Starbucks introduced a new feature to the Starbucks Card Facebook® App that makes it possible to buy a friend a treat from Starbucks without ever leaving Facebook. Available in the U.S. and Canada, users of the app now have the ability to load $5 to $500 directly onto a friend’s registered Starbucks Card as a gift. The “Give a Gift” update to the Starbucks Card App takes the honor of being the 100th launched idea from the popular community site, My Starbucks Idea.

Starbucks is investing into the future of the company through providing professional training opportunities to its staff. In partnership with Ashridge Business School, the British division of the global coffee chain is to offer its employees a range of training opportunities for amplifying their working experience and earning a range of NVQ qualifications as well as management skills to be further used in their work at Starbucks.

Starbucks announced the results of its Vote, Give, Grow in-store donation program. Hike for KaTREEna, a non-profit organization whose aim is to replant trees that were lost during the disaster, received the greatest number of votes, which entitles it to the top-valued $50,000 grant. Two other local organizations, Young Leadership Council, which engages young professionals in community projects, and KaBOOM!, whose mission is to create play spaces within walking distance of every child in America, will each receive $25,000 grants.

Starbucks, an experienced player on a social pitch, is encouraging young Americans to experience the power of spoken words. The coffee company teamed up with The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (The NAACP) to launch the One Nation Spoken Word Showcase Tour, encouraging generation Y to participate in a range of activities, revolving around listening and speaking on a range of themes that focus on self-development and human rights.