Doing the right thing is never as simple as it should be, but we found companies that are absolutely crushing it with their good deeds. These brands adopt humanitarian practices, encourage their employees to volunteer regularly and route a significant portion of proceeds to good causes every year. While some partner with charities and nonprofits, others hone in on a particular cause.
For Garden State Tile, that meant fuzzy marsupials. “Koala bears are losing their habitat due to excessive clear-cutting of eucalyptus trees,” the brand tells BOH. To combat this, the company will adopt a koala bear in the name of each customer who specs its Koala collection, which evokes the textures of natural eucalyptus in porcelain tile. “The symbolic adoption program goes toward research, education and the establishment of koala conservation zones to help save koalas in the wild.”
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Homepage photo: Courtesy of Garden State Tile. Product photography: Courtesy of brands.
Samuelson Furniture: The Florida-based company has furnished 32 residences for Give Kids the World Village, a local nonprofit for children with life-threatening illnesses. It has also donated nearly $500,000 worth of its furniture, like its Occasional chair, to communities affected by hurricanes.
Duchateau: Through its partnership with the National Forest Foundation, the flooring company plants a tree for each hardwood floor (like Driftwood Grey) that it sells.
Skyline Furniture: The Chicago-based upholstery company, the manufacturer behind quick-ship brand Cloth & Company's Josephine Fringe chair, has been involved with charities like City of Hope and Chicago Lighthouse for more than 70 years. The company also provides free ESL and GED classes while employees are on the clock.
Eskayel: One percent of the textile studio's total sales, including from the Belize Blooms pillow, is contributed to nonprofits like Vital Action Project that help protect the environment.
Armadillo & Co: Part of each purchase from the Australia-based rug company is donated to its nonprofit foundation, which funds a school in India—from uniforms and textbooks to teacher salaries and medical, dental and eye care. The company also bought and installed solar panels so that the school can run solely on renewable energy.
Garden State Tile: For each 2,000-square-foot purchase from the Koala porcelain tile collection, the brand adopts a koala in the buyer’s name.
Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams: The retailer (and Poppy swivel maker) funds a nonprofit daycare for working parents in its North Carolina factory and scholarships for employees’ children, many of whom are first-generation college students; and works with Exodus Homes to give jobs to formerly incarcerated individuals and aid their transition back into society.
Granada Tile: The brand’s Cosmos and Shatter cement floor tiles are manufactured in Nicaragua, where the company has gifted product to a zoo, public library and elementary school. In the U.S., its Los Angeles– based co-founders give tile to Habitat for Humanity, and donate to local nonprofits.
Renovation Angel: The nonprofit recycles entire luxury kitchens by installing them in homes across the U.S. Part of its proceeds support Designs for Dignity, which renovates spaces for other nonprofits. Since its launch in 2005, it has recycled more than 5,000 kitchens, diverting over 30 million pounds from landfills.