Almost Nobody Checks This Before Buying "Gives Back" Products. We Did, Across 42 Animal Brands.

Here's something most shoppers never find out: when a tag says a purchase "helps shelter animals," there's a number hiding behind that "portion of proceeds" promise. This year, we went looking for it across 42 animal-cause brands.

What we found changes how you shop for a cause. Once you know the number, you can see that two promises that sound the same can be 16 times apart.

You've been taught to trust two words: "gives back." Turns out those words were never the point. The point is a question almost nobody asks: a percentage of what?

How much do cause brands really give to animal charities?

Some brands do share a number. The most common one we found in our audit was about 10%. But here's the catch: it's almost always 10% of profits, not 10% of what you paid.

Profit is what's left over after the brand pays for everything: the product, shipping, ads, and salaries. Yes, everyone gets paid before animals see a dime. Several well-known animal brands state this on their own websites. A few promise 20-25%. A rare few promise 100% of profits, but only on certain products.

The bigger finding? Many brands share no number at all. "A portion of proceeds." "A share of profits." "Every purchase gives back." These words tell you nothing. If a brand won't say the percentage, and what it's a percentage of, you can't figure out what your purchase did. That's not an accident. A real number can be checked. A "portion" cannot.

What does "a portion of proceeds" actually mean?

Nobody can tell you, and that's the quiet part. There is no legal rule for what "proceeds" means in ads. Brands use the word however they want.

Some even change their story from page to page. In our audit, one popular dog brand gave three different answers on three different pages of its own website.

So "25% of proceeds" could mean a quarter of what you paid. Or it could mean a quarter of a tiny leftover profit: a small piece of a small piece.

Percentage of profits vs. percentage of sales: the 16x gap

A promise based on sales comes from the full price you paid. A promise based on profits comes from what's left after the brand pays its bills, a number brands never share.

Here's the math, and you can run it yourself. The average U.S. clothing company keeps only about 3.85% of its sales as profit, according to New York University's Stern School of Business (January 2026 data). That's almost 4 cents from every dollar. Even very healthy online brands keep only about 8-12 cents.

Now take a $29 shirt:

A brand promising 10% of profits sends about $0.35 (or less) of your $29.

A brand promising 20% of the sale would send $5.80 of the same $29.

Same shirt. Same shopper. One promise is more than 16 times bigger. And both brands get to say they "give back."

Figures compare a 10% profit-based promise on a typical 3.85% apparel margin with a hypothetical 20% of the full sale price. They are examples of the math, not a description of any one brand.

Don't take our word for it. Take any cause brand you like, find their percentage (if they publish one), ask what it's a percentage of, and do this same math on your last purchase. The gap will do the convincing.

Do shoppers even care? Yes, and that's exactly the problem.

Shoppers want their money to matter, and they'll pay more for it. In 2020, a report by 5WPR (a survey of 1,001 U.S. adults done in late 2019) found that 71% of millennials said they would pay more for a product if part of the money went to charity.

Now look at the words those shoppers trusted: "a portion of the proceeds." Millions of people are paying extra for words that promise nothing. That's exactly why the words keep getting used.

What earns real trust instead? Shopify's own advice to store owners says it plainly: tell people the exact terms. In our own experience, people don't buy just because a brand says it helps. They buy when they know exactly how it works.

What this means for you: the job of finding out how a cause promise works falls on you, or on brands that make it easy.

Four questions to ask before buying from any cause brand

• What is the exact percentage? If the site says "a portion," the answer is: they won't say.
• A percentage of what? Sales means the price you paid. Profits means a hidden, much smaller number.
• Who gets it, and when? Look for named nonprofits and clear conditions, not a vague "animal rescue."
• Is there proof? Look for partner pages or published totals that show money actually moved.

A brand that answers all four on its website has nothing to hide. A brand that answers none of them is asking you to shop on trust alone.

How All The Fauna works

All The Fauna is a business built to give animal nonprofits another way to earn revenue. We don't make a "portion of proceeds" promise. Instead, our nonprofit partner program lets verified animal nonprofits earn a referral commission on sales made through their own shopping link.

Here's how it works. Each nonprofit partner gets its own link and shares it with its own supporters. When someone shops through that link, that partner earns commission on the sale. Partners can track what they earn in their own dashboard. A purchase made without a partner's link does not earn any nonprofit a commission.

Want a nonprofit you care about to earn? Find its link on our Nonprofit Partners page and shop through it. Run an animal nonprofit? See how to join on our Nonprofit Funding Program page.

FAQ: Cause shopping and giving transparency

What percentage of a purchase do most charity brands give? Of the animal brands that share a number, about 10% of profits was the most common promise we found. With average profit levels, that usually means less than 2% of what you paid. Many brands share no number at all.

Is "portion of proceeds" a red flag? It's an unknown, not always a scam. Some vague brands do give a lot. But those words make the promise impossible to check. Brands with real, fixed terms usually just state them.

What's better: 25% of profits or 15% of sales? Almost always the percentage of sales. With normal clothing profits, 25% of profits is only about 1-3% of the price you paid. A sales-based percentage comes from the full price and doesn't depend on secret numbers.

How can I check what a brand really gives? Look for a clear percentage, what it's a percentage of, named nonprofit partners, and published totals. If none of those exist, the brand is asking for your trust without proof.

How does All The Fauna's nonprofit program work? Verified animal nonprofits earn a referral commission on sales made through their own shopping link. To help a partner earn, find its link on our Nonprofit Partners page and shop through it.