Sometimes, we may feel that our individual and everyday activities don’t make much of a difference.
But what if they did? What if people around the world set up their businesses so that every single transaction made a positive difference? What a world that would be; and that is actually the world of Buy One Give One. And it’s now becoming a global movement.
This transaction-based giving movement is now inspiring and transforming our world. It is a new and immediately effective form of philanthropy, serving the worlds poor with practical gifts from every sale.
Several businesses have helped forge the Buy One Give One world and create the start of a global giving movement that is starting to make big news as the ripple effect is felt around the world.
While more and more businesses are starting to see the amazing benefits of Buy1-Give1 transactional giving, many more are starting to come together through Buy1GIVE1™ - a social enterprise based in Singapore.
Buy1GIVE1™ was founded in Australia in 2007 by Masami Sato and David Anttony, the creators of Bouncing Olive in Australia, when they realised that transaction-based giving could be done by any business anywhere in the world. Paul Dunn joined the endeavour and became a part of the founding team shortly after.
Bouncing Olive was one of the earliest known Buy1-Give1 transaction-based giving businesses starting in 2003, where every meal sold fed a child in India.
Buy1GIVE1™ was started so that the original vision held by Bouncing Olive to feed and support millions of children could be amplified and shared globally. Today the vision has expanded so that not only are children being fed, schools are getting much needed lighting, trees are being planted, animals are being supported, people are regaining lost eye sight, pregnant women are getting support with child birth, people are getting much needed operations, kids are receiving educational gifts and homes are being built – and this is just the beginning.
There are three well-known businesses that participate in Buy One Give One transactional giving that have made major headlines for the charity work and contributions they have made.
Tom’s Shoes
This company has inspired countless other companies to do Buy One Give One transaction-based giving. It is one of the leaders in this new movement and also one of the oldest, starting operations in May 2006. Since then they have provided free shoes to thousands of children in developing nations. Over 10,000 pairs have been given in Argentina, 50,000 in South Africa and over 37,000 shoes to children in Ethiopia. In 2008 they planned to give over 200,000 pairs of shoes away to children in the developing world.
Every time you buy a pair of Tom’s shoes a child receives a pair for free.
One Laptop per child (OLPC)
http://laptop.org/en/participate/give-one-get-one.shtml
Nicholas Negroponte is founder and chairman of the One Laptop per Child Foundation commonly known as OLPC. One Laptop per Child hit the headlines first off for announcing that they would create a $100 laptop. Even though the final XO laptop’s came in at $188 each this is still amazing.
The vision for the original XO laptop was that it could be sold cheap enough so that each child in the developing world could receive one. To augment the original vision Negroponte introduced Buy One Give One to the OLPC XO so that with every one purchased, one would be given free to a child in a developing country. Pilot programs for this cheap and free laptop began in 2006 on test laptops. By late 2008 pilots were running in about 30 countries with sales distribution in the US and Europe with about 370,000 laptops shipped so far with Amazon getting involved in late 2008.
In November 2008 Amazon got behind the initiative and sold the One Laptop Per Child XO laptop, a marvel of engineering and pedagogy, on what OLPC calls a "give one, get one" basis: every XO you buy will also pay for one to be given free to a child in the developing world - a true free laptop! Each laptop now sells at Amazon for $399.
This is Buy One Give One philanthropy in full flow supporting the poorest of children to receive absolutely free laptops.
The public response to the new initiative has been exceptional in both sales and praise. And how could the response not be great with kids in need in the developing world receiving totally free laptops.
Not only have the new XO notebooks been super popular, kids have found them super easy to use. They have received lots of superb laptop computer reviews and are fast becoming one of the best-rated computer laptops around.
Energy efficiency is at the heart of the XO notebook because most areas where the laptops will be used have no electricity. Its ultra-low power design makes it a winner using only about 4 watts of power (most laptops use about 60 watts). This means, when there’s no electricity, it can be recharged with alternate power sources like solar power.
SunNight Solar – BOGO Light
SunNight Solar is the company behind BOGO lights – solar powered flashlights where when you buy one, one is given to a family in a developing nation. Mark Bent started the BOGO (Buy One Give One) programme in 2006. Mark’s personal experience of conditions in developing countries allowed him to see how lighting impacts development and overall quality of life.
The future of Buy One Give One as a global giving movement
Transaction based philanthropy or transactional based giving is here to stay. Consumers want to know that they are making a difference with their purchases with many of them walking and talking with their wallets1.
While some businesses like BOGO lights, TOMS shoes and OLPC give a physical product of the same nature, many Buy1GIVE1™ businesses create a resonant giving story to share their giving. So for example a restaurant could feed a child from the sale of every meal, or a coffee shop could provide a child with clean drinking water sourced from their own well each time a cup of coffee is sold, or a TV manufacturer could give the gift of sight to a cataract blind person every time they sell a top-range TV in a Get Vision Give Vision™ arrangement, or a book publisher could support the planning of a tree for each book sold.
The list is endless and the giving is totally effective and powerful. Buy1GIVE1™ giving is accessible and affordable for ANY business anywhere in the world. Giving can start from just 1cent per sale – any business can afford to give that without changing anything in their business. At the end of the day it is not about the amount given but the fact it is given. When more and more businesses join the Buy One Give One giving movement and work together through Buy1GIVE1™, then all the giving is amplified as more and more people benefit. This is a powerful ripple effect.
A large number of businesses now see that Buy1GIVE1™ transaction-based giving allows them literally to share the joy of giving with their customers. At the end of the day the customer knows that they have done the giving if they choose a Buy1GIVE1™ business to shop with. Not only that, but the businesses staff benefit as well from knowing that every time they sell something their company gives something - all of which is tied into a unique and resonant story. No longer is it about giving x amount of dollars or x percentage of sales which a customer does not connect with. It is now about a story that everyone connects with. Buy1GIVE1™ transactional giving just makes sense in so many ways.
CSR becomes Customer Social Responsibility
Buy1GIVE1™ is turning traditional Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) into Customer Social Responsibility. At the end of the day, if the customer is not involved, or does not feel involved in the giving, it does not change much how they directly feel about a brand. As soon as customers feel they are playing an active role in the giving, then their feeling about a brand skyrockets.
1 Goodwill giving report 2008
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