thisshirthelps

A few weeks ago, I met the founder of www.thisshirthelps.com by phone. Joe, based in Los Angeles (& in the same circles as TOMS Shoes folks) is a passionate change-maker whose company sells something practical & desirable--soft, simple luxe shirts--and directs a portion of proceeds to causes and social good with transparency and intention. They work closely with their philanthropy-partners to capture outcomes and results of their funding and share this with their shoppers.

This is the 'selfish' part of giving these days: people are savvy, they may have been tainted by stories like the Red Cross after Hurricane Katrina. No one likes to be deceived, especially not after choosing to give away their hard-earned cash to drop down the well (a seemingly more useful well, but a well at that) of world-betterment. As a nonprofit manager, it certainly creates more work for me in reporting, statistics, case studies and the like, but I don't blame them.

The energizing part is what Joe represents: our generation now owns businesses and stands on both sides of the transaction. We vote with their choices each day, and those of us who live in cities surely know about the virtues of minimalism and conservatism. It's time to consider spending a little more and getting a little less (materially) in return to help these guys win out.

Companies like Joe's also act as a filter, sifting through the myriads of nonprofits and NGO's to pick ones that are filling a special need or doing it especially well. Your average Joe (pun intended) may not have time for a vetting or follow-up process, so This Shirt Helps actually serves both functions: of fundraising and of filtering for need or impact.

So next time our household needs undershirts (yes, we wear unisex and almost the same size), instead of buying the three-pack, we will consider two slightly more expensive shirts and facilitate some social good at the same time.

compostable disposables

Yesterday marked t-minus three months until my wedding day (woot!). In the vein of this blog--searching out the best products on the market that fill your needs and not new landfills--I've been on the hunt for disposable cutlery, plates and bowls for the casual-dining parts of the wedding weekend.

In my quest, I have learned that there is a wide spectrum of carriers and types, from boutique-feeling Branch Home (based in SF), to more-commercial letsgogreen.biz or Food Service Warehouse. Google-searches are all over the map, with sites for restauranteurs next to those geared toward individuals throwing a 50-person party. Shopping aggregates like NexTag.com are even more confusing, with less listing info and hard-to-find quantity counts.

So I began to click through site after site to get my bearings. Funny enough, prices don't seem that different if you order from a small specialized company or larger restaurant provider; the biggest difference lies in whether you can order by 50 or crates of 1,000. All I care about is that these wares are eco-sound, look decent (and not cheap or too imitation-styrofoam-y: this is the hardest part to the online shopping experience) and don't cost one million. Like many parts of planning a wedding, buying these eco-wares is part of representing our values as a couple--but it's also a means to an end, in this case eating delicious food and then moving on to the next activity.

I was all set to go with Branch, but then I found BGreen, which carries the 6-oz bowls I wanted for ice cream, plus easy add-ons like napkins and trash can liners. I'm afraid this could be a wormhole of a research-project if I don't commit to a company and place the order. Eeny, meny, miny....

image credit BGreen Today