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As an important part of Bath & Body Works’ ESG journey, we’re working to create lasting, positive impacts through sustainable sourcing practices. Beginning in 2023, we partnered with Antea Group, an international expert in sustainability, to build a tool that allows us to better understand the social and environmental implications of the materials used in the most important areas of our business (for both merchandise and non-merchandise purchasing). This tool was developed to help support our ESG commitments toward improving the sustainability profile of priority ingredients and contributing to resilient communities.

Based on this initial assessment, we embarked on our journey to pilot programs that help us make progress on our commitments, starting with Madagascan vanilla.

Madagascar is the largest source of natural vanilla for Bath & Body Works and grows the majority of the world’s Vanilla Planifolia species. Madagascar is rich in biodiversity, but the impacts of natural catastrophes, such as droughts, and economic conditions pose a risk to vanilla farmers.

Through a new partnership with the Givaudan Foundation, we’re working to improve the living conditions of Madagascan vanilla farmers. We are subsidizing 3,000 Madagascan-produced, energy-efficient cookstoves over three years for 3,000 farming households in the Sava region of Madagascar, which is where most of the natural vanilla in our products originates.

Similar projects like this in the past have shown to:

Reduce number of trees harvested to use as fuel in cooking.Reduce time spent by households to collect firewood.Reduce smoke exposure for households.Create local jobs as stove resellers in the region.

We believe that finding ways to positively impact these farmers is the right thing to do to help ensure this ingredient is available for future generations. We look forward to using learnings from our Madagascan vanilla program to learn, grow and most importantly, deepen our focus on what truly matters — our people, communities and planet.

Originally published on GoDaddy Resource Library

By Fara Howard, Chief Marketing Officer at GoDaddy

Looking back on another remarkable year of microbusiness growth, GoDaddy has been inspired by the resilience and innovation shown by entrepreneurs. Despite macroeconomic challenges like access to financial capital and inflation, GoDaddy’s Venture Forward research reveals just how much they continue to shape communities and transform local economies.

As we look ahead to 2025, AI advancements are unlocking new opportunities for small businesses. Tools like GoDaddy Airo™ not only simplify how small businesses launch and thrive online but also contribute to job creation and local economic growth. The true power lies in blending this technology with the unique strengths of entrepreneurs, particularly their personal touch and deep understanding of their customers.

This year, we believe that AI will empower small business owners to build upon what they already do best—build meaningful relationships, anticipate customer needs, and drive business growth. Here’s how:

Predictive Recommendations Will Enhance Customer Connections 
Many small businesses use basic e-commerce tools that suggest products based on past purchases, missing opportunities to truly delight customers. This year, small business owners will lean on AI to predict customer needs more naturally—like recommending a gift idea for an anniversary or a restock for a favorite product. Rather than feeling automated, these insights will amplify the personalized experiences that keep customers coming back.

Finding Hidden Customer Opportunities Will Drive Innovation 
Small businesses have always been great at recognizing customer needs through conversations and intuition based on experience. In 2025, AI will help small businesses spot specific opportunities—hidden patterns and untapped niches—that might otherwise go unnoticed. Whether it’s a growing local demand or a small but loyal customer segment, AI insights will complement the human instinct that sets small businesses apart.

Localized Content Will Deepen Community Roots 
Creating marketing content that feels authentic and local takes time—time many small business owners don’t have. Over the next year, small business owners will use AI to streamline content creation while ensuring it reflects their community’s voices, cultures, and values. Whether it’s a social media post about a local event or an email campaign tailored to seasonal trends, AI will make it easier to stay connected with customers in ways that big businesses can’t replicate.

Real-Time Monitoring Will Keep Businesses Resilient 
Small business owners juggle multiple dashboards and sometimes catch issues only after they’ve grown. This year, AI will proactively flag risks like declining sales or unusual expenses, giving small businesses time to respond before challenges escalate. By providing early insights, AI will act as an assistant that supports resilience and agility.

Smarter Data Insights Will Help Small Businesses Grow 
Many entrepreneurs struggle to turn data into actionable strategies. In 2025, small business owners will use AI to simplify decision-making and uncover clear insights, like the best times to run a promotion or which products customers are loving most. By simplifying these processes, AI will free them to focus on what matters most: serving their customers and growing their businesses.

The Power of Personal Connection + AI 
As discussed during our Microbusiness Summit, small businesses hold an unmatched ability to create personal, lasting connections. While AI continues to evolve, it will never replace relationships built through trust, community, and empathy. Instead, it will enhance the ability to deliver the personal touch that customers love, helping entrepreneurs save time, anticipate needs, and grow in ways that align with their unique strengths.

With 66% of microbusiness owners saying life is better as an entrepreneur and more than half confident in their use of AI tools, 2025 holds incredible opportunities for those willing to explore new tools.

We can’t wait to see how small business owners will use AI (like GoDaddy Airo!) to continue doing what they do best: building businesses with heart, purpose, and a personal touch that big businesses will always strive to replicate.

Here’s to a thriving, connected, and AI-empowered 2025!

SEATTLE, February 12, 2025 /3BL/ — The KeyBank Foundation has announced a grant of $450,000 to FareStart as the nonprofit seeks to extend the breadth and depth of its job training programs, with a goal of increasing overall program impact by 60% over three years.

Funds from the KeyBank grant will be used to train more of FareStart’s students—adults and young adults over 15 ½ experiencing homelessness, justice-involvement, substance use recovery and other barriers. They will gain a wider breadth of skills and opportunities in more diverse training environments, with expanded employer partners and enhanced curriculum.

FareStart, known for its focus on transforming lives, disrupting poverty and nourishing communities through food, life skills and job training, continues to rebuild after the extended temporary closure of many of its public-facing social enterprises. Training capacity had been limited while the organization has simultaneously been navigating a changing social service and employment landscape, and this grant will play a vital role in supporting continued expansion.

“At KeyBank, our mission is to help our community thrive, and we know that an important building block is helping underserved populations realize their full potential and develop the skills that will lead to successful and fulfilling careers,” said Brian Marlow, KeyBank’s Washington State Market President. “A secure job is the gateway to a solid financial future, and we are delighted to support FareStart’s programs designed to create a foundation that will help build long-term stability for those furthest from opportunity.”

“We are deeply grateful to KeyBank for their generous gift,” said Patrick D’Amelio, CEO of FareStart. “Their support will enable us to continue to expand our job training programs, equipping more individuals with the job skills and support they need to gain stability and economic mobility. KeyBank has been a longtime supporter, but this three-year investment is coming at a critical time as we deepen our impact in the post-pandemic landscape.”

About FareStart

FareStart is a social enterprise nonprofit that transforms lives, disrupts poverty and nourishes communities through food, life skills and job training so that people furthest from opportunity can realize their full potential. FareStart provides on-the-job training to students through its food-based social enterprise businesses, including cafés, box lunches and a community meals program. Since 1992, FareStart has provided opportunities for over 7,000 adults and youth, while serving 19 million meals to Seattle area schools and nonprofit organizations. For more information, visit farestart.org.

About KeyCorp 
In 2025, KeyCorp celebrates its bicentennial, marking 200 years of service to clients and communities from Maine to Alaska. To learn more, visit KeyBank Heritage Center. Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, Key is one of the nation’s largest bank-based financial services companies, with assets of approximately $187 billion at December 31, 2024. Key provides deposit, lending, cash management, and investment services to individuals and businesses in 15 states under the name KeyBank National Association through a network of approximately 1,000 branches and approximately 1,200 ATMs. Key also provides a broad range of sophisticated corporate and investment banking products, such as merger and acquisition advice, public and private debt and equity, syndications and derivatives to middle market companies in selected industries throughout the United States under the KeyBanc Capital Markets trade name. For more information, visit https://www.key.com/. KeyBank Member FDIC.