Businessman Into Total Philanthropy

Equal Exchange, a cooperative that buys mainly coffee, tea and cocoa from farmers around the world at "fair trade" prices and conditions, has received $70,000 from Untours. Untours bought preferred shares of the cooperative and gets paid a 5 percent annual dividend, which is put back into the foundation.

Equal Exchange buys crops of poor farmers, such as those growing coffee in the Piuran mountains of Peru, at prices above market rates, said Alistair Williamson, investment coordinator for Equal Exchange in West Bridgewater, Mass. The coffee is roasted and distributed by the co-op.

"Somewhere on the hillsides of Peru, families are inching their way out of desperate, desperate poverty," Williamson said.

He said the for-profit co-op's message reflects that of social-minded businesses like Untours: "You can make a buck, and you can be decent."