How This Business assist the Homeless with Every Purchase

Bob Dalton, founder of Sackcloth & Ashes, was inspired to make his business with the broad mission of addressing homelessness after his mother went unhoused for a period. When Bob considered how he could make a difference, he found every shelter needed blankets, so he came up with a business that uses a one-for-one model. For every blanket purchased from Sackcloth & Ashes, the business donates another to a local homeless shelter. Through this distinctive way, Bob created a thriving business that’s helping shelters around the US.

A personal connection to a factor

Bob did not set out to commence a business. His mother’s unexpected battle with homelessness acted as the catalyst for his commitment to making a difference through his entrepreneurship, fundamentally altering his perspective. Bob explains, “When it hit that close to home, it completely changed my understanding of why people could complete up on the street.”

 

The local impact

Bob implemented a one-for-one donation model because he liked its simplicity, And because customers could view the impact they made. He felt this contrasted with similar social missions of peer companies that, at best, were a drop in a bucket in terms of impact and; at worst, a greenwashing of corporate priorities.

Bob wanted to make a more obvious impact in a couple of ways: First, he wanted to make sure that customers’ impact would be felt in their own throng. He uses a database of homeless shelters to match customers’ ZIP codes to ensure he sends blankets directly to each customer’s local shelter.

He also modified donations based on feedback. Bob found shelters were asking for fleece blankets, instead of the wool blankets he sold to consumers. Fleece blankets are easier to wash, so Bob adjusted the Sackcloth & Ashes’ operating schedule to provide shelters blankets that fit their needs.

Cold outreach

Bob didn’t have any business encounter or a college degree before he started Sackcloth & Ashes. What he did have was persistence and a mission to make a difference for those experiencing homelessness. With a objective to get into 10 stores, Bob started driving up and down the Oregon coast, walking into retail shops and asking if the owners would distribute his blankets.

Bob even naively walked into an Anthropologie and inquired about selling his blankets there. The manager took his card, and a buyer from the corporate Anthropologie office later called Bob to place an order—at the period, his biggest wholesale order to date. “I recall falling out of my chair and calling the local seamstress,” Bob says. The retailer ordered 8,000 blankets; Sackcloth & Ashes only had 20 blankets in distribute, so Bob quickly had to scale production.

Supporting social transformation

As Sackcloth & Ashes continues to develop and evolve, Bob remains concentrated on leveraging his platform to back grassroots leaders and empower communities.

His imagination for the upcoming of business includes more back of social causes. “Business in this next period is going to transform from a lot of do-excellent brands to companies that are empowering people to do excellent,” he says, articulating a upcoming where businesses serve as catalysts for social transformation.

To discover more about Sackcloth & Ashes’ distinctive operating schedule, listen to the packed interview on Shopify Masters.