How it works
The Virtueconomy Model
Virtueconomy is where commerce, innovation and impact intersect. We work with small businesses, creative professionals, and nonprofits to all help uplift each other and drive nonprofit impact. Buy virtue to transform the way we change the world.
1. SHOP
You shop the Virtue Collective featuring products from our partner businesses.
2. FUEL
A portion of Virtue Collective product sales goes to the Virtueconomy to fuel creative services for a designated nonprofit.
3. CREATE
Our "Highv" of talented professionals create innovative solutions to transform the nonprofit - providing them with leg-ups, rather than handouts.
4. SHARE
Nonprofits are able to grow through innovation and share its impact with the community.
What drives us
OUR WHY
The Problem
Compared to for-profit businesses, nonprofits face significant double standards when it comes to spending on overhead needs such as compensation, advertising and marketing, and IT. Most donors want their donations going directly to the cause and as a result, have a visceral aversion to nonprofits spending on overhead. However, these investments are what will allow nonprofits to move beyond their current cycle of starvation, make a greater impact and succeed in the long-term.
Sadly, the 'Overhead Myth' is crippling the nonprofit sector, stagnating innovation and destroying growth potential. It seems counterintuitive that the very organizations that have altruistically committed themselves to making the world a better place, are often constrained from doing so! As the saying goes, "put on your own oxygen mask before assisting others." How can we expect our changemakers to do what they do best if they're constantly feeling limited?
Dan Pallotta (below) offers an enlightening look at the damage caused by judging charities by their overhead ratio. The overarching metric of success should be about doing the most good and having the greatest impact, not having the lowest expenses.
The Solution
What is the solution to end the nonprofit starvation cycle? First, we must rethink the way we support changemakers and invest in the causes we care about. To reform we must be more informed.
Think of what nonprofits could achieve if they were free to invest in creative marketing to reach and attract more supporters. Free to invest in innovative new ways to fundraise. Free to invest in freshening up their branding, creating a mobile-friendly website, or establishing a more optimized online donation process. Free to invest in improving feelings of fulfillment, preventing "compassion fatigue," and decreasing burnout rates that plague workers and lead to high turnover rates. No successful for-profit business would dare forgo investments in their staff, their marketing efforts, or their IT infrastructure. Why do we expect or allow nonprofits to?! It is clear that if nonprofits invest in themselves, it would free up their time and energy to do what they do best.
This gave rise to Virtueconomy, a unique shared-value model that uplifts and empowers the changemakers of the world. Best of all, this is fueled by the collective consciousness of businesses and consumers, who together make decisions that can liberate the nonprofit industry from the nonprofit starvation cycle, create jobs within the sector, and change it for good.
To lean on an old adage: Rather than giving nonprofits a fish to feed their cause for a day, let’s together teach and help them to fish, so they can feed their cause for a lifetime.