By reconnecting with its soul, a nonprofit organization amplified its impact and multiplied revenue by 5x

By Verne Harnish

When Crocs asked Buddy Teaster, CEO of Soles4Souls (S4S), to help improve its “Old Crocs New Life” recycling program, Teaster saw an opportunity to strengthen the partnership with the shoe manufacturer.

Crocs has been a long-time donor to S4S, a Nashville-based organization that helps entrepreneurs in low-income countries such as Haiti and Honduras to set up small businesses selling footwear donated by retailers. Crocs placed collection bins in its stores to collect unneeded shoes, which it passed along to S4S to support the entrepreneurs and divert the shoes from landfills. 

It all sounded great, but six months into the program, things weren’t working as planned. Few of the shoes were suitable for repurposing, meaning most needed to go to the recycling plant. Faced with Crocs’s recycling challenges, Soles4Souls made a bold move after troubleshooting: the nonprofit invested a five-figure sum in recycling equipment and, this past December, began shredding and grinding the shoes itself to ensure the campaign’s success. Even though fewer usable donations resulted, Teaster explains, “We want to find the best use for the product, no matter what.” 

Embracing the soul of a nonprofit

Such decisions may not add up financially, but they show the partnership spirit at the heart of S4S. “That spirit goes beyond financial considerations,” Teaster says. “We’re thinking about long-term relationships.” 

Almost every leader I speak with tells me that they’ve put their heart and soul into their organization. But when I ask them what the soul is, they can’t define it. Ultimately, the soul is how we deliver our product or service, our promise and our purpose. It may not make sense to outsiders, but it’s part of the magic that keeps its team inspired. 

A soul-driven turnaround

Teaster’s focus on partnerships transformed S4S from a struggling nonprofit into a stable, fast-growing organization. When he was hired in 2012, S4S had a $4 million annual revenue and was facing a cash flow crisis. By prioritizing partnerships, Teaster grew annual revenue to $20 million, built a cash reserve, and expanded the team to 35 people. These results allowed S4S to engage in long-term planning as it approached its 20th anniversary this year. 

It has also multiplied its impact as it moves toward its BHAG of achieving $1 billion in economic impact by 2030. Beyond helping entrepreneurs in developing economies to start businesses, S4S has provided new, branded athletic shoes to 500,000 students experiencing homelessness through its 4EveryKid program, founded in 2020, by partnering with schools. It also distributed 79,000 new items to organizations in the Southeast to people impacted by Hurricanes Milton and Helene in 2024, and responded to disasters in Ukraine and Spain, as well as to the fires in Los Angeles. Through activities like this, it has contributed to the “circular economy,” diverting 9.2 million pounds of clothes and shoes from landfills. Along the way, it has become a top-rated, four-star charity in Charity Navigator and a sought-after employer. For four consecutive years, it has been recognized by The Nonprofit Times’ Best Nonprofits to Work For.

“To me, there is a direct correlation between thinking like a partner and the fact that since 2013, we’ve grown revenue, our bottom line, and most importantly, the number of people we serve,” says Teaster. “Thinking that way has allowed us to engage with our partners not just as a charity, which is a pretty limiting label, but as a real partner in business and philanthropy, and that’s changed the kind of conversation we’ve been able to have and the kind of relationships we’ve been able to develop.”

Prioritizing every partner

S4S relies on a network of supporters to achieve its mission. Teaster invests time to learn what each stakeholder values, viewing them as true partners, not just donors or distributors.

One key group of partners is the footwear and apparel brands that donate shoes at scale. The group includes Adidas, Allbirds, Brooks, Deckers, DSW, Eileen Fisher, Hoka, New Balance, Nike and Tecovas.

Teaster listens closely to their challenges to make sure the partnerships are working for them and looks for ways to offer creative solutions. For instance, when DSW, which collects more than 100,000 shoes a month for donation, mentioned the rising cost of mailing its donations across the country, S4S offered to collect the shoes at its four warehouses in California, Dallas, Denver, and Nashville. 

“Together, we figured out if we could get the stores to send the shoes to the closest location, that would be good for everybody, and we cut their shipping bill almost in half,” he says. 

Supporting key distributors

Another key group of partners distributes the footwear S4S collects to thrift stores and local entrepreneurs in the countries where it has a presence. S4S has worked with one distributor in Haiti for 13 years as he’s navigated disruptions that could have shut him down. “Nothing is easy in Haiti,” says Teaster. “If we were just selling shoes to someone, we wouldn’t have been doing it with him. We wouldn’t have been through gangs, earthquakes, floods, hurricanes and currency collapse.” 

However, S4S has committed to supporting him every step of the way. “Sometimes we have just written off shipments because he got wiped out in a hurricane,” says Teaster. “If we were just a for-profit company, we might say, ‘We don’t care what happened to your stuff. Sorry, your warehouse wasn’t insured.’ Instead, we say, ‘You’re serving 400 women entrepreneurs in Haiti. How do we get you back on track?’”

Ultimately, says Teaster, S4S wants partners to know that what they’re doing matters to the organization. “We’re not here because they’re buying shoes from us—we are here because we care about what they are doing, why they’re doing it and who they’re doing it with,” he says. “We will do whatever it takes to make sure they can keep serving those people.”

In another case in point, S4S is working methodically with a partner in Texas who is looking to set up shoe sellers across Belize, where she has deep ties. “We helped her choose some entrepreneurs to work with, step-by-step, and fronted her about $10,000 to open a bricks-and-mortar location in one of the towns,” Teaster says. “That’s not an investment in the traditional sense. We’re giving the money because, otherwise, she’s never going to get there. Our work, our purpose for being a not-for-profit, is to help create opportunities for people. By giving her funds, we’re helping her serve more people and create more opportunities. Even though there’s no direct ROI from that for us in the traditional sense, we’re partners.” That’s a decision it would be hard to justify to any private equity firm.

Tapping the power of storytelling

Teaster now helps other leaders reconnect with their organizations’ souls by telling his own story and those of other like-minded entrepreneurs. A longtime member of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization and YPO Global Impact Award finalist, he released his book From Tailspin to Tailwind: Leadership Lessons from Turning Crisis into Clarity in May and launched the re: Purpose podcast, both of which are focused on purpose-driven leadership and impact. 

As Teaster has found, staying in touch with an organization’s soul can greatly simplify leadership decisions, even in an unpredictable economic environment. “It’s always super clear what the right thing to do is,” he says.

While the organization has a why—a purpose—and a BHAG, the “how” it brings these things to life—being a great partner—is what continues to guide the organization as it moves forward in its work with both corporate donors and nonprofit distributors all over the world.

“I think our why is different,” he says. “We create opportunities for people through shoes and clothes. And that matters and we have our BHAG set to that. But the ethos of how we bring that to life, the soul, is through partnership.”