de Puerto Rico, to provide year-round meals on the weekend and nutritional education to young people in Puerto Rico who experience food insecurity.
• PROCAFE, to empower youth across Puerto Rico to partake in community conservation initiatives and hand-on leadership building reaffirming its long-standing commitment to coffee farmers on the island.

In Indonesia, Starbucks Indonesia and the Ministry of Agriculture signed a multiyear memorandum of understanding to help strengthen the country’s coffee ecosystem through support for training, seed and equipment donations, as well as climate-smart farming practices.

The collaboration, running through 2027 across several coffee growing regions, focuses on helping empower smallholder farmers, improving coffee farmer productivity and crop yields, supporting farmer economic opportunity and promoting sustainable farming practices.

Expanding access to clean water and community care

Through its partnership with Planet Water Foundation, The Starbucks Foundation is helping support sustainable access to clean water across Asia Pacific and Latin America.

To date, 97 AquaTower water filtration systems have been installed, helping up to 174,600 people with access to safe drinking water, improved health outcomes and greater resilience for families and schools.

The AquaTowers reflect the power of Starbucks partners and communities coming together. Partners help build each tower and provide education about clean water, handwashing and more. In the Philippines, a Starbucks partner helped build an AquaTower at the very school they once attended.
Starbucks is proud to continue this work, with plans for more AquaTowers, including in Malaysia.

During this month, and all year long, we are proud to continue this work. It reflects who we are at Starbucks — using our scale and our partnerships to create lasting, meaningful change — one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time