Popchips, known for making potato chips with just heat and pressure (no frying!), teamed up with 15 professional athletes for its "Popchips Game Changers" campaign. Athletes including San Francisco Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum and Seattle Sounders goalie Hope Solo are working with local causes such as the Seattle Children's Hospital and Athletes for Autism. Individuals can submit ideas on how their favorite athlete should support a local cause, and site visitors then vote on the best causes.
Kind Bars, KIND Movement
The KIND Movement can be summed up in one quote from its site: "Your one act of kindness can make a big impact in the lives of those who need it most." Every month, the KIND movement challenges the community to carry out a specific act of kindness. If enough people sign up, the nutrition-bar company contributes by making its own "big" act of kindness. For example, you send a thank you note to a soldier and KIND will send hundreds of care packages to wounded veterans. In March 2012, KIND delivered diapers to impoverished families at shelters in Los Angeles and New York. June's mission is to help provide career counseling for women seeking employment: if you complete the mission by sharing your "secret to success" on the KIND site, the company will help get suits and counseling to unemployed women.
Love & Hummus: Nonprofit Organizations
Love & Hummus, which specializes in making organic and sustainable Mediterranean food, prides itself on being committed to environmental and social responsibility. The San Francisco company, which uses recyclable glass jars to package hummus, emphasizes its certified "green" kitchen and recycling/composting programs. According to its website, the company donates a portion of net profits to nonprofit organizations.
Endangered Species Chocolate: Conservation Organizations
Eat some chocolate and help save an endangered animal. It’s a win-win. A self-proclaimed "for-profit company on a mission," Endangered Species Chocolate partners with organizations that work to conserve and protect areas for wild plants and animals.. Ever year, the chocolate company donates 10 percent of net profits to these organizations, guaranteeing at least $10,000 to each.
Two Degrees Food: Meals to Hungry Children
Two Degrees has a tall order to fill: feed 200 million hungry children. The nutrition bar company, named as such because there's only "two degrees of separation" between you and a hungry child, makes gluten- and GMO-free bars with natural ingredients. Two Degrees promises to donate a meal to a hungry child for every bar you buy. According to the company's site, consumers have donated more than 460,800 meals so far.
Newman's Own, Hole in the Wall Camps
Newman's Own, the company makes everything from salad dressing to popcorn, has funded Hole in the Wall Camps since 1988. These camps, offered to kids with serious or life-threatening illnesses, are free of charge. Paul Newman and friends founded the first camp more than two decades ago. Since then, about 120,000 kids from the U.S. and 39 countries worldwide have come through Hole in the Wall Camps.
Yoplait Yogurt: Susan G. Komen Foundation
For the past 12 years, Yoplait Yogurt has sponsored the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, the largest series of 5k runs/fitness walks in the world. Yoplait also runs the Save Lids to Save Lives program from September to December every year. For each pink lid that consumers redeem, Yoplait donates 10 cents to the Komen organization, up to $2 million.
Blue Diamond Almonds: Community Giving
Blue Diamond Almonds is committed to investing in its immediate neighborhood, including the youth of midtown Sacramento. The almond company aims to work with community and business leaders to improve quality of life in this area, according to its website. Its Community Giving Program focuses on locally challenged children in its Sacramento neighborhood.
Nature Valley: National Parks Conservation Association
Nature Valley, which introduced the first granola bar to the world in 1975, has partnered with the National Parks Association for the past three years support park restoration projects. This year, Nature Valley is donating $300,000 to get the projects going. And if you go to its site and enter a UPC, the company will add an extra buck, up to an additional $200,000. So far in 2012, individuals have helped contribute to a $322,000 donation.
