Newman's Own

Everyone by now is familiar with the Newman's Own brand of salad dressing, salsas, popcorn, et. al. What you may or may not be aware of is the fact that sole owner, Paul Newman, donates all after tax profits from his food empire to charity. Since 1982, the company has given away more than $150 million. Now that is something to aspire to.

Not coincidentally, NICE Magazine has adopted this same principle of allocating after tax profits entirely to non-profit and educational causes.

Working Assets

Working Assets is a long-time favorite of NICE staff. Founded in 1985, the company promotes social activism by capitalizing on people’s everyday spending habits. Offering long distance, wireless and phone card services – all industries well known for high payout rates to successful marketers – Working Assets puts much of its profits every year toward philanthropic causes. To-date, they have given away more than $45 million. Now them there assets are certainly hard at work.

Extreme Makeover Home Edition

Now in it’s second season, Extreme Makeover Home Edition, famous for its garish display of generosity, never seems to stop impressing NICE staff with the depth of the show’s ability to entirely transform families down on their luck. A bit cheesy at times and over the top, the show still redems itself by being true to their mission of helping others. The lesson here: Put big corporate bucks toward a tangible good. We only wish that instead of 13 families a season, the show’s producers could help 1,000s.

Kona Coffee

Kona Coffee is known to be a high quality, highly sought after and highly priced caffeine fix. But what many of us do not know is just how much of an all around good thing Kona Coffee is for the environment and the people of the western coast of the Big Island of Hawai’i. Not too mention, Kona is America’s greatest coffee producing region. Kona beans are literally hand picked, one at a time. Bean quality is carefully graded by the State of Hawai’i Department of Agriculture in order to qualify as pure Kona. This scrutiny ensures that plantations place a high priority on those picking the beans and the land on which the trees grow. Indeed, field workers are well paid and taken care of and many plantations voluntarily opt to implement environmentally sustainable farm practices.

The 100% Kona Coffee label is a perfect example of commerce influencing smarter, more humane business. But buyer beware: Of the 20 million or so pounds of so-called Kona coffee sold annually around the world, only 2 million of that qualified as 100% Kona. Most coffees posing as Kona are 90% blends, in other words, only 10% of the bags include actual Kona Coffee.

Our favorite: the Holualoa Kona Coffee Company of the Kona Lea Plantation.