✏️ More than 30,000 students in Charlotte, North Carolina were absent from school on Monday in protest of ICE’s presence in the city and the deportations of their classmates.
Businesses doing good
Emma Bäcklund/courtesy Patagonia
Three years after its ‘radical ownership’ restructuring, Patagonia has given another $180 million to nature
Three years ago, Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard made an unprecedented move. Instead of selling the multibillion-dollar retailer or taking it public, they created a new trust and nonprofit that would use the company’s profits to fight climate change and protect nature.
It hasn’t changed the day-to-day operations of the company, but the change has amplified its environmental work. While it pioneered the “Earth tax” in the 1980s, giving 1% of all profits to environmental charities, about $10 to $15 million a year.
Since the company restructured in late 2022, Patagonia has far surpassed that, giving $180 million to the Holdfast Collective, the group of five nonprofit trusts that the company created to fund environmental work.
Why is this good news?While so many companies aim for more (and more) profits at any cost, Patagonia’s successful restructuring proves it’s possible to do things differently, with people and the planet as a top concern.
Washington’s “Souperman” leads a 6,000-person Facebook group in giving away free, homemade soup to anyone in need
In the winter of 2023, Chris Hyde of Olympia, Washington had recently retired, felt isolated at home, and the dark Pacific Northwest days left him feeling “borderline depressed.”
He started cooking soup, and had an epiphany: he’d make it for his neighbors, too. He started a nonprofit, Souper Sunday, and in a now 5,900-person Facebook group, members post when they have a meal available — and people in need respond to coordinate pickup.
Hyde himself makes about 25 to 35 portions of soup every day, five days a week. It’s grown so much that there are 11 total Souper Sunday Facebook groups in cities across Washington, California, and Montana.
“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’”
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