Inside Baby2Baby: Scaling a National Nonprofit through Listening, Innovation, and the Power of Hollywood 

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Kelly Sawyer Patricof and Norah Weinstein have a lot to say about diapers. A former model and lawyer, respectively, they are the co-CEOs of Baby2Baby, a nonprofit dedicated to providing children in need with nappies and other essentials. Over the last 14 years, the Los Angeles based organization has sent 250 million diapers to families nationwide and distributes essential supplies to nearly 1,000 nonprofits and government agencies.

Using their extensive rolodexes, Sawyer Patricof and Weinstein have turned Baby2Baby’s annual fundraising gala into one of the biggest events of the Hollywood social scene, with attendees and honorees including Salma Hayek Pinault, Kate Hudson, Charlize Theron, and more. In addition, the pair has developed a board of “angels”, as they call them—celebrities, executives, and venture capitalists including Jessica Alba, Kim Kardashian, and Whitney Wolfe Herd—who provide hands-on support for the work that the organization is doing. 

Baby2Baby is an entrepreneurial venture as much as it is a nonprofit — it was recognized for manufacturing its own diapers in Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies list in 2022 and featured on TIME Magazine’s Most Influential Companies the following year. Baby2Baby is now serving one million children and has given out 450 million essentials to 300 cities. The two CEOs spoke with The Shift about building and scaling Baby2Baby, and what they’re looking to accomplish next.

EARLY SHIFTS

Beginning Baby2Baby

Weinstein and Patricof both lived in New York in their previous careers, before moving to Los Angeles. “In my spare time, I used to volunteer at a Head Start Center in Harlem, where I met so many children who didn’t have basic essentials and were struggling to do their schoolwork without these basic things,” says Patricof. Weinstein, meanwhile, loved the pro bono work she was doing at her law firm. “I was drawn to representing women and children who needed extra help, whether it was with housing or any other needs, and I realized I liked that better than the work that I was really there to do,” she admits matter-of-factly. Set up on a blind date in Los Angeles by Patricof’s father-in-law, the two quickly hit it off and discovered their shared entrepreneurial ambition and interest in helping people in need. “We were both very excited about creating something that scaled and that had lasting value, and we were both very business-minded,” says Weinstein.

After that, the pair spent time doing exploratory research into the nonprofit landscape in LA to find out what gaps they could potentially fill. “We didn’t want to just start something to start something. We would meet with a homeless shelter, a domestic violence shelter, and a hospital, and all of them would say the same thing, that families didn’t have diapers. They would be choosing between food and diapers for their families,” Weinstein says. “We learned a very early lesson about listening and not assuming what people need. We ask people.” 

At the time, a local organization called Baby2Baby already existed, founded by three Los Angeles mothers to give away gently used baby items. Weinstein and Patricof loved the name and pitched the idea of taking over the organization. After that, things began to move quickly. “We had our first event announcing ourselves as the co-CEOs of Baby2Baby, with Jessica Alba and Nicole Richie in attendance.” After a photo of the event ran in US Weekly, they got a phone call from the PR agency representing Huggies, who offered to donate 100,000 diapers and $100,000. “They asked if we accepted pallets and if we had a forklift. We just said yes. Meanwhile, we’re Googling, ‘What is a pallet?’ ‘Where can you rent a forklift?’” Patricof laughs. But they figured it out. According to Patricof, those 100,000 diapers were “out the door in one day. 

SCALING IN TIMES OF CRISIS

When COVID hit, demand for Baby2Baby’s supplies went up 500%. “We went from serving 200,000 children to a million,” Weinstein says. Despite the loss of its volunteer force due to lockdown orders, the organization managed to keep its doors open and meet that demand with a team of about 30 people. 

At the time, there weren’t enough diapers being made, let alone donated, to fill the need they were seeing. So in 2021, the organization began manufacturing its own diapers. “Diapers are like gold,” Patricof explains. “At some point, we were like, if we took off all the cartoons and the colors and the extras, what could we really make these for? And because the partner that we worked with understood our mission, we are now making them for 80% less than retail,” she says. “We’ve been able to distribute 250 million diapers, more than any organization of our kind, and that’s something we’re both very proud of.”

When deadly fires broke out in Los Angeles in January, Baby2Baby was also quick to respond. Armed with experience from previous natural disasters such as the fires in Maui and the floods in North Carolina and Florida, Baby2Baby mobilized immediately. By partnering with more than 470 other organizations in LA County, Baby2Baby was able to distribute over 18 million items to families affected by the fires. “January was the highest month of volunteering in our history. There were people here who’d lost their own homes, who were volunteering and putting together bundles for children. It was really pretty special to see,” Patricof admits. 

“Not only are we women, but our C-suite is all women, our staff is a very high percentage of women, we have women on forklifts and in the back, and our entire board and angel group are women. There’s a lot of women power around us all the time.”

CREATING COMMUNITY, CHANGING POLICY

“We’re very proud of the group of women that we’ve been able to put together,” Patricof says frankly. “Not only are we women, but our C-suite is all women, our staff is a very high percentage of women, we have women on forklifts and in the back, and our entire board and angel group are women. There’s a lot of women power around us all the time.”

The pair has built a community that, according to them, really shows up. Many members of their board and angel group donate millions of items from their companies, in addition to providing monetary donations and doing hands-on volunteering. “They are distributing items during COVID in a mask. They are here volunteering. They are flying to Sacramento to testify to help remove the sales tax from diapers,” Patricof says. 

Hosting a celebrity-filled gala and getting celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Drew Barrymore to become angels is also part of the company’s strategy to draw more attention and money to its cause. Indeed, the annual gala, which has been attended by the likes of Paris Hilton, Kelly Rowland, and practically everyone in Hollywood at one point or another, raises 60% of Baby2Baby’s operating budget.

Aside from fundraising, the nonprofit has made strides with its advocacy work. Diapers used to be taxed as a luxury item in California. Thanks to Baby2Baby’s lobbying, in January 2020, California made diapers tax-free, with eleven other states soon following suit. Weinstein and Patricof cite a combination of traditional advocacy, like getting in front of lawmakers, and non-traditional advocacy like social campaigns as moving the needle to change these policies. “For California in particular, we went many, many times to Sacramento and advocated and testified. We lost a bunch of times. We did not get shy or back down, and we ultimately convinced Governor Newsom, who was a father of four young kids at the time,” says Weinstein.

“We also tried non-traditional advocacy methods. We launched a fake luxury diaper with Gwyneth Paltrow, to show people how shocking it was that diapers were taxed like a luxury item. She did a spoof on a diaper with rhinestones and alpaca fur. There was outrage on the internet for 24 hours, and people couldn’t believe it,” Patricof says, “but the reveal was, ‘How outrageous is it that these things are taxed like a luxury item?’ And you could go on and make a donation to Baby2Baby, or reach out to your state senator or state governor.” 

LOOKING FORWARD

What does the day-to-day work look like for the duo, and what are they looking to accomplish next? “There’s no typical day here,” Patricof admits. “But today we said hi to the volunteers, had a staff meeting, we’re on the phone with Huggies talking about our Maternal Newborn & Supply Kits that we’re expanding to 15 states this year, we’re doing a million things.”

Weinstein chimes in, “It’s like any business, there’s the fun stuff, where we get to brainstorm about new exciting programs that we have coming up, and the not-so-fun stuff, like HR.” Fire relief is still a big part of their day. This week they are auctioning off a piece of art whose proceeds are going toward fire relief and doing an in-person distribution for children who lost their preschool in the Palisades fire. They’re also buying a building and launching a capital campaign. “It’s busy, but it keeps getting more and more exciting, and there’s just always a new opportunity,” says Weinstein. “And I think that’s what’s really kept us going for these 14 years.”