Opinion: Give to Charity Directly, Not by Buying Shoes

The rise of cause marketing and “activist brands” such as Toms Shoes and Ethos Water has “seduced us into believing that buying goods is doing good,” according to an opinion article in social-sciences magazine Pacific Standard.

Writer Casey N. Cep says cause-linked companies like Toms, which gives away a pair of shoes for every pair it sells, primarily benefit the brand rather than the cause. She asserts that groups like GiveDirectly, the charity that makes cash grants to poor families in Africa to use as they see fit, are far more effective in tackling poverty and ameliorating want.

“For the $48 you might have spent on ikat-patterned, soft-soled Toms Shoes, you could buy a similar pair of cloth shoes and have $24 left over to direct to charities meeting children’s needs: not just shoes, but food and health care,” Ms. Cep writes. “In almost every instance, we can do more good by buying fewer goods or less expensive substitutes and donating the surplus directly to charities instead of filtering it through a corporation.”

Listen to a Chronicle of Philanthropy podcast on Toms Shoes and its entrepreneurial and philanthropic model.