Not For Sale is honored to announce that we have won Silver in the Humanitarian Action & Services category of the 5th Annual Anthem Award for our collaborative work in Peru’s Madre de Dios region.

This recognition celebrates the power of collaboration, between non-profit vision, Indigenous leadership, and conscious business, to build futures rooted in justice and sustainability.

Anthem Winners are selected by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. Judges for the 5th Annual Anthem Awards include Nancy Brown, Chief Executive Officer, American Heart Association; Anjelika Lours’ Kour, Creative Director & Managing Partner, DD.NYC®; Miguel Castro, Head of Global Media Partnerships, Gates Foundation; Belén Frau, Global Communication & Positioning Manager, IKEA; Heather Malenshek, SVP & Chief Marketing Officer, Land O’Lakes, Inc.; Singleton Beato, Global EVP, Chief DEI Officer, McCann Worldgroup; Trovon Williams, Sr. Vice President of Marketing & Communications, NAACP; Lauren Garcimonde-Fisher, Vice President of Brand, Planned Parenthood; Roma McCaig, Chief Public Affairs and Impact Officer, REI Co-op; Brett Peters, Global Lead, TikTok for Good, TikTok; and Michelle Waring, Steward for Sustainability and Everyday Good, Tom’s of Maine, among others.

Creating social enterprises that empower vulnerable communities

Not For Sale is a global organization committed to ending human trafficking and ecocide by confronting the conditions that allow them to thrive. It operates in 12 countries worldwide deploying a one-of-a-kind social innovation model that integrates survivor services, regenerative environmental work, and mission-aligned enterprises.

Collaborating with local experts and entrepreneurs, Not For Sale works to help redesign the systems that make people vulnerable to exploitation. By pairing survivor support with regenerative, community-built enterprises, we replace cycles of trafficking and ecocide with pathways of dignity, agency, and long-term opportunity.

“This has been a challenging year for the impact sector, but the Winners of the 5th Annual Anthem Awards have shown their resilience and continued commitment to a better tomorrow,” says Anthem Awards General Manager, Patricia McLoughlin.

“This year’s winners are a source of hope, and I am excited to celebrate their work with the world today.”

How Not For Sale built a different model

“This award celebrates something bigger than us,” explains Not For Sale co-founder, Mark Wexler. “It honors what happens when people, planet, and enterprise come together to out-create injustice.

“When we first started working in the Amazon, we saw how ecocide, the deliberate destruction of ecosystems for profit, drives human trafficking.

“Illegal mining and deforestation weren’t just destroying the forest; they were destroying livelihoods. Families lost their land, their food, their safety, and that vulnerability made them targets for forced labor and exploitation.

“That’s what modern slavery looks like today. People coerced, deceived, or trapped in work they cannot leave. Debt bondage, child labor, and environmental collapse. It’s all part of the same chain.

“We built a different model. Together with AFIMAD and REBBL, we turned the Brazil nut economy, once dominated by exploitative middlemen, into a self-sustaining, ethical enterprise that protects both the rainforest and the people who depend on it.

“Today, that same forest economy sustains hundreds of families, preserves over 700 square miles of Amazon, and proves that regeneration can replace extraction.

“This is what we mean by social innovation… Using business, technology, and community enterprise to solve social and environmental problems at their root.

“It’s not charity; it’s not traditional business. It’s the daily practice of building models that make exploitation unprofitable and dignity inevitable.”

The 5th Annual Anthem Awards received more than 2000 submissions from 42 countries worldwide.

About The Anthem Awards

Launched in 2021, The Anthem Awards honors the purpose & mission-driven work of people, companies and organizations worldwide. By amplifying the voices that spark global change, we’re defining a new benchmark for impactful work that inspires others to take action in their own communities.

The Anthem Awards honors work across seven core causes: Diversity; Equity, Inclusion, & Belonging; Education; Art & Culture; Health; Human & Civil Rights; Humanitarian Action & Services; Responsible Technology; and Sustainability, Environment & Climate.

This season’s sponsors and partners include AARP, Virgin Hotels NYC, The Bloom, The Social Innovation Summit, Sustainable Brands, NationSwell, and TheFutureParty.

The Anthem Awards were founded in partnership with the Ad Council, Born This Way Foundation, Feeding America, Glaad, Mozilla, NAACP, NRDC, WWF, and XQ.