One Gulfport Shop Gives Back All Year Long

When Debra Anders opened Philanthropee in Gulfport’s Historic Waterfront, it was Gecko Season, but she had giving on her mind.

As the shop approaches its second Christmas season, Anders has donated $2,600 to local charities. By the end of the year she expects to donate over $3,000.

According to manager Denise Keegan, for every five dollars a customer spends in the shop, they get a “giving seed” worth 50¢.

“We donate [that amount] to the charity of your choice,” Keegan says, “so if you spent $50 you get 10 seeds, which you could give all to one or spread them out” across several charities.

Anders has a full-time job aside from the shop, which is still in the start-up phase.

“We’re still going through what every business does,” she says, and while she admits, “that extra ten percent would help,” she remains steadfast in her resolve to donate a portion of the business’s proceeds to charity.

“I wanted to give back to the community,” she said “and I thought I’d let the people who come in decide what their percentage goes to. That way we spread the wealth and make it interactive giving.”

Philanthropee customers can earmark their donation for Tampa Bay Harvest, ASPCA, the Red Cross, the Wounded Warrior Project, Clothes to Kids, Habitat for Humanity, the St. Pete Free Clinic, the Cancer Research Institute or the Conservation Fund. Philanthrope makes quarterly donations, Anders says.

Denise Keegan stands by the Giving Tree, where Philanthropee customers can deposit their “giving seeds.” Each seed represents 50¢; customers receive one seed for every five dollars spent in the shop.