Companies Doing Good

What can I say? I'm a sucker for socially responsible business plans.

Here are two great companies that recently came to my attention. They both have combined philanthropy and social justice in their businesses, albeit in very different ways.

GOOD Magazine is a company that, when you subscribe, gives your subscription fee to a non-profit of your choice. Why do this instead of just giving the money away yourself? Because GOOD Magazine is also a publication that gives you real news and information, not that dumbed down version that you find on the newsstand these days. The power of knowledge, plus the support of organizations doing well, can lead to real change!

Summa Cum Laude Tutors takes a different approach to doing good. They enlist volunteer medical students to tutor high-income high school kids in Manhattan, and use the fees generated by this to give to worthy non-profit organizations. The med school kids gain skills in teaching and helping others towards academic success, and by volunteering, commit themselves to public service. Everybody wins!

These small businesses are showing that companies can really make a difference. Their philanthropy doesn't have to be a side job, either. I hope we see more and more of these business plans in the future.