TLDR: Here's a link to a store selling housewares, kids/babies supplies, pet products and out door products where 100% of the profits go to GiveDirectly. Now, shipping is 100% free on all items in the store!

My name is Ellie Leszczynski and I am the Social Media Director for the Consumer Power Initiative (also known as CPI), founded by Brad West. I got interested in volunteering because once I heard about the idea and the mission, I knew I just had to be a part of it.

After becoming familiar with the Effective Altruism community, I realized the EA principles really inspire me to think of how I can be better in my own life and give back to others. So I went on the EA website and ordered my free book - “Doing Good Better” by William MacAskill. I am now looking forward to reading his new book, “What We Owe the Future," as well. And I really am amazed by the community that has been developed around using our time, money, grit, and creativity to maximize our positive impact for everyone, including even insects raised in alternative farming or consciousness being generated by machine learning.

   This is a vast world with a lot of moving parts and ideas going on in it, and the Consumer Power Initiative is taking initiative to promote an altruistic mission that doesn't take much to share and spread. As example, I would like to introduce you to an online shop called the Consumer Giving Store. The Giving Store directs all of the profit that it generates to GiveDirectly, a highly-rated charity that does direct cash transfers to the global poor. The storefront was designed by Kagen Zethmayr, one of the members of the Consumer Power Initiative, and coded by Madhav Malhotra, an EA who was inspired by a discussion with Brad in the comments of one of his posts. You may already be familiar with it. At the Giving Store, you can buy products curated from a variety of sources at no-more-than-retail prices, whose sole purpose in being sold in this venue is to generate profits toward a worthy cause without added cost to the consumer. 

This fits into the broader idea of the Profit for Good model (also called “Guided Consumption”), which the Consumer Power Initiative is trying to promote and normalize. The Giving Store not only allows people to help GiveDirectly by buying goods, it also allows them to send a signal to the broader world that consumers care and want to help in what ways they can.

We believe that the general public will choose to buy goods from Profit for Good Companies (“PFGs”) when they can do it without paying more or sacrificing quality. We are confident in the proposition that, however flawed and/or selfish members of the general public may be, they would rather the beneficiaries of effective charities, such as those that help the global poor, get the benefits of profit generated from their activity rather than the people who currently get said benefits: the very wealthy, especially if not even doing the work involved in this activity. The general public at large, however, cannot create this infrastructure or the initial steps for the community. This project will need EAs and others who put additional effort in trying to make the world a better place. Brad discusses the different players in the Profit for Good and their motivations here. Vincent van der Holst reviews some of the advantages Profit for Good firms have here.

I gather that EA is all about how we can use our resources and our time to have the highest positive impact in the world. And using consumer sentiment and our economies to further effective charities could really transform the world with everyday choices! We would like to thank you in advance for any purchasing you might do on the Giving Store website.
With the understanding that EAs are very time- and resource-constrained, we would really appreciate it if you could take a few moments to follow and share about us on our social media. Just a few seconds of your time could help you be a catalyst for a world in which effective charities receive a significant portion of our world’s profits. Links to all of our social media are at the bottom of our website. Here is a link to our most recent newsletter if you are interested in learning more about what we are up to.

   The project of making this world a better place also could definitely benefit from your thoughts, time in volunteering, funds, and connections too! Please check out our 3rd newsletter to learn more about the Consumer Power Initiative and ways that you can help.

Please feel free to email me or Brad directly (ellie@consumerpowerinitiative.org)  (brad@consumerpowerinitiative.org) to share ideas and ask to be added to our mailing list.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. We look forward to serving you at the Giving Store and would greatly appreciate any feedback you have regarding your products or your experience. We also hope you will join CPI.

 Please note that CPI is seeking funding at this time to get further off the ground in our mission.

Thank you,
Ellie