Are you a sustainable student group, community organization, ethical influencer, or green business leader? Then we want to offer to partner with you.
In this article, we're sharing the various ways that you can partner with us in the short and the long term. As a fair trade store, Lucia's is dedicated to forming a united ethical and sustainable community in Kentucky and beyond, as we believe that the only way to make lasting change is to grow together. Here is a link to our media kit to learn more about who we are. Our goal is that by coming together for mutually beneficial events and campaigns, we can develop lasting relationships that strengthen our community and make the sustainable voice heard in Kentucky.
For Student and Community Groups
There are three main ways that we partner with student and community groups. The first and most common partnership option is to host shop days and an exclusive shop night with our store. In this partnership, we donate a percentage of all sales to the community organization for the duration of the shop days. We will work together to create cross-branded marketing materials and a social media event campaign for these days. We also host an exclusive shop event in the store for organization members after hours. Members will receive discounts on products, fair trade snacks and drinks, and the option to receive a talk with information about how fair trade impacts local and global communities and aligns with your organization's goals.
The second partnership option is event sponsorship. Lucia's is always eager to come alongside a sustainability or human rights focused cause to donate money or supplies that are needed. Previous partnerships have included silent auction baskets, small items for event attendee gift bags, and informational materials for educational events.
The third primary partnership that we offer is personalized gifts for organization events. If you are having a holiday party or are giving out end of term gifts, we are here to help you ensure that they align with your mission. Lucia's is proud to offer items that impact issues as diverse as climate change, domestic abuse, labor rights, gender and racial inequality, and many more.
Our goal in partnering with local organizations is that we can use our resources to help you meet your goals. These options are always flexible, and this list is not exhaustive. Please let us know if there are any ways that we can help you make change.
For Influencers
We offer many ways for social media influencers to partner with us as a short or long-term Lucia's fair trade advocate. These partnership options are diverse and flexible, so that you can offer your followers engaging and relevant content.
First up, giveaways and UGC product reviews! Our most common partnership is a giveaway and product review on Instagram and Facebook. We will give you a new product to test or have you shop and choose your favorite products in the store. If you love the items, we will then set up a social media giveaway of those same products for your followers and ask that you post and share stories about your experience with Lucia's and the items you've received. Past partners include @lexfoodguide and @kentuckygirlramblings, as well as many others. These are always great ways to grow closer to engaged members of our community and reach out to other people nearby who share our mission of equality and sustainability in all aspects of life.
Second, ambassador partnerships. This is a new partnership option, and a new Facebook and Instagram feature. We hope for these to generally be longer-term partnerships whereby we give you access to our entire product catalog and develop co-branded marketing materials for you to sell our products through your own account, generally on commission. You have the flexibility to choose which items fit your own social media schedule best, while also promoting fair trade items that align with your values. We request access to your photography and graphic content to share with our audience as well.
Finally, we offer unique partnerships to gift box subscription accounts. For these accounts, we offer wholesale or discount pricing for a vast majority of our catalog. We also will cross-promote any boxes that contain Lucia's merchandise. In a long-term partnership, special wholesale perks such as Net60 terms and exclusive wholesale promotions will also be available.
For Businesses
Last, but certainly not least, are our partnership options for other local businesses. Our most common partnership happens to be our wholesale business! Lucia's directly sources many of our products from artisan partners in Guatemala. Our owner, Teresa Hendricks, lived in Guatemala alongside these artisans for 18 years, and we are still in daily contact with these artisans as both business associates and friends. All of our designs are made in close collaboration with our artisan partners in Guatemala. This ensures that traditional methods of manufacturing and artisan cooperative autonomy are safeguarded.
Our second partnership option is cross-marketing campaign collaborations. These promotions may look like a joint giveaway or a cross-promoted product release. We especially love to engage in these partnerships as we feel they strengthen the bonds between small businesses. By working together, we can often double both of our audiences at key moments in the sales cycle, while sharing the work load. This helps both businesses to scale effectively and engage active, relevant audiences that contribute to building strong community ties.
Finally, we are always happy to help local businesses find ethical and sustainable corporate gifts for any occasion. Holidays, birthdays, first and last days of work. These are all moments to be celebrated, but it is often difficult to find affordable and unique gifts that reflect your company values. We can help you find the right item, including special orders, and we can often offer a discount for bulk orders.
Get in Touch
How can you get in touch with us about developing a partnership? Just shoot us an email here telling us who you are and what you're most interested in. We've been known to be very quick to reply :)
And if you know anyone who you think would be a good partner, please spread the word!
