“From what we get, we can make a living; what we give, however, makes a life.” Arthur Ashe

There are many elements that make up a successful business plan, one of which may include an initiative to give back to the community in which your company resides. Companies all over are participating in social corporate responsibility plans, organizing community clean up days for employees, sponsoring non-profit events and even creating non-profit organizations that they manage and market.

One great example of a company leaving a positive mark is Which Wich, a sandwich shop with over 300 stores. In 2014, Which Wich launched Project PB&J to help make the world a better place, one PB&J at a time. As part of this project, the Which Wich team made 26,710 PB&J sandwiches in one hour that were then donated to 20 organizations across the company’s hometown of Dallas, Texas. This is one prime example of conscious capitalism at its best.

“The principles behind conscious capitalism aren’t exactly new; the idea that companies can be the catalyst for positive change has been around for decades, if not longer. But Conscious Capitalism, which harnesses those principles and makes them the centerpiece of annual events and public education, has only been around for a few years, and has gathered steam in the wake of the recession as consumers—especially Millennials—look to give their business to more responsible enterprises… Four pillars make up Conscious Capitalism’s foundation: having a higher purpose, or running the business for more than just profit; stakeholder orientation, or creating a system that benefits everyone from your employees to your suppliers; conscious leadership, or having a chief executive who supports his or her team members and helps create value for the stakeholders; and conscious culture, or embedding your values, principles, and practices into your employee base.” (QSR Magazine, 2015).

The major difference between traditional philanthropy and conscious capitalism is that conscious capitalism is a way of doing business, a culture. It’s a mentality that starts at the top and trickles down to each and every employee in the organization. Being a part of an organization led with higher purpose is exciting and engaging to the employees within the organization, as well as consumers. Consumers have many choices of where to do business and they will often choose companies in which they can relate to or get on board with their philosophies.

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