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thankyou™
thankyou™ is a social enterprise that commits 100 per cent of its profit to help end global poverty.
Its mission is to empower humanity to choose a world without poverty.
Prompted by almost one billion people living in extreme poverty, thankyou’s motivation has been amplified by the fact that consumers spend hundreds of millions, even billions, daily on everyday products. The idea started in 2008 with three university students, Daniel Flynn, Justine Flynn and Jarryd Burns, who were prompted by their belief that the system should and could change, and used global poverty as their impetus to do something about it. As a result, thankyou™ was born.
After three years of setbacks and knockbacks from major retailers in Australia, the trio launched an ambush marketing campaign asking people to upload a post to 7-Eleven Australia’s Facebook page to say that if it stocked thankyou water people would buy it. Within hours it had gone viral, as people uploaded videos of themselves singing and dancing and rapping.
7-Eleven says “Yes” and after three tough years thankyou™ had its first national retailer.
“We grew to millions of people purchasing everyday products to raise millions of dollars to help end global poverty,” says Daniel.
Between years three and five, the trio developed a whole range of thankyou™ products, but had one big problem. For five years the two biggest supermarkets in Australia, Coles and Woolworths, says no to their products. Through another viral online petition, people posting their support and even two helicopters flying above the head offices of Coles and Woolworths (with the pilots flying for free) it became an unstoppable movement. Coles and Woolworths says “yes” in industry-record time and products hit shelves equally fast!
Now some products are outselling those of the world’s largest multinationals, such as their top-ranking hand wash range.
The thankyou™ team believed deep down that this idea could not stop in Australia and launched a pay-what-you want book titled ‘Chapter One’, with 100 per cent of the profits crowdfunding a launch in New Zealand (and more).
Within hours, it raised hundreds of thousands and, within a month, over $1 million. It outsold the sales rates of every other book in launch week in airport bookstores and was second only to the Harry Potter books. Two Kiwis paid $5,000 each for a copy and the most paid is now $50,000.
Chapter One is a book written by co-founder Daniel Flynn that tells the story of thankyou™ from its beginning in 2008. It inspires readers to challenge their thinking, to dream big and to make their ideas a reality.
Daniel says, “The cool thing about Chapter One is that we get to exchange value for value. You’re giving us your hard-earned cash to fund our future, so we want to give you something you canuse in your future by directing your funds to ‘pay what you want’ for Chapter One.”
New Zealand is the first country to launch thankyou outside Australia – but as Daniel says, it’s not intended to be the last. thankyou took a different approach from its first launch and decided that our world and New Zealand don’t need another bottle of water.
So the team made the call to not launch their water in New Zealand.
They launched by asking people to Take Action and Tell Two with the aim of putting thankyou into every bathroom in the country. What sounds an impossible task is as simple as:
Buy two thankyou™ hand washes
give them to two friends (not one) telling them about thankyou™ ask them to do the same.
WHY TWO? BECAUSE IF...
you told
1 person who told
1 person who told
1 person and that happened
14 times 14 PEOPLE would know about thankyou™
BUT IF...
you told 2 people
who told 2 people
who told 2 people
and that happened 14 times
16,384 PEOPLE would know
about thankyou™
What’s Even Crazier? If 300 people started this, and they told two people who told two people, and that happened 14 times, more than 4.9 million people would be reached... that’s more than the entire population of New Zealand.
The 2016 stats are impressive, with water and personal care products having funded water and toilets for 556,300 people, food products (such as muesli bars and cereals) food aid for 134,791 people and the baby range safe births and healthcare for 94,477 mums and bubs in need. They have funded projects in 20 countries including Zimbabwe, Vietnam, Papua New Guinea, Bangladesh, India, Cambodia, Kenya and Australia. On thankyou’s website, there are many stories from people in remote villages who, through the generosity of people buying thankyou products, now have access to these solutions.
There is also a tracking system, ‘Our Track Your Impact’, which lets you track the impact of every single item bought, and as a consumer you can see how you’re affecting others globally by purchasing a thankyou™ product. It connects you to the impact you are making with the impact partners and communities.
thankyou™ products are available now in New Zealand at your local New World, PAK’nSAVE Four Square and Countdown stores, with 100 per cent of the profits committed to helping end global poverty. They fund projects that help get safe water, toilets, hygiene training, safe births and healthcare to empower people in need.
Daniel says, “We’re a social enterprise.
We operate like any for-profit business, investing in all the things necessary to create great products and stay competitive. The main difference from other for-profit companies is that we don’t have any private shareholders (never have, never will). Instead, we are 100 per cent owned by the thankyou™ Charitable Trust, a registered charitable entity. We commit 100 per cent of our profits to the trust, which then distributes them to our impact partners to fund sustainable development projects that help end global poverty.
We always have and always will exist 100 per cent for ending the effects of global poverty.”