Guest post by Zack Swire, founder of eGood

It was three years ago that I was working on a side-project, really a passion project, with my agency, SWIRE. It was one of those situations where an idea stuck with me and just wouldn’t go away. You see, I had been working on growing our small ad agency since 2005. We made incredible strides, becoming a key player in the telecommunications industry, and went from a smart direct marketing firm to a full scale agency. We won awards, sold lots of our clients’ products and built a pretty awesome team. Yet, it wasn’t enough.

We found a great deal of enjoyment and love of working on projects that mattered. Projects like FGUS and Eden Projects, a local and global cause. Our small efforts added up to big changes, which got us wondering — how could we better use our talents? That’s where the story begins. And, since we started filming a blogumentary along the way, I’ll spare you the details – you can watch the start of our idea here. It’s called eGood.

It was at this time that I saw the We First Manifesto. Three points from the manifesto really hit home with what we were building with eGood.

1. We cannot separate living and giving if we hope to build a better world.

2. Consumers want a better world, not just better widgets.

3. The future of profit is purpose.

These concepts weren’t totally new to what we were going after with eGood. Instead, they validated why and showed us a entire new world was forming around these ideas.

We’re still in the early stages of launching eGood.com, our platform that we hope sparks a movement, or greater yet, a revolution in ‘Choosing Good’. We believe in principles that build a better world, and we’re already starting to see them in action. Take this recent comment from one of our eGood businesses:

“A member of our community was so excited eGood was supporting The Claremont Educational Foundation that she quit going to a rather well known coffee shop and joined the The Last Drop Cafe family.” – Last Drop Coffee (April 2013)

That may not sound like much to you. But, to me, that single comment summed up why we’ve set out to launch eGood. This one customer chose a small neighborhood coffee shop over the big name shop simply because they were supporting a cause she cared about. Not because they were giving her a special deal. Not because of a fancy, gamified loyalty program or app. Just because they care enough to give back to their community and she cares enough to make that choice.

This is only the beginning of how eGood plans to live out principles that serve all our well-being. Much more is in store. And, we hope you’ll join us. If you want an invite to help build the eGood community, go to eGood.com and request and invite by entering your email on the homepage. If you find me online, I’ll be happy to personally send you and invite now.

I’ll leave you with a few words that inspire us.

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