Online shopping while giving back to local charities goal of new P.E.I. website

A new online shopping site that caters to socially conscious consumers has been created on P.E.I.

Yaundrwas officially launchedOct. 12 by the Reach Foundation, a non-profit organization committed to providing a safe, stigma-free environment for youth who are transitioning from mental health and addiction treatment to recovery and reintegration into the community.

It has partnered with other charities, including the P.E.I. Humane Society, Stars for Life and Open Door Outreach, to sell products made by non-profits to consumers whowant to know the proceeds are going to worthwhile causes.

Dean Constable, executive director of thefoundation, said the idea came about during COVID-19 when an online retail presence became more necessary to sell its soaps and cutting boards.

"When we were looking at it, we thought we can create an online store for our products but it's actually aproblem for a lot of social enterprises that are very small organizations," Constable said.

"They have other missions than worrying about retail, and so we decided if we could create something where we could partner, we could solve a solution not only for ourselves but with many other social enterprises within our community."

By taking over the retail sales, the foundation's new siteallows the charities to focus more on their core missions, Constable said. Consumers who go to the site can search for specific products made by the charities.

Because the price ismarket valueit does not qualify as a charitable donation for tax purposes, but there is a place on the site to make a donation for anyone who wishes.

More like Amazon than Kijiji

It's not a place where a regular person might go to sell a used kitchen table, for example.

"It's more akin to something like an Amazon than it is a Kijiji or a Facebook Marketplace," Constable said. "There is multiple stock of the item, notjust a one-of-a-kind item."

However there isa way for for-profit business to get involved. They can partner with one of the charities to sell a product as a fundraiser, withtheprofits going to the charity.

'Focused on gifts'

For example, P.E.I.-based company Cyanos Jay has partnered with the P.E.I. Humane Society to sell its vegan winterjackets.

"As we grow, our vision for Yaundr is to add more products and more charities so as time goes on you'll be able to find hopefully all sorts of items and anything you might need," Constable said.

"A lot of the items now are really focused on gifts, either gifts for others or great gifts for yourself."