Downtown Cartel, in partnership with Always Creative and Matt Fruge, will be launching DesiredHearts.com in the near future. Part of the unique value Desired Hearts is bringing to the online t-shirt business model is the idea of building a donation to charity into the price of the product. With every shirt purchased, a portion of the revenues will go towards a charity of the t-shirt designers choosing.
I have not seen this done in many cases online, but I do feel that it’s a socially responsible thing to do. If more businesses followed this model, where your dollars go directly to charities for things that affect us all, such as the American Cancer Society or Oxfam International, even a fractional percent of sales would add up really fast considering the $14 trillion economy we have in the US alone. The question, and risk of this model, is would you choose to shop at places where you knew that a fixed amount (5-10%) would be going to a charity - or would you shop around to save a few bucks?
An added value that can emerge from this model is the free marketing your products receive if you work in conjunction with the charities you are raising money for. For instance, if you donate $600/mo from your sales to a charity with a large distribution network, like Oxfam International or similar, there is a distinct possibility of having your products marketed throughout their extensive distribution network on a continual basis because of the benefit they receive from your increased sales.
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