Purpose over profit: three businesses using their products as a force for good
For decades, the primary goal of business was to maximize value for shareholders.
However, social consciousness has taken a seat in the boardroom in recent years. As a result, companies are prioritising sustainability and purpose over profit.
Here are three inspiring examples.
Bare Kind
Bare Kind is a B Corp on a mission: to make a difference for animals, one pair of socks at a time.
Launched in 2018, the UK-based apparel brand sells a range of colourful animal-themed bamboo socks.
But these sustainable footwarmers do more than keep people’s tootsies warm. They make a difference to the lives of endangered species.
How?
10% of the profits from each sale are donated to 30+ animal conservation charities across the globe that work to protect the animals on the socks.
And, as these stats from Bre Kind’s 2022 impact report show, it’s making a difference.
In 2022 …
their panda socks funded the planting of 310 square feet of bamboo (with Pandas International)
sales of their pangolin socks funded the protection of 58 acres of pangolin habitat (in conjunction with the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation)
turtle sock sales enabled the Turtle Foundation to construct a hatchery to home endangered turtle nests
SEO Travel
SEO Travel is a Leeds-based digital marketing agency that specialises in SEO, PR, and web design for travel brands.
The company launched in 2011 but, after the pandemic hit, Tom McLoughlin (Founder) decided he wanted to use the brand as a vehicle to make a difference.
So, in 2021, he switched up the business model and announced that SEO Travel would donate 100% of its profit to good causes, with the aim of donating £1million by 2030.
By April 2023, the brand was 7% of the way to achieving its goal, having donated £74,590 to Moving Mountains (an international development charity), and Zarach (a Yorkshire-based charity that supports children living in poverty).
To date, the funding has:
provided 247 underprivileged children in Yorkshire with a bed
rebuilt a school in Bupsa, Nepal, providing 135 children with access to education
funded the operation of a children’s rescue centre in Embyu, Kenya for 12 months
As well as donating money, the folk at SEO Travel use their marketing skills to promote the charities they work with to attract funding from other investors.
Y.O.U Underwear
The ethos behind ethical clothing brand Y.O.U is that underwear should be ‘universally available to people in all communities’.
In an attempt to make this a reality, the brand sells its undies on a buy-one-give-two model: For every pair of Y.O.U underwear sold, two pairs are donated to Smalls For All (a charity that collects and distributes underwear to people in need across Africa and the UK).
And that’s not the only cause it supports.
£1 from the sale of every item in its light pink range goes to the UK-based breast cancer charity, Future Dreams.
Impact
When the business launched in 2017, the aim was to donate 23,000 pairs of underwear to Smalls for All by 2023. But the team smashed that goal, donating 36,042 pairs to vulnerable men, women, and children by the end of last year.
Inspiring stuff.
Looking for an ethically minded fundraiser? That’s our specialty. Give us a call on 020 3750 3111 or email us at info@bamboofundraising.co.uk to get the ball rolling.