In 1996, Pittsburghers Mary Irwin-Scott and Grant Scott founded Riverside Design Group to design and market products for specialty retailers, museum gift stores, and later for hotels and restaurants. But over the next decade, the couple sought a way to merge their business interests with the charitable organizations that were close to their hearts. The result was Plates with Purpose.
“We come from a long line who believe in giving back,” says Mary. “We’d get asked by every grade school and nursery school for donations, but having [an organization] receive a $100 donation for a $30 plate is a drop in the bucket.”
In November 2004, Maryanne Fellow, a friend and director of Forbes Hospice, asked the Scotts for a custom-designed plate for her organization. “A light bulb went off,” says Mary. “We wanted to design something that was meaningful, something that was reflective of the agency’s mission, and take it into new arenas that people would be proud to use. And if it was beautiful, if a hotel placed an order, we would give 15 percent back to the agency. We pay our regional sales reps a 15 percent commission, so that was a benchmark.”
The firm now employs six full-time employees and manufactures the glass plates in nearby Delmont. The firm’s work is featured in a number of specialty catalogs nationwide.
Other friends with other worthy causes asked the Scotts for other designs. Plates with Purpose now lists a dozen agencies that benefit from their work. A recent partner is POWER, (Pennsylvania Organization for Women in Early Recovery).The group operates Pittsburgh’s only halfway house for adult women transitioning from traditional drug rehabilitation programs and their communities and is raising funds to renovate its building, a former convent in Swissvale. To date, the POWER plate collection has raised about $8,000 in operating funds for POWER. The group will hold a benefit on Sept. 16 in Pittsburgh to debut Plates with Purpose’s latest design for the group: a hopeful sunflower plate, created by Plates with Purpose designer Cassandra Ott.
Sources: Mary Irwin-Scott, Emily Stimmel
Writer: Chris O’Toole
