10% of our profit: who Good-Natured donates to and why

Good-Natured gives 10% of its profit to Christian aid projects. Our long-term partners include Helping Hands in Uganda and Begegnung e.V. with its project in Ethiopia. On top of that, we protect one square metre of rainforest with every order through Wilderness International.

“10% of profits go to charity” appears on plenty of websites. On its own, it explains very little: who receives the money, why profit rather than revenue, and what does it have to do with a shirt or a poster? Here is the longer version.

“A promise to give is not measured by the size of its number, but by whether it still holds in a weak month.”

1. What does “10% of our profit” mean at Good-Natured?

A tenth of our profit goes to Christian aid organisations. The donation is not a promotional discount or a campaign, but a fixed item in our accounts. You can see it on every product page: in the section “What makes up the price?” we show how the price breaks down into fair production, logistics, marketing, donation, contribution margin and VAT. Take the Goodness poster from our Fruit of the Spirit collection, for example: its product page shows the share that goes into the donation.

2. Why profit and not revenue?

Because we want to make a promise we can keep even in a weak month. “From revenue” sounds bigger, but for a small company it is risky: in a bad month, a revenue-based donation can push the business into the red, and then it is often quietly suspended.

“From profit” is reliable. The donation grows when things go well and puts no one at risk when they don't. We would rather have a rule that always holds than one that merely sounds good.

3. Why long-term partners instead of changing campaigns?

Because aid work needs to be able to plan. Supporting a different organisation every time would give us more pictures and more occasions. It would give the partners little: anyone who employs people on the ground or carries projects over years can hardly plan with money that is only promised until the end of the quarter. Long-term partners mean less variety for us and more reliability for them.

4. Who is Helping Hands?

According to its own description, Helping Hands FM Deutschland e.V. helps families at risk of poverty in eastern Uganda, motivated, as the association puts it, by God's love for all people. At its heart is the Village of Eden, a village for orphaned and needy children with a school, a clinic and a church. Through child sponsorships in Germany, the association funds children's schooling. Find out more on the Helping Hands website.

We deliberately say no more than that here. What we contribute is regular money. The organisation describes its own work better than we could. That is also why you won't find stories or photos of children here whose consent we do not have.

5. And Begegnung e.V.?

Begegnung e.V. is an association from Dresden which, since 2011, has had its own NGO in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. Its largest project there is an inclusive kindergarten: children of single parents who come from the street learn English and Amharic, arithmetic and reading, and they do crafts, play and sing together. Once a month the parents come to the project and are taught about topics such as hygiene, family, parenting and microcredit. Find out more on the Begegnung e.V. website.

What connects both projects is the reason we chose them: school, care and medical services have to keep running every day, even when nobody is watching. That requires reliable money rather than one-off campaigns. How donations, materials and forest protection fit together for us is summarised on our sustainability page.

6. Does a donation make a product better?

No. A shirt sewn under poor conditions does not become better through a donation; it only becomes better marketed. The order has to be right: fair production first, then the donation. At Good-Natured we place great value on producing in Europe. A large part of our clothing is made in Portugal, close enough to visit regularly; we explain why in our article on production in Portugal.

7. How does forest protection fit in?

In addition to the 10% of profit, we protect one square metre of rainforest with every order through our partnership with Wilderness International. This applies per order, whether it contains a pair of socks or a hoodie. One square metre of rainforest per order sounds small, but across many orders it adds up.

Conclusion

A tenth of profit to long-term partners, plus one square metre of rainforest per order. No promotional weeks, no big numbers based on revenue, no stories that are not ours to tell. That is less spectacular than many donation pledges, and precisely for that reason one Good-Natured keeps even in a weak month. Whenever you buy something from the Fruit of the Spirit collection or the rest of our range, this share is always included.

What this means for the price of a shirt is calculated in Why fair fashion costs more.