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Case study

The Unscented Company

Community Engagement Program

The Unscented Company, a B Corporation (B Corp) based in Montreal, redefines the notion of clean by offering a full line of natural home and body care products that are exclusively unscented, efficient, and designed to reduce plastic and water by offering refills and solid options. Since November 2011, Anie Rouleau, Founder and CEO, has been working with her team to help people and businesses adopt a more sustainable lifestyle by changing their consumption habits and raising industry standards.

The Situation

The Unscented Company (TUC) works hard to ensure all aspects of its business are conducted in a sustainable and environmentally responsible way.

While the leadership team was being socially responsible by volunteering in their communities, this core value wasn’t evenly distributed throughout the company. As a B Corporation, companies must recertify every three years and are asked to look at what they have improved on when it comes to their environmental and social impact.

So looking to level up in the area of community engagement, TUC turned to Phil for guidance.

The Challenge

While it was easy for TUC to give back to their local community, the challenge was to structure their program to make it truly impactful at the right scale. They wanted the relationship with a community organization to be equally beneficial for both TUC and the charity of choice – a real point of pride for their employees and not a source of stress.

Looking to implement a more intentional and structured approach to giving back, TUC asked Phil to find them a partner organization that aligned with their values, was conducive to the logistics of their work, and appealed to their team. Plus, they wanted to make sure their efforts truly answered the needs of their chosen charity and did not become more of a burden than a help.

“We were giving away a lot of product donations,” says Halina Torresan, TUC Sustainable Marketing Director. “We frequently receive requests for donations and we just said ‘yes’ all the time. At one point, we felt our impact was diluted.”

The Solution

Phil offered TUC a multi-faceted, community engagement package.

First up, Phil created a workshop for TUC employees to unify them in the what, why, and how of volunteering as a team. Phil also researched possible partner charities from a variety of sectors that aligned with TUC’s values and presented the options. A Giving Tuesday brainstorm and action plan was also developed to better target their monetary donation strategy.

The Results

Unscented selected Share the Warmth as a like-valued organization to partner with for their community engagement program.

Unscented selected Share the Warmth as a like-valued organization to partner with for their community engagement program.

The first year, because of COVID, the team couldn’t volunteer in person, so they began the partnership with a Giving Tuesday donation. Every year since, TUC has donated 5% of its Black Friday sales to Share the Warmth, which is included in its wider yearly program of donating 0.5% of total company sales.

In the second year, TUC evolved the program to also include monthly product donations and consistent volunteer hours. Once a month, Share the Warmth picks up $1000 MSRP worth of products from the TUC warehouse, and one or two TUC employees make their way to the not-for-profit headquarters to help out during the busy opening hours of the food bank. And in 2022, TUC designated one employee to manage the entire volunteer program.

While monetary and product donations are easy to maintain and are now a natural step in TUC’s day-to-day, ensuring recurring volunteer hours over the long term for Share the Warmth is the tricky part.

“We’re still a small business, so sometimes having too many people out of the office or warehouse at once is challenging,” says Halina. “We haven’t found the perfect recipe yet, but we’re committed and we want to be the best partner we can.”

The real success of the program is in fact this true partnership.

“The fact that we’ve committed to one organization is the best thing. We put all of our energy and our donations in one place and see way more impact!”

Halina Torresan
TUC Sustainable Marketing Director

“It’s a well-rounded giving back program. We liked the idea that they wanted to be part of our team of volunteers. It means a lot to work with people who understand our reality.”

Stephanie Taillon
Share the Warmth Executive Director

Most TUC employees use their 20 hours of company-paid volunteer time for Share the Warmth, and even one TUC ambassador also chose to volunteer. Plus, throughout the partnership, Share the Warmth offered a “lunch and learn” to TUC employees, an award to the company, and included TUC in some of their marketing and communications materials.

TUC ambassador
Pier-Anne, TUC volunteer & award recipient
Share the Warmth award

“Phil helped us outline a simple, clearly outlined, and straightforward program,’’ says Halina. “The next step is maintaining our involvement and creating even more value for our community.”

The Unscented Company’s Volunteer program for Share the Warmth

Between 2021 and 2023,
357 volunteer hours were
dedicated to Share the Warmth.

The Unscented Company’s monetary and product donation program for Share the Warmth

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