How your for-profit business can give back
By Molly Fedick
TOMS wearers love their shoes for more than comfort alone — just ask Lana Buseman, 24, a marketing associate at Harry Caray’s in Chicago.
“I really like the idea that I am helping make a difference when I am purchasing a product that I love,” she says.
TOMS shoes grossed an estimated $4.6 million in 2009, according to a 2009 Businessweek article. TOMS is a Santa Monica, Calif.-based for-profit company with a nonprofit philosophy. For each pair of shoes the company sells, it gives a pair to a child in need around the world — children who might not otherwise be allowed to attend school without something on their feet. The company’s founder, Blake Mycoskie, developed a business plan that allows TOMS to make a profit and aid developing nations.
“I wear my TOMS almost daily and will keep buying more because I love the shoes and what they stand for,” Buseman says. Several other companies have adopted this model, but so far Chicago companies have not jumped on the bandwagon, she says.
How can you change this landscape with your own for-profit venture?
“It’s not always about cause marketing — you can use your business as a positive force for doing good in many different ways,” says Jason Saul, CEO of Mission Measurement, a Chicago consulting firm that helps clients such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and McDonald’s give back to the community. Saul also serves on Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management faculty.
“The advice I give [any company] aiming to create social change is that we’ve reached this point of parity in the market where price, quality and convenience are now all at parity among all these products and brands,” Saul says. “For example, from a brand standpoint, it’s hard to differentiate McDonald’s from Burger King.” Saul suggests Chicago for-profits focus on distinguishing their brand so the customer is purchasing social value — not just a product.
He says customers want “cheap and convenient but also saving the world. Let your company be that company that competes on every level but offers that additional value proposition of social change.”
Saul says companies in Chicago and nationwide are just starting to realize, through analytics research, that it is possible to make a profit and still leave a social imprint.
Your business can learn from companies that did just that.
Leverage your network
If you manufacture an unusual product, like the One World Futbol, an “all-terrain soccer ball that never goes flat,” consider adopting the “Buy One, Give One” business model of company founder Tim Jahnigen. For every soccer ball sold to a customer, One World Futbol donates one to a nongovernmental organization that works with children across the globe.
“We knew we wanted to do this project, but we needed funding,” Jahnigen says. “So we got [musician] Sting to fund us.”
While not everyone has connections to millionaire superstars, everyone does have a network of contacts.
“Reach out to whoever you know that might be able to help. You’ll be surprised —most people are happy to help fund a charitable initiative,” Jahnigen says.
Start with your inner circle — family and close friends — and branch out from there. Make phone calls or set up informational meetings, and be aggressive. You never know what opportunities might arise.
Make your hobby charitable
Kohl Crecelius, of Newport Beach, Calif., started Krochet Kids, a knit hat company, after his older brother taught him to crochet. Crecelius then passed on the skill to his two friends, Travis and Stewart. As snow sports enthusiasts, they “liked the idea of having our own unique headwear on the mountain,” he says. Soon, friends began placing orders, and the friends had a small business.
Crecelius’ friend, Stewart Ramsey, took a summer trip to Uganda that changed everything. Realizing the people needed a way to earn a fair wage, he suggested the friends expand their business to include a nonprofit sector.
It took many meetings, but soon the friends were “back in Uganda, in a hut, teaching women to crochet,” Kohl says.
Today, 150 people in Uganda and Peru produce the hats, which the friends sell on their website, krochetkids.org. The hats are available at Chicago Nordstrom stores.
“Not surprisingly, doing this business has really increased my own personal happiness,” Crecelius says. “And all I thought I was doing was making a snowboard hat!”
Doing good in the fashion world
As the new social media manager of Lincoln Park “tween” boutique Frankie’s on the Park, I’ve learned about tween and teen fashion trends — and about giving back. While Frankie’s shoppers are arguably privileged, storeowner Lisa Burik says every girl deserves a chance to feel beautiful and enjoy clothes, which Frankie’s mission is helping girls express themselves in a positive way through fashion.
Every December, Frankie’s brings about 50 party dresses to La Rabida Children’s Hospital. The team then invites the patients and their siblings to pick out a dress for the holidays, Burik says. “Most of them have never had a party dress before, and even if the dresses are from last season, they’re still beautiful, and it’s nice to just give them that attention.” The girls keep the dresses, most of which are from the previous season’s collections.
“If you have an idea and a worthy organization, bring it on!” she says.
