Saalt 2020 Impact Report

2020 Impact Report

Thank you.
2020 was an unprecedented year. From wildfires that swept across
Australia and our Pacific Northwest to a pandemic that affected daily
living across the globe, this year has taught us all resilience and the
ability to adjust to ever-changing circumstances. The Bill and Melinda
Gates Foundation reported that in just 25 weeks, progress in everything
from poverty alleviation to women’s equality had been “set back 25
years.” That regression hit hardest for our overseas partners who saw
the social and economic toll of the pandemic expose dramatic spikes
in domestic violence, teen pregnancy, and reductions in health services
for women and girls.
How do you move forward with optimism in the wake of challenging
current events? You keep to your mission to change lives for the better
and adapt. We started 2020 with plans to fund events and projects
around the globe and travel to support international partners. Those
plans quickly shifted to respond to the most urgent needs, from funding
wildfire containment and advocates for racial justice, to donating
period care to active duty military members and veterans, menstruating
firefighters, and health care providers working tirelessly to save homes
and lives. We donated over 12,000 menstrual cups to organizations in
34 countries, moved reproductive health classes online, and funded
over 11,000 days of school for girls in need. We used our supply chain
to create high-quality antibacterial masks for partners with urgent
hygiene needs who helped distribute them to marginalized populations
often at the highest risk because of the lack of economic resources for
both PPE and healthcare.
Each success was enabled and magnified by you, our Saalt community,
who reached out to help identify needs and support our efforts to help
underserved communities around the world.
Contents
2020 Impact Overview 5
Our Purpose 6
Our Method 7
Where We Work 8
Partners 10–31
Donation to Australia 34
Donations to Firefighters 35
Donations to Healthcare Workers 36
Black Lives Matter 38
Back to School 40
Sustainable Coastlines 38
Teen Cups: by Teens for Teens 42
Donations to Veterans 46
Reusable Mask Donation 47
Our deepest thanks,
Cherie Hoeger
CEO & Impact Director
Danielle Burden
Corporate Responsibility Manager
Cover photograh by Payton McGriff. Photography contributed by Julie
Gascon, Payton McGriff, DROTY, Jjumba Martin, Wiser, Mwangi A Kirubi.
Design contribution by Adelle Cron.

2018 Impact
2020 IMPACT OVERVIEW
12,394
Cups Donated
36,727
Periods Served
1,855,881
Waste Products Diverted
$103,020
Dollars Saved
3,740
Pounds of Cleanup Funded
11,340
Days of School Funded
5

Our Purpose
Our Method
We believe that people empowered and equipped to
live their element can change the world. As a certified
B Corp, we commit 2% of our revenue to donate
period care to regions with the most need, and help
fund initiatives in menstrual health, education and
empowerment, and sustainability.
Empower and equip. These are ambitious words to encapsulate
a holistic strategy to improve menstrual health on a greater level
than just donating products. We do this by training in-country
staff to ensure classes and mentoring are offered with every
product donation, and by hiring full-time educators, like Pressa in
rural Nepal, to teach about menstrual and reproductive health to
both those receiving our products and their communities.
MENSTRUAL
HEALTH
Everyone
should have the
right to a safe
and dignified
period. We
empower
individuals with
the knowledge
and long-term
solutions to
improve their
menstrual
health, which
increases
gender equality
and opens
conversations
that bring
awareness and
break down
social stigmas.
EDUCATION &
EMPOWERMENT
Access to
period care
keeps girls in
school, breaking
the cycle of
poverty for
generations.
We’re fueled
by the power
educated
women have to
lift their families
and invest
back into their
local economy,
bringing change
to entire
communities.
SUSTAINABILITY
Every consumer
who chooses
reusables saves
thousands
of single
use period
products from
our landfills
and oceans.
We provide
consumers with
sustainable
solutions to
decrease waste
through product
design that
is healthy for
both body and
planet, and by
funding direct
cleanup efforts.
“Empowerment starts with
educating people to know
their bodies and flow, and
that menstruation is not a
sign of illness, but of health
and vitality.”
—Cherie Hoeger, Saalt Co-founder
Equipping starts with donating products to address urgent
needs, then continuing to tackle barriers to improve the period
experience. In Uganda, for example, 88% of people lack access
to quality period care and 60% lack facilities to care for their
periods. That means when we heard of students in Uganda
emptying their cups in the tall grass because they lacked access
to private latrines, we worked with our partners to build three
new latrines for rural schools. Through our impact pillars, we
seek to use our funds in the most mindful way to create lasting
change.
6 7

Where We Work
ENGLAND
CANADA
USA
Period.org
Baby Steps
Every Mother Counts
ITALY
BANGLADESH
NICARAGUA
COSTA RICA
FIRMC
VENEZUELA
Lahaie Luna Lezama
Foundation
SIERRA
LEONE
TOGO
Style Her
Empowered
NIGERIA
CAMEROON
KENYA
Outreach to the World
WISER International
UGANDA
DROTY
FIRMC
INDIA
Project Stree
TANZANIA
Peace Corps
Maji Safi
NEPAL
Her International
CAMBODIA
ZAMBIA
African Education
Program
LESOTHO
AUSTRALIA
8

Style Her
Empowered
Since 2018, Saalt has supported SHE with menstrual cup
donations and scholarship funds for schoolgirls in the small
town of Notse, Togo. At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic,
SHE leaders knew they had a choice: play it safe and slide under
the radar, or show up in a big way for their community. With a
quick about-face, SHE seamstresses began sewing masks rather
than the adaptable uniforms that the organization is well known
for. After-school programs adjusted to become educational
support for students who were no longer attending daily classes,
and special emphasis was given to students who were still
expected to take the annual end-of-year national exams. Those
students were able to complete exams with a 97% pass rate.
SHE also expanded their school scholarships to include more
services to a greater number of students. In 2020, Saalt funded
a grant proposal from SHE to support those efforts, providing
scholarships, uniforms, and menstrual kits to schoolgirls in
adjacent regions around Notse.
In a year of incredible difficulty and growth, SHE was also able
to expand to a US-based program by contracting Boise local
seamstresses to make masks. Their goals included committing
to responsible, sustainable manufacturing, using resettlement
agencies to help refugee women find more reliable and uplifting
work, and helping homeless women and those displaced by
pandemic-related difficulties.
“I thought I was being hired as a
seamstress at S H E, but I realize
now that my job is as a full-time
civil servant.”
— S H E Seamstress
TOGO
11

Her International
Her International’s holistic approach to empower women and
girls through education starts by providing scholarships to
individual girls and then helping their mothers through safe
meeting spaces and mother’s groups where women have access
to educational programs, business and empowerment training,
and microfinance loans. This year, Saalt continued to partner
with Her to provide long-term menstrual care for students and
funded 20 scholarships as part of our Back to School September
campaign. Saalt also funded a grant proposal from Her that
would allow them to create an incredible curriculum of menstrual
education and women’s empowerment. This curriculum will be
used in both Nepal and Canada in women’s groups that meet
regularly.
From the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing
closures, Her international approached the challenges with
their characteristic ingenuity. “With schools closed, our onthe-ground
partner staff has practiced innovative solutions
to continue girls’ education. Since most families do not have
internet access, online schooling has not been an option. To
support the student’s individual learning at home, we hired
community teachers to meet with students in small, sociallydistanced
groups.
“As traditional modes of serving
have had to change in 2020, we
leaned heavily into these practices
and will continue to allow us to
weather any storm.”
— Her International Team
NEPAL
14

Dreams of the Tropical Youth
The beginning of 2020 felt hopeful as DROTY and Saalt
collaborated to organize a fun run in honor of International
Women’s Day.
Co-Director, Timothy Arnold, shared how DROTY has pivoted
with the COVID-19 crisis: “We have had to diversify our strategies
to meet the challenges exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Priorities have been rethought and quarterly year plans adjusted
to suit the constraints. Our organization has embarked on
transformation towards digital services for communication,
administration and outreach, and continuous engagement with
stakeholders. During the second and third quarters, we had
to stay home while keeping in close contact with the District
Probation office and Uganda Police Kyotera to keep up to date
with especially cases of sexual and gender-based violence
against girls and women.
On the other hand, while moving away from the traditional mode
of work, which was mainly physical engagements, we have been
leveraging on technology i.e internet, radio talk shows, and SMS
to provide community support and stay in contact with the
network of passionate individual well-wishers and development
partners who continuously uphold their commitment towards
our mission.”
“In response to the food insecurity during
this period, we successfully came up with a
Covid-19 Food Relief Program helping 200
poor families.”
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— Timothy Arnold,
Program Director at DROTY
UGANDA

FIMRC
As a menstrual care company, Saalt looks to nonprofits who are
addressing menstrual health needs in underserved communities
around the world. Through FIMRC, Saalt has been able to expand
our donation reach to populations in Africa and Central America.
In a typical year, FIMRC project sites are staffed and funded by
volunteers. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, FIMRC
has adjusted by offering virtual programs that allow volunteers
to contribute to FIMRC’s operations through a remote project.
With onsite staff, local community members still have access to
needed care at a time when healthcare is limited. It is through
these staff that Saalt is continuing to donate menstrual cups, and
now reusable masks, to the participants in FIMRC’s local health
programs.
FIMRC operates in 8 different countries at a total of 10 sites
around the world. Each project site is specifically designed to
care for the needs of each local community. FIMRC sites offer
health programs, education programs, maternity support,
clinical outreach, and more. As our partnership continues
to grow, Saalt looks forward to supporting more of these
programs that beautifully align with our common goals.
“2020 was a year full of unique and
unexpected circumstances...and with
that obstacle came a time to search
for new opportunities.”
— FIMRC Team
COSTA RICA & UGANDA
22

Outreach to the World
Outreach to the World has been a staple in the rural community
of Kiminini, Kenya since 2004. Their work supporting the health
and education of the women and girls in their community is what
drew Saalt to support their efforts. When COVID-19 hit Kenya
in March of 2020, like many other nations, schools closed and
social interactions were limited or even restricted.
“What it meant to our poor widows and orphans was easily
sinking into isolation, hunger, and fear. Most of our guardians
live in very modest, small dwellings on casual labor, entirely
dependent on small cash wages to live on without savings of any
kind, no bank accounts, nor government subsidies. Now, their
opportunities to work were curtailed and fear on how to survive
set in,” stated Marjaana Seilonen, founder of OWI.
OWI quickly saw the need to pivot from a focus on providing
funds to send area orphans to school to basic necessities: food,
basic healthcare, masks, and handwashing capabilities. Saalt had
the opportunity to help OWI address some of those immediate
needs by sending funds early in the summer of 2020. This
funding was used to provide food kits for families supported by
the OWI program.
“People never forget how you
made them feel; OWI children and
guardians WILL NEVER forget the
compassion you have shown to
them and OWI at large.”
— Naomi, Lead Social Worker
24
KENYA

Wiser International
The Wiser Girl Secondary School takes a holistic approach to
the boarding school environment by providing everything a girl
needs to be successful including clothes, books, safe housing,
menstrual cups provided by Saalt, pads, healthy food, mosquito
nets, and essential medicine, as well as access to female role
models, leadership training, and HIV education.
Wiser International
In March of 2020, Wiser Girls Secondary School, along with
all Kenyan schools, was forced to close its doors. In order to
continue to care for its students, Wiser support staff under
the leadership of Principal Dorcas, distributed relief packages
containing food and sanitation items on a monthly basis. This
distribution process was done with great care, making sure
to follow all COVID-19 safety protocols. The distribution not
only cared for the physical needs of the students, but it also
gave Wiser an opportunity to offer psychosocial support to its
students.
After returning to in-person learning, Saalt funded a grant
proposal that Wiser had submitted that invested in the ongoing
holistic educational support of the students attending their
program. This funding allowed Wiser to continue to provide
medical care, mosquito nets, school supplies, clean water, and
menstrual supplies for their students.
26
“It is because of the preparation,
dedication, and holistic nature of
WISER that we are able to respond
to this crisis with truly effective girlfocused
programs.”
— Zack Fowler,
Wiser Executive Director
KENYA

Maji Safi Group
Saalt partnered with Maji Safi late in 2019. When we learned
of the incredible programs offered by the organization, we
couldn’t be more excited to include our cups as an addition
to the education and curriculum currently being offered. “Maji
Safi” means “clean water” in Swahili. Maji Safi operates in the
Mara Region of rural Tanzania where 99 percent of the water is
contaminated. The Maji Safi Group works by training community
health educators to teach their communities about safe drinking
water, handwashing practices, and other WASH principles. By
using song and dance, youth learn principles in memorable ways.
To respond to the pandemic, Max Perel-Slater, Tanzania
Executive Director and Co-Founder, shared that Maji Safi was
able to implement a large-scale, three-pronged campaign across
Tanzania and East Africa. First, they trained first responders and
medical professionals. They also promoted community-based
education through public service announcements, radio shows,
a health hotline, and educational pamphlets. They also used
their strong social media presence to provide widespread health
education. Through these outlets, Maji Safi was able to continue
their work around Menstrual Hygiene Management by sharing
good hygienic practices around menstruating during a pandemic.
“MSG was in a unique position to
help battle COVID-19, as they have
8 years of experience promoting
disease prevention.”
— Maji Safi Team
30
TANZANIA

Project Stree
Saalt partnered with Project Stree in the fall of 2020 to help raise
awareness for menstrual hygiene in India. Saalt Cups and reusable
masks were sent to remote villages in Himmatnagar, Gujarat in
the fall of 2020. Workshops were held to provide education on
the menstrual cycle and female health while also addressing
some of the social stigmas and taboos surrounding periods.
Project Stree also provides participants with eco-friendly sanitary
products, including cups, at the end of the workshop.
Normally they conduct workshops for girls in schools, but
because of the pandemic, they’ve had to switch gears. At the
start of the pandemic, they started holding socially-distanced
workshops outside for menstruating people of all ages in villages
that were particularly hard hit by the virus in India. However, once
cases started to rise in the country, they limited the workshops
and instead focused on staying in touch with the villages they
had previously done work in to make sure they had all the
menstrual resources they needed.
“There are millions of women that,
when empowered and given the right
resources and opportunities, have the
ability to generate economic and social
independence for themselves and
ultimately help resolve other issues in
India regarding poverty, education, and
even gender-based violence.”
—Project Stree
32
INDIA

34
Lahaie Luna
Lezama Foundation
In celebration of Giving Tuesday 2019, the Saalt team offered
the opportunity to several of our long-term partners to submit
a grant proposal for $10,000 toward an existing or upcoming
project or program. The Impact team was blown away (but not
surprised) by the high caliber of proposals received.
“When we received Saalt’s Giving Tuesday grant last year, we
were beyond excited to begin our work and immediately jumped
into planning and executing our field project in Venezuela.
When the news of the pandemic began circulating, we made the
difficult but necessary decision to postpone the in-person aspect
of our project. Nevertheless, these changes in circumstance
forced us to find alternative methods of continuing our project
and we decided to create an online survey to collect preliminary
data. Moreover, once international travel is safe again, we will be
able to go to these communities and donate Saalt Cups.
All projects come with its set of challenges—some which we
expected and some (such as a global pandemic!) which took
us completely by surprise. Nevertheless, we were able to find a
productive and safe way to continue our work with the help of
the incredible team over at the Laboratorio de Reproducción
Humana at the University of Carabobo. We are so grateful to
Saalt for funding and believing in our research project, and
although it may take longer than expected to complete we are
determined to help Venezuelan women in need menstruate with
dignity.”
—Marianne and Véro Lahaie Luna,
Founders of Lahaie Luna Lezama
VENEZUELA

36
2020 SUPPORT & INITIATIVES

Donations to Firefighters
Later in the fall, fires ravished the Pacific Northwest USA. Tens
of thousands of people lost their businesses and were uprooted
from their homes. At Saalt, these fires hit especially close to
home as several members of our families fought the flames. On
October 9th, Saalt donated 100% of website profits to the Pacific
Northwest Relief & Recovery Fund to help displaced families in
need of food, shelter, healthcare, and critical services.
Nearly 40% of menstruating firefighters fear their periods will
impact their job. Menstrual cups are more comfortable and stay
put for 12 hours, making them an ideal option for emergency
personnel. Through October, we offered all active menstruating
firefighters a free Saalt Cup. This was our call to all menstruating
firefighters who work tirelessly to contain the flames and keep
our families and homes safe.
Australian Bushfires
At the beginning of this year, Australia’s bushfires took an
unprecedented turn. They consumed over 15 million acres of land
eliminating homes, ecosystems, livelihoods, and so much more.
These events stirred the hearts of the world and countries across
the globe rallied to support the Australian people. At our core,
we believe in using our brand and platform to leave a positive
mark on the world, and there are times when the world rallies
together to pitch in where help is needed.
On January 13th, Saalt responded by donating 100% of our
website profits to the New South Wales Rural Fire Service to
help their tireless efforts to mitigate the fires and alleviate those
affected by them.
38 39

Nepal
Donations to
Healthcare Workers
To show support for healthcare workers who were thrown into
the front lines of the COVID-19crisis, Saalt donated menstrual
cups to any hospital staff in need of period care. This donation
was part of the launch for the Saalt Soft Desert Blush cup. For
every cup sold during the cup’s presale, one cup was donated.
In addition to the hundreds of donations made to healthcare
workers who reached out to Saalt, cups were also donated to the
United Way of the Treasure Valley in Boise, ID.
“We are so grateful for healthcare workers
and all those who are on the front lines of
fighting COVID-19. We wanted to donate
our Saalt Cups in an effort to relieve them of
any period-related worries while they work
tirelessly to serve others.”
—Cherie Hoeger, Saalt Co-Founder
40

Black Lives Matter x Saalt
At Saalt, our mission is to empower and equip people to live their
element and change lives. Core to that mission is the conviction
that all people are intrinsically connected by the life-giving
cycles of menstruation without partiality to race, faith, color, or
nationality. That means whether we’re promoting menstrual or
racial equity, we are committed to using our platform as a brand
to amplify underserved voices and using our resources to fight
social stigmas and injustice in all its forms.
As a B Corp, our team is fundamentally driven to use our
business as a force for good and support a diverse and inclusive
economy. Anthea Kelsick, Co-CEO of B Lab U.S. & Canada said,
“We cannot credibly build an inclusive economic system without
addressing the fundamental injustice, inequity, and violence that
disproportionately impacts Black people and other People of
Color.” In order to truly change systemic racism and have equal
representation, workplaces must take a leading role in pushing
the conversation forward.
Here’s where we decided to start.
Using Our Dollars to Take a Stand
To do more to support the Black community on our home soil,
Saalt decided to match donations dollar for dollar up to $20,000
to three Black-founded American organizations: Code2College,
Loveland Foundation, and Color of Change. We invited our Saalt
community to stand, speak, and act with us to amplify those
funds.
Educating Our Team
Employees at Saalt then took part in a workplace webinar called
Whiteness At Work By Desiree Adaway, followed by an implicit
bias training hosted that weeks later. Saalt staff incorporated
key takeaways into our onboarding process for new employees
to encourage open, honest conversations surrounding race that
equip us to carry out our commitment to diversity.
43

Sending Girls Back to School
The back to school season looked very different in 2020.
Schools in the U.S. implemented remote learning and smaller
class sizes to accommodate physical distancing, and schools
around the world worked to pivot and find a new normal. But
our commitment to support girls education, even amid times of
extraordinary change and adjustment, remained the same.
To continue our annual initiative to support girls going back to
school this September, we worked with partners to donate 30
scholarships and 900 cups to students around the world while
mindfully supporting additional needs that arose during the
pandemic. In Kenya, Saalt funding for annual scholarships also
covered food staples alongside school supplies, and reusable
masks were donated to partners with urgent need. Menstrual
cups, now requested more than ever, were sent to partners with
educational programs, including Wiser International and OWI in
Kenya, Her International in Nepal, DROTY in Uganda, and USbased
organization, Simply the Basics, a non-profit hygiene bank
based out of San Francisco, CA.
“By keeping students tethered
to a curriculum, girls would be
reminded on a daily basis that
their education had not ended
and that it is critical they keep
their study skills and passion for
school sharp, because they will be
returning before long.”
—Zach Fowler, WISER
46

Cleaning Up Coastlines
in Hawaii
Single-use period products are among the most common waste
plastics found within our oceans and washed up on beaches.
This year, Saalt partnered with Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii, a
grassroots local nonprofit that aims to inspire local communities
to care for coastlines through large-scale beach clean-ups. For
every Seafoam Green Saalt Cup sold from September 19–24,
2020, Saalt funded 10 pounds of waste removal resulting in 3,790
pounds of coastline cleanups.
“With this partnership,
we are hoping to make a
positive impact on the world
by empowering those who
menstruate to take a small step
in turning off the tap on plastic
pollution. We are always stoked
to work with B-Corps that
have the planet’s best interest
etched into their bottom line.”
—Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii
48

Teen Cups: by Teens for Teens
As Saalt prepared to develop and introduce a Teen Cup to the
market, we wanted local teens to be an integral part of the
product innovation process. Enter One Stone High School, a
private, student-directed, tuition-free school that believes that
students can make a difference if empowered to follow their
passions. Students who joined Saalt’s teen focus group provided
feedback and user testing during the development of the new
teen cup and took part in marketing and branding strategies. It
was an incredible community-building experience for Saalt and
the One Stone students who enjoyed learning about menstrual
cups from design to completion.
Saalt also wanted to work directly with a teen-founded and
led nonprofit organization focused on providing menstrual
supplies to students in need. Women in Training, Inc. (WIT) is a
youth empowerment organization that advocates for menstrual
equity, menstrual education, and engages girls and nonbinary
youth in community service and social justice. WITKITS® is the
organization’s signature program for supporting people in need.
Teenage twins, Brooke and Breanna Bennett, have worked
together from a young age to help alleviate period poverty in the
community around them.
“Having their voices heard and
respected is such a valuable
moment of ‘I matter’ in their lives,
and we are so grateful for your
partnership in helping them grow
into their best selves.”
— Mariel Zupsic, Assistant Chief of
Staff & Can-Do Captain at OneStone
53

Veteran’s Day Donation
We talked to active duty and former service members about
their periods, and many reported feeling like they had to hide
their periods from male service members and did not feel
comfortable asking their chain-of-command about anything
relating to menstruation. Remote military bases are often poorly
stocked with feminine hygiene products, or have none at all.
Service members who menstruate either wear a disposable
product for multiple days or face bleeding through their
uniforms. Serving in the field is stressful enough. Nobody should
have to worry about not having essential hygiene products.
This Veteran’s Day, Saalt offered a free cup to any active duty
service member who participated. A Saalt Cup can last through
multiple tours and requires only minimal water for cleaning. Saalt
Cups are also small and lightweight, making it the perfect period
product for active duty members on the go. We were happy to
provide cups to military members to empower them to live their
element as they grant us the freedom to live ours.
Donating Reusable Masks
Masks are everywhere, except where they’re needed most. Saalt
wanted to change that.
As a B Corp, our mission is to empower and equip people to
improve lives everywhere. When our impact partners shared with
us stories of how the pandemic was affecting the people they
served in marginalized communities, we felt we could do more to
help. How? Use our supply chain to get high-quality masks into
the hands of more people of those in need.
Introducing Saalt Equality Masks.
With every ethically-made mask purchased, we have donated
a second mask to one of our partner organizations that serve
marginalized communities around the world and here in the
United States to offer needed protection to all members of our
Saalt community. Masks will continue to be donated to Women
in Training, I Support the Girls, FIMRC, Every Mother Counts, the
Women and Children’s Alliance and Project Stree.
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Thank
you.

www.saalt.com/impact
@saaltco
#passthesaalt