Philanthropy and business is a combination that may not always seem compatible at first glance. However, three seniors are working together in a way that proves such conceptions wrong.

Through the resources available through LZHS’s business classes, like Accelerator, Dillon Bathery, senior, Carter Kapanjie, senior, and Nick Popovic, senior, were able to all come together to become founders of their own company, PhilanthroPrint.

Through selling keychains, these seniors donate 100% of their profits to a variety of different causes.

“When creating a business, you typically start with a problem. That’s how a lot of ideas are born. [But], sometimes it’s hard to donate,” Bathery said. “That’s kind of the idea of our business: giving people an easy way to donate to causes they care about, and also represent [their cause] and share with other people, so they can gather more and more support.”

The potential causes one can support through PhilanthroPrint are countless. Through purchasing PhilanthroPrint’s turtle keychains made with recycled plastic, consumers can expect their money to go to the non-profit charity, Ocean Cleanup. A Ukraine coat of arms keychain can give towards medical aid in the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War. Other keychains, like their breast cancer keychain, stem from reasons that hit close to home for the founders, such as for Kapanjie, whose mother was diagnosed with breast cancer.

The process for creating these keychains can be long and arduous, with a batch of eight keychains requiring anywhere between five to six hours.

“I’ll take an image and base [the keychains] off of that when I’m 3-D designing. For example, most of the time, it’s kind of something simple, but I have to actually create the 3-D models. […] We brainstorm different kinds of causes, then we find a charity we like and try to come up with a design,” Kapanjie said.

On a temporary hiatus from selling their keychains in the school cafeteria, the owners of PhilanthroPrint expect to be back during lunch hours soon.