In his book "Compassionate Capitalism," Marc Benioff suggests that if every corporation in the world devoted one percent of its revenues, one percent of its employees' time, and one percent of its stock to the communities it serves, it would change the world.
Recently, I've had the privilege of working with a company that goes a step further. TOMS Shoes, a small company in Santa Monica, CA, sells a modern version of the traditional Argentinian alpargata shoe. And for every pair they sell, they give a free pair to a child in need. That's their motto: "One for One."
TOMS was started by Blake Mycoskie, and entrepreneur and previous participant in "The Amazing Race." In 2006, Blake went to Argentina intending to take polo lessons. While he was there, he befriended local children and noticed that many of them had no shoes. This has several consequences:
- Children develop cuts and sores from unsafe roads and contaminated soil. These cuts become infected and can lead to life-threatening diseases.
- Walking is often the primary mode of transportation, and a pair of shoes allows a child to walk much further distances for food, water, shelter and medical help.
- Shoes are often a required part of school uniform in developing countries, and owning a pair of shoes can mean the difference between receiving an education and being condemned to a lifetime of poverty.
- The leading cause of disease in developing countries is soil-transmitted parasites which enter the body through pores or sores on the soles of the feet.
- An estimated 740 million people are infected with hookworms, which enter the body through the skin when people walk barefoot.
- Millions of people are at risk for podoconiosis, which is caused by walking barefoot in volcanic soil. Fine silica enters the lymphatic system through the pores on a person's feet, and causes feet and legs to swell to gigantic proportions. Sufferers experience pain and loss of function, and are often ostracized because of their deformities. And the disease is completely preventable, just by wearing shoes.
When Blake returned from his 2006 visit to Argentina, he tried to figure out a way to help. His first thought was to raise money via family and friends, and buy shoes for the children he'd met. But he realized that this would only be a temporary solution. The children would outgrow the shoes, and then what? How many times can you raise money for the same cause? Eventually, people cease to be excited and donations drop.
Instead, Blake decided to create a company based on the principle of compassionate capitalism. The company would sell products and become profitable, but would also donate an equal number of those products to children in developing countries. Since the beginning, TOMS has given away over 140,000 pairs of shoes, and plans to give away over 300,000 pairs in 2009.
The thing that's interesting about TOMS is that their mission to supply needy children with shoes makes every TOMS owner an evangelist for the cause.It becomes a point of pride to wear your support on your feet, and to tell everyone you meet about their background. It doesn't hurt that they're cute, too. :)
I could go on and on about TOMS and the things they're doing. Instead, I'll add some links at the bottom of this post and you can see for yourself what a cool company they are.
One thing I DO want to mention here is the collaboration between TOMS and Facebook. This week, Facebook reached 200M users, and they celebrated by asking 16 charitable organizations to design two items for the Facebook Gift Shop. TOMS was one of the chosen organizations, and we launched a new TOMS facebook page to coincide with the promotion.
Here's how it works: When you buy a $5 or $10 TOMS gift in the gift shop and send it to a Facebook friend, the money is donated to TOMS' charitable arm, Friends of TOMS. Not only that, but if you post the name of the recipient on the wall of the TOMS facebook page, both you AND the recipient get a coupon for $5 off a pair of TOMS. So basically, you get to donate the money for free!
The $5 "shoe" gift (left) and the $10 "shoe drop" gift (right).
The catch is that this promotion ends on Sunday. So there isn't much time left. Visit the gift shop and send a gift. You'll bring a smile to a Facebook friend, and a pair of shoes to a needy child. What could be a better combination?
Links:
Treehugger interview with Blake Mycoskie (part 1)
Treehugger interview with Blake Mycoskie (part 2)
Mahalo Daily interview with Blake Mycoskie
