• Company: Reciprocity Road
• Location: PPEF, Children’s Hospital Network
• Giveback Model: Percentage of group savings

More than just a buying group, the eight distributorships that make up Reciprocity Road – Made To Order (asi/259540), Image Source (asi/230121), Robyn Promotions (asi/309656), Quality Resource Group (QRG, asi/303015), C&S Sales (asi/155110), The Ice Box (asi/229395), Brand Fuel (asi/145025) and Zagwear (asi/365552) – are committed to transparency, sharing best practices and leveraging their buying power for the greater good. Through the in-house BrandGood program, the group donates a percentage of its annual savings to the Promotional Products Education Foundation (PPEF) and the Children’s Hospital Network.

“The world needs more service,” says Rod Brown, chair emeritus and founder of Made to Order and one of the founders of Reciprocity Road. “We have to do more as businesspeople. We want to encourage our companies to carve out a percentage to give back.”

“The world needs more service. We have to do more as business people.”Rod Brown, Reciprocity Road

The distributors of Reciprocity Road also do quarterly initiatives for different charities. Recent beneficiaries include Vets 4 Veterans, a nonprofit committed to reintegrating former military members into civilian life, and the Cavett Kids Foundation, which runs special recreational camps for children with chronic and life-threatening illnesses.

“Giving back has to be systemic and part of the company operating system,” says Brown. “Otherwise it’s reactive and doesn’t create ongoing engagement and heart/mind awareness.”

And Brown would know; for years he’s given back at an individual level, building houses in Mexico and traveling to orphanages for the blind in Africa to bring them much-needed funds and everyday supplies.

“Corporate giving back might have a tiny impact on the customer’s decision-making, because we’re still a capitalist country,” he says. “But overall, it elicits good results. The world won’t be a good place to live if we don’t focus on making it better.”