ABOUT US
The Cause Shoppe is a socially-conscious online shop that helps everyday consumers become philanthropists. We connect people with products and services that inspire awareness while supporting our local and global communities. In these trying economic times, buying PhilGoods™ offers opportunities for shoppers' purchases to have a greater purpose -- supporting charities making vital change in our world. The site was officially launched December 2009 by founding partners Brooke Fessler and Romney Snyder with a few hundred favorite products and a promise to become the premier online site featuring PhilGoods™.
- Read Brooke’s + Romney’s bios to learn more about them and the team behind this site.
- Visit our FAQ page for way too much info about how the Cause Shoppe works.
2 GIRLS, 1 COUCH
In 2006 Romney was a manager at Working Wardrobes, an Orange County nonprofit, when they began hiring for her office-mate. When introduced to Brooke, the new girl who would sit feet away from sharing one very long desk, Romney sized her up knowing that in these close quarters it was either going to be love or war. As it goes, the two became fast friends. In addition to sharing an office, a love of sugar-free vanilla lattes, and sometimes a brain, they both shared a dedication to making the world a better place to live. As 20- and 30-somethings often do, they dreamt of being able to make a difference and a living. (As you surely know, nonprofit employees aren’t known for bringing home the big bucks.)
While many stories worth telling find their start with a great bottle of wine, the tale behind the Cause Shoppe is no different… except Brooke and Romney weren’t drinking the wine, they were searching for it. In the midst of planning a gala, Brooke had happened upon a magazine article about wines that made a donation to a charity with every bottle purchased. Deciding these wines would make a wonderful addition to the upcoming soiree, she began an extensive, albeit fruitless, search in which she “found the end of the internet”… but not the wine. “Why isn’t there a site that has all these products on it?” Brooke muttered to Romney under her breath. (Insert a pregnant pause here.) Their eyes met, they smiled and they fell in love... with the idea, not with each other! (Sorry guys, it’s not that kind of story!)
Over the next few weeks they donned their research hats and began scouring the internet to try and find a website that showcased a vast assortment of philanthropic products that they would feel comfortable visiting and excited about referring friends to. And still, nothing. With confirmation they’d found a niche to be filled, Give Twice, LLC was formed on December 7, 2007 and a few months later they began doing business as the Cause Shoppe.
Clearly not vying for any “Fastest Start-ups Awards,” Brooke and Romney spent the next two years conducting business from Romney’s living room couch, encouraging the business plan to write itself, finding that efforts to save money can be incredibly expensive, and embracing the fact they’d have plenty of great stories to tell one day. During that same time, both ladies transitioned into positions with new organizations, all the while continuing to seek out amazing products that not only benefited a charity with every purchase, but created conversations about critical topics facing our community and our world.
FINDING PHILGOODS™
Early on a few things became apparent: a lot of big companies were investing a lot of resources into developing products that would do a lot of good. It also became apparent that regardless of the media attention on “cause-related products”, “retail philanthropy” and “cause marketing” there was no standard, easy-to-say name for these products. With that, the term PhilGoods™ was born: these products really are Philanthropic Goods that make you feel good! It’s the hope of the Cause Shoppe that this term will ultimately play a key role in helping companies market their individual PhilGoods, giving a universal term consumers can recognize as a product that is doing good and giving back.
So what constitutes a PhilGood™? There are three ways a product or service can qualify:
- For every PhilGood sold, an equal or similar product is donated to a charity (i.e. TOMS Shoes “One for One” campaign in which a pair of shoes is given to a child in need for every pair sold)
- A portion of proceeds (from 1% to 100%) of every sale is donated to a charity (i.e. Rachel Ray’s Oven Lovin’ brand cookware which donates 100% of proceeds to her charity, YUM-O!)
- A specific monetary gift is given to a charity with every purchase (i.e. Zales’ Shared Heart collection which donates $5 from every purchase to Autism Speaks)
In addition to being philanthropic, PhilGoods™ are specifically created or marketed in a way as to create a conversation to bring awareness for the cause that is being supported.
IDENTIFYING THE NEED
Not to bore with statistics – but we really do love a great statistic – the 2008 goodpurpose™ global study, conducted by StrategyOne marketing group found that 76% of consumers say they like to buy brands that make a donation to worthy causes while only 25% say they are content with the shopping experience (down nearly 20% from 2007). Brooke and Romney weren’t included in that survey, but they might as well have been! The more they searched the internet they began to feel that charity shopping was often synonymous with cheap looking, hard-to-navigate sites that neither one would want to spend any time at. While there are great sites that target a specific brand, cause or charity, there really was a need for a cohesive site to bring all these products together under one roof: a one-stop-shop of PhilGood finds!