From the Community, For the Community
A Sanctuary Cafe is located on beautiful Charles Street in the center of Boston’s historic Beacon Hill neighborhood. Our goal is to be a friendly and welcoming community cafe that contributes to the development of a more interconnected and equitable Boston.
Choosing Local: Prioritizing Local Staff and Small Business Partners
Establishing Roots: Committed to Long-term Operation in Beacon Hill
Focus on Giving: A Benefit Corporation with Two Affiliated Non-profits
Choosing to Be a Benefit Corporation
In a traditional business, any remaining profits after paying expenses (rent, employees, inventory, bills, etc.) would go to the owner(s), but in a benefit corporation (also called a social business), it is funneled to social causes valued by the business.
Our social enterprise model combines an espresso bar and carefully curated micro-bookstore with a cat lounge. All net profits will go to two affiliated nonprofits, one focused on targeted donations of diverse, interesting and appropriately leveled books to Boston Public School students, the other focused on initiatives that support Boston's community cat population (and the humans who support them).
Development of Affiliated Nonprofits
Book Donations: We are currently in the process of applying for 501(c)3 status for our book donation program.
Supporting Community Cats: We continue to do research on the current conditions of Boston’s community cat population to identify where we can have the greatest impact.
Our Unique and Community-Oriented Micro-Bookstore
All of our books are carefully curated, with a special focus on local interests.
Before a book earns a spot on our shelves, it is read and reviewed by one of our booksellers.
Part of our pledge as a benefit corporation is to match every book purchased from our store with a book donation to a Boston Public Schools student.
Land Acknowledgment
A Sanctuary Cafe gratefully and humbly acknowledges the land on which it sits as the sacred land of the Massachusett and Wampanoag Nations. The traditional name of this peninsula is Shawmut, “place of clear waters”. A Sanctuary Cafe is committed to honoring the history of this land and supporting the present and future local Indigenous communities. This statement is a work in progress.
To recognize the land is an expression of gratitude and appreciation to those whose territory you reside on, and a way of honouring the Indigenous people who have been living and working on the land from time immemorial. It is important to understand the long standing history that has brought you to reside on the land, and to seek to understand your place within that history. Land acknowledgements do not exist in a past tense, or historical context: colonialism is a current ongoing process, and we need to build our mindfulness of our present participation. It is also worth noting that acknowledging the land is Indigenous protocol.