Meet the Maker behind Worthy Cause – Rick Cohen, a driven social entrepreneur who has turned his passion for helping others and love for cooking into a powerful force for change. Founded in 2021, Worthy Cause is a Melbourne-based social enterprise that provides employment opportunities for individuals who have faced significant hardships.
100% of the proceeds from every batch of Worthy Cause artisanal cookies fund their life-changing employment program, known as “cookies with a conscience.”
In this exclusive interview, Rick shares the inspiration behind Worthy Cause, the personal experiences that drive his mission, and his insights into branding a business with a social purpose. Here’s our chat with Rick.
What inspired you to start Worthy Cause?
From a young age, I struggled with depression. It was really difficult growing up and not understanding why I felt the way I did and why it made me different to everybody else. During my experience in group therapy and time in psychiatric care, I noticed a common theme emerge amongst some of my peers. Many of these people were only one opportunity away from rising above the challenges and difficulties that had held them back for so long.
Leaving that chapter of my life behind me, I felt it was my duty to help facilitate those opportunities. Coupling my love of cooking with the moral obligation I felt to be a changemaker for people who deserve a better life, I developed the model for what would become Worthy Cause and we have been helping disadvantaged people build a better life one cookie at a time ever since.
Can you share the significance of the name “Worthy Cause”? What does it mean to you and the community you support?
It was significantly harder than I had expected to choose a name for this charity. To be able to distil our purpose and mission into just a few words. Worthy Cause is a ‘worthy cause’ because each time a customer chooses to purchase from us they are participating in a charity program that supports people who are overcoming severe hardship and disadvantage. More than that, they are making a commitment to use their purchasing power to send a message to our community that entrepreneurship doesn’t need to exist only for wealth and greed, but instead, we can use business to change lives and make the world a better place. To me and the Worthy Cause community, our brand represents a connection between people who have the power to speak with their actions and an opportunity to change the world.
Your cookies serve as a way to fund the program. Since you started, how have you seen the ‘cookies with a conscience’ movement grow?
It’s not hard to see why our customers love our product! It’s not only a delicious sweet treat but it provides the crucial funding needed to facilitate our program. Each cookie we produce is made with love by our program participants and kitchen team teaching them employability skills. As a charity, we still rely on the generosity of donors and supporters to be able to do the good work we do. We have found a loyal and passionate community of like-minded people committed to doing what they can to make the world that little bit better – who knew so much good could come from a delicious little treat.
If you could share one piece of advice for other social enterprises or individuals looking to make a difference, what would it be?
My advice would be to recognise there will never be a perfect moment to start a charity or social enterprise. Don’t wait for life to happen to you, take the leap and trust that the good you’re trying to do for the world will pay you back tenfold. Find a group of people who are passionate about what you’re passionate about and start small, prove your concept works and start spreading the word.
What were your main considerations when branding your small business?
Having a strong social focus, I wanted the branding to reflect what Worthy Cause was going to be. Having a clear vision and plan for the charity was the first step in being able to communicate who we were. Our branding reflects the positivity and trauma-informed program we have designed. Using bright colours, we’re able to present the brand as fun, caring and warm.
What were the key challenges when it came to branding?
Having done the original branding myself, the first challenge was learning how to do everything! I had (and have) no real experience with graphic design nor any experience in building a thorough brand for any business. Choosing colours and font types that were homogenous with our brand took a bit of trial and error.
VistaPrint believes in supporting small businesses just like Worthy Cause. As a customer of VistaPrint, what are your favourite products and in what ways has VistaPrint helped to support your business?
VistaPrint is a fantastic one-stop shop for branding and promotional printing. Starting out having such low minimum order printing options was so helpful for setting up our market stalls, printing brochures and signage, our business cards and product labels. Small businesses need to be nimble so the fast turnaround times are a huge bonus.
To learn more about Worthy Cause and Rick’s inspiring story, visit their website at https://worthycause.org.au/.
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