Kristen Groos Richmond, Co-founder/CEO of Revolution Foods, who has a wonderful if improbable company, which I wrote about before, can speak first-hand about the ways entrepreneurs can attract professional investors while pursuing goals such as connecting local farmers and consumers.

However, audience members asked questions that were not easily answered, such as how do small organic farmers, who want to wait until their fruit is ripe to pick it, interface with the industrialized major grocery chains who need to receive wholesale goods on a highly scheduled basis?

The panelists, which also included Paul Dolan (former President of Fetzer Vineyards) and Fred Kirshenmann (of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture) spoke of both the initial success stories as well as the major challenges. In a corollary to the saying, “the jury is still out,” the panelists could not really answer whether capital is going to flow to organic startups on such a massive scale.

1. Branding – Associating with a good cause
2. Awareness – Getting the nonprofit organization to promote the business among its supporters
3. Promotion – Incenting consumers to buy from a business in a particular time frame, such as by donating a certain percentage (or a fixed amount) of sales to a charity

Businesses need to beware that the effort to create a unique program with a particular nonprofit organization can be very labor-intensive, even if the program seems “cheap” in terms of cash expenses. In order to limit the time and effort needed to run a cause-related marketing campaign, many businesses opt to participate in third-party programs such as 1% for the Planet. Member businesses pledge 1% of sales to worthy causes and receive networking and promotional benefits in addition to the recognition (via a logo on their website) that they are a member.

Unique Programs May Stand Out More and Can Get You Press

If you have a PR budget for your business and some time to develop a unique marketing partnership, you can get some extra mileage from a creative program. No member of the press is going to write a story about your business joining a standard program. However, you might interest the press in a special event or a program with unusual features.

Make Sure the Marketing Program Relates to the Audience You are Trying to Influence

Face it. If you are a business owner, you are creating a marketing partnership with a nonprofit to boost your business. You want your customers and potential customers to appreciate your efforts.

Say, for example, you are Banana Republic, and you want your brand to be more green. How do you associate your urban and suburban stores with an environmental cause. Banana’s solution is to donate 1% of in-store and online sales during Earth Week, April 22nd thru April 27th, (up to $100,000) to The Trust for Public Land, a land conservation organization. The donation is specifically targeted to preserving open space in urban settings (generally fixing up and creating new parks and public gardens). Banana Republic could have chosen any number of worthy environmental projects, but they chose an environmental organization that is greening many of the locations where Banana Republic has a high density of stores.

Long-term Association

Not every potential customer is going to see your promotional event even if it lasts for an extended period, like a month. And even a customer that knows about a one-time event may not be convinced about your social responsibility or commitment to a cause right away. Longer-term programs have a much better chance of associating your brand to both a particular cause and to “the greater good”. In the example I am using here, Banana Republic has made a $1 million commitment to The Trust for Public Land and has organized volunteer events in New York and San Francisco on April 27th, for Banana Republic employees and the public. (If you are interested in signing up or just want more information, go to www.BananaRepublic.com/Earthweek.)

Walk the Talk

You won’t get a lot of marketing benefit from supporting a nonprofit organization, if the way you operate your business conflicts with the mission of the nonprofit. Not a moment too soon, Banana Republic has just come out with a collection of clothing made from renewable or sustainable fabrics (like bamboo, organic linen and cotton, and soy/silk knit blends). Unfortunately, I can not find them on the Banana Republic site, but maybe that is just me, or maybe they are not yet on the site.

To really be seen as an environmentally concerned business, Banana Republic will need to do a lot more in terms of store design and locations, as well as distribution, packaging and operations, but I see their Earth Day promotion as having legs beyond Earth Day.

Your Experience?

If you have conducted a cause-related campaign or have seen one that you thought was particularly good or bad, we’d love to hear from you. Please let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.

Photo by: Lisa Hokholt, USDA (Visitacion Valley, San Francisco)

As an example of the types of programs available, consider UC Davis’s Green Technology Entrepreneurship Academy (GTEA), which provides a free week-long intensive for science and engineering researchers. Yes, I did say free, and it’s held at Lake Tahoe, Nevada in July—a very nice plus.

According to UC Davis Center for Entrepreneurship Assistant Director, Nicole Starsinic, the GTEA combines classroom learning with a team project, which pairs scientists with business school students and professionals. A number of venture capital firms, law firms, and other professionals, which are listed in the Academy’s schedule, devote time in the hope of discovering the cleantech Google.

Apply: If you are interested or know someone who would be a good candidate for the GTEA, please note that applications are due May 2, 2008.

Up and Coming Green Tech Companies

Two of interesting companies that are emerging from last year’s GTAE show the range or projects that are appropriate for the Academy. MIT doctoral student Jon Mapel has developed a high-efficiency, low-cost solar electrical concentrator that uses 300 times fewer solar cells than conventional methods. In the Center for Entrepreneurship’s latest newsletter (out today), Mapel says he will soon follow up with the venture capitalists and angel investors he met at GTEA last summer. Another participant who started a business with his GTEA experience is UC Davis doctoral student Peter Tittman whose company, Forest Eye, will help forestland managers meet financial and environmental goals by conducting carbon, timber and biomass inventory using an aerial laser scanning technology.

Programs for Green Entrepreneurs at Other Universities

Many universities have business plan competitions that are open to non-students. Some competitions have cash prizes, and some startups get angel or VC funding right out of these competitions.

We’d love to hear your stories if you have participated in any of university or foundation-sponsored programs or competitions for entrepreneurs.

Photo of Lake Tahoe from Wiki Commons.

In an email to Ecopreneurist, Donna Warner, Editor in Chief of Metropolitan Home said, “For our April special ‘green’ issue, we wanted to sort through the hype and offer readers smart ways to incorporate green design into their homes. The issue provides tips and ‘how to’ advice from eco-experts on topics such as green renovation and also celebrates products for the home that will last forever, thanks to their extraordinary quality and enduring design.”

Although I love to flip through “shelter publications” as they are called, focusing on the pictures, my favorite feature in Met Home’s green issue is a five-way discussion called “Met Eco” among green architects, designers and planners about the products and techniques they recommend.

I am always on the look out for smaller companies whose time has come (now that almost all media sources are focused on the environment and green lifestyles). Some of the companies who caught my eye include:

Bottlestone countertops made by Fireclay Tile in San Jose, California (recommended by designer Denise Shaw) are beautiful and made from over 80% post-consumer recycled mixed glass. Let’s just hope Fireclay can scale up production after the Met Home publicity.

Another company making beautiful, practical and recycled glass products is Bedrock Industries recommended by Architect Rob Harrison. I love the tiles.

Urban Planner Steven Lenard gives a plug for supporting recycling businesses and recommends the CMRA as a place to find firms that recycle construction materials.

Until reading this article, I didn’t know that homeowners can rent solar panels, but Shaw says, “…for one house I did in Venice [California], the owners, a young couple, leased solar panels from a company called Citizenre. They didn’t have enough roof space to go entirely off the grid, but they’ve gotten pretty close.”

I also learned about some interesting Web “products.”

Did you know a house or apartment could have a “walk score?” Walk Score was launched by Mike Mathieu, the former General Manager of MSN.com to help people find homes and apartments located near shops, restaurants and other conveniences. Real Estate agents can add a Walk Score “tile” to their sites to help potential buyers and renters compare the walkability of different properties.

Another interesting initiative, by the nonprofit Build It Green, should help build the market for new companies providing sustainable building materials. Executive Director Brian Gitt said that Build It Green is launching a rating label called Green Point, which should help boost the value of new and remodeled homes that incorporate a significant number of green building elements.

I recommend you check out the tips and products mentioned in this
interesting conversation about how to green your renovation and other eco-living tips, which also included architect Eric Corey Freed.

I spoke with Steve Vassallo, Principal at one of the chosen firms, Foundation Capital, who explained that the different labs that are part of the DOE own the intellectual capital for the research done in the labs. Although the labs can generate revenue to support further research by licensing the intellectual property to businesses, they are not always eager to do this. For one thing is it complicated. Negotiating a licensing deal can be time-consuming and it is not necessarily the key skill of a group led by top research scientists. Whereas, commercializing new ideas is the expertise of venture capital firms.

With the Entrepreneur In Residence program, the DOE is adopting a model that has worked well for venture capital firms in the past, that is to pay an entrepreneurial person to find a business opportunity instead of just waiting for proposals to come to them. Of the origin of this public-private partnership, Vassallo says, “Secretary Karser is a private-sector guy in a public position.”

Foundation Capital will work with Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, and they have chosen Michael Bauer, who was vice president of product management for BPL Global, a smart grid technology company as the first entrepreneur to work with the Lab.

Bauer will work side-by-side with researchers in the Lab to identify the most promising (and, presumably, most readily commercialized) of the Lab’s energy technologies, while also working closely with Foundation Capital staff. The cost of the Entrepreneur in Residence Program is split between the Department of Energy and the VC firms.

The other two VC firms chosen are Arch Venture Parnters of Chicago, working with Sandia National Laboratory in New Mexico, and Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers based in Silicon Valley, working with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado.

This is the third in a series about funding green businesses. We welcome your questions or advice for other entrepreneurs.

Photos: Foundation Capital’s company photos

I realize that sounds like crazy advice coming from a business consultant. However, I have seen too many entrepreneurs stalled or stressed when trying to write up a business plan when the plan really is not the critical issue. Many green business ventures that would be of interest to VC firms are in the cleantech, new materials, information technology, and life science spaces. If you are an ecopreneur with an idea in areas like these, your most important task is to explain the technology or science behind your idea and whether you have, or can get, the rights to the intellectual property.

Don’t spend your valuable time wordsmithing a long document. Just be able to say:

• why your idea works
• how it is different from an existing technology or product, or what is being developed by others
• how it will change the world, e.g., by dramatically changing a market or supply chain or by creating a new market or standards for how a market operates, etc.

This is not just my humble opinion. I spoke with Khosla Ventures’ newest operating partner Ford Tamer who explained that the firm is looking for leapfrog innovation—new technologies or new business models that can increase the size of a market by five-times or can drive costs down so significantly that entire new markets become available. He says, “We’re interested in ideas that can significantly affect the earth and can build big companies… We have no problem taking the risk if the risk is worth taking—for a huge benefit to society and the ability to be a major player.”

Tamer explained that while they have additional criteria for investing in a company, such as what he called “gene pool analysis,” i.e., the team members Khosla would be investing in, and the scalability of the company’s product or service (size of the potential market), Khosla Ventures is happy to help in those areas. With a stated mission that puts “venture assistance” and “strategic advice” before capital, Khosla Ventures’ partners will help to create the business plan, recruit key hires, develop key partnerships, brainstorm around major challenges, and more. As an example, Tamer has been to Europe, Asia, the Mid-West, and East-Coast on behalf of one portfolio company in the past few months.

I am sure that all VC firms do what they can to help their portfolio companies, but if you are a scientist or other innovator without a lot of business operating experience, you could benefit from looking for a VC firm that specializes in early-stage investments and that has a history of making introductions to key hires and partners.

And then there is that patience thing. As Tamer says, “Greentech will take a lot longer to [come to full value] than traditional tech.” You can probably only evaluate a VC firm’s long-term commitment to a technology or idea through conversation, but this is another point to discuss with other entrepreneurs funded by a particular VC firm.

Khosla Venures was founded by Vinod Khosla, who started Sun Microsystems and was later a general partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. In addition to investing in social ventures, Khosla has pledged 100% of his general partner profit from Khosla Ventures to microfinance, education, health, environment, and other causes.

When I first read the press release about Ford Tamer being hired to lead Khosla Veneture’s clean technology portfolio, I was confused (because I saw him as a large-firm technology specialist since he most recently held a senior position at Broadcom). Tamer explained that the group he led at Broadcom wasn’t always that big and that he grew it three-fold in five years, and, prior to that, he had either founded, or was an early member of, four technology companies. Oh, and he also has a PhD in material sciences. If you’re a cleantech entrepreneur, he’s going to have some experience to share!

I’m pleased that cleantech is hot and that many investors want to help build sustainable businesses and eco-focused companies. This post is part of a series on sources of capital for eco-entrepreneurs and green business finance.

If you are an investor that has advice or an entrepreneur with a personal perspective, we would love your comments.

Photo: Khosla Ventures company photo.

I have noticed that a number of entrepreneurs have started business based on their personal frustration at not finding a source for a desired product or service. (Another example is Beth Gerstein’s fiancé wanting to buy an engagement ring that he could feel good about, and Beth then co-founding another green business, Brilliant Earth.)

When asked about having the vision to start VivaTerra, Dahan says, “It wasn’t cool to be green yet. Even as recent as five years ago organic and green products generally looked pretty awful. I was committed to buying eco products, but I didn’t want to sacrifice style.” Dahan figured there were more people like her, certainly enough to support one retailer, so she started writing a business plan in 2000. 2001 did not turn out to be a great year to start a business, so she re-launched, with partners in 2004, and her timing couldn’t be better.

Sourcing Green Products in This Market

I asked Dahan how she went about finding the first products for the catalog, and Dahan replied with a process that sounds like private detective work, “I first had to figure out what materials I would use and what sources would be reliable. Then I did lots of calling around and networking. Word got out that I was looking for beautiful eco products, so people started sending me leads.”

Now most VivaTerra products are made for or sold exclusively by the company, and Dahan admits that there are a lot more interesting products available. When I ask if it is exhausting, searching for new products and sorting through all of the unsolicited product proposals from manufacturers around the world, Dahan only sounds happy to have that type of problem. She clearly loves what she does.

Eco Sourcing Has Changed for the Better

It isn’t just that VivaTerra is known, but it is also easier to source environmentally friendly products because there are more green materials available. Dahan recently wrote a newsletter article about the fact that the growing market for bamboo has encouraged more supply to come to market.

Dahan is very happy about this development. She says, “Now that there is more demand, costs can come down for the consumer, and the demand ripples back through the supply chain, such as by encouraging more farmers to grow cotton organically.” In another newsletter post, Dehan described other eco textiles that have become readily available.

Personal Taste Matters

Dahan is still very involved with selecting products for VivaTerra. According to her, a good green product “needs to be beautiful and affordable, and eco, of course”. Her strategy is to look at the world of green products and then to see what stands out as beautiful and high quality. Despite the fact that her interests as an entrepreneur are served when people buy more, she believes that consumers should “buy things once and think about using it in multiple ways.” She wants everyone to buy quality products that can be used and enjoyed for many years (perhaps even passing them on to an heir).

For other budding green retailers and consumers, Dahan recommends these strategies for vetting products: “Ask a lot of questions, and be suspicious of generalizations. What does ‘natural’ mean? Sellers should be able to answer your questions. And certification is certainly helpful.”

Photos from VivaTerra

I am going to present several ideas, not all of which may be perfect for her situation, but which are generally options for ecoentrepreneurs. Please comment on this post if you have additional ideas or questions about financing a green startup.

This will be a relatively long post, so here is a summary of potential sources of cash for green businesses:

• SBA loans
• Social-venture venture capital funds
• Friends-and-Family financing
• Partnering with a nonprofit organization

Another option, which would not work for this inventor, would be to bootstrap a company, as I described in a previous post.

And another option that is off the table is licensing: This inventor looked into licensing the product to a larger company, which would put up the money for both production and marketing and would then pay the inventor a licensing fee, presumably based on the volume of sales. The downside of the arrangement would be a loss of control over the production and marketing, as well as the fact that the company who is willing to license the product would have the production done in China. Because the inventor lives in upstate New York, where there is significant unemployment, the inventor wants to find some way to raise the money to manufacture the product in a factory within her community.

SBA Loans

SBA Loans are not actually given out by the Small Business Administration. Applicants work with local banks to secure loans, which are guaranteed by the SBA and are offered at favorable interest rates and often with better terms than would be available elsewhere. These loans may not be appropriate for startups, but I would encourage all entrepreneurs to at least be aware of what is available. In addition, the SBA runs Small Business Development Centers, which can be helpful in writing a business plan.

Social-Venture Venture Capital (or Angel) Funds

There are now a number of venture capital funds and angel investors who are looking for companies with a double bottom line—both a potentially high financial return and a social, environmental, or economic benefit to a particular community. Often these investors will fund companies with smaller capital needs than they would consider for investments that do not have a social-benefit mission. I know about a number, many of which are focused on Northern California, so consider this list only an example to show that these funds exist. You may need to do some research to find similar investors in your area:

DBL Investors’ Bay Area Equity Fund, supports businesses with many social missions, including environmental ones but is focused on the San Francisco Bay Area.

The Omidyar Network funds both nonprofit organizations and businesses. This sentence from their About Page, sounds like the inventor who emailed us: “Omidyar Network believes that all individuals have the innate potential to make life better for themselves and their communities.”

Khosla Ventures funds microfinance ventures and health projects in addition to environmental concerns all over the world.

Friends and Family Financing

Many startups, green or otherwise, are initially funded by accredited investors that know the founder or who are friends of friends. Oftentimes the initial funding is in the form of convertible debt, which is converted to equity when the Company goes through another round of funding, with angels or venture capitalists. Although not all entrepreneurs may not know accredited investors or be comfortable raising money, I think this is the most common way to start a business. Sometimes a small amount of money will get a company off the ground and prove to SBA lendors or other investors that the company is worth financing at higher level.

Partnering With a Nonprofit Organization

Some nonprofit organizations have as part of their mission the goal of providing job training or employment for disadvantaged workers, so they operate a business as one of their programs. I think this option could be particularly interesting for this inventor (and other ecoentrepreneurs). The inventor can still receive royalties for her invention, but the business can be run with goals other than maximizing profits.

Now you might think I am crazy to suggest a nonprofit organization as a funding source, given that such groups are always in need of money themselves. However, there are venture capital-like funds set up for nonprofits, such as REDF (Formerly the Roberts Development Fund), to start up or expand business ventures run under the auspices of a nonprofit. Another option is Social Venture Partners, which has chapters in many locations around the world and provides what they call venture philanthropy–both cash and management expertise to nonprofit organizations.

If any of you know of sources of funding specific to upstate New York, please comment below.

Photo credit: Ian Britton, from freefoto.com

And speaking of great, are things that come free usually great? Although I do believe it is often true that you get what you pay for, it could be argued that you are paying a lot in taxes, so that might be an indication of the potential quality of a “how to green your business” workshop.

My personal perspective is that I get something out of almost every business event I go to — either through networking or directly from something a speaker says. Gaining one idea you didn’t have before or spending one hour focused on starting a green business or making your current business more sustainable might really be the first step toward greatness.

If you’ve been to an SBA workshop, particularly one on running a green business or sustainable business practices, please let us know your experience by commenting on this post.

Groos Richmond and her co-founding partner, Kirsten Tobey, were in the MBA program at UC Berkeley when they started a pilot program to provide healthy meals for children in one elementary school. By having an actual project lined up, it was easier to get Whole Foods Northern California to provide food at their best pricing (usually reserved for extremely large customers). And by successfully completing the pilot project, and proving there is demand for the service, that good food can be provided at very low prices, and that the founders have what it takes to run this highly regulated and time-sensitive business, it was possible to get JPMorgan’s Bay Area Equity Fund to provide initial funding to launch the Company with food service for four schools.

It’s easy for an eco-entrepreneur or any entrepreneur to write a business plan with a multi-million dollar marketing budget and become attached to the “ideal launch plan”. However, every entrepreneur should have a couple of back-up plans of how to start the business with less money. And, those back up plans should reduce a future investor’s perceived risk, by providing proof of the market need and by attracting credibility-building partners, customers, and/or advisors.

Hearing Groos Richmond speak, reminded me of my conversation with Brilliant Earth co-founder, Beth Gerstein, who told me that she advices future ecopreneurs to forgo perfection and to pursue the possible. Startup businesses are built step by step and can become quite successful by starting modestly.

If you are an eco-entrepreneur, please use the “comment” link below to tell us how you got your startup off the ground.

I attended a panel at UC Davis’s “Focus the Nation” program called, “Innovation: Commercializing Science In Energy & Efficiency’. UC Davis has strong programs in many science disciplines, and there is a desire among university players and local politicians to have Davis, California (and some of the greater Sacramento area) be known as a cleantech center. I was interested to hear about what is actually being done to support green entrepreneurs.

From the panel makeup alone, you can tell that UC Davis is anything but passive in developing clean tech solutions and taking them to market.

The panel moderator, Dr. Andy Hargadon is the founding director of the UC Davis Center for Entrepreneurship and the UC Davis Energy Efficiency Center. He explained that UC Davis has a fellowship program for doctoral and post-doc students to take courses in the School of Management, which played an important role in the launch of a startup clean tech company that was the focus on the panel discussion.

Synapsense was started with the help of UC staff and affiliates, based on research conducted in a lab on campus led by Associate Professor Raju Pandy who took a leave of absence from teaching to co-found the Company. SynapSense’s Wireless Green Data Center technology enables data centers, which usually consume massive amounts of energy, to reduce both energy usage and carbon emissions. Pandy had been working with graduate students on the basic research, and one of those graduate students participated in the Entrepeneurship Center’s Business Development program.

To make a long story short, that student told Entrepeneurship Center faculty that his lab was working on something that might be commercialized, and the Entrepreneurship center as well as the Energy Efficiency Center definitely were interested.

The remaining two panelists told other parts of the story of how Synapsense was started and moved out of a UC Davis lab. Dr. David McGee is the Executive Director of InnovationAccess, an office at UC Davis that serves as a liason between the university and the private sector. In addition to filing patents and helping with business planning, the office has a mandate to help connect private enterprise with science research. So if you are a clean tech investor, you might want to check out the InnovationAccess site linked above.

The final panelist brought in “the money” (and more I am sure). Dr. Barbara Grant is the managing director of American River Ventures and has taught at UC Davis. American River Ventures is a venture capital fund focused on companies that help reduce energy consumption as opposed to companies looking for new energy sources, which is covered by other funds.

Do you live near a university with researchers who may be focused on commercial applications for environmental research, sustainable business management, or cleantech basic research? If so, you should find out if there are programs or departments to create a link between the private sector and the academics. And if you know of these programs, please use the Comments feature below to tell other readers about them.

Over eight years ago, he started the Company by selling t-shirts, and now sells a sophisticated clothing line in Sameunderneath’s own stores as well as many other retail outlets. You can see from several years’ of press coverage, that Sameunderneath has been getting its “be kind to one another” message out pretty well.

But I was visiting one of Sameunderneath’s Portland stores to check out the style and quality of the clothing made from bamboo and cashmere. I love these fabrics–so soft!

Sameunderneath’s styles are fairly simple but different enough to be interesting.

Unlike Nau, which I noted has an innovative distribution strategy, Sameunderneath’s retail outlets and distribution appear to be relatively standard, although the Company has a history of using local manufacturers. And both Portland Sameunderneath stores are in highly walkable shopping areas, which may or may not be more green than being in a mall, but I certainly feel more green when I see more pedestrians than cars.

In Portland last weekend, I had the chance to visit two single-manufacturer boutiques in their home town, and I am happy to report that, at least when sales are on, store traffic was bustling.

My favorite brand in terms of creative styling and wow design is Nau. The brand started by an idealistic but experienced team, many of whom met while working at Patagonia, is all about sustainability whether in sourcing, distribution or retailing. Using fabrics created from recycled polyester and plastics, as well as organically grown cotton and cashmere, Nau’s clothing is surprisingly and pleasingly hip for a company focused on outdoor wear.

Nau isn’t just focused on its own efforts to green the world, it also raises awareness of the efforts of a number of local and international nonprofit organizations, by asking customers to select from among them for a donation of a percentage of purchase. Donating to environmental organizations is almost a must for sustainable businesses. (See my recent post on Brilliant Earth.) But Nau does something I haven’t seen anywhere else and that is they pay YOU to have them ship your purchases to you, to the tune of 10% of your purchases. It’s a great incentive to help Nau cut down on store sizes and product transportation costs.

My only complaint about Nau is that the store I visited is in a high-end mall, which requires driving to get to from anywhere, as far as I can tell. However, we can all shop at Nau.com.

In my next post, I’ll tell you about my visit to another Portland-based clothing line that came highly recommended and didn’t disappoint.

However, I got a very different story. Brilliant Earth has been entirely boot-strapped, although that adjective doesn’t seem apt for a company that sells beautiful products, has an elegant identity system, and does business via a beautiful website.

Brilliant Earth sells conflict-free diamonds, which are mined in Canada in accordance with environmental laws as well as jewelry made of “renewed” gold and platinum, i.e., recycled metals.

Instead of investing in a large inventory up front, Gerstein and Eric Grossberg started Brilliant Earth by serving as a match-maker so to speak for people looking for conflict-free diamonds for engagement rings, as well as other jewelry pieces of ethical origins. Gerstein says, “Our philosophy was to start to build supplier relationships and then to get customers, growing organically.”

Given that the products are photographed beautifully and are shipped free with a 30-day return policy, it is not so surprising that consumers were willing to buy from BrilliantEarth.com, although I am sure no entrepreneur would want to hear me discount how much work it is to make the first first few sales.

What is surprising is that Gerstein and Grossberg had trouble finding suppliers willing to let Brilliant Earth sell their products. Gerstein explained, “[Fine jewelry] is a trust-driven business. There are lots of family businesses with relationships going back a very long time. You would think that if you want to retail their products companies would be happy to work with you.” However, Brilliant Earth wasn’t just a new company trying to break into an established industry, but, as Gerstein says, “We were asking questions that they weren’t used to. We have certain specs and parameters we want our suppliers to meet. We only want manufacturers that use recycled platinum and gold.” Plus Brilliant Earth wanted to change the business model. Instead of purchasing inventory, they wanted to take possession of the product when they had found customers.

Brilliant Earth’s story should be encouraging to entrepreneurs, since they are making it. Gerstein and Grossberg started the company in April of 2005 and made their first customer match within a few months. As you can see from this photo of Gerstein (left) at the Green Festival in San Francisco in November, the Company has working capital to invest in marketing, including sample inventory and booth space at shows, which can cost thousands of dollars per event.

If you know of similar awards for organizations outside of the San Francisco Bay Area, please let us know by commenting below.

Looking at past winners of the Acterra Business Environmental Award, it is clear that a wide range of organizations can win for a variety of projects. Organizations can submit programs for consideration in the following categories: pollution prevention/waste reduction, sustainability, commute/transportation, environmental enterprise, sustainably built environment, and environmental and sustainability education.

It does take some effort to both fill out the application and then take part in a three-month judging process, in which environmental and sustainability experts interview the applicants and verify each organization’s environmental claims. And there is an application fee of $50 to $250, depending upon the size of the applying organization.

Given that there isn’t a cash prize, organizations need to decide whether the outside validation and the bragging rights of winning outweigh the costs of going through the process. For many, though, I am sure the effort is worth it. As consumers become more and more inundated with green- and environmentally friendly-claims, companies will be looking for outside validation and recognition.

If you think that the Acterra Business Environmental Awards is for you (or for a friend of yours), get cracking. Applications are due January 25, 2008.

As happy as I am to see all of these green youngsters on the block, it does my heart a lot of good to see green businesses that were started five or ten years ago, when green was not so hip, get a big boost from all of media attention now turned on all things green.

One example is Pharmacopia which was started in 1999. When the hot thing in entrpreneurism was launching a dot-com, Lisa Levin was quietly blending her own lotions and soaps from essential oils and organic ingredients. Lisa first gained a significant market presence for Pharmacopia products in natural products shops, with the Company eventually getting distribution in Whole Foods and other larger natural food stores.

Fortunately, intuition and personal taste had led Lisa, who designed the company’s identity and packaging herself, to make everything about Pharmacopia as elegant as the high-quality ingredients she uses in Pharmacopia’s line of body care products. Day spas and pampering have become a major retail and hospitality trend, and Pharmacopia is perfectly suited for spas and boutique hotels, such as the Delano boutique hotel in South Beach. As Lisa says, “We can either focus on the fact that we use only pure essential oils and organic ingredients or that we provide a really luxurious product.”

Pharmacopia is now well positioned for the increase in green consciousness. One of the first ways people become concerned about organics and natural products is when considering what to put in and on their body. True pampering now requires the safest and most natural ingredients possible.

And it doesn’t hurt that green is IN. A list of celebrity Pharmacopia clients and high-profile media placements shows how start-studded and high-profile, going green has gone.

Pharmacopia is not just for Grape Nuts eaters anymore. Company President Andreliz Bautista says, “People are interested in green even if their whole lives aren’t focused on it. Green options are what people need.”

P.S. For a related discussion of green or organic body care choices, please see a post on our sister blog, Eco Child’s Play.

U.S. production company, Landreth Associates, is working with the Chinese CCTV Economic Movie and Television Center and The International Cultural Exchange Audiovisual Publishing House (an agency of the Chinese Ministry of Culture), on what is to be a weekly documentary television show in China called “Seizing the Moment in China” beginning in the summer of 2008.

Ted Landreth once headed the international news department at CBS News, and other team members include Peter Pagnamenta, who once ran the BBC Current Affairs show as well as John Liu who has produced documentaries on the Chinese environment while living in China for sixteen years. The team feels that the Olympics in China offers a good focus for the Chinese population and the world to consider the extreme challenges China faces, as well as the little known conservation and restoration projects, which are underway.

To me, this production project is one of the most creative green-based businesses I have heard of in 2007. U.S. investors (and I suppose those from any other country) are being offered a share of the profits, based upon profits from sponsors whose messages are targeted to reach over one hundred million in the Chinese audience and many more abroad in an English version of the shows.

If you would like more information, you can contact Michael O’Reilly, a Los Angeles-based lawyer and consultant working for Landreth Associates via email: michael “at” oreilly “dot” net.

So, it was interesting to open up the New York Times magazine this morning to see an article about S. Prakash Sethi, the founder of the International Center for Corporate Accountability, a consulting firm he founded to evaluate companies such as Mattel on their social responsibility. He, at least, is able to go inside companies to see what their operations are like. Mattel invites him in. Mattel’s lead-paint-in-toys problems not withstanding, it does encourage me that there is a move toward monitoring all aspects of a company’s operations, including sourcing.

I am hoping that they trend toward transparency doesn’t just continue but accelerates.

I really like a line in the Sethi article, “…there’s no reason, [Stethi] says, why companies shouldn’t compete in the field of ethics as they do in everything else.” If companies wear there ethics on their sleeves, and there are checks in place to make sure that companies are following their stated ethics, the market can reward the companies that follow sustainable business practices.

The Market. That’s us. There are many more options these days for goods that are produced with an environmental consciousness. However, many of those companies are smaller and newer, and most of The Market doesn’t know these companies exist. If there are companies whose ethics you like, spread the word. Tell at least one other person, and preferably one other online community, about a great product you have discovered.

Here are some of the products I love:

Although I acknowledge that a vegan diet would be more truly green, I am not a vegan and consider Cow Girl Creamery to be a wonderful green company. Since I have not ordered their cheeses online, I can’t evaluate all of their packaging, but for a product that can be bought locally, it’s both delicious and non-plastic-covered.

In a past post, I mentioned Nau, which I love for its stylish clothes made from sustainably produced and recycled-material fabrics.

Which products and companies do you want more people to know about?

And don’t forget that our sister site, Planet Save, has a gift guide of green(er) products.

But we consumers are used to slick packaging and cool bags, boxes and wrappers. Designers are now challenged to come up with high-concept packaging that doesn’t waste resources.

It’s like Project Runway for everyday products. And here are some of the pioneering entrants in the less-weight, recyclable, biodegradable packaging challenge.

Three Thieves sells their Bandit wine in TetraPaks.

It’s different. It’s recyclable. Although a TetraPak not so unique, given that soymilk is packaged similarly, Three Thieves is definitely going against the grain in the wine industry.

Another wine company so believes in the power of its packaging that it devotes a significant part of its website to its TetraPak packaging, diving into the various layers in the package to describe how it is made and why they like it.

Check out French Rabbit’s packaging.

And then there is the opposite approach—don’t even try to dazzle us with the packaging.

Nau, which is definitely on the higher end of high-concept design for eco-friendly clothing, ships their fancy duds in the most basic of bags. No boxes, no fake popcorn, no shredded cardboard. And no frills. I like it.

Organic vintner Jaeger brought a barrel of wine to the party where guests could decant their own bottle of wine, cork it and put on the label.

I was also impressed with a more extravagant corporate gift designed by Cari Class, the founder and principal of a firm called Design Source. Cari’s client, Mugnaini, which sells wood-burning ovens, wanted to send an impressive thank you gift to clients, and Cari designed a reusable wood box to hold kitchen accessories. Of the packaging, Cari says, “It was a gift in and of itself. The wood came from a sustainable forest in Canada, even the hinges were made from reused metal. The company’s emblem was branded on the front of the box. It is a lovely piece.” And it’s green too!