One of the best things about being in business, to us, is the opportunity to do something meaningful and sustainable with money.
Part of that, of course, means feeding our families and providing livelihoods for our workers; it means taking good care of our customers and helping them sleep well without breaking the bank.
It also means giving back locally in other tangible ways, to organizations that impact our local communities. After all, we benefit from living and working locally, and so we want to invest there. We give 2 percent of our profits to local charities, but we’re always looking for others ways to make an impact, too.
Here’s a recent example. This week marked Amplify Austin, an “I Live Here, I Give Here” campaign to raise money for nonprofits in Central Texas that are meeting critical needs.
The event demonstrated just how generous Austinites can be, raising $5.7 million in 24 hours from March 20-21. We were proud to be part of it.
Our South Austin store sponsored the event, offering a $1,000 prize to the nonprofit with the most unique donors or most dollars raised in an hour.
This give-a-thon kicked off March 20 at 6 p.m. Its goal was to encourage the entire community to give 500 nonprofits $4 million through a single website until 6 p.m. the next day.
Clearly, it was more than successful. News agencies are reporting that more than 29,000 donations were made.
And it grew significantly from the prior year, when 320 nonprofits participated and Austinites gave $2.8 million—blowing out the goal ($1 million) then, too.
Way to go, Austin.
We’re truly honored by the opportunity to connect with lots of great people and change-making work.
If there’s a worthwhile local giving opportunity or cause that your local Urban Mattress store owner should know about, feel free to shoot us a line. We’d love to hear from you.