New Podcast Release: Profit for Good

In the latest episode of Lives Well Lived, the podcast I co-host with Kasia de Lazari-Radek, we explore the innovative business model of donating 100% of profits to charity.

In the latest episode of Lives Well Lived, the podcast I co-host with Kasia de Lazari-Radek, we explore the innovative business model of donating 100% of profits to charity. Our guests are Adam McCurdie and Josh Ross, co-founders of Humanitix, and Alex Amouyel, CEO of Newman's Own Foundation.

In this episode, we discuss how these businesses—Humanitix, an event ticketing platform, and Newman's Own, the company founded by the actor Paul Newman—are changing the landscape of capitalism by donating all of their profits to effective causes. Adam and Josh reveal how their model is disrupting the ticketing industry, while Alex shares how Newman's Own Foundation has donated over $600 million to charitable causes since its inception.

Can these profit-for-good models set an example for others to follow, and if so, could this lead to a transformed, more humane, form of capitalism? What are the challenges and rewards of running mission-driven businesses? Tune in to find out.

You can listen to the full episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your preferred platform.

The Unique Business Model

Alex Amouyel: "Newman's Own Foundation is a private grant-making foundation based in the United States, and our mission is to nourish and transform the lives of children who face adversity. But what makes us pretty unique, and I think why we're here today, is that the foundation owns the food company and the licensing business. All the profits and royalties from the sale of Newman's Own products go to the foundation in service of his mission. And this all started back in 1982 when Paul Newman and his friend, A.E. Hotchner decided to bottle salad dressing and then to start selling it. And they invested $40,000 of their own funds to get that started. And after a year, they had turned a profit of $300,000, which is pretty impressive as a year one profit for any business, even today, and just from salad dressing. But what's more surprising and amazing is that Paul decided to give it all away, all the profits that he made that year and then every year since. And so that means that since 1982, Paul and then Newman's Own Foundation have given away over $600 million to good causes."

Humanitix’s Growth and Impact

Adam McCurdie: "Humanitix is an event ticketing company that donates 100% of profits from booking fees on tickets to the most effective charities we can find, mainly to alleviate poverty and disadvantage. So very similar to Newman's Own, except we're taking on the events ticketing industry. Everyone knows the feeling of buying tickets to a live event and getting hit with a booking fee from the ticketing company. So we thought, how about creating an alternative ticketing option for event hosts where 100% of profits from booking fees are donated to effective charities? And that started eight years ago and it's worked. This year alone, we donated $10 million from booking fees to charities. That's charities like Give Directly, the Barbara May Foundation, as well as The Life You Can Save and others. And we're continuing to grow very quickly."

The Power of Purpose-Driven Companies

Josh Ross: "What's interesting in our context, though, perhaps slightly different to Newman's Own, is that we're in a marketplace situation where Humanitix is the ticketing company that attendees will see when they're buying a ticket to an event. But we are the ticketing company of the event host who's chosen to use Humanitix. And so an attendee will see the fact that 100% of the profits are being donated to great charities from all the booking fees that they're paying. Our booking fees are also significantly lower than what they're used to seeing in the market, which is nice."

"As Alex has said, not everyone reads the label or in our case, not everyone reads the screen of what we do with our profits. So that has penetration to a limited level. But we do that to help inspire attendees and make them aware that this is a very unique and special booking experience."

Philanthropy vs. Capitalism

Josh Ross: "There's an assumption around self-interest. And, you know, capitalism is based on the belief that if you just let everyone act on their self-interest, that everything will sort itself out optimally. There's a lot of truth to that. I don't sit here thinking capitalism is completely broken, we need to throw it out. And we're not hippies who think you don't need money and that financial security is irrelevant. Not at all. That matters to us, and we have families, and I'd say to anyone out there financial security is really important; but there's a level above which I'm not sure it's in my self-interest to have. There are real risks to having a hell of a lot of money. It can present huge challenges for your children, it can present huge challenges to the genuineness of your friendships and the things around you. Huge challenges for your privacy."

Personal Stories of Motivation

Alex Amouyel: "From a very young age, I think I had a motivation to do something good in the world. And I probably put that down to both the immense privilege I had, to have a choice with what I could do with my waking hours, which is not something that everybody has. And then also my heritage. I'm the daughter and granddaughter of refugees and immigrants from various parts of the world. And so I always had a sense of wanting to do good in the world, and that things could happen to you that stopped you from realising your full potential.

"I started working for the Boston Consulting Group and at least they paid me well. But the good news is that BCG has a pro bono partnership with Save the Children, which is the leading independent children's nonprofit in the world. And so I managed to squeeze myself into a pro bono project."

Josh Ross: "I grew up in a somewhat religious home. And I remember as a teenager questioning it. You're raised that God is all-knowing, so God reads your thoughts. And you have this awkward moment where you feel like you're cheating on God by even doubting your faith. And my God, he's watching my thoughts. And I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm not actually considering it, I promise, please don't hurt anyone I know that type of thing was going on in my head as a teenager. I'm sure that's not unique to people who grow up with religion, who then question it."