Jordan Bartlett and Scott Henderson were on parallel paths when they met at the Irvine Spectrum Center’s Corner Bakery Cafe to figure out a business model that would serve their interest in supporting those in foster care.
The result of that meeting was Irvine-based Doing Good Works, a company which offers custom printing services on apparel, packaging and other merchandise to mostly corporate clients with the aim of employing those aging out of foster care and supporting programs for foster youth and young adults.
Henderson, at the time of meeting Bartlett, had been focused on creating a staffing organization for foster care youth, but there were challenges in scaling the business.
Bartlett, meantime, had similar aspirations fueled by a chance connection with a biological sister he had never known who reached out to him through Facebook. Bartlett grew up with his adopted parents in Orlando, Fla. and the sibling connection proved a big turning point for him.
“I looked through her profile and she had a very differing upbringing from mine,” he said, after seeing mug shots and learning of long stretches of time his sister spent in foster care. “I started to see her path was much more frequent than it should be.”
Bartlett and Henderson put their heads together to figure out a business model that was not only effective in creating the change they wanted, but could also easily scale to have a far larger impact than simply local.
They launched Doing Good Works in 2014. It’s one of some 3,000 companies designated as Certified B Corporations in the world, which measures companies’ performance based on their social and environmental impacts.
By the Numbers
Today, the company operates off a model that funnels 10% of profits to programs for foster youth in college, promotes employees to use 20% of their hours for volunteering and looks to have 30% of its hires from foster care.
Locally, it’s done work for companies such as Knobbe Martens, Allergan, Orange Coast College, First Foundation, Court Appointed Special Advocates, Kaiser Permanente and Johnson & Johnson.
Last year, the company reported 773 youth or young adults impacted by the business and $112,943 donated to community organizations.
Doing Good Works closed on $3.1 million in sales for the 12 months through June 30, good for a two-year jump of 80% and placing it No. 6 among companies with sales of $10 million and under on this year’s Business Journal list of the fastest-growing private companies (see list, page 35).
Much of that growth has been driven from work for other businesses, in particular colleges and healthcare, as the core idea of people over profits has taken hold among a growing number of consumers wanting to spend money with companies that align with their values.
“Purpose-driven started to really gain a lot of traction, so businesses were starting to look at different ways of doing good in their communities,” Bartlett said. “Purpose-driven organizations looked at us to spend money on ways to do that.”
In many industries, fashion as an example, more and more fledgling businesses are cropping, up motivated by social causes—perhaps suggestive of a tipping point.
That’s why in the case of Doing Good Works, product sourcing and the supply chain is also something that is carefully monitored with merchandise made from recycle materials where possible.
“I would like to think that we’ve reached that inflection point certainly both from a social standpoint as well as an environmental standpoint,” Henderson said. “I think consumers are much more aware of how they’re spending their dollars and we’re starting to see that move into corporate America as well. We’re seeing what happens when we get outcomes that create inequities, whether that’s at a local level or at a global level.”
Affecting Change
For Doing Good Works’ part, the company at its core will continue to be focused on workforce development and creating job opportunities for those that oftentimes encounter barriers to entry.
The plan was to have already expanded in the Bay Area with a San Francisco screenprinter. The pandemic’s delayed that a bit.
There’s also the idea for work-housing situations that would allow for Doing Good Works employees to live on-site. In a few weeks they’re set to trial a similar model at a UCLA sorority house where residents will receive training to print Doing Goods Works orders.
“Before all of this [COVID-19] we were quickly moving in that direction,” Bartlett said. “I still don’t think that’s far off. I think in 2021 that’ll be part of our plan, to grow into those communities. We like the work-living idea. You remove the barrier of transportation and you remove the barrier of housing.”
They’ve also been getting more interest from students on college campuses looking to get more involved, which has driven an increase in applications for the company’s ambassador program.
“What we’re seeing, this is a time where people are taking action,” Henderson said. “When we talk about be the change you want to see in this world, it’s about doing and taking different actions.”
