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, and this year, we went looking for it across 42 animal-cause brands.

What we found changes how you shop for a cause. Because once you know the number, you can make the same $29 send 16 times more money to an actual animal.

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 give 20-25%. A rare few give 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 gave. 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 gift based on sales comes from the full price you paid. A gift 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 giving 10% of profits gives about $0.35 (or less) of your $29.

A brand giving 20% of the sale gives $5.80 of the same $29.

Same shirt. Same shopper. One gift is more than 16 times bigger. And until now, you had no way to see it, because both brands get to say they "give back."

Figures assume a 10% profit-based give-back on a typical 3.85% apparel margin, versus All The Fauna's 20% of the full sale price.

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 like you 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 percentage of each purchase you give. In our own experience, people don't buy just because a brand says it gives. They buy when they know what their purchase did.

What this means for you: the job of finding out how your purchase helped animals 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.
• Is there proof? Look for donation totals, partner pages, or receipts that show the money moved.
• Is it forever or just for now? "This month, 100% of profits from one product" is a sales pitch. A fixed rate on every order is a way of doing business.

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 answers all four

We built All The Fauna around the number most brands won't share: 20% of every sale, the full sale price and not the profit, goes to no-kill animal rescues and shelters across the U.S.

That means you can do the math yourself. A $29 tee sends $5.80 to rescue. A $16 mug sends $3.20. A $3 sticker sends 60 cents. No hidden profit math. No "portion." No fine print.

This isn't a holiday special. It's how the business works, on every product, every day. Our rescue partners have their own dashboard where they can watch their funds arrive and collect them. So the proof runs both ways: you can see what your purchase gives, and the rescues can see it show up.

FAQ: Cause shopping and giving transparency

What percentage of a purchase do most charity brands give back? 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 your gift impossible to check. Brands that give real, fixed amounts usually just say the number.

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 charity partners, and published totals. If none of those exist, the brand is asking for your trust without proof.

Does All The Fauna really give 20% of sales? Yes, 20% of every product sale, stated on our About page. The money goes to no-kill rescues and shelters through a partner program with dashboards they can track. It's the highest clear, sales-based rate we found among the animal brands we checked.