Be a "Do Gooder" this Holiday Season

As we previously annouced, Kelly and I have formed a new company designed to sell some cool stuff, spread a positive message, and feed children in Guatemala - Do Good, LLC. The url is http://www.do-good-stuff.com.

Because we view our Guatadopt readers as part of our extended family and pride ourselves on being open and transparent, I have written up how this came to be, what it is all about, and where we stand today. So please read on for the full Do Good story.

And we thank you in advance for your support!

The DO GOOD Story…
Last March, Kelly and I were discussing myriad things related to adoptions and Guatadopt. We were in the midst of helping families caught in a scandal. It was clear that reforms to the adoption system were coming down the pipeline and we were not confident reform would come out well for children. We were strapped for time and costs to run Guatadopt were escalating.

The need to have someone truly “on staff” for Guatadopt, which still exists today, became clear if we were to maximize the service it offers to families. We discussed a few ways to potentially raise revenues, realizing all the while that the information and news had to remain free of charge.

In a sad reality, we hypothesized on what happens to Guatadopt should adoptions cease to exist. On this it was very clear that Guatadopt had to serve as a tool to keep families grown through adoption from Guatemala unified, involved, and informed. In addition, Guatadopt needed to move more towards a model to provide direct aid to those in Guatemala, particularly children, who need it.

Then an idea came to mind. Why not create a company to sell things where much of the proceeds go to provide direct aid? After exploring numerous concepts, we came up with the idea of Do Good. We’d create a brand to sell ethically produced items and the sale of each item would feed a child in Guatemala.

A logo concept was developed and numerous rounds of iteration and market research were undertaken to determine fonts, logo size, exact wording, etc. We decided on a preliminary product line and sought out vendors. We researched suppliers, got all the legal work done, and sought out e-commerce solutions.

The Do Good brand is intended as more than just a way to support kids. The name and logo are a message for us all to remember. Look at any religion and it will show you that grace is not earned by what we own; it comes from what we do. The brand is an everyday reminder to Do Good for yourself, your family, your community, the environment, as well as for a child in Guatemala.

We’ve run into many bumps along the way. We’ve had to switch some suppliers, e-commerce is tough, and boy was it a hassle to get the toddler tie-dyes set up! But alas, just in time for the holiday season, things are ready to roll.

Do Good, LLC is a for profit entity. We wish to be clear about that. But within that business model is a social mission. A social mission so strong that should Do Good prove to be a huge success, we will have to modify things because we’re donating above the legal IRS limits. (No, we’re not doing anything illegal. But because we’re an LLC it means that our personal incomes from our regular jobs count in reaching the legal charitable limits). In any case, through an agreement with Orphan Resources, we’ve set this up so that when we say an item feeds a child for a month, it does!

Do Good items are either Made in the USA or purchased through suppliers whose social responsibility policies have been researched and approved. As time goes we hope to build upon our procurement practices to be more socially proactive. Wouldn’t it be cool to have shirts being tie dyed in Guatemala some day?

Long story short, some of our prices may seem high. But the feeding program and dedication to ethically produced items add a lot of cost!

Right now, we are still working out some bugs in our e-commerce system. If for some reason you can’t get an order to go through, just contact us via the Do Good website and we’ll be in touch to place the order manually.

One of the biggest challenges has been trying to figure out inventory. Needless to say, we didn’t create this with huge sums of start-up capital. When you have 10 styles of shirts available in 5 sizes - that is 50 different items to try to predict how they will sell in order to build the correct inventory. For this reason, we are honestly using you, our readers, as guinea pigs of sorts, to see what sells and what doesn’t so that we can do a full-out launch and public relations campaign in 2008. If we run out of a size on a particular style, we apologize and will do much better as things continue.

If you have suggestions for other items you think would be cool to add to our portfolio, please let us know.

Here's a sample of the on-line store with the most beautiful models of them all (picture of myself excluded)...

Posted by Kevin at December 14, 2007 12:00 PM