Sourcing Where Plants Thrive Most
With over 100 essential oils in its product line, doTERRA sources its oils from over 40 countries—more than half of which could be considered developing countries.
doTERRA places great value on the expert knowledge of local farmers—many of whom have nurtured essential oil plants for generations. doTERRA recruits their expertise into a Global Botanical Network and, in so doing, responsibly supports thousands of jobs around the world.
doTERRA’s extensive sourcing partnerships empower doTERRA to produce exclusive, proprietary oils and blends that preserve the purity and potency of each plant. Ninety-six percent of doTERRA single oils and oil blends are exclusive.
By using doTERRA essential oils, not only are you supporting your health and wellbeing, you are creating much-needed jobs and security for the growers, harvesters and distillers and their families and communities.
Sourcing Guideline Principles
When doTERRA looks for sourcing partnerships, they deliberately choose locations where they can improve the individual, social, economic, and environmental well-being, while producing the highest quality essential oils.
As many of their essential oils grow best in developing countries, doTERRA is in a unique position to build and support ethical supply chains that benefit rural communities in need.
Co-Impact Sourcing provides the tools needed to help lift these families and communities out of poverty and promote economic development. doTERRA adheres to additional Sourcing Guiding Principles when working in developing nations.
Generating Jobs
dōTERRA seeks to reduce poverty through generating ethically responsible employment in essential oil production. By creating and sustaining jobs in rural and underdeveloped areas, dōTERRA supports marginalized workers and smallscale producers in developing countries and seeks to enable them to move from income insecurity and poverty to economic self-sufficiency.
Providing Fair and On-time Payments
dōTERRA provides fair pricing. A fair price is one that has been contractually agreed on by all through dialogue and participation, which provides fair and on-time pay to producers, and can also be sustained by the market. Fair pay means (i) provision of socially acceptable remuneration in the local context and which the producers themselves consider to be fair, and (ii) equal pay for equal work by women and men. Additionally, pre-payments or loans are often provided to sourcing partners to help manage cash-flows and stabilize incomes throughout the year.
Building Supplier Capacity
dōTERRA builds the capacity of farmers, distillers, and producers of essential oils. Increased capacity leads to increased incomes for supply chain partners through improvements in farming techniques, increased yields, improved process efficiencies, and strengthens productivity of the supply-chain ecosystem as a whole. dōTERRA supports initiatives, typically through local NGO partners, that build capacity and deliver greater profitability through harvesting and storage services, technology improvements, logistics enhancements, provision of farm inputs, and agricultural training.
Sustaining Long-term Partnerships
dōTERRA develops long-term partnerships with growers and distillers based on solidarity, trust, and mutual respect. dōTERRA promotes the growth of its partners through long-term contracts that do not maximize profit at their expense, and facilitates predictable pricing for small scale producers to ensure consistent, growing demand. dōTERRA finds appropriate, participatory ways to involve its partners in decision-making processes and ensures that communication channels are open at all levels of the supply chain.
Ensuring Fair Labor Conditions
Cō-Impact Sourcing® requires our partners to ensure fair labor conditions and to promote safe and healthy working environments free from exploitive practices, harassment, and discrimination. Furthermore, it requires partners to comply, at a minimum, with national and local laws and ILO conventions on health and safety, working conditions, and labor laws.
Promoting Cooperatives
Cō-Impact Sourcing supports and respects the right of all employees and producers to form and join cooperatives, to bargain collectively, and to maximize the benefits of collective organization. Such collective membership often enables members to obtain better pricing on agricultural inputs, better access to financial instruments, as well as access to collectively-owned harvesting and other equipment.
Ensuring Environmental Stewardship
Cō-Impact Sourcing promotes the use of energy efficient technologies and renewable energy technologies to minimize greenhouse gas emissions. dōTERRA seeks to minimize the impact of waste streams on the environment, and encourages agricultural producers to minimize their environmental impacts. Priority is given to buying products made from raw materials that originate from sustainably managed sources, and bulk goods are dispatched by sea wherever possible to minimize carbon footprint.
Facilitating Community Development
dōTERRA recognizes that the well-being of communities surrounding our sourcing partners is key to the long-term viability of essential oil supply. Increasing livelihoods and improving living standards in these communities at large is one of the primary goals of Cō-Impact Sourcing. Premiums are often paid for Cō-Impact Sourced oils, and these funds, as well as contributions from the dōTERRA Healing Hands Foundation®, are used to support community development projects such as the construction of schools, health clinics, training facilities, and clean water systems.
Co-Impact Sourcing
Co-Impact Sourcing is an initiative that seeks to develop long-term, mutually beneficial supplier partnerships while creating sustainable jobs and providing reliable income in underdeveloped areas.
doTERRA is committed to the ethical treatment of its suppliers by providing on-time payments at fair prices. Growers and harvesters are encouraged to form cooperative groups to share collective benefits and bargaining power while improving skills and capacity.
We've had the honour and privilege of attending co-impact sourcing trips. Check out our efforts below. We are looking forward to many more opportunities to serve with doTERRA.