Tyler Merrick is the founder of Project 7, a consumer goods company that donates 50% of their profits to seven areas of need:
Build the Future
Feed the Hungry
Heal the Sick
Help those in Need
Hope for Peace
House the Homeless
Save the Earth
Merrick founded Project 7 on the belief that when given a choice, consumers would choose a brand that gave back. And, he was right. Since it’s first appearance in the market place in 2008, Project 7 has garnered the respect of big business and consumers alike. Project 7 products can be found in more than 1,700 stores across the country, including all Caribou Coffee locations. Currently Project 7 manufactures bio-bottled water, gum, mints and eco-t-shirts.
Merrick seeks to do more than sell product. Through Project 7, he looks to motivate and educate consumers on how to make a positive change in our world.  Merrick leads by example, with the whole company volunteering at least once a month in the community. He also uses Project7.com and Twitter.com/Project7 to draw attention to the issues.
It is Merrick’s hope that someday their would be no need for a company like Project 7, but until then, he will continue to break down the boundaries between activism and entrepreneurship.

Plywood People: Tyler, you say you started the organization because you wanted to turn the 7 deadly sins upside down.  Can you explain a little about what you mean by this and what prompted this specific goal?

Tyler Merrick: For several years, the emerging model of social entrepreneurship has intrigued me.  I studied emerging concepts from a distance while I was employed with my family’s pet food business.  As time went on, I couldn’t ignore the possibilities and begin to think about what was next for my life.  My wife and I took a year to pray about whether to stay and eventually run the family business or move on to a new season of our lives.  It was during that year that I had the initial vision for Project 7 and this ultimately propelled me to leave the safety of my family’s company and onto this journey of faith.

The concept came from my studying the 7 deadly sins.  If you will, the 7 deadly sins are based on “abstinence” – basically about the individual abstaining from these 7 sins. I asked my self the question, using what we are supposed to abstain from, how can we turn into something we should take part in? Take gluttony in this example, instead of focusing on not eating too much, focus on giving someone with not enough something to eat. This changes the focus from being all about the “me” to all about “we.”

Based on this idea, Project 7 was created as a product line that would flip abstaining into giving. Simply by purchasing products consumers would be able to give back to 7 critical areas of need that mirrored the deadly sins. The idea wasn’t to replace individual “giving” but to offer a brand of products out there that exists to serve these 7 areas of need. The brand wouldn’t use profits to endorse athletes and other such celebs, but rather endorse positive change in the world. Whether we sell one bottle of water or a million, this is my calling and what I’m meant to do.

Plywood People: Of the 7 goals Project 7 focuses on, Heal the Sick, Save the Earth, House the Homeless, Feed the Hungry, Help those in Need, Build the Future, and Hope for Peace which do you find hardest to accomplish, and which are you most passionate about personally?

Tyler: The 7 areas are massive, so big that the only way we will make a dent in any of them is if we band together as a community to make positive changes in each cause. That is not to say that as an individual you can’t make a difference, but rather when we group together we are more powerful. If I had to choose, the one I’m most passionate about is “Save the Earth.” At the end of the day, the Earth is a gift that was given to us and we need to take care of it. As a Christian, I have found that the “Christian” demographic has written off the notion of saving the Earth. In the community it is perceived as a conspiracy of the left wing. You often hear things like, “We need to take care of people before the Earth…” While I couldn’t agree more with taking care of people what this statement misses is the fact that the Earth is our home and by taking care of it, we take care of the people that are blessed to be alive. To make a change to better the Earth is simple and to not do so is a slap in the face of our generation and those to come. Don’t know where to start? How about at home? Start recycling and teach your children something good that they can continue to do. By making a simple change we could all make a big difference for the planet’s future. How could someone not embrace this? I’m proud to have earned the title tree hugger!

Plywood People:  You are working on some amazing projects with a lot of people in need.  Do you have one story that particularly pulls at you and that keeps you inspired to continue the hard work you’re doing?

Tyler: This one is so challenging because the need(s) are so great in our own nation and around the world. You are right that we are working on some amazing projects with a lot of people in mind. To pull one story in particular is very hard. I would rather talk about this from a bird’s eye view down to a personal view.

From the bird’s eye perspective, when you tell buyers at a national retail group that $1 can buy clean water for a child in need in say Uganda, India or Haiti its hard to really grasp that since we live in one of the richest nations in the world. To further demonstrate, I tell them “Let me give you $1 right now and let’s all go to the vending machine and see what we can get.  How long will that candy bar last us?  15 minutes, an hour? That same $1 can help give life for an entire year to a child that walks 5 miles round trip for clean water.” When one looks at the international relief needed and the cost / benefit ratio its hard not to want to focus on an international level, the money just seems to go farther.  I mean, TB, AIDS and Malaria are the world’s biggest health issues and ultimate killers.  Internationally, a Malaria vaccine can be bought for a couple of dollars and save a child’s life or a mosquito net for $15 and protect a child while they sleep in their bed at night. Educating people on the differences a simple dollar can make is very rewarding.

On a personal level, my wife and I find it truly inspirational to see a generation move so passionately towards the fight against Human and Child Trafficking. This issue has always been hard to understand and one that I think most American’s thought “Didn’t happen here.” As a brand guy, I’ve always thought that this area of need was “branded” wrong to begin with. People don’t understand what the words human trafficking mean. The statement is almost too polite. The cold, hard, honest truth is that Human Trafficking = slavery. Our generation reads about the open slavery during Civil War times and we think “Wow, how could someone let that happen to another human being?” Well, we are letting it happen right now. With increasing numbers, the black market that traffics humans supplies victims to a “fallen” world. But, progress is being made. Getting to work with groups that are “turning the lights on” in the dark areas of this practice and exposing it for what it is, turning local and national governments on to it — that is exciting.  Each week authorities around the country are exposing trafficking rings and bringing a life that was captive to a place of recovery again. It is reading and being involved in these stories that keep me going. Knowing that we are making a real difference, that is the key.

Plywood People:  You want more than for people to donate their money.  Why do you encourage volunteerism so strongly, and will you share what your goal for 2010 is? How are you reaching this goal?

Tyler: Project 7 definitely seeks to do more than just fund change. I realized one day while sitting in my office with products scattered around with calls to actions like “Hope for Peace”, “Heal the Sick”, etc. that if I wasn’t careful these powerful statements would just become labels and not action. I realized to truly “change the score” we had to get out of our office and into the community and take part in what in the change we were trying to promote and to expose ourselves to the real needs that exist. Let’s put it this way – its one thing to be watching the news at night and see footage of a fire burning down someone’s house.  Its an entirely different thing to be there and feel the heat coming off of the flames while you try to put out the fire and save lives all while seeing the family who has lost everything. It is harder to ignore need when you look it straight in the face.  Through volunteering and promoting volunteerism we offer people a way to connect to these areas of need – meet both the people that are suffering and those that give their lives to making a difference. This exposure teaches us about true need and what we can do to change it. Volunteering allows us to take experience and educate others, growing the network of those connected to making positive changes.  This should be passed on from generation to generation.
We call our volunteer days “7 day.” “7 Day” offers a way for those interested in volunteering, but don’t know how, to participate. By creating something like this, we’ve made it impossible for people to use the excuses of “I don’t have anyone to go with” or “they’ll want me to come every week and I can’t do that” or “I don’t go to that church.”  “7 Day” offers the opportunity to get outside of yourself and into your community, investing and connecting with real needs.

Plywood People:  How has volunteering changed your life?

Tyler: Again, it’s the difference between hearing about something and experiencing it.  When you meet the caseworkers, hear the stories first hand from the people being impacted and see what a difference you can make in those lives, one is forced to do some serious soul searching. Your perceptions change, you see how you may have judged or stereotyped someone in the past and how wrong you were. Being involved on a personal level means I can’t claim ignorance anymore and I don’t want to.  Volunteering has taught me that we’re all in this thing together, that there is no gated community where one can escape, nor should we.