Profit With Purpose: Chiro1Source Launches a New Campaign to Feed the Hungry

As a kid, I set a goal of making a lot of money. That objective drove me for years — until I realized it left me with a very empty feeling. That’s when I made giving to others one of my most pressing goals.

I loved the movie “Pay It Forward,” and I try to practice that principle in our business. In recognition of the Worldwide Day of Giving this month, we will donate 10 meals to Feeding America for every order placed during June. Feeding America is a nonprofit network of 200 food banks and 60,000 meal programs, with a great track record of low administrative expenses and high impact. This charity delivers 10 meals to hungry people for every $1 received.

Chiro1Source has contributed $25,686 to Feeding America since 2021, providing more than a quarter of a million meals. I believe it’s important to go public about your giving as a business in hopes of inspiring others to participate. During our last fundraising campaign in 2022, when we donated a percentage of sales of our HeartNSoles insoles and Chiro1Source T-shirts to Feeding America, some customers chipped in extra dollars and asked me to donate more meals on their behalf.

An expert speaker once argued that for-profit organizations should engage in more direct charitable giving. The problem with nonprofit fundraising, he said, is that it depends on people with money. The problem with most for-profit organizations is that they make a lot of money and don’t bother giving any of it away. He argued that for-profit businesses could make a bigger impact if they gave directly to chosen causes.

Companies that do this can make a big splash. TOMS, a shoe and apparel company, created a stir when it launched its “Buy One Give One” program in 2006, promising to donate shoes to needy recipients for every pair purchased. Over the next 14 years, TOMS gave away 100 million pairs — so many that critics blamed the company for hurting footwear industries in recipient countries. By 2021, TOMS shifted to partnering with grassroots organizations to meet community needs, including improving mental health resources and ending gun violence.

The brewer Stella Artois had a similar impact with its clean water initiative, Pour It Forward (a spin-off on Pay It Forward). For every six-pack sold, the company gave six months of clean water to recipients in the developing world. Since 2015, the campaign has benefited 1.5 million people worldwide.

In my experience, the good feeling you get from paying it forward lasts long after you forget the money you gave. During the pandemic, I participated in the $100 Tip Club campaign to help struggling service workers. I still remember the look on the face of the friendly, efficient young waiter who served my wife and me at a high-end Italian pizza restaurant. After I signed off on my $100 tip, my wife and I could still see him through the restaurant’s large glass windows. He studied the receipt excitedly and rushed to show it to his co-workers. Then he sat down in a corner and leaned back against the wall, smiling. It was clear our small gesture had made his day.

Someday, we may live in a world where the only businesses that survive are those that pay it forward via thoughtful, systematic charitable giving. If that sounds like a good idea, consider spending a little of your revenue to help those in need. You could donate to Feeding America a percentage of each chiropractic adjustment you do for a patient this month or share your revenue from sales of a particular product.

These efforts are sure to be noticed and appreciated by your patients. And based on my experience, they will also make you feel great!

-Josh Walker