Impact Everything
Just a few blocks away from Brown University sits the store Impact Everything, which does exactly that. The store allows shoppers to purchase items in which the proceeds go to help solve problems, making the world a better place.
“We are a store on a mission to change the world,” says cofounder Lanna Nawa. “Every product that you buy makes an impact on a cause. In total, we hit twelve different causes—from human trafficking to helping the environment to providing education for someone in need.”
After the 2015 earthquake in Nepal, cofounders Lanna Nawa and Saroj Bhandari, who were then college students, made it their mission to fundraise with car washes, lemonade stands, and 5K races. Instead of donating the money to an unknown charity, they decided to fly to Nepal themselves and they ended up building a school there in 2016.
When they returned from Nepal, they needed to find a way to sustain the school. The two decided to set up pop-up shops.
“Our very first product was a Hemp Backpack, and each sale provided 8 hours of education to the school,” Lanna explained. “It still does that to this day.”
After about a year-and-a-half of pop-up shops, they expanded to twelve different causes and met a lot of similar, like-minded companies trying to give back. The small pop-up shops soon expanded to Impact Everything, with each item’s proceeds supporting a specific cause.
Impact Everything's table at the CHS Career Fair.
There are three different ways one can help make an impact with Impact Everything.
The first way is traveling with a purpose with Impact Everything to Nepal or Uganda to help build schools.
The second way is by making a purchase in the store that will in return benefit the consumer and also help in supporting one of the global causes.
The final way is to attend one of the free events at the Impact Everything store that they offer every weekend. All these events are centered on activism around a certain cause.
“It's really important to remember that ‘impact’ starts with ‘I,’” Lanna said. “It starts with the individual. Giving the people the option to make an impact is super important because collectively that is where we can make a real difference.”
You can find Impact Everything online or at their store located at 297 Thayer Street in Providence, RI.
