(Jamie Bianchini and Cristina Morales | Photos courtesy of Profit & Purpose)
Bend-based Startup Redirects Portions of Corporations’ Trillion-Dollar Technology Services Spend to Address Global Social & Environmental Challenges
Profit & Purpose, a Purpose-Driven Technology Advisory and Procurement Services startup based in Bend, has launched its P&P Services, which enable companies and nonprofits to turn portions of their current technology and business expenses into recurring donations for their favorite charities, with zero increased spending. Profit & Purpose also optimizes technology services to reduce client costs, while enhancing culture to boost growth via better recruiting, retention and productivity.
“Companies worldwide are already spending trillions of dollars on unavoidable technology and business service expenditures,” said Cristina Morales, CEO and co-founder of Profit & Purpose. “We advise our clients how to consciously procure these services through our purpose-powered brokerage to redirect a portion of those fixed costs back to their community partners.”
P&P services enable companies to have a single-source, mission-aligned procurement partner for cloud services, software, hardware, payment processing, telecommunications, energy and security from more than 1,000 providers and save an average of 10-50 percent, which in turn increases net profits. In addition to increasing net profits, Profit & Purpose makes guaranteed recurring donations for each product or service procured to the company’s favorite causes, while companies remain in control of which vendors and services they use. There are no service fees or hidden costs — Profit & Purpose is compensated by the technology services providers.
The P&P Services include:
- P&P Profit:Profit & Purpose advisors gather technology and business requirements, research the best solutions and vet all providers, which are approved by clients. All technology services are optimized for efficiency and cost.
- P&P Purpose:The Profit & Purpose team helps negotiate contracts with the providers to create new recurring donation streams to the client’s nonprofit impact partners.
- P&P Growth: Profit & Purpose collaborates with the client’s business leadership team to develop strategies and content assets to effectively communicate the company’s increased purpose-driven commitment, which positively impacts recruiting, retention and productivity.
“We make it simple for companies to make more of a difference by purpose-powering their infrastructure, so that giving becomes part of the heartbeat of their company,” said Jamie Bianchini, COO of Profit & Purpose. “Our approach delivers more consistent donations for their community partners, a deeper purpose-driven culture at the company and more profits for stakeholders.”
Why Purpose-driven Companies Thrive
Research shows that purpose-driven brands have higher customer loyalty and more motivated employees. A Purpose Study conducted by Cone found that 79 percent of consumers said they’re more loyal to purpose-driven brands. In that same study, 74 percent of LinkedIn members surveyed said they place a high value on finding work that delivers purpose. As companies vie for top talent in today’s competitive job market, RealWealth Network, a real estate investing group that helps its members acquire cash flowing income properties, is using their engagement with Profit & Purpose to foster an optimal culture for recruiting, retention, productivity and growth.
“Increasing bottom line profits while creating a recurring donation stream to our community partners seemed too good to be true, but Profit & Purpose delivered on their promise,” said Kathy Fettke, co-CEO of RealWealth Network, a Profit & Purpose client. “RealWealth has been a purpose-driven company since inception, donating 10 percent of net profits to charities like Habitat for Humanity and Operation Smile. But profits fluctuate in all businesses, so we were attracted to the consistency of donations tied to fixed costs. To know that we will be able to give consistently regardless of what our profits are is amazing!”
Profit & Purpose started by saving RealWealth 48 percent a year on technology services, while also creating a $500 recurring donation stream to their nonprofit partner Operation Smile. Research by Bain & Company concluded that the productivity level of an employee that is truly inspired by the purpose of their company is a whopping 225 percent. Profit & Purpose services also enhance company culture. Once RealWealth’s purpose-powered service was live, Profit & Purpose worked with RealWealth’s leadership team to create visual assets to communicate a purpose-driven commitment to their team.
“We presented the launch of our first purpose-powered business service at our quarterly meeting,” said Rich Fettke, co-CEO of RealWealth Network. “We launched the new service with the message, ‘Every Phone Call Supports Our Mission.’ Our team was excited and our company moral has visibly increased. Everyone is thrilled to continue rolling out more key purpose-powered business services like video conferencing, eSignature, email and more.”
The Inspiration for Profit & Purpose
Profit & Purpose was born out of Co-founder Bianchini’s Peace Pedalers project, which included an eight-year, 81-country bicycle tour and resulted in helping to start 11 charity projects within transportation, health and education. During the tour, Jamie needed a long-term funding plan in order to invite strangers to join him on the back seat of his tandem bicycle. He landed 40 corporate sponsors who donated bikes, outdoor gear, insurance and more. But one company, a Silicon Valley startup Aceva Technologies, procured their technology services from Peace Pedalers, which redirected a portion of their monthly spend to help fund the Peace Pedalers project for many years.
Bianchini and Morales met on the Peace Pedalers tour in Argentina in 2009 and married in 2011 when the tour was over. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Cristina saw that companies needed innovative ways to continue to support in-need communities and founded Profit & Purpose using the same recurring funding model and expanding it so that any company can redirect a portion of their technology services spend to help solve the most challenging social and environmental issues we face globally.
About Profit & Purpose
Profit & Purpose is a specialty technology advisory and procurement company focused on the unique needs of purpose-driven companies. Clients benefit from reducing their recurring technology expenses by 10-50 percent and redirecting a portion the current spend to client-chosen charities with no additional cost. Located in Bend, Profit & Purpose’s vision is to positively impact the world using existing business services spend while helping purpose-driven clients increase profits, purpose and growth. For more information or to book a 15-minute discovery call with a consultant, visit ProfitPurpose.org.
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