Aussie B Corp Offers Grants to NFPs
8 April 2015 at 11:33 am
An Australian organic food B Corp, Whole Kids, has launched a new grants program to support small community groups to improve children’s health and wellbeing at the grassroots level.
Called Small Seeds Community Grants, the aim of the corporate funding is to support the work of Not for Profit groups in their local communities through innovative and impactful projects.
“We started Whole Kids over ten years ago with the simple idea of creating healthy organic products for kids,” Co-Founder of Whole Kids, Monica Meldrum said.
“But we also wanted to create a business that puts our purpose and passion ahead of profits. Our purpose is to help mums and dads create happier, healthier lives for their children”.
As a small family-owned business and the first food company in Australia to become a certified B Corporation, Meldrum said Whole Kids believes in using the power of business to help solve important health and social issues impacting families and children.
“We believe that business has a fundamental responsibility and obligation to the communities in which it operates. We embed this philosophy deep within our business model so that Small Seeds becomes an intrinsic part of what we are as a business rather than an exercise in marketing and cause-related promotion."
“Small Seeds will provide grants of up to $5,000 for an individual project, although preference will be given to projects that can be fully funded at lower grant amounts,” Co-founder James Meldrum said.
“In this way, we can help fund more projects in more communities. We aim to commit at least one percent of our gross revenue to Small Seeds each quarter, so we’re seeking around 5 or 6 projects to fund in our first round.
“We look for projects that have strong local community support and participation as we believe that lasting change comes about at the local level through direct community involvement.
“One of the advantages of being a small business is that we can get everyone at Whole Kids involved in our community giving activities."
“As a purpose-driven business, it was very important from the outset to build that internal community aspect into our grant program. We want our team to collectively agree which projects should be awarded grants based on which projects they believe will make the most impact in a local area whilst helping us achieve our purpose as a business.”
Whole Kids Small Seeds seeks projects may following areas:
- Improving children’s nutrition and access to healthy food.
- Reducing environmental health risks to children.
- Encouraging greater access for children to education and learning opportunities.
- Building stronger local communities for families and children.
- Creating safe areas for children’s play, recreation and enjoyment.
- Enhancing children’s mental health and wellbeing.
- Protecting children’s human rights and promoting social justice.
- Protecting our environment, wildlife and natural wilderness for current and future generations of children.
Small Seeds will run four quarterly funding rounds throughout the year, with successful grant recipients being notified in the month after the closing date. The inaugural Small Seeds Community Grants funding round was launched on 1st April 2015 and closes 30 June 2015.
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