Streetsmart Australia’s initiative, CafeSmart is back in August 2023. Over the past 12 years, the event has helped raise and distribute close to $2 million across more than 1000 projects tackling homelessness.
“The power of CafeSmart is that donations collected through cafés, coffee roasters, corporate partners and coffee lovers, are pooled together to provide a whole of community response to fund vital services. It is a powerful collaboration that results in meaningful impact on the ground, local to the cafés that are involved,” says Cynthia Mac Caddon, Partnerships Manager of StreetSmart Australia.
Coffee roasters get involved by connecting their café network to the initiative and in many cases by fundraising with their bean sales. Cafés participate by promoting the event with their customers for a whole week, and by donating $1 per coffee sold on the main day.
Corporate partners help bring this national campaign to life, and customers get on board by supporting their local CafeSmart café, grabbing a coffee on the main day or donating the cost of a coffee online, to help increase the total fundraising tally.
Every year, CafeSmart grants are supporting grassroots organisations and plugging funding gaps for frontline services that are targeting marginalised communities, including people experiencing homelessness, disadvantaged youth, migrants and refugees, and those suffering domestic violence, food insecurity and hunger, poor mental and physical health or social isolation.
CafeSmart 2023 counts with the loyal support of Principal Sponsors La Marzocco Australia and Vitasoy, and our media partners and supporters BeanScene, Broadsheet and the Melbourne International Coffee Expo.
To join the coffee movement and help support those in need, visit https://streetsmartaustralia.org/cafesmart/
