During the Thursday morning breakfast, Zhang Yue, chairman and CEO of China-based Broad Air Conditioning woke the crowd up as he spoke through an interpreter. A few minutes before that, I found myself asking a colleague “Who is this guy?” After 10 minutes, I changed my mind. More people should listen to this guy. True, I haven’t done due diligence on his company but if his company does half the things that he says they do then I’m on board. Yue created China’s first “non-electric chiller” and insists on showing consumers how triple paned windows will reduce their need to use air conditioners. Consider that their business revolves around making air conditioners.

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There is one surefire way that donations will result in decreased emissions, decreased consumption, and slowing of environmental degradation.  Can you guess how? 

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With all the news surrounding food safety, global pollution, misguided government food policies, and the myriad of other problems faced by consumers, it’s always comforting to occasionally read some good news.  Here’s a bit of uplifting news.  An organization, Edible Schoolyard, bringing gardening knowledge to junior high school kids in urban areas.

The program strives to teach inner city youth about gardening and consuming fresh, seasonal produce.  From its own website, Edible Schoolyard specifically defines its goal of involving students “in all aspects of farming the garden and preparing, serving, and eating food as a means of awakening their senses and encouraging awareness and appreciation of the transformative values of nourishment, community, and stewardship of the land.”

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Even a year gone since the failure of Lehman, fundamental questions remain regarding the core underlying assumptions of our financial system. Though currently derivatives trading and black boxes appear out of favour, what will replace them in terms of helpful and productive uses of capital still has yet to be determined. This question was what the Conference on Social Capital Market’s, or SoCap09 tried to give some structure to; while the trend towards sustainable investments and long-term ROI seems to have taken the place of actively managed funds seeking 20x returns.

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The large gathering at HUB Bay Area’s pre-launch gathering last night at the Brower Center in Berkeley was impressive.

Within the short one hour window that I was there, I met someone from Global Issues Network – an organization dedicated to introducing youth to the power of networking and conversation to solve the world’s most pressing issues; from the Global Micro-Clinic Project – an organization helping economically depressed and conflict ridden areas form partnerships to prevent and manage disease; from Silicon Valley Bank – banking for innovative ideas; and from Solutions – an enterprising LEED certified collaboration of architects offering “new thinking” to help re-architect problems and find solutions.

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With an underwear expert on staff and Yves Behar on the team, mastermind of the Fuse Project a widely acclaimed  industrial design firm with products to its credit including One Laptop Per Child and the Jawbone headset,  PACT may have the product to back up its initial appeal.

A quick read of the web site reads like many start-ups - casual, fun, informative.  10% of each sales goes to non-profits.  And in a nod to the transparency indicative of the category, they tell you what they’ve figured out (just about everything) and what they haven’t (how to “recycle” the underwear when you’re done). They say there’s a video coming in September.  Watch for more revealing information on PACT underwear then.

image credit: PACT

Cause Marketing Generally Works for Marketers

I’ve been a fan of cause-related marketing programs (although I typically work with smaller entrepreneurial businesses and not the Project Red and Pink Ribbon campaigns in the market). It’s clear why those of us with a marketing perspective would find a lot to love. As MC Milker wrote in our Network, consumers are interested in products tied to a cause. Since consumers respond, corporations are getting involved. Eikenberry cites IEG Inc, reporting, “Cause marketing expenditures went from almost zero in 1983 to and estimated $1.3billion in 2006″.

But for a moment, let’s think about the perspective of nonprofit organizations and fundraisers (and maybe even philosophers). Eikenberry says cause marketing “devalues the moral code of philanthropy by making virtuous action easy and thoughtless”.

Can Philanthropy Leading to Social Change?

Eikenberry is skeptical of that consumers can right the world’s wrongs. When they are buying and fulfilling their material needs and desires, “they generally have little impetus to consider…’the public good’”. She sites two studies that show that when consumers have bought a cause-branded product they are less likely to make charitable contributions and feel they have “already done their philanthropic share”. So does cause-marketing decrease or increase the amount of money going to charity? ‘hard to know, but it is definitely shifting where the money goes.

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Scrap, which their pamphlet calls “a creative reuse center and workshop space” came about in 1976, way before recycling and Green became trendy, as a resource for artists and teachers. Scrap also set out to promote environmental awareness and creative reuse.

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The American Himalayan Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping the people and ecology of the Himalaya.

The Himalaya, roof of the world, is a magic place where the magnificence of the world’s highest mountains is mirrored in the rugged beauty and unique culture of the people who live in their shadow.

In these remote regions people often live without basic health care and education. Economic pressures have forced environmental degradation. And traditional ways of life are in danger of disappearing.

The American Himalayan Foundation was founded twenty-five years ago to respond to some of these pressing problems.  What we do is very basic: build schools, plant trees, train doctors, fund hospitals, take care of children and elderly, and restore sacred sites throughout the Himalayas.  We also assist and encourage Tibetans to rebuild and maintain their culture both in exile, and within Tibet.

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Yesterday the White House announced President Obama’s 2010 request to Congress for $50 million to set up a Social Innovation Fund with the goal of identifying the most promising results-oriented non-profit programs in order to expand their reach throughout the country.

Taking a page from his grass-roots leadership style, Obama’s announcement of the request continues to drive home a message that change will come from the individuals who make up the communities they live in.  The request for seed capital to identify and foster those efforts will come in parallel to an administration re-looking at policy areas to enable new approaches.

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Good ideas have a life of their own.  That’s what Paul Baricos, Executive Director of the Hollygrove Growers Market and Farm (HGMF) in New Orleans is learning two years after the Carrolton-Hollygrove Community Development Center (CHCDC) set out to figure out how to bring fresh produce to a neighborhood with no real access to affordable food.

The result of this initial vision, and perhaps ten iterations later, is a one-of-a-kind one-acre urban produce and garden center located in the New Orleans community of Carrolton-Hollygrove.  Initiated just two short years ago in partnership with the New Orleans Food & Farm Network, the site is in its fledgling stages of a well mapped out multi-use center.  “We began this journey simply trying to figure out how to bring fresh produce to an under-served community. What has evolved is a vision for this center to be a resource for urban gardening that delivers fresh produce”, relayed Paul.

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New Orleans has produced its share of celebrities over the years but since Hurricane Katrina, musicians and celebrities have been keen to give something back to a city that has given and lost so much. Taking their personal passions to a new level, these celebrities are lending their name and fundraising support to create safe and affordable communities with a long-term view of economic redevelopment and poverty eradication.

New housing programs target specific populations or neighborhoods that have been dislocated by the sequence of events initiated by Hurricane Katrina and which are critical to getting the New Orleans economy thriving again.  This article looks at three different visionary approaches to re-building neighborhoods filled with newly empowered home-owners educated and dedicated to preserving a safe and healthy environment for their children.

Keeping the city safe

In 1980, Dan Aykroyd turned his love for blues music into the cult comedy “The Blues Brothers”.  And now, nearly 30 years later, he is lending his financial and fundraising support to get first-responders back into the city that created the blues.

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Editor’s note:  Please read the comments below. This company has come under scrutiny by consumers.

I’ve been noticing more and more people from all walks of life using metal water bottles. At about half the price of other stainless steel water bottles, non-profit Eco Canteen’s mission is to get as many people as possible off of bottled water, since 80% of plastic water bottled are not recycled.  Of the plastic water bottles that do make it to the recycling center, 40% of them end up in China or Indonesia.

Here are some staggering statistics about the detrimental environmental effects of plastic water bottles:

• 2.5 million disposable water bottles are thrown away in the US every hour.
• In 2007, $16 billion was spent on bottled water.
• 20 oz. of bottled water costs almost as much as a gallon of gas.
• Discarded plastic water bottles take 700 to 1,000 years to break down.
• A 20 oz. bottle of water takes 5 oz. of oil to produce and ship.
• Dioxin, one of the deadliest air pollutants, is created when unrecyclable PVC is separated from PET/PETE #1 plastic water bottles and then incinerated.

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What do CarrotMobs and sugar cubes have in common?   Other than finding their way into your Easter basket, they are the businesses and tools developed by Virgance to create change through consumer organizing.

Thus far, businesses dedicated to “doing good” have been the purview and passion of big names and big businesses.  Bono launched DATA and (RED).  Bill Gates started the Gates Foundation and Home Depot has become synonymous with Habitat for Humanity.   However this past Tuesday Virgance, a San Francisco start-up, threw a little party to celebrate the next stage of their Activism 2.0 model, the acquisition of Green Options Media Network.

Virgance was founded in San Francisco by two business partners interested in elevating activist efforts by connecting them with social networking tools and access to funding.    Not convinced that “for good” had to mean not-for-profit, President and serial entrepreneur, Steve Newcomb began “looking at activism as a potential start-up industry” because he wanted to do more than just start another technology company.

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A contributing post by Deb Ozarko, Director of Creative Services for Clearly Green Design, an Ottawa, Canada based visual communications firm.

There is no escaping the dark news about today’s current economic situation. Regardless, there are ways for us to all survive - and thrive - simply by asking ourselves one question: Want or Need?

In a planet faced with the tragic fallout from the over consumptive patterns of typical North American society, an economic crisis may just what we need to show us the true cost of our spending habits.  It would not hurt us a bit to do less spending on frivolous - and often environmentally damaging items, and pay more attention to consumer or donor messaging so we can begin to develop an overall higher eco-consciousness.

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U.S. schools spend more on utilities than books and computers combined.

Public schools spent $8 billion on utilities in 2002, up by $2 billion from 2000, and the fluctuating utility and oil prices can be daunting when planning for the future.  Although natural gas and oil prices have come down significantly from their high last July, it is important to remember their recent impact.

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In the case of a for-profit business, especially in the green community, the obvious drawback is that customers won’t donate to your cause.  They may preferentially choose your products over traditional competitors, but they may also come in the door with higher standards for products and services.  But certainly no one is going to make a movie about how much worse animal agriculture is for global warming than many other factors that people are myopically focused on and use it to raise money for your organization, for instance. 

In writing my book, Build a Green Small Business (McGraw-Hill), I interviewed hundreds of social entrepreneurs about their businesses, and found some interesting answers to questions about events they didn’t anticipate regarding their business.  Does the classification of their business as a for-profit business help or hinder when it comes to unexpected events? 

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Shazam figures out what song you’re listening to.  A pocket flashlight (not to mention a light saber) is only two taps away.  And Yelp can get the phone number, directions and even a review of the place you’re trying to find and meet your friends at in a quarter of the time directory assistance, Safari, Google or any mapping software can do it.

So, why wouldn’t our love affair with the iPhone help us make the world a better place?  Why wouldn’t our obsessive usage create perfect opportunities for capturing micro-donation portals to make contributions to the micro-finance or giving sites of Kiva or Global Giving?  What about a carbon calculator that lets you immediately link to an offset purchase equivalent to the inquiry? It would seem that millions of tiny donations could add up to lots of impact.    It seems possible, and even more so fun.  But does it really add up to a smart fundraising play?

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Interview with Studio 7 Designs‘ Aran Down.

You are an award-winning, environmentally friendly design firm. Tell us what your clients come to your company for and what makes Studio 7 Designs different from other ‘green’ design firms.

We started out about five years ago by providing non-profit groups with free consultation and web design. Originally, we focused on helping out local companies ─ it was our way of giving back to the community. After about two years of helping about 50 non-profit organizations, including many universities and UN chapters, we were getting offers for corporate branding through our contacts. At that time, Studio 7 Designs was run by me and some part-time designers, so it was a natural evolution to move towards being a full-time design and development company. Our roots are based in real ethics. Our site doesn’t have a green theme; we wanted to try to capture the beauty of the natural world and use artistic creativity to show who we are as a whole.

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