Giving is a personal act of kindness that makes people feel good. The act of giving is immediate and benefits of donating to a worthy cause can often be seen right away. Supporting the charitable community is where Kharity comes in. Kharity /care-itē/ (caring about charity) is a charitable e-commerce marketplace that launched in April. Kharity looks to enable all brands to be philanthropic. With every sale on the website 10 percent is donated to a 501(c)3 charity of the seller's choice. Buyers can shop by a cause they are passionate about, and sellers can represent any charity with their products on Kharity.
Founder Mark O'Brien was born and raised on a farm in Nebraska and began his entrepreneurial journey as a young boy selling organic eggs and custom hay bales to fund his first PC computer. He paid his way through college at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln by building and flipping websites and various eBay and Amazon businesses. Before launching Kharity, O'Brien stared at the website and code for eleven months:
“We were near perfect, luckily, we brought some great brands on board that helped identify small bugs and errors,” O’Brien said. “Once we got the main bugs fixed, we gained more sellers and sales started to come in.”
In Kharity's first three weeks, Kharity gained about 83 users, 56 shops, 261 product SKUs, and 65 charities on the website: "Buyers love that they can shop via cause and every purchase is a positive purchase that gives a portion to charity." Kharity fills a gap that currently exists between consumerism and kindness. Through Kharity anyone is able to join the charitable community and buy/sell a wide variety of merchandise that supports a philanthropic effort.
O'Brien bootstrapped the business: "We have wonderful brands on board that are very supportive of the charitable marketplace idea, so we know our continued curated brands will be successful."
In the short term, Kharity looks to grow through customer acquisition and proof of concept testing in order to secure funding in 2014. Currently Kharity supports small to large businesses that open and manage their own shops and allow shop owners to select charities of their choice.
In 2013 charitable consumers donated $300 billion domestically to causes they were passionate about. Kharity looks to become the "charitable Amazon" where every charity and brand will be able to have custom-curated Kharity shops and donate to philanthropic efforts year round.
The Kharity team is expanding fast and O'Brien and his team are constantly searching for philanthropic-minded people to join the team in LA once funding has been secured to further scale the website. O'Brien notes that passion is a key element that is driving Kharity: "have a passion for your idea, product, customer, etc... If you love doing something and others love what you are doing... go for it, there is a possible business to be made."
With Kharity every person will have a connection with a charity on the website site that is personal and close to their heart.
"I wanted to create a place where everyday consumers could discover new charities and make donations to them by simply buying products that they want."
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