e-Commerce Development for Latin American Artisans

2022 was an up-and-down year for our e-commerce project. There were several important accomplishments, but also disappointments.

The soulgives.org website was ported to a new platform that allowed us the ability to have as many products and variations as we would ever need. The new platform has more options for displaying products as well as attractive ways of telling the stories of our artisans and growers. We are in the process of developing new content and plan to have it available next quarter.

We added 9 new vendors bringing our total up to 16. There are three from Costa Rica, five from Mexico and one from Uganda. Already, women and families in these communities are learning how to become more efficient and business-savy. Their skills are amazing, and we hope you will check them out. Since they are paid nearly full price for their goods, we must resort to donations to fund web development, business needs, and community support.

On the downside, we had a social media reset. This caused us to loose traction we had in key areas as well as the following we worked hard to develop. We hope with your help we will quickly recover from this and initiate new marketing campaigns so the people that support artisan work, natural products, and stopping the inequitable wages of the people doing the work will find us and make a purchase or donation.

Our website is more than just a commerce site. In the past year we have added support to other nonprofit partners, including My360project.org, Transformacr.org, and HandsOfHope Uganda (hoha.org.ug). By coming alongside one another, we all grow.

Without your support we cannot share their stories to people who want to contribute to real change and your contributions help to maximize the return to these artisans and growers.

As the web presence develops, so can the livelihoods of these families who desperately want to leave poverty and are willing to lift themselves and their communities toward a sustainable future.