The Thankyou Charitable Trust has a vision - A world where not one person lives in extreme poverty.
All of the money it gets (excluding bank and filing fees) is committed to exponentially amplifying the impact of our partners serving the world’s poor.
To achieve that purpose, instead of asking the public to donate money to the Trust, we started a company - Thankyou Group - which sells consumer products and has one goal: make as much money as it can for its ultimate shareholder, The Thankyou Charitable Trust. This is why we say our products are ‘all-for’ our purpose.
Thankyou Charitable Trust Financial Reports
Thankyou Group
Thankyou Group is a sustainable business investing in all of the things you need to, to be here today and even more successful tomorrow as it competes against the best brands in the for-profit world. Whatever funds Thankyou Group generates, after allowing for the current and future costs of business, are distributed to the Trust, which commits those funds to exponentially amplifying the impact of our partners serving the world’s poor.
The group has a sole shareholder, The Thankyou Charitable Trust. Our founders don’t have any equity in or receive dividends from the company. Our founders are both paid a salary consistent with referable organisations in the Australian charitable sector, as an important statement that giving is the heart and purpose of this entity. They volunteered their first 2.5 years of work in Thankyou Group to ensure dollars to our project partners in the startup year’s when businesses don’t usually make a profit. To date, Thankyou Group has raised $18.55 million AUD for the Thankyou Charitable Trust.
Thankyou is a Social Enterprise.
‘Social Enterprise’ is a term given to a business that exists to solve a social problem versus a business that exists for its shareholders while doing its corporate social responsibility. A traditional charity receives a donation and uses a percentage of that donation on administration costs to administer that donation effectively. There are many different social enterprise models with many claims.
For Thankyou, we start with nothing and have to invest money to make the product and get it to market to one day get a profit for that investment. In this model, it takes money to make money. We have costs that have to be met to function and grow, just like any other business. With what is left, some social enterprises give 5%; some give 50% to equity holders; some may give more. At Thankyou, we commit what is left to Impact. This doesn’t mean we have a better model - some days it feels really difficult, and for that reason, we don’t advise many to follow in our path. But it does make it very clear why we are here.