HHPLIFT is a charity, a social enterprise, and a Program whose mission is to forge economic independence through workforce and business opportunities for people facing barriers to fair-wage employment.
Michael Arkes founded HHPLIFT to combine his passion for helping others with his expertise in the incentive industry. His journey to create HHPLIFT began in 2006 while volunteering at a social enterprise that specialized in making soaps. He suggested pairing up the social enterprise with his connections within the incentive world, and have these companies select socially responsible products for their assortments.
Within a year, sales had increased tremendously. This sparked in Michael an idea that he could use all of his business knowledge to do good. In 2007, he founded Helping Hand Rewards (now HHPLIFT) to connect social enterprises with workforce development programs to incentive companies that sold to major corporations throughout the United States.
Fast forward to 2021, HHPLIFT curates, crafts, and sells social impact products and services for discerning consumers and socially conscious businesses looking to align their values with their procurement choices. Their social impact products are handmade by artisans and crafters overcoming barriers to fair wage employment in the U.S., at the LIFT™ Program, and abroad, produced by their social enterprise partners.
