Don’t you just feel better about yourself when you’re drinking a beer that you know is also funding a worthy cause? Or when you find out that bottle of water that rehydrated you also helped give a third world country access to clean water? It’s karma eating made possible by some truly special companies.
Whether it’s a small charity night on the regular, or an entire company that runs on a not-for-profit system, we wanted to highlight these glorious companies who are using their powers for good.
Thank You Group
The Thankyou Group started out in 2008 with one humble plan. To sell bottled water, using funds raised to fund safe water projects in developing nations. When this seemed to be working well, Thankyou Group expanded to also sell muesli and muesli bars, hand lotion, shower gel, and other body care products. The social enterprise now contributes to safe water, food relief, and hygiene and sanitation. So far The Group has helped 106,992 people access safe water across 13 counties, and helped 112,532 people access health and hygiene training in Bangladesh, Laos, India, Myanmar and Vietnam.
Their idea is to give customers a choice for daily consumer products that also gives back. And you can track your impact, following the code on each product sold so you know exactly where your funds are going. How cool is that!
The Thank You Group
thankyou.co/
Feast of Merit
Feast of Merit, owned and run by social enterprise YGAP is a non profit café on the busy Swan Street in Richmond. The stunning rustic space is based on the philosophy of sharing, food and stories. The Middle Eastern inspired menu serves up seasonal produce with a focus on fresh flavours, locally sourced and sustainable ingredients. It’s delicious and that’s even without the side of karma.
All the profits raised go directly to supporting youth education and youth leadership projects in Malawi, Ghana, Rwanda, Bangladesh, Cambodia, and right here in Australia.
Feast of Merit
ygap.com.au/
Anytime Fit Club
Seriously, there’s no excuses not to get into shape. You reap the babe body rewards and The Hunger Project get $20,000 (or at least that’s the goal by April). Anytime Fit Club is a community outdoor training initiative by Anytime Fitness (the training program was created by Shannan Ponton) who is calling together local communities who want to a live a healthier, happier life. You look and feel better, and you can also sleep better at night knowing your gold coin donation has helped ease world hunger and poverty. Held in Sydney at Queens Park, Bondi Junction and Granville Park, Merrylands every Saturday at 8:30am (and coming soon nationally) take part in the group training sessions and think of the contribution you’re making to The Hunger Project’s great work overseas every time you squat.
Shebeen
Drinking a cold one is a hobby we all enjoy, so why not turn your hobby into a charitable affair. Now sipping you favourtie beer brew comes with a side of supporting organisations around the globe. Shebeen, the non profit bar in the Melbourne CBD donates 100% of their profits to a number of organisations across the world including Room to Read who help develop children’s reading skills and support girls to gain secondary education in 10 countries across Asia and Africa, and mothers2mothers (m2m) who use a simple and effective model to eliminate transmission of HIV from mothers to babies and work to sustain the health of African women and children.
At Shebeen, the menu tells you exactly where the profits from each drink goes, so you can have a say.
Shebeen
www.shebeen.com.au/
Who Gives A Crap
These guys deserve a medal. Founded by the same team behind Shebeen, Who Gives A Crap give up 50% of their profits from the sale of their toilet paper to WaterAid, who build toilets and improve sanitation in the developing world. After finding out 2.5 billion people across the globe don’t have access to a clean toilet (about 40% of our population) they figured something needed to be done. To launch they had founder Simon Griffiths sit on a toilet for 50 hours straight to encourage donations for their crowd-funding project. $50,000 later, he got off.
All they ask is that you give a crap.
Who Gives a Crap
www.whogivesacrap.org
Sandhill Road Group Karma Kegs
Sandhill Road Group (Prahran Hotel, Richmond Club Hotel, Bridge Hotel, Post Office Bar Pizza, Holliava, and the Terminus Hotel) likes to give back to the little guy, and what better way to do that than with a keg of the good stuff. Their initiative Karma Kegs runs every Friday night at the group’s pubs. A keg of Carlton Draught is opened and punters decide how much they want to pay until the keg runs out. The proceeds from each keg goes towards supporting smaller community projects that don’t usually get that much attention. These have included Tji Tji Wiru Christmas Kids, Piper’s Bike, and Alannah’s Bed.
It’s a simple way to give back to people who need it. Cheers.
Sandhill Road Group
sandhillroad.com.au/
One Night Stand Sleepwear
A small clothing brand specialising in cheeky nighttime clothes, One Night Stand understands the importance of a good night’s sleep. Selling a handful of items at any one time, they still put giving back on the top of their list of priorities. Every time someone buys an item of clothing, One Night Stand will donate a meal to a young person who is sleeping rough via OzHarvest, a non-profit organisation that delivers meals to over 500 charities across the country.
Go on, you could use a new bed tee and someone in need could definitely use the meal.
One Night Stand
www.onenightstandsleepwear.com
Ladro
Pizza and wine has always been a brilliant combination. So Ladro decided to make something charitable about it. Every Monday night you can bring your own bottle to dinner and hand over $5 for corkage. That $5 goes directly to two different charities, Fitzroy Vinnies and Prahran Mission. Donations so far have helped less advantaged people in both suburbs eat meals they might not have otherwise had access to.
It’s a beautiful thing to be a part of and let’s face it, what’s a $5 corkage fee? Nadda.
Ladro
ladro.com.au/
