A Pioneer Of The Philanthropic Enterprise, Newman’s Own Leads The Way For Others
When the cocktail bar Coup–short for coup d’etat–opened in New York’s East Village in mid-April, promising to donate 100% of all profits to charities whose missions might be affected by the Trump Administration, it joined the rank of a growing number of companies with a fairly nontraditional business plan: Rather than simply make a profit, these places are experimenting radical form of conscious capitalism: Cover costs, pay fair wages, and then donate rest in a way that’ll improve society.
The list of companies employing this type of business arrangement now includes Fetch eyewear in Portland, Oregon, which puts all proceeds toward animal rescue, and the Ex Novo brewpub, also in that city, which gives to a rotating menu of local charities addressing things like teenage homeless, or urban farming operations. There’s Finnegan’s, a brewery in Minneapolis with its own community fund to feed the hungry, and Impact Makers, a management and technology consulting firm in Virginia, which is working to fund health clinics and programs addressing child poverty. . .