It was on her October, 2012 trip to Haiti with Haiti Health Initiative that Alexia Marcous, co-founder and Chief Optimistic Officer of Dharma, had a life-changing insight. Despite hurricane Sandy’s destruction of the dental clinic she was volunteering in cutting the trip short, she described her experience as incredibly moving and impactful. Upon returning, she shared with her Dharma Dream Team: “I realized that my heart is in being of service, doing work that has a direct positive impact on those that are less fortunate.” She decided to follow her heart and created the Bodhicitta Practice Foundation, choosing the name based on the translation of Bodhicitta as “working to alleviate the suffering of all beings”. Alexia has set the purpose of the Foundation to perform service work in the areas of children’s education, women’s health and empowerment, environmental sustainability and spiritual well-being.
With the gracious support of her father, business partner and other Dharma co-founder, Alexia has transitioned to part-time status at Dharma. We’ll post updates on the great work the Foundation is doing on an ongoing basis, including a description of her January 2013 trip to India to volunteer at an elementary school in Madanapalle.
Thank you so much to all of you who participated in our photo contest. It was absolutely delightful to receive your entries and put smiling faces behind your familiar voices. It was also very difficult to decide on the winners - so difficult that we expanded the winners from the top three to the top seven! Congratulations to 100 Proof Press, Breathe Books, Ethereal Confections, Gracias Madres, Moonrise Jewelry, New Factory, Friend and Sarah Graham Metalsmithing, who are now on the homepage of our website. We love all of the photos you submitted, and they are in our new Beloved Clients photo album on our Facebook page.
We encourage everyone who didn't submit a photo to please send one in. We'd love to see you!
As we mentioned before, we're absolutely thrilled with our new website (thanks again to the folks at Earthsite!). We hope you're enjoying it too and welcome your comments to help improve it even more.
We have one great idea already: we think a huge improvement would be to have it feature amazing pictures of you! So we're having a photo contest where you can submit pictures of you at your business and we'll choose three lucky winners to be featured on our home page. We're really looking forward to receiving your photos!
Submit your photos by July 31 for a chance to win!
To enter for a chance to be featured on our homepage, submit up to 3 photos of you at your business. The picture will need to feature the business owner and/or employee(s) at your place of business. So pick your best side, smile and snap away!
Not able to submit your photos through our Facebook submission form? Feel free to use the alternate submission form!
Grand Prize
The top 3 photos submitted will be featured in the rotating photo showcase on the homepage of DharmsMS.com. In addition, each featured photo will link to a description of your business in our Featured Clients directory.
All valid submissions will be featured on Facebook!
All valid entries will be featured in an “Our Beloved Clients” photo album on our Facebook page. Valid entries are creative but professional pictures of current Dharma Merchant Services clients that feature either the business owner and/or employee(s) of the business at their place of business.
Contest Dates
The contest begins on July 1, 2012 at 9:00am (PST) and ends on July 31, 2012 at 9:00pm (PST).
The winners will be announced in our monthly newsletter and smiling back at you from our website in August!
We continued our tradition of sponsoring the Global Exchange Human Rights award on May 10th and were so grateful to participate in the 10th anniversary of this special event. It was a festive evening, with silent auction items (we won a signed copy of Chip Conley's just-released book, Emotional Equations: Simple Truths for Creating Happiness + Success), delicious food (and Ben & Jerry's!) and a signature cocktail, Justice 'n Ginger.
There was an appropriate, respectful, somber tone around the presentation of the 2012 People’s Choice Award. Honoree PFC Bradley Manning, a 24-year-old Army intelligence analyst, is accused of leaking a video showing the killing of civilians, including two Reuters journalists, by a US Apache helicopter crew in Iraq. He is also charged with sharing the documents known as the Afghan War Diary and the Iraq War Logs. Bradley has not yet been tried, and was held in solitary confinement for the first 10 months of his incarceration. It was a special moment when Daniel Ellsberg, open government advocate and prominent whistleblower, accepted the People’s Choice Award on behalf of Bradley Manning in honor of Manning's courage to stand for what is right.
The tone went back to festive when our beloved client Annie Leonard took the stage to accept the 2012 Human Rights Award, acknowledging her 20+ year committment to investigating the true cost of our exploitation of resources, usage of toxic chemicals and excessive consumption. If you haven't seen The Story of Stuff, please take a moment to see this incredible eye-opening and entertaining environmental short film. Annie has gone on to produce other films, including The Story of Cosmetics, The Story of Water and The Story of Broke. All are availble to watch for free at storyofstuff.org.
Thank you Global Exchange for more than two decades of activism, education and inspiration, and for creating such a special event to honor the monumental contributions of those working for a more democratic and just world.
Do you know what March 1st is? It’s not Groundhog Day, not April Fools’ day, not St. Patrick’s day. It is the 5th anniversary of Dharma Merchant Services! That’s right, it’s been 5 years since we hung out our shingle as a business. The idea for the company originated from a desire to give back to the community; save merchants from egregious contracts and usury rates; and create a container for our path to awakening. The company name was inspired by the most common definition of the word dharma: one’s path. Literally, the Fourth Noble Truth says that the way out of suffering can be achieved by following the Eightfold Path of right view, intention (thought), speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, and concentration. We see this path as the highest standard that we as individuals and as a company can hold to insure the integrity of service for our merchants, partners, community, and for ourselves. From maintaining the smallest footprint on our planet to holding our merchants’ and partners’ best interests in mind, we seek to do the right thing, even above our own gain. This is as it should be.
To celebrate our 5th birthday, Dharma held a rocking party at the Hub in San Francisco. The evening featured organic wine from Frey Vineyards, delicious beer from Schmaltz Brewing, amazing smoothies from Purple Plant Smoothies, delectable edibles from Baladi Gourmet Cafe and Dolce & Salato, and a home-made, gluten-free, mind-blowing cake in the shape of a lotus baked by our beloved Marie Bencivenga. Michelle Bouvier and Becca Fresco from AcroYoga provided a beautiful performance and soothing bodywork, and we were honored by Vince Siciliano of New Resource Bank and Corie McMillan of Cafe Gratitude who shared kind words on what Dharma meant to them. A highlight of the evening was presenting our beautiful and much-improved new website from Earthsite, who accomplished an amazing amount of work in an amazingly short period of time so we could unveil a soft launch at the party. We were so grateful to enjoy this lovely evening with our community and are looking forward to great things in the next 5 years!
Our good luck with off-the-charts employees has continued with bringing Nicole Stasio on board. If you’ve had a support issue recently, Nicole is the loving, competent, funny and extremely helpful person that solved your problem. Nicole has astounded us with her ability to learn quickly, maintain grace under pressure and continually reach for inner and outer knowledge.
Nicole shares with us, "I am so honored to be part of the Dharma family and provide support for our community of mission-aligned merchants and partners who are committed to making the world a better place. From Falling Whistles fighting for peace in the Congo to Amazon Watch supporting indigenous people in the Amazon Basin, I am inspired to be a better person every day. I get to come to work in an environment full of love and compassion at a company that gives back and actually cares! I look forward to getting to know all of you better and helping to support your business!"
We’re grateful for another incredible year for Dharma Merchant Services as we continue to create a powerful brand that is identified with “Right Livelihood”. All you have to do to validate the buzz is to Google the term “merchant services” and see where we appear!
Here are some highlights from Dharma Merchant Services for 2011:
Alexia and Jeff continue to be interviewed in the leading trade publications such as The Green Sheet, ISO & Agent, Digital Transactions and Transaction Trends, to provide an example of how to operate a business with Awakening as a beacon.
In September, Dharma moved into new offices in the historic Shell Building, bringing our belief in “love is good for business” deeper into the financial district of San Francisco, and giving us much needed breathing room for growth and expansion.
Jeff convinces one of the largest receipt-paper suppliers to carry BPA-free paper.
Two new amazing team members came on board, allowing us to better serve you as we expand.
Dharma went completely paperless!
In alignment with our mission to use our success to support the non-profit community, we donated our largest amount ever, in excess of $30,000.
We’ve really enjoyed reflecting back on what was truly an incredible time, full of opportunities for awakening and deepening our commitments to sacred service and taking responsibility for our contribution to the world.
Here are some of the highlights of what we did in 2010…
Reduced our paper usage per account by 70%
Doubled our staff
Started composting
Gave raises and bonuses to all employees
Extended monthly gym/yoga memberships, full-coverage health insurance and employer-funded Health Savings Accounts to all employees
Attended Sacred Commerce Advanced Leadership Training
Almost doubled our client count
Survived two partner acquisitions
Spoke at the Green Festival, B Corp & Green Chamber Partnership Celebration and to the Leadership San Francisco class of 2011
Spoke on behalf of B Corp at the Sustainable Enterprise Conference and to students in the MBA in Sustainable Management program at the Presidio Graduate School
Were interviewed on Awakening Values, The Malama Kaua’i / KKCR Radio Show and the Silicon Valley Technology, Art, Green and Sustainability Show
Were published in The Green Sheet
Transitioned to Canvas Dreams, launched a new website and blog, created Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts, and improved our search engine ranking
Started tweeting our Clearing questions
Exhibited at the Green Festival
Became a Green Chamber of Commerce Sponsor
Attended Kindred Spirit, Abounding River, Smile at Fear, Conscious Breathing and Yogic Eating workshops & retreats
Kept the office fridge stocked with yummy, organic, local, in-season farmer’s market food
Beautified the office weekly with fresh flowers
Halved our coffee consumption and drank more water
Were good neighbors by initiating, attending and hosting building happy hours
Volunteered at Eternal Presence and Sacred Commerce workshops
Took on juice fasting, yoga, martial arts, ongoing volunteering for The Art of Yoga Project, a new kitten and performing in a theatrical production
Sponsored the Wine Country Film Festival
Lent free terminals and volunteered on-site for non-profit client events
Attended the Western States Acquirers Conference, Sustainable Industries Conference, Pachamama Alliance Fundraiser and Amazon Watch Fundraiser
Volunteered at the Pachamama Alliance Fundraiser
Donated thousands of dollars to non-profits
Deepened our gratitude for being able to use our business to practice the higher virtues, and actually getting paid to talk with and serve the most amazing clients
Thank you so much for your connection with us during this wonderful journey. We couldn’t have done it without you!
The Green Business Leader Award is given to an extraordinary company or business leader that has led the way in creating a just and sustainable society, who has demonstrated consistent leadership on behalf of people and the planet and whose efforts are at the forefront of the green business movement.
Dharma Merchant Services was chosen as the winner from amongst four nominees by the 250 conference attendees, who are all leaders in the green business field. Read the Green America Press Release and follow up interview with the Green Chamber of Commerce.
We were so honored when we learned we were nominated by the Green America business community for the award, and could hardly believe our good fortune when we were voted as the winner at the conference. It means so much to have been chosen by so many of our peers from around the country.
We also wish to thank Richard Lucas for creating such a relevant and beautiful award. We urge everyone to check out his beautiful glass sculptures at Shasta Visions.
All valid submissions will be featured on Facebook!
We continued our tradition of sponsoring the Global Exchange Human Rights award on May 10th and were so grateful to participate in the 10th anniversary of this special event. It was a festive evening, with silent auction items (we won a signed copy of Chip Conley's just-released book, 
presentation of the 2012 People’s Choice Award. Honoree PFC Bradley Manning, a 24-year-old Army intelligence analyst, is accused of leaking a video showing the killing of civilians, including two Reuters journalists, by a US Apache helicopter crew in Iraq. He is also charged with sharing the documents known as the Afghan War Diary and the Iraq War Logs. Bradley has not yet been tried, and was held in solitary confinement for the first 10 months of his incarceration. It was a special moment when Daniel Ellsberg, open government advocate and prominent whistleblower, accepted the People’s Choice Award on behalf of Bradley Manning in honor of Manning's courage to stand for what is right. 
The tone went back to festive when our beloved client Annie 
To celebrate our 5th birthday, Dharma held a rocking party at the Hub in San Francisco. The evening featured organic wine from 
Our good luck with off-the-charts employees has continued with bringing Nicole Stasio on board. If you’ve had a support issue recently, Nicole is the loving, competent, funny and extremely helpful person that solved your problem. Nicole has astounded us with her ability to learn quickly, maintain grace under pressure and continually reach for inner and outer knowledge.
We’re grateful for another incredible year for Dharma Merchant Services as we continue to create a powerful brand that is identified with “Right Livelihood”. All you have to do to validate the buzz is to Google the term “merchant services” and see where we appear!
Thank you for making this our best year ever!
