Soles4Souls is a Nashville-based charity, founded by Wayne Elsey in 2006, that collects new and used shoes and redistributes them through direct donations to people in need and through micro-enterprise partners. Since they began, Soles4Souls has distributed over 30 million pairs of shoes to people in over 127 countries, including Kenya, Thailand, Nepal, Haiti, Japan and the United States. In September 2014, they were awarded The Memorial Foundation Leadership Award from the Center for Nonprofit Management.
Beginnings
After watching news coverage of the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004 and seeing an image of a single shoe wash ashore, Wayne Elseywas moved to do something. He orchestrated the collection of over 250,000 pairs of shoes and delivered them to those most impacted. After Hurricane Katrina hit the very next year, they collected nearly one million pairs for relief efforts. After realizing the desperate need for adequate footwear all around the world, Soles4Souls was officially formed as a 501 non-profit in 2006.
Micro-enterprise
Soles4Souls manages a micro-enterprise operation in Haiti, contracting with established micro-enterprise distributors to transport and distribute used shoes to Central America, South America, and Africa. Once in the country, the distributors’ networks of micro-enterprise business operators receive inventories of shoes to sell. In many cases, the operators receive the shoes on credit and only have to pay for the shoes if they sell them. Shoes are in high demand for micro-enterprise because they are universally needed and valued, can be easily bartered for other goods, and are a tangible commodity that is easy to transport and sell. Wayne Elsey pioneered microenterprise when he founded Soles4Souls.
Partner organizations
Soles4Souls has teamed up with many other companies and organizations including the skateboarding company DC Shoe Company, Miss Me Jeans, Blac Label Premium, SKECHERS, PUMA, Dick's Sporting Goods, Bon-Ton, Shoe Sensation, FILA, Barefoot Wines, Artisans, New Balance, Converse, and American Apparel, who donated more than 5,000 pairs of socks in 2010 for relief efforts after the earthquake that devastated Haiti. In 2014, Stride Rite initiated a campaign in their retail stores in which they collected over 70,000 pairs of shoes to benefit Soles4Souls. Soles4Souls' clothing division, Clothes4Souls, partnered with Macy's for their Share the Warmth campaign. Macy's provided 30,000 coats in 2013 and 50,000 coats in 2014 for those in need. Soles4Souls then distributed those coats throughout the country with the help of local partners.
