As an office supplies company that hopes to make a difference, Zuma is committed to being transparent with our charitable contributions, and to provide updates of our donations to the wonderful charities we support. We believe that “business” has the ability to truly create positive social change; part of our conscious capitalism business model is to do good work in the community.
We also feel that giving back is simply the right thing to do. Sometimes we struggle with our marketing message and donation updates because in a sense, they lack true humility. They can focus too much attention promoting ourselves versus the charities and good work we aim to support.
Best Friends Animal Society is Zuma's #1 charity as voted on by our customers.
While donation updates are necessary to keep our loyal customers abreast of our progress doing good work together, you may see us tone down our marketing message of donating 50% of profits to charity. Be completely assured we will continue to fulfill our mission of donating a minimum of half our profits to charity, but as the English writer Elizabeth Bibesco wrote,
“Blessed are those who can give without remembering, and take without forgetting.”
Below are our top 5 charities as voted on by our customers:
1. Best Friends Animal Society
2. Big Brothers Big Sisters
3. The Salvation Army
4. Save the Children
5. The V Foundation for Cancer Research
DONATION UPDATE
Zuma has donated over $16,000 to the 10 charities that we support in the 28 months we’ve been in business. As a new company, Zuma has not yet had a profitable full year. Most new businesses take 3-5 years before they are truly profitable due to the upfront investment.
However, we feel it is vital to be true to our mission to “Do Good Work” even while we are building the foundation of our business, so we have donated many times over 100% of profits in our first years. The great news is we are on a run rate to be profitable next fiscal year, and expect to give greater donations to the charities we support based on the percentage of votes by our customers for each charity.
We appreciate the loyalty of our great customers, the relationships we have developed with the charities we support, and look forward to doing good work together for many years to come. Please tell a friend and other businesses about Zuma – you have no idea how much that helps our progress. Thank you for helping Zuma do good work!
By: Greg Pierce
