[Non-essential] Finds a New Purpose

In March of 2020, as the world shuttered over the coronavirus pandemic, the models RJ King and Charlie Knepper found themselves, like so many others, deemed officially nonessential. Locked down in their apartments with no work, social engagements, or pastimes to fill their days, they turned their attention to the crisis at hand. "At that time, I felt very powerless. Even our top government officials had no clue what this pandemic was going to do to our society and it was really scary," Knepper recalls. "So I was like, 'Either society's going to need to come together to find a better solution or we can crumble and this pandemic will take over America, so I just need to do what I can to do my part and hopefully by doing my part, it can make a difference.'"

The two put themselves to work delivering donated meals from a West Village restaurant to healthcare workers in the city who were overworked and traumatized by the surge of patients during New York's first wave. King recalls being motivated by how "gracious and grateful" the recipients were to get even more deeply involved by trying to raise funds to cover the cost of additional meals himself. Pressed to find a way to bring in donations quickly from his network, he found an answer in [non-essential], the nonprofit venture he started with Knepper to sell baseball caps through an influencer and social media campaign. "We had nothing to do, we were confined inside, and it was such a scary time," King says. "My mom was a nurse, and growing up we were always involved in helping out at the soup kitchens and doing different service projects. My parents are both very charitable and altruistic so the idea felt necessary. It was like, 'This is what I have to do. I'm not doing anything so I have to do something. I have to give back. I have to help out.'" The pair ended up raising over thirty thousand dollars in less than a month, resulting in thousands of meals donated to healthcare workers.

Now the couple, who met at a virtual birthday party in the early days of the pandemic, have formally relaunched [non-essential] with a new focus on LGBTQ+ youth. One hundred percent of the proceeds from their new line of tees, bucket hats, and sweatshirts in pastel purple and baby blue will go to New Alternatives, which runs a shelter and resource center in Manhattan. Following the success of their one-off fundraiser last year, the plan now is to establish [non-essential] as a permanent nonprofit venture that will bring in money through sales of merchandise and ticketed events catering to a younger demographic that has perhaps not yet gotten into the habit of donating to charities. "I've felt very connected to [non-essential] since it started and I've felt a lot of potential with it," King explains. "It's my belief that this generation of kids coming up, they want to align themselves with brands that have integrity and are helping the community and giving back, so as a business idea I've just always believed that it has a lot of potential."

The choice to partner with New Alternatives was in some sense a strategic one as well, another way to connect directly to the community rather than funneling the funds through a more well-known organization like the Trevor Project or amFAR. "We did some research and out of all the different organizations that we looked at, they were one that we felt needed help the most," King says. "We wanted to work with an organization small enough where a ten-thousand-dollar or twenty-thousand-dollar donation would go a long way and would feed a few people for the entire year," Knepper adds. "We wanted to really change peoples' lives and see it happen and see the impact that we're making."

With the new [non-essential] designs selling well, King and Knepper have decided that their next venture will be events. Their first party last week filled a Nomad rooftop on a humid Sunday afternoon, and guests were treated to drinks, DJs, and a performance by the drag queen Milk, offering the pair the opportunity to prove their ability to generate interest and donations among their friends. "There's no cool, young nonprofits. When you think of charities, you go to the Ali Forney Center's gala or GMHC's gala, but no young brands or people are throwing black-tie dinners," King explains. "Moving forward, we want to throw ticketed parties bring charity to nightlife in a different way. We all go out and party, so why not use the money from the tickets to actually put it back into the community? No one's doing that and it's cool that we can do that."

Ultimately, the two envision [non-essential] as what Knepper calls a "nonprofit superhero." By partnering with other organizations that lack visibility and stature, the pair are aiming to build a new generation of donors who can feel an intimate connection to the causes they are supporting. With the pandemic waning in New York, the pivot to supporting LGBTQ+ youth is just the first step to expanding their portfolio to meet a variety of needs, whatever they may be. "We have this focus on LGBT+ and that's where our eyes are right now, but the idea behind [non-essential] is an emergency fundraising source," King elaborates. "The brand is there, the clothes are ready to go, so if there's a crisis, we can come out with a product tomorrow and sell it and raise money for whatever the crisis in need is." "If there's a nonprofit that's struggling," Knepper adds, "then [non-essential] can come through and fundraise for that nonprofit until that's nursed back to health and then we can move on to help the next one."

For more information, please visit non-essential.shop.