Whole Foods Market Team Member Volunteer Program

While we’re not volunteering around the globe, please join the WPF Ambassador Program for Team Members and learn how you can get involved!

Become a Whole Planet Foundation Ambassador

Expand your understanding of Whole Planet Foundation’s poverty alleviation programs and ways you can support this Whole Foods Market higher purpose.

The Whole Planet Foundation Ambassador Program is a voluntary Team Member training opportunity that can support all of us in bringing Whole Foods Market Leadership Principles to life: Purpose Driven, Learn and Grow, and Empower our People while fulfilling Whole Foods Market’s higher purpose of Nourishing People and the Planet.

Steps to become a Whole Planet Foundation Ambassador:

Secure Team Leader approval for you to enroll in the on-the-clock Cornerstone training by having your Team Leader complete this form.
Complete the one-hour Cornerstone training. Instructions for accessing the training in Cornerstone will be sent via email after your Team Leader submits the approval form.
You can work on it a section at a time and save it to complete later.
Learn additional ways to get involved with Whole Planet Foundation and build awareness among your fellow Team Members!

About the Team Member Volunteer Program

The success of Whole Planet Foundation to alleviate global poverty is due in large part to Whole Foods Market Team Member involvement. In the spirit of sharing the Foundation in a deeper way, the Whole Foods Market Team Member Volunteer Program was launched in 2007, providing in-country experiences to over 850 WFM Team Members where they:

learned about the products suppliers source for sale in WFM stores
experienced the culture and history of another community
learned about the work of Whole Planet Foundation and experienced the transformative power of microcredit, meeting microfinance staff and clients whose loans are funded by WPF
provided community service in, with and for the community
and returned to share their experiences with their fellow Team Members and WFM shoppers

Whole Foods Market created the Team Member Volunteer Program to give Team Members the opportunity to witness the transformative power of microcredit in person and provide community service. The in-person program was postponed in 2020 due to COVID-19. We offered a virtual program in 2021. Starting June 2022, Whole Foods Market Team Members can become a Whole Planet Foundation Ambassador! Email Haley.Calzadilla@wholefoods.com to learn how you can expand your understanding of Whole Planet Foundation’s poverty alleviation programs and ways you can support this Whole Foods Market higher purpose.

Stay in Touch with WPF

Sign up for our WPF newsletter to learn more and to deepen your understanding of the work that Whole Planet Foundation is funding.

Team Members like Haley Calzadilla, pictured above, have met microloan recipients through the Whole Foods Market Team Member Volunteer Program. Join us online to watch videos and read client stories to learn more about Whole Planet Foundation microlending partners and loan recipients.

Videos from Previous Team Member Volunteer Programs

Watch: Maile's Trip to India

Video Credit: Angus Cann/Whole Foods Market

Nichele's Experience

“We visited rural farming microcredit clients. One of the most amazing stories was a group of farmers who met each other through the microcredit program. Though they'd lived in the same community and worked near each other for many years, they had never helped each other before. Now that they are part of the same group of microcredit clients, they support each other -- from providing advice, to even pitching in with farming tasks. I thought this was an amazing example of how microcredit can not only empower individuals and families, but also can create and foster community."

Meghan's Experience

"I learned so much about Alaffia and how as a company, they give back in so many ways to the people of Togo. It was amazing to be able to see the vibrant, beautiful women who put their hearts into making the shea butter products. Alaffia sources fair trade certified shea nuts and also is a Fair for Life fair trade certified company, which ensures their employees are paid a fair living wage. It is Alaffia's mission to give back to their community, and they do that and more with the Alaffia Foundation. I am in awe of all the amazing ways that Alaffia gives back to those in Togo and I am so grateful to have witnessed it firsthand."

This could be YOU!

Whole Foods Market Team Member Volunteer Program

Team Members almost finished with their dig of a taanka, or water tank, on a TMVP trip to India.

Volunteer Stories

Whole Foods Market Team Member Virtual Volunteer Program Impact in 2021

Whole Foods Market contributed $6,000 to community service projects in 6 countries funding access to clean water (India and Kenya), hygiene kits (Haiti), community health (Ghana/Togo) and income generating projects (Costa Rica) and raising awareness by providing access to documentaries (Guatemala).

Whole Foods Market Team Members chose from the community service activities listed below or worked with a local organization of their choice to provide 2 hours of voluntary, unpaid community service as part of the volunteer program.

• Support farms in Costa Rica from the Agroecotourism Association of La Argentina de Pocora. Help design a website for the association, craft language flash cards, create travel FAQs, write social media post templates, and design banners for each farm.

• Support the Alaffia Foundation in Ghana/Togo and their empowerment projects: school construction, school supplies, maternal care, or eyeglasses.

• Support rural communities in Guatemala by sharing the Living on One Dollar film with their friends and family, inviting them to learn, share and take action in the Living on One Dollar’s fundraiser on Classy.

• Support communities in Haiti by raising awareness about the work in Haiti of Fonkoze and Hope for Haiti and providing 1000 hygiene kits to school children in Haiti for Global Handwashing Day.

• Support women in Rajasthan in India by sharing the work of WomenServe, becoming ambassadors, supporting The Day of the Girl Fundraiser and promoting the purchase of handmade items from https://shopwomenserve.com.

• Support access to clean water in Kenya by sharing the work of Well Aware, promoting their Holiday Gala and joining the Village to become a part of the Well Aware family.

2019 Impact Reports

Over 850 Whole Foods Market Team Members have volunteered in Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ghana, Guatemala, India, Kenya, Madagascar, Morocco, Nepal, Paraguay, Peru, South Africa, Thailand, Togo, and the United States since 2007!