Photo by Alex Gagne

Jeff Feingold (MBA 1997) aims to put himself out of business. “That’s the real goal,” says the founder of Hope and Comfort, a Massachusetts-based nonprofit that distributes basic hygiene products. Feingold estimates that, in Massachusetts alone, there are a million children and young adults who lack regular access to soap, shampoo, toothpaste, and deodorant. “No one should have to wake up in the morning and go through the day worried about how they look, smell, or feel because they can’t afford a bar of soap or a tube of toothpaste,” Feingold explains.

Hygiene insecurity is an often-overlooked aspect of poverty. Feingold himself didn’t understand the need until 2010, when he and his wife were discussing how to celebrate their children’s second and fourth birthdays. At the time, Feingold was a portfolio manager at Fidelity, and his wife also had a successful career. They owned a comfortable home in the Boston area, and their children didn’t want for material things. The Feingolds had long been active in their community—Jeff had volunteered for the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Rhode Island in college, and the couple had met when they were counselors at a summer camp for children with cancer—so it seemed natural to ask guests at the birthday party to consider bringing items to donate to those in need, in lieu of gifts for their children. The party-goers arrived with unwrapped toys, clothing, and books, as well as some hygiene products.

To Feingold’s surprise, it was the everyday items—the soap and the shampoo—that were most prized by the organizations that received the donations. A social worker from Catholic Charities who called Feingold to thank him explained that few people think to donate such expensive basics, but the need is great. Food stamps don’t cover these products, and there aren’t any “hygiene banks.” Within a year, Feingold was running one out of a room in his garage.

Between 2011 and 2015, Feingold estimates, Hope and Comfort allocated 100,000 items to other nonprofits for distribution to those who lack consistent access to hygiene products. In 2016, the organization moved to a larger space and hired its first employee. A few years later, it moved to a still-larger location.

In the early days of Hope and Comfort, Feingold sometimes struggled to explain the concept of hygiene insecurity to the public and potential funders, very few of whom could conceive of the idea that hygiene products were as fundamental to health and well-being as food. But the pandemic changed that: Suddenly, everyone understood the importance of a bar of soap; the organization distributed 1.5 million in the first year of the pandemic.

The bigger challenge today is sourcing these vital products in the face of inflation and snags in the supply chain. About 25 percent of Hope and Comfort’s inventory comes through direct donations—from corporations, from hygiene drives hosted by schools, religious organizations, and community groups, and even from birthday parties. The remaining 75 percent Hope and Comfort purchases with money donated by individuals or through grants.

Today, Hope and Comfort is still one of the few nonprofits that distributes hygiene products, notes Feingold, who retired from his full-time position at Fidelity in 2019 and is currently a full-time volunteer with the organization. (“I’m now the CEO, president, board chair, treasurer, head of operations, and a couple other titles,” he says. Feingold also works at Fidelity as a part-time coach.) In 2021, the organization distributed 2 million items to more than 225 nonprofits. He estimates that staggering number will meet less than 10 percent of the true need in Massachusetts.

Feingold has big plans for Hope and Comfort. Over the next five years, he hopes to expand the size and extend the reach of the organization, to ultimately distribute 10 million products annually. The nonprofit is also leading the charge for transformative solutions through technological innovation in distribution, state and federal legislation, and corporate commitments to ending hygiene insecurity nationwide. “A solution isn’t a solution unless it’s the solution at the scale of the problem,” Feingold says, paraphrasing a lesson he learned while at HBS.

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