Custom Gift Spotlight: Featuring products from Accion Opportunity Fund (AOF) clients in an end-of-year gift for their team

CUSTOM GIFT ASKS AT A GLANCE

• Featuring products from the amazing small businesses supported by AOF
• Celebrating the hard work of AOF’s employees and board of directors
• Including a range of sweets, snacks, and staples, with something for every recipient

OVERVIEW

• Accion Opportunity Fund (AOF) is an unparalleled financial support system that provides small business owners (including countless small-batch growers and makers) in the US with access to capital, networks, and coaching. For over 30 years, they have served a client base that is over 90% women, people of color, and/or low-to-moderate income, generating more than 50,000 jobs and $1 billion in economic activity.

REQUIREMENTS

• In the fall of 2023, AOF reached out to Narrative Food about building a custom gift box for their staff and board of directors in celebration of the small business owners they support. Together, we selected delicious treats from AOF clients across the country – including Narrative Food and our very own Popcorn for Peace!

TESTIMONIAL

Our company has worked with Narrative Food on numerous occasions to curate an appreciation gift for our Staff and Board of Directors. They procure great products, package them beautifully and make the entire experience memorable. They also worked with our small business clients to source their products, which made the tasty treats even more meaningful!

- Anna Schember, Sr. Director, Executive Relations, Accion Opportunity Fund

PROCESS

• Initial Phone Interview: The Basics
• contact details
• We coordinated with Anna Schember, the Senior Director of Executive Relations at Accion Opportunity Fund.
• gift budget per box
• $125
• the amount of boxes (typically from 25-500 boxes)
• The original inquiry was to provide 20 gifts for board members, but we were able to provide an additional 140 boxes for staff by request in mid-October. The boxes were separated into two tiers with different products, packaging, and customized collateral.
• the particulars of what they wanted included
• Anna suggested more than 30 possible vendors to feature in their boxes. We researched each company and their products to determine the best fit based on their availability, relevance, and budget.
• the ship date
• We tentatively selected December 11th as our ship date, assuming that all of the vendors could deliver on time.
• Proposal Submitted
• We went directly to AOF employees for a list of the many farmers, bakers, and makers they support around the country – many of whom had never had the opportunity to taste their clients’ products. We aimed to celebrate not just the bounty of what AOF clients produce but also their diversity.

We knew that Chocolate Uzma was a perfect fit right away, where every box of chocolates takes you on a tour of the rich cultural heritage and culinary traditions of South Asia. First-gen Pakistani-American chef Uzma Sharify handcrafts every chocolate, spiced with notes of ginger, coconut, passionfruit, chili, and chai.

We reached out directly to Marayo Adebiyi for her Chi Chi Mix, a gluten-free, keto-friendly, and vegan version of the popular Nigerian snack “chinchin.” Every piece of this blend of baked almond bites, walnuts, and pecans is baked in Marayo’s Texas kitchen. 

We discovered a new favorite of our own in Rooted Fare’s crunchy black sesame butter. This sweet and savory spread was inspired by founders Ashley Xie and Hedy Yu and their childhood balancing two cultures in SoCal, where they spoke Mandarin at home and English in school. 

We went to the source for Progeny Coffee’s single origin whole beans from Tebaida, Colombia. Founder Maria Palacio was a fifth-generation Colombian coffee farmer who witnessed firsthand the struggle to maintain a living through coffee. When she moved to the US, she knew she had to do something to help her community back home. With Accion’s help, Progeny Coffee was born.

As a member of AOF’s network, we were excited to include our very own Popcorn for Peace. Our founder Jennifer has a long history of popcorn (and small business) in her family – in the early 1900’s her great grandfather Moses Finkelstein built a chain of movie theaters spanning the great Midwest – but really, the movie theaters were just an excuse to sell popcorn. We were honored to share our popcorn and our story with the team at AOF.

FROM THE FOUNDER

This was one of our favorite custom boxes of 2023 because, like Accion Opportunity Fund (AOF), small businesses are central to our mission at Narrative Food. It was an honor to help AOF celebrate the small business owners they work so hard to support with this end-of-year gift for their team. For many of them, this was their first opportunity to taste the foods they had helped their clients grow, make, and share – and a chance to send an extra sale to their clients! We are so impressed by their commitment and excited to support their mission.

Jennifer Piette

Founder, CEO

Narrative Food