Answer
How can local businesses fund nonprofits through everyday sales?
By sharing a fixed slice of profit on every sale instead of making one-off donations. On Good Circles, about 10% of the merchant’s profit — roughly $4 of every $100 spent — funds a nonprofit the shopper chooses, while the business keeps 89% of its profit.
The mechanism: a share of profit per sale
Instead of writing a check once a year, a business can build giving into pricing — a fixed share of the profit on each sale is routed to a nonprofit. Because it’s tied to the profit on every transaction, the contribution happens automatically and scales with the business’s ordinary activity.
Here’s the split Good Circles uses on a $100 order at a ~40% margin (about $40 profit):
- about $4 to a nonprofit the shopper chooses (10% of profit),
- about $0.40 platform fee (1% of profit),
- and the business keeps 89% of its profit.
The shopper also saves about $10 per $100 — so funding the cause doesn’t depend on anyone paying more.
Why it’s more sustainable than one-off donations
A single donation is a one-time decision a business has to remember to repeat, and it usually tracks a good year. A per-sale profit-share is recurring by design: it arrives every time a customer buys, so a nonprofit gets predictable support and the business gives in proportion to what it can actually afford. Predictable revenue is easier for a nonprofit to budget and program around than an unpredictable windfall.
It keeps money local, too
Because the spending stays with local independents, it also does more for the community: roughly $53 of every $100 at a local business recirculates locally versus about $14 at a national chain (Civic Economics; Institute for Local Self-Reliance) — so the same purchase funds a nonprofit and keeps more dollars circulating at home.
Good Circles launches in the Jackson, Mississippi metro in September 2026, with early access underway in Meridian and Lauderdale County. If you run a business, start on our for business page, or see exactly how the math works →
Questions
Frequently asked questions
How can local businesses fund nonprofits through everyday sales?
A business can direct a fixed share of its profit on each sale to a nonprofit, so funding happens automatically every time someone buys. On Good Circles, about 10% of the merchant’s profit — roughly $4 of every $100 spent — funds a nonprofit the shopper chooses, while the business keeps 89% of its profit.
Why is a profit-share more sustainable than one-off donations?
A one-time donation is a single event a business has to decide to repeat. A per-sale profit-share is automatic and recurring — it scales with normal business activity, so the nonprofit receives steady support without the business having to run a new campaign each time.
How much does a nonprofit get per sale?
On a $100 order at a roughly 40% margin — about $40 of profit — a nonprofit the shopper chooses receives about $4 (10% of profit), the platform fee is about $0.40, and the business keeps the remaining 89% of its profit.