All For Impact: Thankyou’s Mission to Use Business as a Force for Good
Actions > Words.
At Thankyou, we’re about creating long-lasting change for humanity. We exist to prove that consumerism can be a force for good, joining the many businesses out there using the power of what’s in their hand to create real impact.
But it’s not just about saying the right things, it’s about doing the right things in all that we do – from the way we make our products, to the way we conduct our giving practices, and treat our partners.
This isn’t us bragging about being recognised for doing good, it’s about us (you + we), and the small steps and choices we all make every day that have the ability to create positive change.
This is not business as usual.
Thankyou is a certified social enterprise, which is a term given to a business that exists to solve social, cultural or environmental issues. While the focus is still on generating profit – a portion (or all!) of these profits are utilised to fulfil the business mission.
For us, we give all of our profit to the only shareholder of Thankyou, the Thankyou Charitable Trust, which distributes its funds to our impactful change-makers. This is why you’ll often see us refer to Thankyou as being all-for, because we’re all-for the end of extreme poverty.
We’re all-in on impact.
Every day at Thankyou, we pursue what it means to be a true purpose-led business, living out the true values of being a social enterprise at our core – using business to solve social issues, not just generate revenue.
Being recognised as a social enterprise officially ensures that our profit has a clear, accountable path to impact. It’s not just a nice-to-have; it’s the foundation of everything we do.
Earning a Social Traders Certification in Australia isn’t easy, but that’s for good reason. To qualify, a business must prove:
That over 50% of its revenue is generated through trade. ✔
That the majority of profits are directed toward a social or environmental mission. ✔✔
That impact is embedded into its operations, not just a nice afterthought. ✔✔✔
The process is rigorous, requiring detailed financial and operational transparency to ensure that businesses claiming to do good are actually doing it. But honestly? That’s exactly how it should be.
Never, ever, break rule 1.
To help see our mission realised, we offer consumers a product choice that exists for one purpose only; to help create a world where not one person lives in extreme poverty.
Good for you, good for humanity.
This encompasses what every Thankyou product should embody.
When it comes to making products, we live by these two rules:
We empower consumers to have a choice to choose products that are:
Good for you – good for the person buying, receiving and using it; mentally, physically
Good for humanity – every Thankyou product should have a net positive impact on our world, including the projects to end extreme poverty, and the environment, people and businesses involved in our supply chain.
Thankyou exists to turn consumerism into a vehicle that spreads positive impact of products to as many people as possible, all over the world.
Proof that when we say good, we mean it.
In our relentless pursuit of embodying what it means to be a social enterprise, and maintaining our Social Enterprise Certification by Social Traders, we’ve also achieved the criteria for several other global sustainability and impact recognitions to reinforce our line-up that backs up the ‘good’ and show you that when we say good, we mean it.
Recently, we became B Corp Certified, joining other initiatives we participate in, such as our Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation membership and being a signatory to the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC).
These initiatives certainly look good on the environmental resume, but they’re more than that. They’re an opportunity for us at Thankyou, and other businesses and organisations, to hold ourselves accountable to the highest standards of good business.
In a world where “purpose” can sometimes be more marketing than meaning, real accountability matters, and we’re big on demonstrating that actions > words.
A (certified) business, for good.
Oh, you noticed that? That casual mention of becoming B Corp Certified?
The rigour required to truly operate as a social enterprise has also made us eligible for other certifications along the way – our most recent being our B Corp Certification, making us globally recognised for reaching the high standards of social and environmental performance, governance, and transparency.
A B Corp Certification is given to organisations and businesses through the B Impact Assessment, helping to measure positive social and environmental impact performance. The assessment results in a B Impact Score, of which a minimum verified score of 80 points is the first step towards B Corp Certification.
The global average for companies applying to be a B Corp is 50.9. We scored….🥁
102.1 🤯
And while our score of 102.1 has us gushing, it also has us joining only 7,000+ B Corps globally (roughly 0.00190.0021% of all companies in the world 1 ).
Obtaining our B Corp Certification complements Thankyou’s efforts in becoming better in our own journey of continuous improvement, but also for the broader social and environmental good that we and other businesses contribute to.
Cool awards and recognition are nice, but real action is nicer
What matters more than our (impressive) roster of initiatives is the things we do day in and day out to make sure we’re creating real, lasting impact.
This includes (but is not limited to)
Our all-for model
Our charitable giving practices
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Our Responsible Business Goals
All Thankyou’s partners are to be aligned with Thankyou’s Responsible Business Expectations
All Thankyou packaging and product inputs to be responsibly sourced.
Thankyou reduces and offsets its carbon emissions
Thankyou minimises its impact on waste
Thankyou minimises its impact on water scarcity
Thankyou reports on the progress and impact of its environmental and social goals
While we know we aren’t perfect, and we still have so many improvements to make, we’re stoked that over the last 16 years, we have operated on values and practices that help to create human flourishing.
We want you to be proud to shop at Thankyou
We do our best to create an organisation and products that we’re proud as punch of, and we want you to feel that when you’re putting them on display on your sink, in your handbag, or choosing us in your workplace or home. To some, we’re just a hand wash.
But to many others, we’re a sign that you’ve used the power of what’s in your hand, to make a small step, a choice (like choosing a Thankyou hand wash!), for good.
Every time you choose Thankyou, you’re choosing a product that exists all-for the end of extreme poverty. Which by the way, through the collective millions of small steps taken choosing a Thankyou product, has gone on to give $18.57M AUD.
Discover our range of products that are good for you and good for humanity.