Matching Grants and What It Means for Speciality Coffee
The CQI Global Coffee Fund is scaling up for 2026 with new matching grants and more support for coffee education. Here is what is changing and why it matters to producers, roasters, and everyday coffee drinkers.
The CQI Global Coffee Fund is getting a bigger push in 2026, with a new matching-grants track alongside the existing project awards. In plain terms, CQI (the Coffee Quality Institute) is putting more money on the table and inviting partners to bring funds that CQI will match. The goal is to widen access to coffee quality education and strengthen producer communities at a time when public funding is shrinking.
If you care about how coffee is grown, processed, and evaluated, this matters. Better quality training at origin tends to show up in the cup and in more stable supply chains. It also shapes the next generation of educators and cuppers who can make quality improvements stick locally, not just for a single harvest.
Key takeaways
- CQI is expanding the Global Coffee Fund for 2026 and introducing matching grants.
- The fund focuses on education and on building local educator capacity in producing regions.
- More quality training at origin can mean better coffee, more consistency, and stronger producer outcomes
What is the CQI Global Coffee Fund?
CQI launched the Global Coffee Fund in 2022 to support targeted, practical projects that improve coffee quality and the livelihoods of producers. In 2026, CQI is committing up to $300,000 through the fund and aims to catalyse an additional $200,000 in partner investment. That totals up to $500,000 in impact if the matching grants are fully leveraged.
The fund is structured around two tracks:
- Project Awards: grants that support access to coffee education and the development of local educators.
- Matching Grants: new for 2026, these are dollar-for-dollar matches with partners whose projects align with CQI's mission.
Why the matching-grants model matters
Matching grants do two things at once. First, they make CQI's money go further by encouraging co-investment. Second, they push for closer collaboration between NGOs, local training organisations, and industry partners. That helps ensure projects are built with local needs in mind and are more likely to stay in place after the funding window closes.
For speciality coffee, this is a practical shift. Quality education is often the bottleneck between great coffee and consistently excellent coffee. When more producers can access training on processing, quality evaluation, and post-harvest best practices, the gains are not just in a single lot. They show up in more consistent profiles and a clearer sense of what a region can do with its own varieties and processing approaches.
How this connects to the wider education landscape
The CQI announcement also lands against the backdrop of recent shifts in coffee education. The SCA has been rolling out updated Q Grader courses as part of its new program, which changes how the industry approaches evaluation and calibration. That makes the CQI fund even more relevant: funding that builds local educator capacity means the updated frameworks can reach the people who need them most, not just the people who can travel for training.
What it means for producers, roasters, and drinkers
For producers: more accessible training can improve cup quality and help farmers and co-ops negotiate pricing with clearer quality metrics. The focus on local educators also means knowledge can be shared more widely and more often.
For roasters:
More consistent quality at origin can reduce the variance you see lot to lot. That makes sourcing easier and helps you keep a coffee on a menu for longer without sacrificing flavour.
For drinkers:
If you love a specific coffee for its clarity or sweetness, quality training upstream helps keep that character stable across harvests. It also tends to open up more interesting processing methods and profiles, which is where speciality coffee gets fun.
A practical way to engage (even if you are small)
If you are a roaster or cafe owner, you do not have to be huge to support this kind of work. Look for origin partners who are involved in education or processing training and ask how you can support those projects. That could be a small contribution to a matching grant, or even offering feedback on quality goals that can help shape training priorities.
FAQ
Q: Is this fund only for large organisations?
A: No. CQI funds are designed to back projects that expand access to education and training. The matching-grants structure still leaves room for smaller partners when projects are well-scoped and locally led.
Q: Does this change how coffee is graded?
A: Not directly. But it does help fund the education and training that leads to better grading, more calibrated cupping, and more consistent quality evaluation.