Dear Clients and Friends,
It’s almost Thanksgiving, and we’re feeling grateful for our wonderful MORWM community. Thank you for supporting us in our work and in our charitable endeavors this year!
For our eighth annual Giving With Purpose list, we’re offering some suggestions for gifting that have a twist. These companies go about their regular business with a mission and a purpose (much like MORWM and our family of clients). As always, many of these companies are certified B-Corps (also like MORWM). They all give back to the community in some way.
While gathering this year’s list, I’ve been reflecting on the importance of the “why” of a business. For many publicly traded companies, the “why” is profit. For MORWM, the “why” is community – our staff, our clients, and the charities we support. The companies below sacrifice profit in favor of their own “why:” preventing violence or healing the trauma caused by it, healing the planet, feeding the hungry.
We keep thinking we’re going to run out of new ideas for this list, but it hasn’t happened yet! We think this is a good sign for the world.
Here are our top ten picks for 2023:
Homeboy Industries provides hope, training, and support to formerly gang-involved and previously incarcerated people, allowing them to redirect their lives and become contributing members of our community. Homeboy was started by Father Greg Boyle in 1988 to address the need for employment and educational opportunities among youth. Father Boyle spoke at our national conference this year – his inspirational talk had us laughing, crying, and donating $10k as a firm. Their products include a mouth-watering selection of baked goods that you can have shipped anywhere.
Check out these gorgeous, recycled glass votives, manufactured in Glassybaby’s new solar-powered facility in Montana. To date, Glassybaby has donated more than $14 million to nonprofits that promote healing in three main areas: humanity, animals, and the planet. Shout out to my friend Carrie for this idea - thanks, Carrie!
This line of nail lacquer was born from the simple idea of creating an ecofriendly yet high-end product, and it is quickly becoming one of the most sought-after nail polishes. Initially inspired by the twin daughters of one of the founders, the luxury brand took off and now also sells eco-friendly accessories like soy-based nail polish remover. This nail polish is PeTA
Certified, vegan, and made in the USA.
BeCause is a northern California-based apparel company that is focused on empowering others to make small changes in their lives that will benefit the planet. Since 2021 they have planted 951,500 trees and donated close to $300,000 to environmental nonprofits such as the Ocean Cleanup North Pacific Foundation, See Turtles and the Pollinator Partnership.
This B-Corp was featured in our inaugural Giving with Purpose list, and we’re recycling it for this year. They’ve gone through some growing pains and have emerged even more focused on their mission to clean our oceans and waterways. For every product purchased, United by Blue removes one pound of trash from oceans and rivers. To date, they’ve removed over 5 million pounds of garbage (the equivalent of 75 million empty water bottles) from waterways.
All of Paper Culture’s eco-friendly products are made from materials like 100% post-consumer recycled paper, and they offset their manufacturing and transportation carbon footprint, resulting in a carbon-neutral process. Paper Culture plants a tree with every order and have planted over 1 million to date!
Hanahana Beauty seeks to increase accessibility, transparency, and sustainability through the entire life cycle of their products. They ethically source raw ingredients for their skincare products and are dedicated to the
mental wellness of Black and brown Chicago youth, the health and preservation of shea trees in West Africa, and their employees who keep the beauty industry going.
Based in Park City, UT, this company is
focused on making excellent music and
gaming audio gear, as well as mitigating
climate change. They never want their
gear to end up in landfills, and have put
a robust recycling and upcycling process
in place. Skullcandy aims to divert 1 million pounds of waste from landfills by 2025. They are a partner company to
Protect Our Winters, which advocates
with lawmakers regarding climate change topics. Check out their “chillin
out” or “droppin in” gift guides!
This B-Corp produces adorable, sustainable baby gear and toys, while
donating one meal to a hungry child for
every product that they sell. In partnership with Feeding America, they
have donated over 10.6 million meals to
date!
This company makes cozy blankets with eco-friendly fabrics. Its founder, Hannah Kay, is a domestic violence survivor. In her work, she strives to “use her story to show how something meant to harm can birth something so good.” 10% of each purchase is donated to domestic violence shelters by this B Corporation.
Hopefully this list inspired you to give a little more (or a little more deliberately) this holiday season. If you saw something that you liked on this list, we would absolutely love to hear your gifting story.
Happy and healthy holidays from everyone here at MOR Wealth Management!
Amy, Kirsten, and the whole MORWM team