Australian charity Bridge It has attracted the attention and support of some of Australia’s most high-profile retail brands, including Mecca, Decjuba, Merry People and Wanderlust.The Melbourne-based charity is on a mission to end youth homelessness and has been backed by Richard Branson.Last week, supplements brand Wanderlust invited Carla Raynes, Bridge It’s founder and CEO, to be interviewed by America’s sweetheart Drew Barrymore in a series of couch discussions as part of the brand’s True North events series.Wanderlust is donating a percentage of the proceeds from the ticket sales to Bridge It, with the charity expecting to receive over A$75,000 from the event. “When we unite and unleash the collective power of business and not-for-profit wisdom, real change can happen,” Carla Raynes, Bridge It’s CEO and founder, told Inside Retail.Merry PeopleMelbourne-based gumboot business Merry People is also donating a percentage of the proceeds from a limited-edition boot it launched last month in collaboration with Bridge It. The collaboration is part of Bridge It’s inaugural ‘The One to End Youth Homelessness’ campaign, which asks businesses to donate the profits of one thing relevant to them.Merry People has committed to donating 20 per cent of the sales revenue from the collaboration boot to fund Bridge It’s Cocoon housing project, which provides a home for young women at risk of experiencing homelessness to recover, stabilise, develop life skills, and prepare for long-term housing.The Cocoon project started with A$20,000 of private funding and has raised A$2.5 million since its inception with no Government support to date. “A lot of that money has come from business,” Raynes said.Merry People’s CEO and founder Danielle Pearce told Inside Retail that while the brand is a for-profit business, it is also a purpose-driven business, and she sees that as being key to its commercial success.“When you have strong values, that’s attractive to people,” she said. “When people have come into the Merry People workplace, they’ve been drawn to us by our values and the way we do business, that attracts talent.” She saw these shared values in Raynes’s vision for Bridge It, which led to the collaboration as a way to support the charity.This is not the first time Merry People has launched a limited-edition product to support a charity. Its Mother’s Day Classic boot raised A$90,000 to help fund breast and ovarian cancer research, Pearce said. While there are marketing and manufacturing costs associated with these partnerships, Pearce said that “being able to do that felt important and we factored that into our budget”. “You could look at it and go, that’s an expense but I don’t look at it like that, it’s an important part of our business, and we’ll keep doing it. “I’m privately funded, I don’t have investors that could bail me out if I get it wrong, so I am conservative with my planning and growth targets.”Merry People’s Bridge It boot is now one of the brand’s best sellers, and based on the current run rates is likely to sell out within days.As evidenced by Merry People, creating impact through charity donations and affiliations can be a great way for businesses to attract talented staff and conscious customers.“If you do good, you’ll attract more customers and retain great staff,” Pearce said.Impact creatorsRaynes credits Bridge It’s entrepreneurial grit for attracting the support of businesses like Merry People. “Businesses see themselves in us,” she said, noting that “Richard Branson was one of our earliest backers.”“We’re not waiting for the ducks to be lined up, something needs to happen now, and we are going to go for it, that’s been a big connection for businesses and retail, with Bridge It,” Raynes said.Mecca, Decjuba and now Merry People all continue to support Bridge It through various means.In addition to donating multi-year untied funding to Bridge It, Mecca provides Raynes with intense leadership training. “They know that Bridge It is more likely to thrive if I’m thriving,” she said.“Decjuba provides significant multi-year untied funding and they give me a lot of moral support and are a sounding board,” she added.“Merry People took a bit of a punt on us, being our first partner on ‘The One’ campaign.” Meanwhile, wellness and vitamin brand Wanderlust donated a percentage of the proceeds from its recent ‘An Evening with Drew Barrymore’ events in Sydney and Brisbane to Bridge It. “Donations are now up to A$25,000 and still going, so it will be over A$75,000 we have raised due to this Wanderlust event,” Raynes said.Wanderlust’s True North events have been operating since 2009 and are hosted to deepen and expand personal wellness through the shared joys of movement, music, inspiration and conversation. Community and giving back through charity initiatives is a big theme of these events.Last week’s ‘Evening with Drew’ events saw a unique collection of businesses unite: Chemist Warehouse was a major partner, with Garnier and Hyatt Regency as supporting partners alongside Monash University’s ‘bringing wellness and wellbeing into the workplace’ initiative.Joining Barrymore on the couch across the two nights were business owners and public figures like Terri Irwin, Michael Klim, Danni Minogue, Baker Boy, G Flip and Tone and I, and even a Wiggle – Emma Watkins.The events served as somewhat of a blueprint for Raynes’s call on retailers to harness “the power of the high street,” through Bridge It’s ‘The One to End Youth Homelessness’  campaign.“When it comes to challenging issues like homelessness, there’s absolutely no room for competition, only collaboration,” Raynes said.“I want to have Cocoons in every state of Australia and I want the Cocoon to be considered the gold standard, best practice response to alleviating or ending youth homelessness in Australia.“To do that we need to harness the incredible power of business, Government I’m confident is going to come to the table and partner with Bridge It, but it’s never going to be enough.”