I wanted to take a minute to talk about an organization that is in its infancy. The Green Gem Foundation was started earlier this year by Jeff Hunt to promote the ethical mining of gemstones. The concept for the organization is below.
“The Green Gem Foundation is a new non-profit organization established to promote the development of ethical gemstones. Green Gem promotes community and economic development in gem producing regions with the primary goal of keeping as much wealth as possible in the source country. The communities are built by establishing direct connections between the purchaser and retailer to the miner and gem brokers in the country of origin. Green Gem Foundation does not directly carry or promote gems or gem rough that have been processed in intermediate countries. This represents an actual break from traditional supply lines.
In our rapidly shrinking world and developing global economies, and especially with the advent of social media, personal connections enhance the romance the stone. Each stone has a story, a tale to tell, and that story – the romance is the direct connection to social responsibility. It is important to be able to tell that story. A gem without a story, well, it’s just a gemstone.
The commercial outsourcing of gems to cutting houses in China, Thailand, and Sri Lanka is the industry standard. These lower cost gems, with increasing quality of cut and design permit sorely needed profit, to the jewelry industry in the US. This industry standard will be slow to change, but as our world shrinks, and more consumers insist on ethically sourced gems, Green Gem Foundation will help to provide that link and alternative to this rapidly growing segment of the consumer market.
Our current focus: We are a non-profit, soon to be tax-deductible organization. 85% of all donations support projects on the ground in gem producing countries. Only 15% goes towards overhead. We are already funding two women’s groups in Tanzania and a fresh water well project through MSABI. We will soon be funding a cutting school in Madagascar. To prove success, it is important to focus on specific projects. We are currently concentrating on Kenya and Tanzania. Gemstone market education and supporting local industry wherever we can is the main goal – and where possible always keeping the cash in country.
There are several levels of funding support for jewelry stores, jewelry designers, gemstone faceters, miners and rough dealers – plus the general public. Jewelry stores, for example, we provide in-store display materials, arrange for promotional presentations, and may provide showcase gemstones for short periods of time. The support donations go directly to one of the projects we are funding and the store can then sell their own inventory – while being able to show first hand the direct support of specific grass roots projects in gem producing countries. The store will be featured with a page on our Green Gem website, if desired. This frees up the store inventory while doing a whole lot of good in the process. Gorgeous photos by Jeffrey Hunt will also be available for in-store display or promotion – or online too. Our hope is to identify miners, faceters, and brokers at point of sale when the Green Gem stones are sold. It tells the story and completely answers questions customers may have who are concerned about ethical practices – and what the store is doing about it. The specific projects may even be targeted.
We currently have 30-40 gems that are branded specifically as Green Gem Stones, that number will grow slowly. All the stones have been directly sourced byJeffrey Hunt or by prior arrangement with a known ethical miner – Doug Menadue of Australia for instance. All these gems have been faceted by donation. 100% of the eventual sale will go to the foundation. They are quite valuable as show case pieces right now though, and although for sale we are not currently concentrating on that aspect. The donation of faceting time from faceters has been humbling.
What will Green Gem look like on the ground in Africa? We hope the Foundation will become a readily approachable organization where a miner, or broker can be provided the best option to sell stones – or at least an important additional option. Many times the miners have only one choice – export to China or Thailand at low sale costs. Stepping back and looking at the whole project it’s easy to see that what we are really doing is building community. Highlighting that direct connection between the buyer and the source will strengthen and expand this community – simply by insisting to tell the story.
Jeffrey Hunt
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