Saalt 2020 Impact Report
We believe that people empowered and equipped to live their element can change the world. As a certified B Corporation, we commit 2% of our revenue to donate period care to regions with the most need, and help fund initiatives in menstrual health, education/empowerment, and sustainability.
We believe that people empowered and equipped to live their element can change the world. As a certified B Corporation, we commit 2% of our revenue to donate period care to regions with the most need, and help fund initiatives in menstrual health, education/empowerment, and sustainability.
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<strong>2020</strong> <strong>Impact</strong> <strong>Report</strong>
Thank you.<br />
<strong>2020</strong> was an unprecedented year. From wildfires that swept across<br />
Australia and our Pacific Northwest to a pandemic that affected daily<br />
living across the globe, this year has taught us all resilience and the<br />
ability to adjust to ever-changing circumstances. The Bill and Melinda<br />
Gates Foundation reported that in just 25 weeks, progress in everything<br />
from poverty alleviation to women’s equality had been “set back 25<br />
years.” That regression hit hardest for our overseas partners who saw<br />
the social and economic toll of the pandemic expose dramatic spikes<br />
in domestic violence, teen pregnancy, and reductions in health services<br />
for women and girls.<br />
How do you move forward with optimism in the wake of challenging<br />
current events? You keep to your mission to change lives for the better<br />
and adapt. We started <strong>2020</strong> with plans to fund events and projects<br />
around the globe and travel to support international partners. Those<br />
plans quickly shifted to respond to the most urgent needs, from funding<br />
wildfire containment and advocates for racial justice, to donating<br />
period care to active duty military members and veterans, menstruating<br />
firefighters, and health care providers working tirelessly to save homes<br />
and lives. We donated over 12,000 menstrual cups to organizations in<br />
34 countries, moved reproductive health classes online, and funded<br />
over 11,000 days of school for girls in need. We used our supply chain<br />
to create high-quality antibacterial masks for partners with urgent<br />
hygiene needs who helped distribute them to marginalized populations<br />
often at the highest risk because of the lack of economic resources for<br />
both PPE and healthcare.<br />
Each success was enabled and magnified by you, our <strong>Saalt</strong> community,<br />
who reached out to help identify needs and support our efforts to help<br />
underserved communities around the world.<br />
Contents<br />
<strong>2020</strong> <strong>Impact</strong> Overview 5<br />
Our Purpose 6<br />
Our Method 7<br />
Where We Work 8<br />
Partners 10–31<br />
Donation to Australia 34<br />
Donations to Firefighters 35<br />
Donations to Healthcare Workers 36<br />
Black Lives Matter 38<br />
Back to School 40<br />
Sustainable Coastlines 38<br />
Teen Cups: by Teens for Teens 42<br />
Donations to Veterans 46<br />
Reusable Mask Donation 47<br />
Our deepest thanks,<br />
Cherie Hoeger<br />
CEO & <strong>Impact</strong> Director<br />
Danielle Burden<br />
Corporate Responsibility Manager<br />
Cover photograh by Payton McGriff. Photography contributed by Julie<br />
Gascon, Payton McGriff, DROTY, Jjumba Martin, Wiser, Mwangi A Kirubi.<br />
Design contribution by Adelle Cron.
2018 <strong>Impact</strong><br />
<strong>2020</strong> IMPACT OVERVIEW<br />
12,394<br />
Cups Donated<br />
36,727<br />
Periods Served<br />
1,855,881<br />
Waste Products Diverted<br />
$103,020<br />
Dollars Saved<br />
3,740<br />
Pounds of Cleanup Funded<br />
11,340<br />
Days of School Funded<br />
5
Our Purpose<br />
Our Method<br />
We believe that people empowered and equipped to<br />
live their element can change the world. As a certified<br />
B Corp, we commit 2% of our revenue to donate<br />
period care to regions with the most need, and help<br />
fund initiatives in menstrual health, education and<br />
empowerment, and sustainability.<br />
Empower and equip. These are ambitious words to encapsulate<br />
a holistic strategy to improve menstrual health on a greater level<br />
than just donating products. We do this by training in-country<br />
staff to ensure classes and mentoring are offered with every<br />
product donation, and by hiring full-time educators, like Pressa in<br />
rural Nepal, to teach about menstrual and reproductive health to<br />
both those receiving our products and their communities.<br />
MENSTRUAL<br />
HEALTH<br />
Everyone<br />
should have the<br />
right to a safe<br />
and dignified<br />
period. We<br />
empower<br />
individuals with<br />
the knowledge<br />
and long-term<br />
solutions to<br />
improve their<br />
menstrual<br />
health, which<br />
increases<br />
gender equality<br />
and opens<br />
conversations<br />
that bring<br />
awareness and<br />
break down<br />
social stigmas.<br />
EDUCATION &<br />
EMPOWERMENT<br />
Access to<br />
period care<br />
keeps girls in<br />
school, breaking<br />
the cycle of<br />
poverty for<br />
generations.<br />
We’re fueled<br />
by the power<br />
educated<br />
women have to<br />
lift their families<br />
and invest<br />
back into their<br />
local economy,<br />
bringing change<br />
to entire<br />
communities.<br />
SUSTAINABILITY<br />
Every consumer<br />
who chooses<br />
reusables saves<br />
thousands<br />
of single<br />
use period<br />
products from<br />
our landfills<br />
and oceans.<br />
We provide<br />
consumers with<br />
sustainable<br />
solutions to<br />
decrease waste<br />
through product<br />
design that<br />
is healthy for<br />
both body and<br />
planet, and by<br />
funding direct<br />
cleanup efforts.<br />
“Empowerment starts with<br />
educating people to know<br />
their bodies and flow, and<br />
that menstruation is not a<br />
sign of illness, but of health<br />
and vitality.”<br />
—Cherie Hoeger, <strong>Saalt</strong> Co-founder<br />
Equipping starts with donating products to address urgent<br />
needs, then continuing to tackle barriers to improve the period<br />
experience. In Uganda, for example, 88% of people lack access<br />
to quality period care and 60% lack facilities to care for their<br />
periods. That means when we heard of students in Uganda<br />
emptying their cups in the tall grass because they lacked access<br />
to private latrines, we worked with our partners to build three<br />
new latrines for rural schools. Through our impact pillars, we<br />
seek to use our funds in the most mindful way to create lasting<br />
change.<br />
6 7
Where We Work<br />
ENGLAND<br />
CANADA<br />
USA<br />
Period.org<br />
Baby Steps<br />
Every Mother Counts<br />
ITALY<br />
BANGLADESH<br />
NICARAGUA<br />
COSTA RICA<br />
FIRMC<br />
VENEZUELA<br />
Lahaie Luna Lezama<br />
Foundation<br />
SIERRA<br />
LEONE<br />
TOGO<br />
Style Her<br />
Empowered<br />
NIGERIA<br />
CAMEROON<br />
KENYA<br />
Outreach to the World<br />
WISER International<br />
UGANDA<br />
DROTY<br />
FIRMC<br />
INDIA<br />
Project Stree<br />
TANZANIA<br />
Peace Corps<br />
Maji Safi<br />
NEPAL<br />
Her International<br />
CAMBODIA<br />
ZAMBIA<br />
African Education<br />
Program<br />
LESOTHO<br />
AUSTRALIA<br />
8
Style Her<br />
Empowered<br />
Since 2018, <strong>Saalt</strong> has supported SHE with menstrual cup<br />
donations and scholarship funds for schoolgirls in the small<br />
town of Notse, Togo. At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic,<br />
SHE leaders knew they had a choice: play it safe and slide under<br />
the radar, or show up in a big way for their community. With a<br />
quick about-face, SHE seamstresses began sewing masks rather<br />
than the adaptable uniforms that the organization is well known<br />
for. After-school programs adjusted to become educational<br />
support for students who were no longer attending daily classes,<br />
and special emphasis was given to students who were still<br />
expected to take the annual end-of-year national exams. Those<br />
students were able to complete exams with a 97% pass rate.<br />
SHE also expanded their school scholarships to include more<br />
services to a greater number of students. In <strong>2020</strong>, <strong>Saalt</strong> funded<br />
a grant proposal from SHE to support those efforts, providing<br />
scholarships, uniforms, and menstrual kits to schoolgirls in<br />
adjacent regions around Notse.<br />
In a year of incredible difficulty and growth, SHE was also able<br />
to expand to a US-based program by contracting Boise local<br />
seamstresses to make masks. Their goals included committing<br />
to responsible, sustainable manufacturing, using resettlement<br />
agencies to help refugee women find more reliable and uplifting<br />
work, and helping homeless women and those displaced by<br />
pandemic-related difficulties.<br />
“I thought I was being hired as a<br />
seamstress at S H E, but I realize<br />
now that my job is as a full-time<br />
civil servant.”<br />
— S H E Seamstress<br />
TOGO<br />
11
Her International<br />
Her International’s holistic approach to empower women and<br />
girls through education starts by providing scholarships to<br />
individual girls and then helping their mothers through safe<br />
meeting spaces and mother’s groups where women have access<br />
to educational programs, business and empowerment training,<br />
and microfinance loans. This year, <strong>Saalt</strong> continued to partner<br />
with Her to provide long-term menstrual care for students and<br />
funded 20 scholarships as part of our Back to School September<br />
campaign. <strong>Saalt</strong> also funded a grant proposal from Her that<br />
would allow them to create an incredible curriculum of menstrual<br />
education and women’s empowerment. This curriculum will be<br />
used in both Nepal and Canada in women’s groups that meet<br />
regularly.<br />
From the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing<br />
closures, Her international approached the challenges with<br />
their characteristic ingenuity. “With schools closed, our onthe-ground<br />
partner staff has practiced innovative solutions<br />
to continue girls’ education. Since most families do not have<br />
internet access, online schooling has not been an option. To<br />
support the student’s individual learning at home, we hired<br />
community teachers to meet with students in small, sociallydistanced<br />
groups.<br />
“As traditional modes of serving<br />
have had to change in <strong>2020</strong>, we<br />
leaned heavily into these practices<br />
and will continue to allow us to<br />
weather any storm.”<br />
— Her International Team<br />
NEPAL<br />
14
Dreams of the Tropical Youth<br />
The beginning of <strong>2020</strong> felt hopeful as DROTY and <strong>Saalt</strong><br />
collaborated to organize a fun run in honor of International<br />
Women’s Day.<br />
Co-Director, Timothy Arnold, shared how DROTY has pivoted<br />
with the COVID-19 crisis: “We have had to diversify our strategies<br />
to meet the challenges exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.<br />
Priorities have been rethought and quarterly year plans adjusted<br />
to suit the constraints. Our organization has embarked on<br />
transformation towards digital services for communication,<br />
administration and outreach, and continuous engagement with<br />
stakeholders. During the second and third quarters, we had<br />
to stay home while keeping in close contact with the District<br />
Probation office and Uganda Police Kyotera to keep up to date<br />
with especially cases of sexual and gender-based violence<br />
against girls and women.<br />
On the other hand, while moving away from the traditional mode<br />
of work, which was mainly physical engagements, we have been<br />
leveraging on technology i.e internet, radio talk shows, and SMS<br />
to provide community support and stay in contact with the<br />
network of passionate individual well-wishers and development<br />
partners who continuously uphold their commitment towards<br />
our mission.”<br />
“In response to the food insecurity during<br />
this period, we successfully came up with a<br />
Covid-19 Food Relief Program helping 200<br />
poor families.”<br />
18<br />
— Timothy Arnold,<br />
Program Director at DROTY<br />
UGANDA
FIMRC<br />
As a menstrual care company, <strong>Saalt</strong> looks to nonprofits who are<br />
addressing menstrual health needs in underserved communities<br />
around the world. Through FIMRC, <strong>Saalt</strong> has been able to expand<br />
our donation reach to populations in Africa and Central America.<br />
In a typical year, FIMRC project sites are staffed and funded by<br />
volunteers. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, FIMRC<br />
has adjusted by offering virtual programs that allow volunteers<br />
to contribute to FIMRC’s operations through a remote project.<br />
With onsite staff, local community members still have access to<br />
needed care at a time when healthcare is limited. It is through<br />
these staff that <strong>Saalt</strong> is continuing to donate menstrual cups, and<br />
now reusable masks, to the participants in FIMRC’s local health<br />
programs.<br />
FIMRC operates in 8 different countries at a total of 10 sites<br />
around the world. Each project site is specifically designed to<br />
care for the needs of each local community. FIMRC sites offer<br />
health programs, education programs, maternity support,<br />
clinical outreach, and more. As our partnership continues<br />
to grow, <strong>Saalt</strong> looks forward to supporting more of these<br />
programs that beautifully align with our common goals.<br />
“<strong>2020</strong> was a year full of unique and<br />
unexpected circumstances...and with<br />
that obstacle came a time to search<br />
for new opportunities.”<br />
— FIMRC Team<br />
COSTA RICA & UGANDA<br />
22
Outreach to the World<br />
Outreach to the World has been a staple in the rural community<br />
of Kiminini, Kenya since 2004. Their work supporting the health<br />
and education of the women and girls in their community is what<br />
drew <strong>Saalt</strong> to support their efforts. When COVID-19 hit Kenya<br />
in March of <strong>2020</strong>, like many other nations, schools closed and<br />
social interactions were limited or even restricted.<br />
“What it meant to our poor widows and orphans was easily<br />
sinking into isolation, hunger, and fear. Most of our guardians<br />
live in very modest, small dwellings on casual labor, entirely<br />
dependent on small cash wages to live on without savings of any<br />
kind, no bank accounts, nor government subsidies. Now, their<br />
opportunities to work were curtailed and fear on how to survive<br />
set in,” stated Marjaana Seilonen, founder of OWI.<br />
OWI quickly saw the need to pivot from a focus on providing<br />
funds to send area orphans to school to basic necessities: food,<br />
basic healthcare, masks, and handwashing capabilities. <strong>Saalt</strong> had<br />
the opportunity to help OWI address some of those immediate<br />
needs by sending funds early in the summer of <strong>2020</strong>. This<br />
funding was used to provide food kits for families supported by<br />
the OWI program.<br />
“People never forget how you<br />
made them feel; OWI children and<br />
guardians WILL NEVER forget the<br />
compassion you have shown to<br />
them and OWI at large.”<br />
— Naomi, Lead Social Worker<br />
24<br />
KENYA
Wiser International<br />
The Wiser Girl Secondary School takes a holistic approach to<br />
the boarding school environment by providing everything a girl<br />
needs to be successful including clothes, books, safe housing,<br />
menstrual cups provided by <strong>Saalt</strong>, pads, healthy food, mosquito<br />
nets, and essential medicine, as well as access to female role<br />
models, leadership training, and HIV education.<br />
Wiser International<br />
In March of <strong>2020</strong>, Wiser Girls Secondary School, along with<br />
all Kenyan schools, was forced to close its doors. In order to<br />
continue to care for its students, Wiser support staff under<br />
the leadership of Principal Dorcas, distributed relief packages<br />
containing food and sanitation items on a monthly basis. This<br />
distribution process was done with great care, making sure<br />
to follow all COVID-19 safety protocols. The distribution not<br />
only cared for the physical needs of the students, but it also<br />
gave Wiser an opportunity to offer psychosocial support to its<br />
students.<br />
After returning to in-person learning, <strong>Saalt</strong> funded a grant<br />
proposal that Wiser had submitted that invested in the ongoing<br />
holistic educational support of the students attending their<br />
program. This funding allowed Wiser to continue to provide<br />
medical care, mosquito nets, school supplies, clean water, and<br />
menstrual supplies for their students.<br />
26<br />
“It is because of the preparation,<br />
dedication, and holistic nature of<br />
WISER that we are able to respond<br />
to this crisis with truly effective girlfocused<br />
programs.”<br />
— Zack Fowler,<br />
Wiser Executive Director<br />
KENYA
Maji Safi Group<br />
<strong>Saalt</strong> partnered with Maji Safi late in 2019. When we learned<br />
of the incredible programs offered by the organization, we<br />
couldn’t be more excited to include our cups as an addition<br />
to the education and curriculum currently being offered. “Maji<br />
Safi” means “clean water” in Swahili. Maji Safi operates in the<br />
Mara Region of rural Tanzania where 99 percent of the water is<br />
contaminated. The Maji Safi Group works by training community<br />
health educators to teach their communities about safe drinking<br />
water, handwashing practices, and other WASH principles. By<br />
using song and dance, youth learn principles in memorable ways.<br />
To respond to the pandemic, Max Perel-Slater, Tanzania<br />
Executive Director and Co-Founder, shared that Maji Safi was<br />
able to implement a large-scale, three-pronged campaign across<br />
Tanzania and East Africa. First, they trained first responders and<br />
medical professionals. They also promoted community-based<br />
education through public service announcements, radio shows,<br />
a health hotline, and educational pamphlets. They also used<br />
their strong social media presence to provide widespread health<br />
education. Through these outlets, Maji Safi was able to continue<br />
their work around Menstrual Hygiene Management by sharing<br />
good hygienic practices around menstruating during a pandemic.<br />
“MSG was in a unique position to<br />
help battle COVID-19, as they have<br />
8 years of experience promoting<br />
disease prevention.”<br />
— Maji Safi Team<br />
30<br />
TANZANIA
Project Stree<br />
<strong>Saalt</strong> partnered with Project Stree in the fall of <strong>2020</strong> to help raise<br />
awareness for menstrual hygiene in India. <strong>Saalt</strong> Cups and reusable<br />
masks were sent to remote villages in Himmatnagar, Gujarat in<br />
the fall of <strong>2020</strong>. Workshops were held to provide education on<br />
the menstrual cycle and female health while also addressing<br />
some of the social stigmas and taboos surrounding periods.<br />
Project Stree also provides participants with eco-friendly sanitary<br />
products, including cups, at the end of the workshop.<br />
Normally they conduct workshops for girls in schools, but<br />
because of the pandemic, they’ve had to switch gears. At the<br />
start of the pandemic, they started holding socially-distanced<br />
workshops outside for menstruating people of all ages in villages<br />
that were particularly hard hit by the virus in India. However, once<br />
cases started to rise in the country, they limited the workshops<br />
and instead focused on staying in touch with the villages they<br />
had previously done work in to make sure they had all the<br />
menstrual resources they needed.<br />
“There are millions of women that,<br />
when empowered and given the right<br />
resources and opportunities, have the<br />
ability to generate economic and social<br />
independence for themselves and<br />
ultimately help resolve other issues in<br />
India regarding poverty, education, and<br />
even gender-based violence.”<br />
—Project Stree<br />
32<br />
INDIA
34<br />
Lahaie Luna<br />
Lezama Foundation<br />
In celebration of Giving Tuesday 2019, the <strong>Saalt</strong> team offered<br />
the opportunity to several of our long-term partners to submit<br />
a grant proposal for $10,000 toward an existing or upcoming<br />
project or program. The <strong>Impact</strong> team was blown away (but not<br />
surprised) by the high caliber of proposals received.<br />
“When we received <strong>Saalt</strong>’s Giving Tuesday grant last year, we<br />
were beyond excited to begin our work and immediately jumped<br />
into planning and executing our field project in Venezuela.<br />
When the news of the pandemic began circulating, we made the<br />
difficult but necessary decision to postpone the in-person aspect<br />
of our project. Nevertheless, these changes in circumstance<br />
forced us to find alternative methods of continuing our project<br />
and we decided to create an online survey to collect preliminary<br />
data. Moreover, once international travel is safe again, we will be<br />
able to go to these communities and donate <strong>Saalt</strong> Cups.<br />
All projects come with its set of challenges—some which we<br />
expected and some (such as a global pandemic!) which took<br />
us completely by surprise. Nevertheless, we were able to find a<br />
productive and safe way to continue our work with the help of<br />
the incredible team over at the Laboratorio de Reproducción<br />
Humana at the University of Carabobo. We are so grateful to<br />
<strong>Saalt</strong> for funding and believing in our research project, and<br />
although it may take longer than expected to complete we are<br />
determined to help Venezuelan women in need menstruate with<br />
dignity.”<br />
—Marianne and Véro Lahaie Luna,<br />
Founders of Lahaie Luna Lezama<br />
VENEZUELA
36<br />
<strong>2020</strong> SUPPORT & INITIATIVES
Donations to Firefighters<br />
Later in the fall, fires ravished the Pacific Northwest USA. Tens<br />
of thousands of people lost their businesses and were uprooted<br />
from their homes. At <strong>Saalt</strong>, these fires hit especially close to<br />
home as several members of our families fought the flames. On<br />
October 9th, <strong>Saalt</strong> donated 100% of website profits to the Pacific<br />
Northwest Relief & Recovery Fund to help displaced families in<br />
need of food, shelter, healthcare, and critical services.<br />
Nearly 40% of menstruating firefighters fear their periods will<br />
impact their job. Menstrual cups are more comfortable and stay<br />
put for 12 hours, making them an ideal option for emergency<br />
personnel. Through October, we offered all active menstruating<br />
firefighters a free <strong>Saalt</strong> Cup. This was our call to all menstruating<br />
firefighters who work tirelessly to contain the flames and keep<br />
our families and homes safe.<br />
Australian Bushfires<br />
At the beginning of this year, Australia’s bushfires took an<br />
unprecedented turn. They consumed over 15 million acres of land<br />
eliminating homes, ecosystems, livelihoods, and so much more.<br />
These events stirred the hearts of the world and countries across<br />
the globe rallied to support the Australian people. At our core,<br />
we believe in using our brand and platform to leave a positive<br />
mark on the world, and there are times when the world rallies<br />
together to pitch in where help is needed.<br />
On January 13th, <strong>Saalt</strong> responded by donating 100% of our<br />
website profits to the New South Wales Rural Fire Service to<br />
help their tireless efforts to mitigate the fires and alleviate those<br />
affected by them.<br />
38 39
Nepal<br />
Donations to<br />
Healthcare Workers<br />
To show support for healthcare workers who were thrown into<br />
the front lines of the COVID-19crisis, <strong>Saalt</strong> donated menstrual<br />
cups to any hospital staff in need of period care. This donation<br />
was part of the launch for the <strong>Saalt</strong> Soft Desert Blush cup. For<br />
every cup sold during the cup’s presale, one cup was donated.<br />
In addition to the hundreds of donations made to healthcare<br />
workers who reached out to <strong>Saalt</strong>, cups were also donated to the<br />
United Way of the Treasure Valley in Boise, ID.<br />
“We are so grateful for healthcare workers<br />
and all those who are on the front lines of<br />
fighting COVID-19. We wanted to donate<br />
our <strong>Saalt</strong> Cups in an effort to relieve them of<br />
any period-related worries while they work<br />
tirelessly to serve others.”<br />
—Cherie Hoeger, <strong>Saalt</strong> Co-Founder<br />
40
Black Lives Matter x <strong>Saalt</strong><br />
At <strong>Saalt</strong>, our mission is to empower and equip people to live their<br />
element and change lives. Core to that mission is the conviction<br />
that all people are intrinsically connected by the life-giving<br />
cycles of menstruation without partiality to race, faith, color, or<br />
nationality. That means whether we’re promoting menstrual or<br />
racial equity, we are committed to using our platform as a brand<br />
to amplify underserved voices and using our resources to fight<br />
social stigmas and injustice in all its forms.<br />
As a B Corp, our team is fundamentally driven to use our<br />
business as a force for good and support a diverse and inclusive<br />
economy. Anthea Kelsick, Co-CEO of B Lab U.S. & Canada said,<br />
“We cannot credibly build an inclusive economic system without<br />
addressing the fundamental injustice, inequity, and violence that<br />
disproportionately impacts Black people and other People of<br />
Color.” In order to truly change systemic racism and have equal<br />
representation, workplaces must take a leading role in pushing<br />
the conversation forward.<br />
Here’s where we decided to start.<br />
Using Our Dollars to Take a Stand<br />
To do more to support the Black community on our home soil,<br />
<strong>Saalt</strong> decided to match donations dollar for dollar up to $20,000<br />
to three Black-founded American organizations: Code2College,<br />
Loveland Foundation, and Color of Change. We invited our <strong>Saalt</strong><br />
community to stand, speak, and act with us to amplify those<br />
funds.<br />
Educating Our Team<br />
Employees at <strong>Saalt</strong> then took part in a workplace webinar called<br />
Whiteness At Work By Desiree Adaway, followed by an implicit<br />
bias training hosted that weeks later. <strong>Saalt</strong> staff incorporated<br />
key takeaways into our onboarding process for new employees<br />
to encourage open, honest conversations surrounding race that<br />
equip us to carry out our commitment to diversity.<br />
43
Sending Girls Back to School<br />
The back to school season looked very different in <strong>2020</strong>.<br />
Schools in the U.S. implemented remote learning and smaller<br />
class sizes to accommodate physical distancing, and schools<br />
around the world worked to pivot and find a new normal. But<br />
our commitment to support girls education, even amid times of<br />
extraordinary change and adjustment, remained the same.<br />
To continue our annual initiative to support girls going back to<br />
school this September, we worked with partners to donate 30<br />
scholarships and 900 cups to students around the world while<br />
mindfully supporting additional needs that arose during the<br />
pandemic. In Kenya, <strong>Saalt</strong> funding for annual scholarships also<br />
covered food staples alongside school supplies, and reusable<br />
masks were donated to partners with urgent need. Menstrual<br />
cups, now requested more than ever, were sent to partners with<br />
educational programs, including Wiser International and OWI in<br />
Kenya, Her International in Nepal, DROTY in Uganda, and USbased<br />
organization, Simply the Basics, a non-profit hygiene bank<br />
based out of San Francisco, CA.<br />
“By keeping students tethered<br />
to a curriculum, girls would be<br />
reminded on a daily basis that<br />
their education had not ended<br />
and that it is critical they keep<br />
their study skills and passion for<br />
school sharp, because they will be<br />
returning before long.”<br />
—Zach Fowler, WISER<br />
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Cleaning Up Coastlines<br />
in Hawaii<br />
Single-use period products are among the most common waste<br />
plastics found within our oceans and washed up on beaches.<br />
This year, <strong>Saalt</strong> partnered with Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii, a<br />
grassroots local nonprofit that aims to inspire local communities<br />
to care for coastlines through large-scale beach clean-ups. For<br />
every Seafoam Green <strong>Saalt</strong> Cup sold from September 19–24,<br />
<strong>2020</strong>, <strong>Saalt</strong> funded 10 pounds of waste removal resulting in 3,790<br />
pounds of coastline cleanups.<br />
“With this partnership,<br />
we are hoping to make a<br />
positive impact on the world<br />
by empowering those who<br />
menstruate to take a small step<br />
in turning off the tap on plastic<br />
pollution. We are always stoked<br />
to work with B-Corps that<br />
have the planet’s best interest<br />
etched into their bottom line.”<br />
—Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii<br />
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Teen Cups: by Teens for Teens<br />
As <strong>Saalt</strong> prepared to develop and introduce a Teen Cup to the<br />
market, we wanted local teens to be an integral part of the<br />
product innovation process. Enter One Stone High School, a<br />
private, student-directed, tuition-free school that believes that<br />
students can make a difference if empowered to follow their<br />
passions. Students who joined <strong>Saalt</strong>’s teen focus group provided<br />
feedback and user testing during the development of the new<br />
teen cup and took part in marketing and branding strategies. It<br />
was an incredible community-building experience for <strong>Saalt</strong> and<br />
the One Stone students who enjoyed learning about menstrual<br />
cups from design to completion.<br />
<strong>Saalt</strong> also wanted to work directly with a teen-founded and<br />
led nonprofit organization focused on providing menstrual<br />
supplies to students in need. Women in Training, Inc. (WIT) is a<br />
youth empowerment organization that advocates for menstrual<br />
equity, menstrual education, and engages girls and nonbinary<br />
youth in community service and social justice. WITKITS® is the<br />
organization’s signature program for supporting people in need.<br />
Teenage twins, Brooke and Breanna Bennett, have worked<br />
together from a young age to help alleviate period poverty in the<br />
community around them.<br />
“Having their voices heard and<br />
respected is such a valuable<br />
moment of ‘I matter’ in their lives,<br />
and we are so grateful for your<br />
partnership in helping them grow<br />
into their best selves.”<br />
— Mariel Zupsic, Assistant Chief of<br />
Staff & Can-Do Captain at OneStone<br />
53
Veteran’s Day Donation<br />
We talked to active duty and former service members about<br />
their periods, and many reported feeling like they had to hide<br />
their periods from male service members and did not feel<br />
comfortable asking their chain-of-command about anything<br />
relating to menstruation. Remote military bases are often poorly<br />
stocked with feminine hygiene products, or have none at all.<br />
Service members who menstruate either wear a disposable<br />
product for multiple days or face bleeding through their<br />
uniforms. Serving in the field is stressful enough. Nobody should<br />
have to worry about not having essential hygiene products.<br />
This Veteran’s Day, <strong>Saalt</strong> offered a free cup to any active duty<br />
service member who participated. A <strong>Saalt</strong> Cup can last through<br />
multiple tours and requires only minimal water for cleaning. <strong>Saalt</strong><br />
Cups are also small and lightweight, making it the perfect period<br />
product for active duty members on the go. We were happy to<br />
provide cups to military members to empower them to live their<br />
element as they grant us the freedom to live ours.<br />
Donating Reusable Masks<br />
Masks are everywhere, except where they’re needed most. <strong>Saalt</strong><br />
wanted to change that.<br />
As a B Corp, our mission is to empower and equip people to<br />
improve lives everywhere. When our impact partners shared with<br />
us stories of how the pandemic was affecting the people they<br />
served in marginalized communities, we felt we could do more to<br />
help. How? Use our supply chain to get high-quality masks into<br />
the hands of more people of those in need.<br />
Introducing <strong>Saalt</strong> Equality Masks.<br />
With every ethically-made mask purchased, we have donated<br />
a second mask to one of our partner organizations that serve<br />
marginalized communities around the world and here in the<br />
United States to offer needed protection to all members of our<br />
<strong>Saalt</strong> community. Masks will continue to be donated to Women<br />
in Training, I Support the Girls, FIMRC, Every Mother Counts, the<br />
Women and Children’s Alliance and Project Stree.<br />
56
Thank<br />
you.
www.saalt.com/impact<br />
@saaltco<br />
#passthesaalt