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Australian charity Bridge It has attracted the attention and support of some of Australia\u2019s most high-profile retail brands, including Mecca, Decjuba, Merry People and Wanderlust.<\/p>\n
The Melbourne-based charity is on a mission to end youth homelessness and has been backed by Richard Branson.<\/p>\n
Last week, supplements brand Wanderlust invited Carla Raynes, Bridge It\u2019s founder and CEO, to be interviewed by America\u2019s sweetheart Drew Barrymore in a series of couch discussions as part of the brand\u2019s True North events series.<\/p>\n
Wanderlust is donating a percentage of the proceeds from the ticket sales to Bridge It, with the charity expecting to receive over $75,000 from the event. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we unite and unleash the collective power of business and not-for-profit wisdom, real change can happen,\u201d Carla Raynes, Bridge It\u2019s CEO and founder, told Inside Retail<\/em>.<\/p>\n Melbourne-based gumboot business Merry People is also donating a percentage of the proceeds from a limited-edition boot it launched last month in collaboration with Bridge It. <\/p>\n The collaboration is part of Bridge It\u2019s inaugural \u2018The One to End Youth Homelessness\u2019 campaign, which asks businesses to donate the profits of one thing relevant to them.<\/p>\n Merry People has committed to donate 20 per cent of the sales revenue from the collaboration boot to fund Bridge It\u2019s Cocoon housing project, which provides a home for young women at risk of experiencing homelessness to recover, stabilise, develop life skills, and prepare for long-term housing.<\/p>\n The Cocoon project started with $20,000 of private funding and has raised $2.5 million since its inception with no Government support to date. \u201cA lot of that money has come from business,\u201d Raynes said.<\/p>\n Merry People\u2019s CEO and founder Danielle Pearce told Inside Retail<\/em> that while the brand is a for-profit business, it is also a purpose-driven business, and she sees that as being key to its commercial success.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you have strong values, that\u2019s attractive to people,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n \u201cWhen people have come into the Merry People workplace, they\u2019ve been drawn to us by our values and the way we do business, that attracts talent.\u201d <\/p>\n She saw these shared values in Raynes\u2019s vision for Bridge It, which led to the collaboration as a way to support the charity.<\/p>\n This is not the first time Merry People has launched a limited-edition product to support a charity. Its Mother\u2019s Day Classic boot raised $90,000 to help fund breast and ovarian cancer research, Pearce said. <\/p>\n While there are marketing and manufacturing costs associated with these partnerships, Pearce said that \u201cbeing able to do that felt important and we factored that into our budget\u201d. <\/p>\n \u201cYou could look at it and go, that’s an expense but I don’t look at it like that, it\u2019s an important part of our business, and we\u2019ll keep doing it. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m privately funded, I don’t have investors that could bail me out if I get it wrong, so I am conservative with my planning and growth targets.\u201d<\/p>\n Merry People\u2019s Bridge It boot is now one of the brand\u2019s best sellers, and based on the current run rates is likely to sell out within days.<\/p>\n As evidenced by Merry People, creating impact through charity donations and affiliations can be a great way for businesses to attract talented staff and conscious customers.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you do good, you\u2019ll attract more customers and retain great staff,\u201d Pearce said.<\/p>\n Raynes credits Bridge It\u2019s entrepreneurial grit for attracting the support of businesses like Merry People. \u201cBusinesses see themselves in us,\u201d she said, noting that \u201cRichard Branson was one of our earliest backers.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe’re not waiting for the ducks to be lined up, something needs to happen now, and we are going to go for it, that’s been a big connection for businesses and retail, with Bridge It,\u201d Raynes said.<\/p>\n Mecca, Decjuba and now Merry People all continue to support Bridge It through various means.<\/p>\n In addition to donating multi-year untied funding to Bridge It, Mecca provides Raynes with intense leadership training. \u201cThey know that Bridge It is more likely to thrive if I’m thriving,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cDecjuba provides significant multi-year untied funding and they give me a lot of moral support and are a sounding board,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n \u201cMerry People took a bit of a punt on us, being our first partner on \u2018The One\u2019 campaign.\u201d <\/p>\n Meanwhile, wellness and vitamin brand Wanderlust donated a percentage of the proceeds from its recent \u2018An Evening with Drew Barrymore\u2019 events in Sydney and Brisbane to Bridge It. <\/p>\n \u201cDonations are now up to $25,000 and still going, so it will be over $75,000 we have raised due to this Wanderlust event,\u201d Raynes said.<\/p>\n Wanderlust\u2019s True North events have been operating since 2009 and are hosted to deepen and expand personal wellness through the shared joys of movement, music, inspiration and conversation. Community and giving back through charity initiatives is a big theme of these events.<\/p>\n Last week\u2019s \u2018Evening with Drew\u2019 events saw a unique collection of businesses unite: Chemist Warehouse was a major partner, with Garnier and Hyatt Regency as supporting partners alongside Monash University\u2019s \u2018bringing wellness and wellbeing into the workplace\u2019 initiative.<\/p>\n Joining Barrymore on the couch across the two nights were business owners and public figures like Terri Irwin, Michael Klim, Danni Minogue, Baker Boy, G Flip and Tone and I, and even a Wiggle \u2013 Emma Watkins.<\/p>\n The events served as somewhat of a blueprint for Raynes’s call on retailers to harness \u201cthe power of the high street,\u201d through Bridge It\u2019s \u2018The One to End Youth Homelessness\u2019 campaign.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen it comes to challenging issues like homelessness, there’s absolutely no room for competition, only collaboration,\u201d Raynes said.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to have Cocoons in every state of Australia and I want the Cocoon to be considered the gold standard, best practice response to alleviating or ending youth homelessness in Australia.<\/p>\n \u201cTo do that we need to harness the incredible power of business, Government I’m confident is going to come to the table and partner with Bridge It, but it’s never going to be enough.\u201d<\/p>\n The post Drew Barrymore, Aussie retailers and Bridge unite to fight youth homelessness appeared first on Inside Retail Australia.<\/p>\nMerry People<\/h3>\n
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