Each Friday, the another jennifer blog shares stories of those who incorporate philanthropy into their everyday lives – personally and professionally – in a creative and unique way. If you have a story you’d like to share, please contact Jennifer.
The Giving Goose™ is a line of clothing that features the drawings of children.
Sounds pretty cute, right?
But this company was started by a 5 year old named Bethany Sawyer who loves to draw. Her parents run a printing and marketing company called Image76 in Massachusetts.
Oh yeah, and 10% of the proceeds from the line are donated to charities picked by the young artists themselves.
The Giving Goose was born after Bethany asked her parents to put a particularly good drawing of a duck on a shirt. They worked with a newly hired graphic designer at Image76, who was also a mom, and the wheels started turning.
Bethany’s goal is to share kids’ artwork with the world while also helping others. When asked why she created the company, Bethany responded, “So other people would see my drawings and other kids’ drawings and so we could give back to charities.”
Bethany’s mom, Nancy Sawyer, tells me that starting the business was a great way to teach her daughter about business, creating and selling a product and the importance of giving back in our daily lives.
The name of the company came from Bethany’s nickname, “Goose.”
The first 6 designs were created by Bethany and her friend Benjamin, who are both featured prominently on the website.
I can see where Bethany gets the inspiration to give. Prior to running the printing business with her husband, Nancy worked in fundraising. She noted in our conversation that giving nonprofit discounts never seems enough when she sees all the amazing work her nonprofit clients do for the community. She also believes strongly in teaching kids to give back early on in life.
In order to keep the stream of artwork coming in for the clothing, The Giving Goose partners with art teachers, artist guilds and preschools. They send out packets with instructions on how to submit artwork to be considered for printing. They have a “judges panel” that consists of artists who choose the winning designs. Kids can also submit artwork online with the help of an adult.
As Nancy says, the whole process “gets kids excited about being part of something bigger than themselves.”
The winners get to choose the charity that will receive the proceeds from their winning design.
Currently, the product line includes baby onesies, bibs, t-shirts and sweatshirts. They hope to expand into more products in the future.
The adorable clothing is modeled by local kids in Bethany’s town on The Giving Goose website. The clothes make great gifts that are not only cute, but actually benefit someone else at the same time.
Another win-win in the philanthropy in business department.
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