But despite these hard times, a few companies who have chosen to swim against the current by actually giving back some of what they earn are recording record profits. But these aren’t the corporate donations carefully orchestrated by a clever PR department looking to bolster the company image.

This seldom-used business model, referred to as “Not-Only-For-Profit”, sets aside a percentage of a company’s sales that automatically go to the charities and causes that need them the most. Instead of the inconsistency of giving money when it’s convenient, or funds that never find their way into the hands of the hardest hit individuals, these companies have preemptively committed themselves to helping out. And their methods, while unorthodox in the business community, have produced some surprising results.

KIND Snacks, a healthy snack company based in NYC has seen nothing but growth in the last 2 years. KIND was conceived in 2003 by Daniel Lubetzky, a social entrepreneur that TIME Magazine recognized in 2009 among “25 Responsibility Pioneers” and BusinessWeek named among “America’s Most Promising Social Entrepreneurs.”

“The path to KIND began 15 years ago when I started PeaceWorks, Inc., a ‘not-only-for-profit’ company that fosters economic cooperation among neighbors striving to co-exist in conflict regions worldwide. After launching several successful food products with PeaceWorks, I still found myself in search of a snack that was wholesome, tasty and healthy – all at the same time. So in 2003 I conceived KIND as a brand of snacks that are ‘KIND to your body, your taste buds, & the world,’” Lubetzky claims.

“What we like to do is to build models where business and social interests are totally aligned and reinforce one another. It is not easy to do,” Lubetzky says. “A lot of the area of ‘corporate social responsibility’ is structured around perceived sacrifices to the bottom line in order to address other important societal objectives. The fun stuff comes when you are able to innovate through ventures whose financial and social objectives reinforce one another.”

Another shining example is Stubbs BBQ out of Austin Texas. Stubbs is making headlines around the U.S. with it’s “Feed the World” tour. Instead of setting up tents and trailers in shopping centers and town squares, Stubbs CEO Kurt Koegler instead chose to set up shop in homeless shelters. He explains, “It’s significantly improved morale by providing an authentic purpose that all of our employees have identified with. It’s also provided a way to differentiate Stubbs from the competition in a real and authentic way…primarily because of who Stubbs was and his love of people and love of feeding them”. At first, the tour idea didn’t resonate with all of Stubbs’ board members. According to Koegler, “The majority of the Board did not support a project that they viewed as a reduction of profits with no business purpose, however that soon changed when consumers responded with it all over the country with the result being record levels of revenue month after month.”

According to the American Association of Fundraising Counsel (AAFRC), the sum of gifts by individuals and charitable bequests in 2008 was $251.94 billion, a full 82% of the total philanthropic giving in 2008. “The sobering reality is that corporate America contributes only 5% of total giving annually to non-profits,” says non-profit consultant and organizer Michael Clearman. “What that says about the heart of corporations is, in my opinion, a question that only their leaders can answer. In my years as a professional fundraising consultant, I have learned that the greatest source of philanthropic resources is the individual human heart.”

Wall Street, are you listening?

Self-esteem: “If only you could sense how important you are to the lives of those you meet; how important you can be to people you may never even dream of. There is something of yourself that you leave at every meeting with another person.”

Life’s choices: “You rarely have time for everything you want in this life, so you need to make choices. And hopefully your choices can come from a deep sense of who you are.”

Achievment: “It’s not the honors and the prizes and the fancy outsides of life which ultimately nourish our souls. It’s the knowing that we can be trusted, that we never have to fear the truth, that the bedrock of our very being is good stuff.”

Parenting: “When we treat children’s play as seriously as it deserves, we are helping them feel the joy that’s to be found in the creative spirit. It’s the things we play with and the people who help us play that make a great difference in our lives.”

Responsibility: “We live in a world in which we need to share responsibility. It’s easy to say ‘It’s not my child, not my community, not my world, not my problem.’ Then there are those who see the need and respond. I consider those people my heroes”

Mentoring: “Anything that’s human is mentionable, and anything that is mentionable can be more manageable. When we can talk about our feelings, they become less overwhelming, less upsetting, and less scary. The people we trust with that important talk can help us know that we are not alone.”

Imperfection: “Some days, doing the best we can do may still fall short of what we would like to be able to do, but life isn’t perfect on any front, and doing what we can with what we have is the most we should expect of ourselves or anyone else. “

Peace: “What really matters is whether the alphabet is used for the declaration of war or for the description of a sunrise.”

Love and Trust: “Love and trust, in the space between what’s said and what’s heard in our life, can make all the difference in the world.”

Over the 33 years of his broadcast, there have been so many children in need of mentors who had no one but Mister Rogers to turn to. Maybe (chances are) you also grew up watching Mister Rogers. Sadly, since his death, there have been fewer and fewer PBS affiliates airing the show. But there is hope: If your local PBS affiliate is no longer airing Mister Rogers Neighborhood, I encourage you to let them know how you feel about their decision to remove the show from their syndicated weekday lineup.

Here’s another photo of Francis that was preserved very well. The date on the back is 9-3-74, so it was taken just a few months before she disappeared. I found it in an box marked “women”. I think this one was shot with a Polaroid SX-70, which was pretty high end at that time.

She looks so vibrant in the picture above and if you compare it with her last photo (below), the emotional contrast is  obvious.

In 2006, documentary filmmaker Andrew Shapter was on a tour promoting his first film, “Before the Music Dies” when someone asked him what he planned to do next.

Shapter laughed. He had quit his 20-year fashion photography career to look for more meaning in his life, and this film and subsequent tour had taken over all of his time.

“The next subject I do for a movie, I’ll have to live with it the rest of my life, so it better make me happy,” Shapter had joked.

But then Shapter got to thinking. Had anyone really done a documentary on what makes people happy? He knew there were movies that showed people overcoming obstacles or instructional videos on how to change your life to be happier. But had anyone investigated how Americans choose to find happiness in their own lives?

The Declaration of Independence has endowed us with “certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

But Shapter wanted to know what that last bit, “the pursuit of Happiness” really means in America today. How are people pursuing happiness in their own lives? Is happiness really something, as humans, we can actively pursue? So he and a small crew piled into an RV, and over the course of the next three years, drove across America to find out.

“I asked people, ‘what is it that makes you happy, what is your pursuit of happiness and how do you achieve it?’ I looked for people that are really satisfied with what they are doing in their lives,” Shapter said.

“The more I went around and had these soul-searching conversations, I realized the people who were happiest were those who tried to make their community better. Those were the happiest people around.”

Shapter’s new movie “Happiness Is” documents his journey and the people he found along the way who believe they have found a way to pursue happiness. Shapter also interviews celebrities and leaders — the Dalai Lama and Willie Nelson both make brief appearances in the movie.

But most of the documentary is dedicated to happenstance; recorded moments where the filmmaker and his crew stumble upon scenes where people are celebrating the act of giving back.

Making this movie, Shapter said, has affected his life in significant ways. “I don’t have an agenda, there are no political issues. It’s about a common bond to help people out — there’s no call to government action, just a call to stop what you’re doing, get off your butt and help somebody. You’ll have a better day. My life is a lot happier now that we’re touring this film and motivating people to get up and help in their own neighborhood.”

Like the film, the screening tour is a bit unconventional: Shapter plans screenings across the country at venues provided by nonprofits in need. Then, he donates all the ticket proceeds to benefit the charity that hosts the screening. Production and tour costs are paid for through the purchase of DVDs and downloads, available at the screenings and on the film’s online store HERE

At the very first screening, “Happiness Is” raised $10,000 for CapCityKids in Austin, Texas.

“I plan on touring this film as long as people need it, as long as benefits need to happen,” Shapter said. “I don’t see an end to this. I hope that nonprofits that are hurting will get a venue and bring people together to raise awareness and money. It’s a long journey.”

“Happiness Is” has screenings scheduled all around the country. You can find one near you on their interactive map.

You can also visit the site to learn more about hosting a screening and the nonprofits the tour already supports.

This month is National Youth Homelessness Awareness Month, and it has come not a moment too soon. Teen homelessness rates have soared in the U.S., with fewer jobs available for teens to help their family financially and more stresses pushing more kids to leave their homes and live on the streets. With more than three-quarters of these cases going unreported by parents and caretakers, many times there is no one even looking for these kids, and too often, they aren’t trusting of the help that occasionally is offered to them.

Photo Credit : Tom Stone