3 Ways Bitchin’ Sauce Engaged in Global Orphan Care

How does a company that makes an almond-based sauce find itself participating in the mission of global orphan care?

For individuals with a heart to help, ways to donate & participate are often readily available. But if you want to mobilize the collective ability of 100+ employees (usually focused on making grocery store dips), a little more groundwork is needed.

For us, it started with a simple recognition of two key ingredients that connect a company to a mission:

shared values & compatible structures.

Bitchin’ Sauce has a heart for supporting strong, thriving families- it’s something that can be traced directly from our early origins into our present organizational structure. Our flagship employee benefit “Bitchin’ Kids” provides free on-site daycare for all employees, while our philanthropic arm “Bitchin’ Givin’” organizes a regular stream of volunteer activity for our employees, with a deliberate emphasis on child & family-based initiatives.

It was the Givin’ team that recognized our clear overlap with the 1MILLIONHOME mission and our structural capacity to support. After meeting with 1MILLIONHOME, we made plans for three areas where Bitchin’ Sauce could serve: raising funds, raising awareness, and organizational mentorship.

For fundraising, the Bitchin’ Givin’ team hosted a pledge drive centered around a Golf Tournament here in Carlsbad, CA. Bitchin’ Sauce challenged employees (and their friends & families) to raise $10,000 in hopes of placing 50 kids in Kenya into permanent and loving homes.

The ultimate amount raised was over $35,000, which resulted in benefiting 142 families in total!

The Golf Tournament also provided a clear opportunity to raise awareness outside of 1MILLIONHOME’s core reach. Bitchin’ Sauce turned to its 56,000 Instagram followers to raise awareness of 1millionhomes’ initiatives. A 10-part Instagram story featured infographics emphasizing the orphan care mission, in tandem with promoting the golf course fundraiser.

These posts accrued nearly 10,000 views from the Bitchin’ audience

The partnership also provided a unique opportunity for cross-organization mentorship. 1MILLIONHOME's team sat down with Bitchin’ Marketing, Sales, and Leadership employees to discuss challenges faced by their organization. In total

22 hours of company time was dedicated to these sessions

with topics ranging from web design, to brand positioning, to new engagement tactics. In the end, both teams were delighted to connect and brainstorm. With a level of mutual amiability built during the fundraising & awareness drive, it proved to be an invaluable experience that bridged the knowledge base of two disparate worlds.

The three-pronged approach proved successful, but there’s also tremendous opportunity to refine and build upon it as a way to make seriously impactful connections with more organizations from more corners of the world. We couldn’t be happier to have played a small but meaningful role in the 1MILLIONHOME mission!