Some see it as a cynical marketing ploy. A company promises to give X percent of the profits from each sale to charity. It’s viewed as just another “buying incentive” strategy to get people to consume more junk.
However, there are many companies for which donating profits to charity is built into the DNA of their business model. These entrepreneurs designed their companies based on a deep commitment to transforming capitalism into a process for uplifting mankind.
These are some companies you can feel good about supporting with your purchases:
The shoe industry has been among the most notorious for using near-slave labor in developing nation sweatshops so that company owners can enjoy millions in profits. But TOMS Shoes employs workers in Ethiopia that are paid three times the average wage in that nation. It also covers the healthcare costs of workers and sends their kids to school for free. Furthermore, the company donates a pair of shoes for every pair they sell.
All that, and TOMS Shoes donates millions of dollars to an array of good causes, such as safe water initiatives, safe births worldwide and bullying prevention programs.
This company sells retails goods made from sustainable and recycled materials. This includes everything from clothing to bamboo kitchenware. This company established a simple “Better to Give” program. With every purchase a customer makes, $1 is donated to a nonprofit that the customer can choose.
Uncommon Goods is headquartered in Brooklyn, New York, and has so far distributed $1 million to charitable organizations.
This well-known brand was launched in Philadelphia in 2010 by Dave Gilboa and Neil Blumenthal and backed by the likes of super angel investor Shervin Pishevar. The firm’s simple “Buy a Pair Give a Pair” program donates a free pair of eyeglasses for every one it sells. Thousands of school kids have benefited from the Pupils Project because it gives corrective vision glasses to families who cannot afford to buy them.
It has donated three million pairs of glasses to date.
You’ve probably heard of this popular site where millions of artisans sell their creations. Etsy also happens to operate a number of excellent programs, including Etsy Solar which will supplement anyone who opts to buy solar power systems for their homes.