Brittany Selected as 2021 Community First Honoree
Every year Cleveland State Community College presents the Community First Awards to honor individuals from the region for the ways that they have supported and served the local community. This year, our very own Brittany Katz was selected as an Honoree in Philanthropy!
If you have been around Cleveland for a while, Terra owner Brittany Katz is no stranger to you. A board member of MainStreet Cleveland, the Chamber of Commerce, and currently the “Sargent in Arms” for Cleveland’s Rotary Club, Brittany has been an active member of the Cleveland community since she moved here in 2016. Though she has been creatively using Terra and her other venture Cleveland Coffee & Market, to support the community from the very beginning, after the difficulties of this past year, she wanted to give back in a more direct way. Out of this desire, Brittany, along with friend and owner of Carroll Printing Andrea Boddeker, started what they call “The Small Biz Give.” Each month a portion of proceeds and physical goods from their businesses — Terra Running Company, Cleveland Coffee & Market, and Carroll Printing — are donated to a local non-profit. Already this year, thousands of dollars have been donated locally through The Small Biz Give.
“2020 was the most uncertain year we have ever had. Small businesses rely heavily on the local community and we wanted to support the people who have supported us. The Small Biz Give is another way to include customers in supporting their community as well as helping them understand the difference between us and a big box store… when you buy local you support friends and neighbors, you provide local jobs.”
Beyond The Small Biz Give, Brittany and her crew at Terra Running and Cleveland Coffee & Market have been finding ways to rally around the community since the beginning of 2020’s troubles.
“We started by fundraising with the I Believe in Cleveland shirts to benefit those affected by the tornado last April. We also collected donations from customers to help bring hundreds of coffees to healthcare workers at Tennova. We help local artisans sell their goods [through Cleveland Coffee & Market] and, of course, we always use as many local businesses as possible for all of our own business needs; if we are going to spend money we are going to spend it here.”
Though the Community First Awards happen every year, for 2021, the selection committee focused specifically on individuals who put the community first despite the pandemic and all of its challenges. With this in mind, Brittany was selected by the committee as an Honoree in Philanthropy for how she has served the community with generosity and grit even in the face of her own businesses' challenges. In the words of the committee, “Everything she does puts the community first.”
Congratulations Brittany and a big THANK YOU for all the ways that you serve our community!
Small Business, Big Community Impact
By Sarah Stephens, Director of Communication and Marketing at the Cleveland Bradley Chamber of Commerce
There is no denying that small businesses and nonprofits were dealt a difficult hand in 2020. Many across the nation are still fighting to save their organizations as states begin to lift restrictions. And our local small business community was not immune to these same difficulties. Even in the midst of these business challenges, two local small business leaders have kept their focus on giving back to the community and have launched a new program specifically to support local nonprofits. It’s called the Small Biz Give and it was created by Brittany Katz of Cleveland Coffee & Market, and Andrea Boddeker of Carroll Printing Company. We were intrigued by this new partnership between two of our Chamber members so we sat down with both women to learn more about this program and how it works.
Chamber: First, tell us a little more about this program.
Brittany: Each month we will be donating a portion of proceeds from each of our businesses to a nonprofit that is here in Cleveland. We wanted a way to get the community involved in the giving that we do with our businesses every month anyway, to put some structure around it so we could share all the great things the nonprofits in our community are doing and how we as small businesses can help them.
Chamber: What brought this about? Can you tell us more about why you decided to do this?
Andrea: Brittany and I work together a lot. We were talking one day about things happening in our community and how we want to be involved and it sort of developed itself. We were talking about how we both support nonprofits and various
different entities throughout the community, but we don’t really tell that story well. We wanted to put some legs to that…and not just continue giving ourselves but involve people in the community and engage them in that giving. We thought this might be an interesting way to help show creative ways we support our community and give people a little bit different opportunity to join us.
Chamber: How do each of your businesses participate in the Small Biz Give?
Brittany: Cleveland Coffee & Market is giving all our proceeds on Tuesdays to that month’s Small Biz Give recipient. Every Tuesday is Giving Tuesday. And each Tuesday we hope the community can get involved by supporting our small business and in turn they know we'll be supporting that month's nonprofit.
Andrea: Carroll Printing Company is giving a portion of all our sales/proceeds to the Small Biz Give which then donates into that nonprofit organization of the month. We decided to do it that way because most of our customers will come to us one day and place an order and pay when they pick up or pay through a PO system, so it wasn't exactly the same; we couldn't really identify a day that we could do it, so we're giving a portion of all our sales, whether it's apparel, screen printing, paper printing or even promotional items.
The first organization to receive funds from the Small Biz Give was Free 2 Fly, a nonprofit that supports, nurtures and
empowers women who have recently completed rehabilitation programs. The Chamber team followed along as Brittany and Andrea, armed with a check and ringing cowbells, presented the February Small Biz Give donation to the organization's president, Haley Johnston.
Andrea: We are super excited about the number of people who came and shared with us that they wanted to help support Free 2 Fly. We are excited that we have had a longstanding relationship with Project Free 2 Fly and we were thrilled to be able to share with them this month.
Haley: We are so grateful for this support and for you guys coming alongside our work here in our community.
Nonprofits interested in applying for the Small Biz Give should complete the application at tinyurl.com/SmallBizGiveCleveland.
Carroll Printing Company and Cleveland Coffee & Market Announce Small Biz Give Program
Locally owned downtown businesses have joined together to start the Small Biz Give, a give-back program where each business will donate a portion of proceeds to a different Cleveland-based nonprofit organization each month.
Brittany Katz, owner of Terra Running Company and Cleveland Coffee & Market, and Andrea Boddeker, owner of Carroll Printing Company, have pledged to donate a portion of all proceeds each month in 2021 to the nonprofit chosen to be the recipient of each month’s Small Biz Give.
“Its part of our DNA to give back to the community,” said Katz. “Andrea and I came up with this program to put some structure around our giving, get the community involved, and help amplify the voices of the great community organizations in our area.”
At Cleveland Coffee & Market, every Tuesday is “Giving Tuesday.” Katz will be donating proceeds on Tuesday’s to the Small Biz Give and that month’s recipient.
Carroll Printing Company will be donating a portion of all proceeds for orders paid for in the month to the Small Biz Give.
“We want the community to see the concrete ways that supporting our small businesses also supports the community organizations in the area,” said Boddeker. “When you shop local, you support our companies, employees, and local nonprofits through the Small Biz Give.”
In February, the first Small Biz Give recipient is Project Free2Fly, a Cleveland based nonprofit organization who supports and nurtures women. The project includes mentoring and learning job-based skills to make jewelry, handbags, and accessories for sale in their storefront in downtown Cleveland and online. “We walk alongside the women in our program as they are setting goals for their future and work toward those goals together,” said Hailey Johnston, founder, and CEO of Project Free2Fly. “It’s through community partnerships and the support of others like Andrea and Brittany who give to our organization that allow us to be able to do this important work with these women as they work to create better futures for themselves and their families.”
Katz and Boddeker will announce the recipient of each month’s Small Biz Give on their company Facebook pages. Interested nonprofit organizations can apply to the Small Biz Give at tinyurl.com/SmallBizGiveCleveland.
To reach Cleveland Coffee & Market, go to ClevelandCoffeeandMarket.com or email Brittany@TerraRunning.com.
To reach Carroll Printing Company, go to CarrollPrintingCompany.com or email Andrea@CarrollPrintingCompany.com.