I got into the health care field because I wanted to make a massive impact and help people. But then realised that it’s only possible to help one person at a time. We wanted to be a clinic for good.

How to do more and be a clinic for good, this is our story.

Yes we are really lucky at Koru to work with people and support them through some of their most difficult days, either in pain, in stress or at times of living out their greatest fears.

And this can be very rewarding. However at any given time, you can only “help” the one person you are working with and maybe indirectly their family members who are worried about them. We wanted to do so much more, inspire change in the world and make a social and global impact. But how could we do this from a small office in a suburban allied health care clinic, with a very small team? We wanted to challenge ourselves to make a bigger impact and live out our core values in a way we could touch more lives. How were we going to do this?

We changed where we spent our money.

And focused on 1% changes that meant we could do better.

Drum roll please………… We changed our hand soap.No I am not kidding.It doesn’t sound life changing does it, well it is!

Thankyou

thank you products

If you haven’t heard of Thankyou, a social enterprise company who is focusing their laser focus on ending global poverty, well you should. The logic is that about 1 billion people live in extreme poverty, while 6 billion don’t and that the other 6 billion could work together to do something about it. I (Prue) first heard about their story at a women’s business conference. The founders of Thankyou came and gave an inspiring talk about how they wanted to start a bottled water company that donated half of its’ profits to helping people in third world countries get access to reliable clean water. They went through a lot of challenges and came close to failing many times. Not only did they inspire me to keep failing forward in my business and see challenges as opportunities, from that day we only bought their newly released hand soap. One of the things I love about thank you is that they are pushing boundaries and helping everyday people feel good and do good by giving each product a tracker ID. You can enter this on the website and see exactly where the money is going from the product you purchased. Then we changed our toilet rolls….. Wiping your bum never felt so good!

Who Gives A Crap

Who Gives A Crap are on a journey not only to use 50% of profits to donate building toilets in places that need help with sanitation. If that alone wasn’t enough, they are also doing their bit to rid the world of single use plastic. But wait there’s more! They also do good for your bum, as they don’t use any inks, dyes or scents. Really I don’t think anyone needs any of those any how. They really know how to make you feel amazing that you are helping so many people and the world through a single purchase. And it’s a choice we can all make. Not only do we buy their toilet paper, we also use their tissues and if you come to Koru, so will you! There is no risk in buying their products, they have a 100% money back guarantee and they offer a free trial, so get wiping.

We partnered with socially and environmentally conscious businesses.

Good Brew Kombucha

kombucha is good for you and available at the clinic

Good Brew Kombucha is a living probiotic fermented tea and an inspirational business that is great for your gut and great for the planet. Their product uses the highest quality products and is fully organic. Good Brew is committed to using glass not plastic and uses 100% solar energy to power their production. It doesn’t stop there! They use all recycled paper for their labels and special inks and dyes that contain no harmful chemicals to produce their labels. We will add that their kombucha is the real deal and not the same. This means a million x better – note not an actual figure as what you buy in the major supermarkets. What do we mean that it’s real, it is a living drink. The ones that are sold in major retailers are heated and kill most of the healthy bacteria that are living in them. In addition they may contain unnatural flavours and some contain additional sugar and even preservatives. This is not what you want to be putting into your body if you are wanting to support your gut health.

Coconut Greens

Just recently we have partnered with coconut greens.

Not only are they the most delicious greens powder you have ever tasted (seriously it doesn’t taste like you are eating the earth). They are another social enterprise business. They donate a portion of every tub to providing nutritional support to children in developing countries. So while you are getting your 8-10 serves of fruit and veg antioxidants per scoop, you are giving to kids going without and supporting their health and nutrition. Not sure if you can have coconut greens, it’s great for nearly everyone. It’s organic, paleo, gluten and dairy free, no GMO’s, no pesticides and as they put it, no cr@p.

We focused on our financial services

OC Partners

Lastly, I’d love to tell you about our accountants, OC Partners. Not only are they great at supporting your business, doing your tax and helping you out with all things money, they like to pay it forward. They donate money from every tax return to support education for Australian Indigenous children in remote communities. (Yay, we do this every year). Seriously, how else can you get excited about tax? Not enough, do xero training and give a months worth of medicine to a child in Kenya. Sign up for a years worth of accounting (yep that’s us). They provide books to at risk and orphaned children. Become a client in any other way, the provide a years worth of clean drinking water to a family in Cambodia.

Feeling inspired?

Just to summarise, let’s review what you can do or where to start to make a bigger impact.

Make some small 1% changes by changing where you spend your money.
Change your hand soap! Thank you now offers more in their range, such as hand sanitiser, nappies, female hygiene products, so you can add any of these you need to your shopping list.
You can change your toilet paper and tissues with Who Gives A Crap.
Switch products you already use to social enterprise businesses, such as Good Brew Kombucha or Coconut Greens.
Get your tax done at OC Partners or if you are a business engage them for your other accounting needs as well.

Loads of people think that one day they can give more, donate time or focus their energy into creating a better world. Giving more can help get you in touch with your bigger purpose, create happiness and spread the love. Start small and think big, make 1% changes and track your impact. We would love to hear about how you make an impact. Or if you have any recommendations for people we may be able to partner with in the future and be a clinic for good, let us know.

Inspire Local and Global Action and Be a Clinic For Good