For consumers, giving back does not always start with a separate donation. Sometimes it can begin with products already on the shopping list.
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That is the thinking behind the Give Love campaign, which brings household baby and healthcare brands Elizabeth Anne’s, Milton and Karvol together to turn participating purchases into support for three South African organisations.
Running until 31 October 2026, the campaign will donate 10c from every participating product purchased to Avril Elizabeth Home in Johannesburg, Bless a Baby in Cape Town and Baby Line in KwaZulu-Natal.
The initiative puts purpose directly into the retail transaction, giving consumers an opportunity to contribute without having to make a separate charitable donation.
Turning everyday FMCG purchases into participation
For AMKA Baby Products, which owns the participating brands, the campaign is designed to connect established household products with a tangible social contribution.
“While the idea is simple – consumers shop for products they already use, with a portion of each participating purchase going towards charity – the impact reaches far beyond the shopping basket,” says Rinee Mudavhi, senior brand manager for AMKA Baby Products.
“This campaign allows us together with our consumers to give back to those who need it the most, in different times of their lives.”
The participating products are available through major retailers including Shoprite, Checkers, Spar, Pick n Pay, Clicks and Dis-Chem, putting the initiative within the everyday FMCG shopping journey.
Rather than asking consumers to change their purchasing behaviour completely, the campaign attaches a social benefit to products they may already be buying.
A legacy of giving
For Elizabeth Anne’s, the campaign also builds on more than three decades of support for Avril Elizabeth Home.
The brand first partnered with the Johannesburg organisation in 1993. The Give Love campaign now extends that legacy by bringing Elizabeth Anne’s together with Milton and Karvol and broadening the beneficiary base to three organisations.
Avril Elizabeth Home provides ongoing care for 154 residents with intellectual disabilities, including food, clothing, care and stimulation.
“Every family knows what it means to care for someone completely. At Avril Elizabeth Home, we do that for 154 residents, for as long as they need us,” says Sharon Noble, donor liaison officer at Avril Elizabeth Home.
“Partnerships such as the Give Love campaign matter because they let a whole community share in that care and they remind our residents that they have not been forgotten by the world outside.”
Supporting mothers from the first days of life
In Cape Town, campaign support will benefit Bless a Baby, a volunteer-run organisation founded in 2002 that provides essential items to mothers and newborns.
The organisation has distributed more than 46,000 baby bags through hospitals and clinics to date, providing practical support during the earliest stages of parenthood.
“Every baby deserves to begin life with dignity, warmth, and love,” says Mariette Strydom, Charity Head at Bless a Baby.
“Bless a Baby ensures that mothers and newborns in our communities receive essential items.”
The campaign also extends to KwaZulu-Natal through Baby Line, a confidential counselling and support service launched in 2022 by The Peace Agency.
Baby Line supports mothers experiencing difficult circumstances through emotional counselling, practical assistance and referrals to organisations within its wider support network.
“Very often, mothers find themselves in difficult situations, whether it’s because of rape, absent fathers, financial struggles or simply having no support system around them,” says Tatum Teuissen, National Coordinator at Baby Line.
“Baby Line steps in during these moments and provides mothers with the practical and emotional support they need during what can be one of the most difficult and vulnerable times of their lives.”
Give Love funding will help Baby Line pack and distribute care packs to hospital labour and maternity wards, while providing individual mothers with essential items during the first weeks of motherhood.
Purpose at the point of purchase
While the three beneficiaries operate in different areas, the campaign brings their work together around practical support at vulnerable points in people's lives.
For retailers and FMCG brands, campaigns such as Give Love also demonstrate how purpose can become part of the purchase journey rather than sitting separately from the commercial transaction.
The model is straightforward: consumers purchase participating products through retailers, brands allocate a contribution from those purchases, and the resulting funding supports organisations with established programmes on the ground.
It gives consumers a low-friction way to participate while maintaining the everyday role of the products themselves.
With the campaign running through 31 October, Elizabeth Anne’s, Milton and Karvol are effectively turning a familiar retail moment – choosing a product from the shelf – into an opportunity to contribute to work supporting residents with intellectual disabilities, vulnerable mothers and newborns.
In a market where consumers are increasingly exposed to purpose-led brand messaging, Give Love places the proposition somewhere particularly tangible: in the shopping basket itself.
