Gifting holds a special place in everyone’s heart. The love, the celebration and the feel-good aspect of gifting stirs warmth and joy in the giver and the recipient. Â
But to make gifting even more special, here are some companies that go beyond the basics of gifting to make a deeper impact and make sure that one gift goes a long way.Â
Who are they?Â
Founded in 2008, The Giving Keys is a social impact company working to end homelessness through employment. All their products are assembled, packaged and shipped from Downtown LA by people out of homelessness. Since their inception, they have provided more than 130 jobs for people out of homelessness. Graduates of their program have secured and maintained housing, started their own businesses, regained custody of their children, stayed sober and found a renewed sense of purpose.
How do they make a difference?
The Giving Keys jewellery, which is made by people transitioning from homelessness, pays it forward in a big way: Each one of their products is stamped with an inspirational word like DREAM, CREATE or INSPIRE. When someone is gifted a necklace, bracelet, ring, keychain, or earring set, they’re encouraged to pass it along to someone who needs it more (once they’ve been inspired, encouraged, or strengthened by its message). You’re encouraged to embrace your word, then pay it forward by giving your product to a person who needs the message.
Who are they?
Akola is a globally-inspired jewellery brand, creating beautiful designs to lift up and champion women around the world. Each piece is handcrafted by women in Uganda using local, and sustainable materials such as up-cycled cow horn, raffia sourced from palm leaves, and sisal that comes from the agave plant. Jinja, a city in Uganda, nestled along the banks of the Nile river, is where the product comes to life.
How do they make a difference?
Akola means “she works” in local Ugandan dialect, which makes perfect sense given the brand’s mission to give sustainable, life-giving jobs to women in Uganda. When a woman is employed by Akola, she is more likely to keep her kids in school, gain the skills to generate additional income, and operate as a leader in her community. Akola creates jobs that help women rebuild inner confidence, strength, and the determination to realize their full potential. So far, they’ve employed 183 Ugandan women in poverty, providing financial stability and educational opportunities.
Who are they?
The mission of Lifestraw is to redefine the safe drinking water space through technology, innovation, product quality, and design. They work with governments, donors, and individual consumers to understand the need for safer water. They believe everyone deserves safe drinking water and their intent to meet this basic human need is what drives them to build their products.
How do they make a difference?
LifeStraw’s Give Back program involves more than just dropping off water filters. With volunteers and a dedicated LifeStraw team at crucial sites around the world, the program ensures sustainability through comprehensive planning, training, education and quarterly follow-up visits for a period of 5 years.
Through their effort and consumer participation in the Give Back program, they have delivered 12,238 community filters and provided 3,368,225 kids with safe water for a year.Â
Who are they?
They are a South Carolina-based company that makes candles and other fragrance-related products.Â
How do they make a difference?
What moves them deeply is the world hunger crisis, and specifically how it impacts children across the globe. This led them to partner with Rice Bowls, a non-profit organization that provides food for children in orphanages around the world. When a customer buys a candle, a child is provided three meals, allowing the buyer to be a small part of something big. They believe that achild cannot be a child when they have to think about where their next meal is going to come from, or when they are constantly hungry. By receiving three good meals a day, kids are able to spend their time productively learning, playing, and growing. By providing the funds for the food, Rice Bowls-supported homes are able to focus on important things that otherwise might be out of the budget. Since their partnership with Rice Bowls in 2010, they have helped provide over 10 million meals to children around the world.
Who are they?
An American company, their mission is to make beautiful, well-made, inclusively cool products while using the power of business to give back and shift narratives around social injustices.
How do they make a difference?
For every State bag purchased, they support American children and families in need … in the ways, they need it most. Their giving initiatives include donating fully-packed backpacks at their signature bag drop rallies, fueling #WhatDoWeTellTheKids activations and special projects with partner charities and schools in which they deeply believe. Carried out across the U.S. serving hundreds of thousands of students, these rallies are high-energy, motivational events. STATE’s team of PackMen/Women, DJ’s and celebrities lead a program filled with dancing, inspiring messages encouraging kids to beat the odds often stacked up against them, and of course fully-packed, school-ready STATE backpacks.
This is something new I’ve come across, had never heard about such companies.
It’s hear that you’ve researched and written about them