MAC and Kenneth Cole are proving mission-led spending can be good for people and business

When the federal government officially ended its funding for suicide prevention services for LGBTQ+ youth last year, The Trevor Project lost $25 million in support almost overnight.

For the long-running nonprofit best known for its crisis hotline and mental health services, that cut meant shedding 200 staff members, including many crisis counselors.

Months later, MAC Cosmetics stepped in with a major assist. The beauty brand, which has partnered with The Trevor Project for three years, announced a $1 million grant from its Viva Glam Fund, financed entirely by sales of its Viva Glam products.

“They leaned in during what we called our emergency campaign, when we said we cannot just stop servicing this many people,” Deborah Barge, chief advancement officer at The Trevor Project, told Retail Brew. Thanks to the new grant, she said, the nonprofit can now “empower nearly 20,000 crisis contacts,” totaling nearly 44,000 minutes of crisis services.

“In the US, we estimate that every 45 seconds an LGBTQ+ youth attempts suicide,” Barge added. “So those minutes are critical to us serving our mission.”

Beyond financial support, MAC also launched “Makeup Services for All,” a gender-inclusive training program for MAC artists created in partnership with The Trevor Project to help them better serve gender-diverse customers.

On purpose: MAC is hardly the only brand redirecting dollars toward social causes. Kenneth Cole is among the brands that continues to invest in mental health advocacy through the Mental Health Coalition, in addition to longtime efforts around HIV/AIDS, women’s rights, and gun-violence prevention.

“[We] are really focused on being the brand [that] advocates for mental health and reducing the stigma on mental health and making that a huge contextual part of our business and our brand,” Jed Berger, CEO of Kenneth Cole, previously told us. “That has also very clearly resonated with the consumer.”

To Berger’s point, its philanthropic efforts resonate with its customers since they continue to shop with their values, and companies that make their social messaging an essential part of their identity also see returns in different ways.

Deloitte research shows that purpose-driven companies are three times more likely to retain employees, due to stronger engagement and job satisfaction. Innovation also rises by about 30% among companies with a well-defined mission. Additionally, IDEO data shows purpose-led firms average a 13.1% return on equity, outperforming the S&P by 9%, while reporting 64% higher employee satisfaction.

For brands, Barge said, that can be instrumental.

“We know our brand partners are struggling with ensuring they have quarterly profitability and that consumers continue to see them as their favorite brand,” she said. “What the data tells us is that those brands and those products that are aligned with philanthropy tend to see increased volume in their stores, increased transaction amounts, and increased consumer loyalty. Often, brands don’t realize that by partnering and engaging with a nonprofit, they actually have the opportunity to strengthen their business position.”