5 Socially Responsible Gifts for the Holidays
Put social missions at the top of the holiday shopping list with products made by companies committed to helping people and the environment.
“Consumers are looking for meaningful gifts that can demonstrate a social benefit,” said Joseph D. Kenner, president and CEO of Greyston, a mission-driven company that bakes brownies in order to hire marginalized workers. “Gift givers want their friends and loved ones to know that they have carefully chosen a product that reflects the recipient’s values and concerns.”
Greyston is the pioneer of the no-judgment hiring process known as Open Hiring®, which offers employment opportunities to marginalized communities, including the formerly incarcerated and high school dropouts.
Mission-driven companies like Greyston offer products designed to help communities or the environment thrive. Five mission-driven gift ideas include:
· Greyston Bakery bakes the world’s most scrumptious brownies and blondies (the very same as in Ben & Jerry’s ice cream). Every brownie helps provide a job through Greyston’s Open Hiring ™ platform. which offers a job to anyone willing to work without the need of background checks, resumes or questions about prior work history.
· Peace Coffee forms long term relationships with sustainable Latin American farmer cooperatives and consistently purchases their organic coffee at fair prices.
· Ocho Candy is a small-batch producer that makes organic and fair-trade chocolates with the goal of worker empowerment and environmental stewardship.
· Red Tail Ridge Winery is the first winery in New York to receive LEED gold certification, the highest level of measurable compliance with environmental standards.
· African Bronze Honey works with beekeeping projects in Africa to market and sell their sustainably harvested forest honey.
About Greyston
In 1982 Greyston founder Zen Buddhist Bernie Glassman set out to employ individuals who faced barriers to meaningful employment at the Greyston Bakery. The hiring process was simple, accept anyone with a will to work, a process we now call Open Hiring®. Through the Greyston Employment Opportunity Center (GEOC), job seekers can access workforce development and transitional (re-entry) employment programs. Clients are also paired with a social worker to help connect them external resources they may need. Finally, the Greyston Foundation also offers business services for employers interested in replicating Open Hiring or tapping into the pool of upskilled clients. In 2013 Greyston Bakery was rated Best for the World B-Corp, a designation given to the top B Corps worldwide. And in 2023, Greyston received the Social Innovator of the Year award from Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship at World Economic Forum in Davos.
