Innovate For Good

This month, Not For Sale launches our #InnovateForGood campaign. We’ll be celebrating outside-the-box thinkers who are creating solutions for injustice through entrepreneurship, and sharing stories of global impact from innovators in the Not For Sale ecosystem and beyond!

Why We Innovate For Good

Human Trafficking is a complex issue, with deep roots in racial and gender inequality, poverty, and many other forms of injustice.

Entrepreneurship, innovation, and technology are powerful tools in the fight against human trafficking. Using these tools, we can work to ensure systems that protect, empower, and offer opportunity to people who are vulnerable to being trafficked.

One of the biggest ways Not For Sale innovates for good is through building and partnering with businesses that are committed to funding freedom and creating dignified and stable jobs.

Business might not be your first thought when it comes to setting up systems to reduce injustice and exploitation. After all, we’re used to stories in the news about corporate greed, products made in sweatshops by exploited workers, unequal wages, and human rights violations. It’s true, business can be used to exploit or hold power over a more vulnerable group – which is why it’s incredibly powerful when an entrepreneur or company decides to make a radical move toward doing business differently.

What does it look like to “Innovate For Good”?

Innovating for good takes on many different forms in the Not For Sale ecosystem. It always starts with a fresh new idea, and a desire to do things differently. Check out these three stories of innovation in action from our programs and partners:

A Snack Can Change the World

Square Organics started with a passion for health and wellness, and the drive to create a high quality product that filled a need in the snack market for protein-rich and allergen free energy bars. Square Organics’ founders, Sarah and Drew, knew early on that they wanted their company to make a positive impact on the world in more ways than one. This led them to partner with Not For Sale, setting aside a portion of the company’s profits every quarter to donate to programs around the world. This revenue is funneled toward Not For Sale projects to fund education, housing, clean water, nutrition, and emotional support to those who have been exploited. Square Organics is proof blending profit and purpose: so far, $42,983 has been contributed to Not For Sale.

Offering Dignity and Equality through Creating Jobs

Innovating for good can also look like using a fresh new approach to tackle an issue of injustice. Not For Sale South Africa partners with Surfers Not Street Children, a youth program that uses surf lessons to draw homeless kids off the street and into an educational program. The program’s surf lessons are part of a holistic approach that also incorporates housing, education, and counseling. Learning to master the waves is a vital component in restoring dignity and promoting healing for each child. There’s something about this combination of practical care, self-sufficiency, and sport that works – with street kids following in the footsteps of program participant and 15-year-old top surfer Sne Makhubu. She is not only excelling in the sport of surfing, landing sponsors and competing, but serving as an ambassador for change. Sne inspires street kids in Durban, South Africa, who are still trying  to imagine a different future, and forge a new path for themselves as Sne has done.

One Young Woman Making Waves

Innovating for good can also look like using a fresh new approach to tackle an issue of injustice. Not For Sale South Africa partners with Surfers Not Street Children, a youth program that uses surf lessons to draw homeless kids off the street and into an educational program. The program’s surf lessons are part of a holistic approach that also incorporates housing, education, and counseling. Learning to master the waves is a vital component in restoring dignity and promoting healing for each child. There’s something about this combination of practical care, self-sufficiency, and sport that works – with street kids following in the footsteps of program participant and 15-year-old top surfer Sne Makhubu. She is not only excelling in the sport of surfing, landing sponsors and competing, but serving as an ambassador for change. Sne inspires street kids in Durban, South Africa, who are still trying  to imagine a different future, and forge a new path for themselves as Sne has done.

You can be a part of the movement

In order to make “business done differently” work toward freedom, we are changing the system. We need entrepreneurs and innovators with fresh new ideas. We need companies who will operate from a place of transparency, good ethics, and care for the global community. We need conscious consumers who are willing to make different choices when they think about the impact of their purchases.

Our everyday purchases could be funding freedom. Think about this: in the USA, we spend an average of $173 per week on food. $1,700 is the average amount a family spends on clothing. What if we were to divert some of those dollars that we’re already spending toward contributing toward the freedom and dignity of others? Companies have the power to innovate for good, but that power is only as strong as the consumers who choose to support those companies and champion their cause.

When you purchase a product from Square Organics, REBBL, Spence Diamonds, Boll & Branch, Z Shoes Organic, Vele, ALEX AND ANI, AllSaints, and Bumble Bee Foods, you are choosing to support companies who #InnovateForGood as part of the Not For Sale ecosystem.

Want to partner with Not For Sale? Know an entrepreneur who wants to innovate for good? Put them in touch with our team: team@notforsalecampaign.org.

Ready to learn more about our impact brands, and how our programs around the world benefit from how they #InnovateForGood? Stay tuned for a wealth of stories and information, and be sure that you’re signed up for our upcoming newsletters – including invites to our Innovate For Good conferences and other events around the world.