It’s been five years since Social Good Promotions was incorporated, and CEO Kara Keister, MAS, has kept the Carey, Ohio-based company’s promise.

  • The vision: to use promo superpowers for good.
  • The mission: connect commerce with purpose to make the world a better place.


Social Good Promotions (PPAI 758284, Silver) doesn’t operate at the scale of the industry’s largest distributors, but as its name implies, the firm prioritizes direct community investment, financial contributions to the causes its employees believe in and increased supply chain transparency. 

  • Last year, 86% of the products sold by the firm came from its preferred supply chain with defendable social responsibility platforms, according to its most recent Impact Report.
  • That’s up 13% from 2022.


“We’re a for-profit distributor, but we’re working with a very select supply chain,” says Keister, who transitioned from being the firm’s Promise Keeper to taking over leadership in February. “Roger [Burnett, founder of Social Good Promotions] was adamant that we’re looking to tell the story of our clients’ brands, and in an effort to do that, we find something that resonates with them.

“If it’s in their core values to have sustainability practices, we try to find products that match that like-mindedness. It’s obviously important for us, too, because we’re not here if the planet isn’t here. I can’t say a large enough portion of our product output is eco-conscious yet, but we’re making every effort to add those products to our offering.”

Making An Impact

The CSR-focused firm is something of a pandemic success story.

Although Social Good Promotions received its first order in April 2019, Keister says the company didn’t have a “real go-to-market strategy” until January 2020. Of course, two months later, COVID-19 struck.

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“We navigated the pandemic by being small, agile and knowing who we wanted to do business with,” says Keister, who also serves as the Regional Relations Committee (RRC) delegate to the PPAI Board of Directors. “Most importantly, we put our mission, vision and clients first. Their well-being was always ahead of us making a buck.”

Keister says the firm targeted non-profits, restaurants and sole proprietors, who all needed extra help reaching their end users amid stay-at-home orders, curfews, quarantines and other government-imposed restrictions. Enabling clients to maximize their limited marketing spend, the distributorship quickly built trusted relationships.


Keister says the firm’s largest spend is with Champro, a Bannockburn, Illinois-based supplier of sports apparel, uniforms and equipment.

“Champro has always placed a priority on building and maintaining strong relationships with our distributors, so we’re honored and humbled when they acknowledge Champro as a great business partner,” says Jim Dusbiber, vice president of new business development at Champro.

“It serves as confirmation that by continuing to offer high quality products, great value and excellent service we’re delivering on our commitment to always be elevating the customer experience. We’d like to thank Social Good Promotions for its ongoing support and trust in the Champro brand. Because of it, we’ve been able to grow into the successful company we are today.”

Overcoming Hurdles

Keister takes pride in her small, but mighty team: outside sales rep Brayden Wentling, production and sales assistant Jeraquel “Raki” Liwanag, in-house production assistant Anthony Wilcox-Miller and a summer intern.

Raki came to Social Good Promotions via Delegate CX (PPAI 79762), a go-to partner for promo firms looking to add offshore assistance without the headache.

  • Some 400 distributors and suppliers have used the company, which has hired more than 1,250 associates from the Philippines and handled all the HR and accounting details in the process.
  • Earlier this year, Delegate CX was named one of PPAI’s Coolest Solutions.


“Because we’re a lean company, hiring is really taxing on the business,” Keister says. “It’s costly and time-consuming. The fact that we could cut out a large portion of onboarding because the folks coming in through DCX are already trained in the promotional products space was a big win for us. I was the one dragging my feet, but I’m a proud convert now.”

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The firm also contacted the Ohio Office of Disabilities about getting a worker some on-the-job training, which Keister highly recommends. “Between high school and the adult workforce is a big transitional period that sometimes gets overlooked for that population,” she says. “Now he has a mentor who has helped him focus in school and at work.”

Perhaps the most significant internal development over the past year has been documenting processes and procedures to allow staff to pinpoint inefficiencies. After all, Keister says that it’s easier for her to delegate if she knows that the process is correct and that anybody can jump in at any time.

  • For example, she used Scribe – an AI tool that builds how-to guides and training manuals – to teach Raki something that previously would’ve taken a 30-minute call.
  • At the same time, Keister deleted five or six subscriptions to software that the firm wasn’t properly utilizing and saved about $6,000 in the process.


“I was so in the day to day just to get the business off the ground and running that I hadn’t been able to watch from 30,000 feet,” Keister says. “Now I’m able to focus on true management, watching goals and numbers a lot more closely. I’m able to assist Brayden in sales when he needs it and do things like social media, which, I hate to say it, I had put on the backburner because it wasn’t a priority.”

Lending A Helping Hand

Keister says she begins each Monday morning meeting by reminding everyone of their vision and mission. The team’s success is illustrated in the annual Impact Report:

  • More than $5,000 was handed directly back to non-profit partners as a result of orders fulfilled in 2023.
  • More than $23,000 in funds was raised by the team through participation in non-profit fundraisers last year.
  • The company donated 695 hours (roughly 29 days) to community programs and industry advancement.

“It’s been rewarding to partner with Kara and the team at Social Good Promotions,” says Kevin Walsh, CAS, president at Showdown Displays – the No. 8 supplier in the PPAI 100 – and immediate past chairman of the PPAI Board.

“Her vision to do good, while doing well, is a premise that our team believes in and actively embraces with our own initiatives at Showdown Displays. Increasingly, it’s a premise that our reseller partners continue to develop and promote in their markets. Kara and her team are just on the cutting edge.”