SHORTS | Philanthropy is the Best Motivational Tool with Kate Williams

What we believe and what we've kind of focused into our. What we call our theory of change is that simple actions done repeatedly in a community are how we change the world, essentially, because for the reasons that you're saying is that the 1% does add up. So we're seeing that, you know, as we head towards 1 billion. And also at the same time, we're building an organization and a movement that can get to the next billion and the next billion that's meaningful impact in and of itself. And we know that it's only a part of the dynamic that happens when people join 1%. So to what you described, you know, making the public commitment, you do then think, okay, got to make sure I'm consistent with that. And then there's also the, you know, when you come to a 1% event or, you know, just start kind of being part of the community virtually or more directly, you know, you get ideas. Oh, interesting. That company has figured that out. As far as their packaging goes, or that's a pretty cool initiative. Initiative that they're doing in the 1% community. I'd love to learn more about that. Or. And we. We haven't really talked much about our environmental partners, but they're this amazing community of 5,000 organizations all around the world and you know, doing incredibly innovative stuff to really address these key issues. So we really believe in this power of simple actions done repeatedly in community because it does create this. This incredibly dynamic force where people do start doing more than just the 1%.

Yeah. And just listening to you talk there as well, Kate, it strikes me that probably what the commitment to give 1% of revenue does, I suspect it drives real commitment. Right. Because if we were saying 1% of profit, for example, that could be more of a CSR ticking box. And you can adjust your accounts to make that 1% a little bit less. Kind of if you've had a. Had a tough year, couldn't you. Whereas it is a much more of a real commitment, as you said earlier, come good or bad years, isn't it?

That's.

It strikes me that's one of the strengths of it.

Right? Yeah, It's a real commitment. And that means that sometimes we'll talk to a company and they're like, can't do it. But we really do find that, know, most companies, all. All of our companies who join and stick with it just see this incredible power. And one. One example that I think is always kind of helpful for me and, you know, it's a great example of how our members create so much inspiration in our community. We have a really amazing member Maine Beer company, based here in the US in, in Maine. As the name suggests, they joined when they were pretty small, and they've grown quite a bit with us. And one of the things that they do is internally they talk about their success in terms of the amount of they are giving. So in terms of their 1%, instead of, you know, like most companies do, sort of saying, here's our awesome sales number. It's just math, you know, it's. No, there's. It's just a different way of talking about the same thing. But talk, you know, thinking about it and talking about it differently kind of changes everything. And I think that's the power of the 1% of revenues is like, it's the real math. And if it places some focus, whether or not you take the approach that main beer company has taken, but, you know, in your financials, in your planning, in your strategy, you're going to have to know, you know, follow that 1% through. And that creates some awareness, some commitment to how do we want to align those dollars with what we're trying to do across the company. And that's one of the things we're really intent on, is helping companies to kind of rethink philanthropy from being this end of year. If we have something left over, we'll kind of give it to, you know, a nonprofit that we learn about in the moment. And that's, you know, we have very thoughtful companies. So I'm not saying people aren't thoughtful before they come to us. But it's a spectrum. And many of us do fall into thinking about philanthropy as kind of separate from the other things that we're doing. Whereas what we have learned and what we really share with our companies is. No, no, like, you get to make philanthropy a key lever in your overall strategy. So if you're trying to address climate change or if your business is focused on, you know, a new product and you're trying to eliminate plastic, you can have your philanthropy be part of that. Not just something that's like, separate and different, or it can be something that helps you to tell a different story about what you're doing. Because some companies, you know, that's going to serve them better. It's more about creating connections or creating different stories. So we really love it when, you know, our companies kind of get rolling and really figure out what they're able to do with the 1%. And it just creates this incredible momentum toward integrating it into their overall efforts as a company.

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