Baking for Good: A Little Sugar Goes a Long Way

The bake sale is the quintessential fundraiser, most people’s earliest experience with social activism. Now, one company is taking the familiar childhood concept and turning it into a social enterprise for the grown-up world. Operating under the motto “A little sugar goes a long way,” the simply titled Baking for Good offers a fine selection of baked goods and donates 15% of proceeds – well above the average contribution of most profit-share social enterprises – to causes of the buyer’s choice.

So far, their partner causes include Bake Me Home, a nonprofit started by two sisters ages 7 and 9 that provides support for homeless and disadvantaged moms, and Mmofra Trom Bead Project, a community fundraiser for higher education costs for vulnerable children in Ghana. They are looking to add more causes along the way.

All the delicious bakery is made only from all-natural, organic, local, and seasonal ingredients. For a timely starter, consider their Valentine’s Day collection.

Baking for Good is the brainchild of former management consultant and Harvard alumna Emily Dubner, who dreamt up the concept in her cozy Manhattan kitchen in January 2009.

via @cindygallop1

Maria Popova is the editor of Brain Pickings, a curated inventory of miscellaneous interestingness. She writes for Wired UK, GOOD Magazine, Design Observer and Huffington Post, and spends a shameful amount of time on Twitter.