tools for change

For anyone who has spent any time looking over this website, or learning about Aroundsquare, it will be clear that it's not just a toy company. Aroundsquare has a more fundamental concern with healthy development in general, the healthy development of children, and the healthy development of the societies we live in. Our toys are educator-designed, and have won numerous awards, so we're confident to say that they are good for kids. They encourage the kind of play that kids need more of these days. And grown-ups like them too. 

But good toys and good play are just a small part of the picture. Aroundsquare toys are tools for change. To this end, we offer variable pricing for to wholesale customers, supporting those businesses and organizations which are trying to do good things and not just earn a profit. We provide substantial discounts to educational insitutions, childcare facilities, museums, eco-friendly businesses, and non-profits.

And we take it a step further still, doing our part to help out charities and other organizations, either through donations, or through a reserved level of pricing just for the purposes of fundraising. It's quite a sad state of affairs when the only avenues for youth groups, sports teams, and charities involve either gambling or selling junk food. Casinos, bingos, lotteries, raffle tickets, cookies, chocolate almonds, pizzas, caramel corn, and so on. We've all had the knocks on the door. Aroundsquare aims to change that, by making our products available as fundraising tools. Working with these groups to provide a healthy and lasting alternative means for raising money. All involved can feel good about what they are doing. These are products that are good for kids' development, made in an ethically run factory, using sustainable materials. And it's not just marketing. Aroundsquare is a Certified B Corporation, and very proud of having achieved the B Lab level of excellence for all three areas on which we were scored: governance, community, and environment. 

And we don't stop there. We've made the designs available under a creative commons license (BY-SA), meaning that folks are welcome to use the designs themselves, make them, adapt them, and even sell the products, and all they need to do is attribute the original design back to Aroundsquare, and share their own adaptations in a similar manner. There's no patenting here, no trade secrets, and if you want the design specifications, just write to us and we'll be happy to share them. These are open-source toys.

We welcome inquiries. We welcome partnerships. And we welcome you to spread the word about Aroundsquare toys - tools for change.

Matthew Hiebert 2013-02-08