Seattle do-gooders wade into water's big leagues

Most companies riding the U.S. bottled-water craze are behemoths: Coca-Cola sells Dasani, PepsiCo has Aquafina and Nestlé peddles Arrowhead and Poland Spring.

But there's a little player in Seattle that has something the corporate powerhouses can't match. It's a nonprofit and now it's going national.

Athena Partners began selling bottled water three years ago and puts all profits toward women's cancer research and education. For 2004 and 2005 combined, that meant $110,000 for places such as the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and Gilda's Club Seattle.

Athena's founder, Trish May, says that figure could reach $1 million for 2006, 2007 and 2008 combined, largely because of a new agreement with Sysco, a national distributor to about 390,000 restaurants, hospitals and other establishments.

Athena also recently won a yearlong contract to provide bottled water for Alaska Airlines flights.

May started Athena with the type of ambitious goal you'd expect from a former director of marketing and strategic planning at Microsoft. Her aim: to find a cure for cancers that afflict women.

"It's a dream, it's a vision; it's the end of the rainbow," she said.

Who owns bottled water

Most in the U.S. is owned by large conglomerates. Here's a look at major nonsparkling water brands:

Coca-Cola, Atlanta: Dasani.

PepsiCo, Purchase, N.Y.: Aquafina.

CG Roxane, Olancha, Calif.: Crystal Geyser Alpine Spring Water, Roxane Mountain Spring Water.

Danone, France : Evian, Volvic.

Nestlé, Switzerland: Arrowhead, Poland Spring, Ozarka, Deer Park, Calistoga, Zephyrhills, Ice Mountain, Nestlé Pure Life.

It's also personal. May's mother died of ovarian cancer 13 years ago, and three months later, at age 39, May was diagnosed with breast cancer.

"It was like boom, boom, cancer was in my world, and I started to look at life in a different way," she said.

May began volunteering and taking better care of herself. In 1999, she retired from Microsoft and started searching for a way to contribute full time to finding a cure.

She chose bottled water as Athena's first product "because it's very healthy. It's the essence of life, and that tied very well to our message and cause."

Athena has two full-time employees. May and others work as unpaid volunteers. Their offices are in South Lake Union, but the water is bottled in Burlington, Skagit County, by a company that bottles water for other companies as well.

Since July 2003, Athena has sold more than 6 million bottles. A six-pack retails for $2 at grocery stores, and a 16.9-ounce bottle is about 99 cents at a cafe.

Bottled water has thin margins, so only a couple pennies per bottle go to charity.

Last summer, May figured she was about a year away from trying to distribute Athena more widely when two things sped up the timetable: She met someone who knew the water buyer for Alaska Airlines, and Sysco called saying they were interested in distributing Athena.

Alaska agreed to serve Athena on flights last October, which was Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Then Athena bid for the full-year contract and got it.

"There's just been an incredible response from passengers and staff," said Amanda Tobin, an Alaska Airlines spokeswoman.

Athena's relationship with Sysco could prove to be an even bigger deal.

Sysco contacted Athena last year and by fall had lined up a distribution contract that May figures could help generate up to $5 million in annual revenue by 2008.

Athena gives Sysco's customers, many of them independent restaurateurs, a way to differentiate themselves, said Jonathan Gottfried, assistant vice president of merchandising for Houston-based Sysco.

"There aren't that many food or beverage companies that are cause-driven. I wish there were more," Gottfried said.

Customers often prefer cause-driven products, according to research by Cone Inc., a Boston-based strategy and marketing firm.

Cone found that if price and quality are about equal, 86 percent of consumers are likely to switch brands to one linked with a cause.

The key is that people know there's a credible cause attached, and one of the best ways to get that word out is through the places that receive the contributions, said Carol Cone, the firm's chairwoman.

Athena plans to give back profits in communities that buy its water, which so far has been mostly in Western Washington.

Several companies with do-gooder tendencies have been huge successes, although most are for-profit, and some — Ben & Jerry's, Tom's of Maine and The Body Shop — have been bought by conglomerates.

Paul Newman's food company, Newman's Own, gives all profits to charity and has helped the actor contribute more than $200 million since 1982.

May wasn't the first to think of using bottled water for a good cause. Last year, Starbucks bought a socially conscious bottled-water company called Ethos Water, and the coffee giant puts 5 cents from the sale of each bottle toward a goal of donating $10 million in five years to groups that run humanitarian water projects around the world.

Athena is unusual in its focus on all women's cancers.

Breast cancer is a well-known cause that receives support from more than 300 companies, Cone said. But gynecological cancers, such as ovarian cancer, are not getting much corporate support.

"Because it's a more deadly disease and is usually detected late, we don't have a lot of survivors," she said. "We've tried to direct clients to this issue."

May likes linking everyday consumer products to her cause because, she said, "it empowers people to change the world every day."

Researcher David Turim contributed to this article.

Melissa Allison: 206-464-3312 or mallison@seattletimes.com