Better the World
Profile
The partners of Better the World (BTW) wanted to operate a business with the fulfillment that comes from making a positive impact on the world and they have a significant goal in mind – helping to raise over $1 billion for charitable causes. Four of the five partners, Mark Bachman, Steve Croth, Nichloas Lee and Ken Rowbotham come from strong traditional technology and business backgrounds contributing sales, marketing, business development, technology/product development and financial skills. Upon graduating with their MBAs from the Richard Ivey School of Business, Mark and Steve saw an opportunity to team up with former non-profit sector executive, and MBA colleague Elissa Beckett, to create a unique social-purpose business. The partners are all passionate about supporting their favourite causes.
BTW has developed the first effortless fundraising platform, by combining the power of the web as a targeted advertising vehicle for corporations with “cause marketing campaigns” that they want to run with a unique set of users that are interested in the cause they are promoting. These users demonstrate that they are interested in the advertisers’ messages by becoming BTW members and agreeing to view the ads in support of a charity working for the benefit of the cause that both groups are interested in. Corporations can promote their social corporate responsibility and sustainability initiatives or promote certain products or services that are relevant to the “cause” audience.
BTW provides on-line tools for charitable organizations that help BTW recruit members, by referring their existing donors to the bettertheworld.com website for a new way to help support the charity. BTW also will help charities access new younger supporters, through on-line recruiting initiatives, who may be unable to make significant cash contributions but would be interested and willing to have proceeds from ads they view help their favourite charity.
The tools include a browser sidebar and Google-powered search toolbar, both of which seamlessly integrate into web browsers–Microsoft Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox. Members can sign up in less than two minutes and then choose to support leading global and local charities, including Habitat for Humanity, TakingITGlobal, Children’s Miracle Network, United Way Toronto, CANFAR, SickKids Foundation, the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy, and Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario.
Better The World is a for-profit social venture that is privately owned, headquartered in Toronto, Ontario and operating in Canada and the U.S.
BTW has three key stakeholders with whom they maintain a transparent relationship–their members, their corporate advertising sponsors and the charities their members support. This unique business model provides 90% of the revenues earned from corporate sponsors to the charities and leaves 10% for the BTW team to run their business.
In March 2009, BTW was named Canada’s first certified “B Corporation”. To get this beneficial status, they met comprehensive and transparent social and environmental performance standards and legally protected the social-purpose interests of their stakeholders through their corporate structure.
