Dogeared, the California-based jewelry company, is not really a jewelry company but rather a message company that happens to sell jewelry.

The 25-year old company, founded by Marcia Maizel-Clarke, specializes in simple, delicate jewelry that embraces and celebrates happy moments, milestones and experiences. Each piece is packaged with a theme-based card (‘good luck,’ ‘daughter,’ ‘friendship,’ ‘love,’ etc.) featuring an impactful message.

“We are promoting a message about propelling good things that happen in the world,” says Giovanna Alfieri, director of marketing and content at Dogeared.

Dogeared is helping make good things happen for women with its ‘giving mosaic,’ a sustainable charitable initiative where the company donates a percentage of its annual revenue to organizations focused on the empowerment and wellbeing of women including One Voice, Bright Pink and the Do Good Bus.

The content Dogeared publishes on its site and YouTube channel (see below) acts as a continuous point of engagement, beyond simply promoting the product. Purchasing the product is, of course, one way of experiencing the brand, but the stories that surround the product also act as vehicles to consistently engage the shopper.

The company’s roots have always been planted in community involvement and sustainability, but Dogeared took it a big step further in 2011 when it became a Certified B-Corporation.

B-Corps are for-profit companies certified by the nonprofit B Lab to meet high standards of social and environmental performance, accountability and transparency. They are recognized in 26 states and the District of Columbia, and ”enjoy legal protection to pursue a higher purpose than profit,” according to B Labs’ website. “Certified B-Corps are distinguishing themselves in a cluttered marketplace by offering a positive vision for a better way to do business [and they] distinguish themselves from companies that talk about corporate philanthropy more than do anything about it.”

Dogeared is fully invested in developing better business practices and creating new ways to measure success. One example: in 2015 Dogeared employees logged more than 1,000 volunteer hours.

At any given time Dogeared supports five to eight organizations supporting women and families, with a particular focus on empowerment, education and independence.

A major initiative is its partnership with Hope for Justice, a Cambodia-based organization focused on the eradication of human trafficking and the promotion of education and healing. The beaded jewelry produced by its participants, called Penh Lenh (pronounced ‘pen len’), funds broad-based programming for Hope for Justice, which helps rebuild lives.

Seventy percent of Dogeared employees support Hope for Justice by providing monthly donations that are matched dollar-for-dollar by the company, efforts that have funded two girls to fully participate in the program, including full access to therapy, education, medical care and more.

If all that weren’t enough, Dogeared is donating $10 from the sale of every Make a Wish ‘Peace’ bracelet to Expedition 196, one woman’s journey to spread peace through tourism by being the first woman to travel to all 196 sovereign countries, solo.

Dogeared founder Maizel-Clarke runs the company with her husband, Merlin, who was instrumental in securing its B-Corp certification, which he told the publication Triple Pundit helps the company to “build mutually beneficial partnerships in a really organic way.”

“Our culture is dedicated to consciousness,” says Alfieri. “We are driven by our core belief in the empowerment of women.”

She says that most customers aren’t generally aware of its philanthropic activities and all it does in the name of empowerment. So the next time you run across Dogeared jewelry (sold in major department stores everywhere) you might love the way the product looks on you, but you also may want to remember that, by purchasing the product, the company makes #goodthingshappen.

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