Why Do I Give?

Half of one person’s joy is the experiencing of another person’s joy; when you make someone happy, it makes you happy, too. When you give, you’re both giving and receiving, which is far more rewarding than just receiving.

I’d like to share with you reasons as to why I volunteer with United Way. My hope is that you’ll be encouraged to join the many UPSers across the country to make a difference in the lives of others (if you haven’t done so already).

Giving All I Have to Give

As a child growing up in Los Angeles, my parents instilled in me at a very early age the importance of giving back to the community and volunteering my time and talents to help others in need. At that time, I had no idea that it would transform my life and provide me with a fresh perspective about the concept of volunteering and participating in community service as an adult.

Throughout my college career, I logged hundreds of volunteers hours with local organizations surrounding the Tallahassee, Fla., area. During that time, I had the opportunity to meet individuals who had fallen on hard times and needed assistance – financially, emotionally and even physically.

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The Road To SOCAP

SOCAP is an annual gathering of impact investors and other like-minded social capitalists in San Francisco, and Mission Markets will be there in force this year! 

Mission Markets is an official SOCAP sponsor and will have dedicated exhibition space in the conference hall. In addition, our CEO Mike Van Patten will be a featured speaker on the Social Capital Marketplace conference track. 

SOCAP starts October 4th, and we have great expectations for the event. We will be talking more about SOCAP – and how Mission Markets will participate – in the coming weeks, so stay tuned!

How Do You Execute Your Green Dreams?

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Good thoughts are no better than good dreams, unless they be executed”. Translated into today’s language that equates to actions speak louder than words.  Translate again to sustainability language, and eco actions speak louder than eco speak.

 So, how do you walk your talk?  Misconceptions encountered in our eco friendly consulting falsely believe that a sustainable lifestyle is an all or nothing approach.  The truth of the matter is that you do not have to live a 100% sustainable lifestyle to make a significant difference.  By aligning personal incentives with just a few sustainability concepts, you can reduce your carbon footprint almost immediately.

 •    Vehicle Fuel Consumption: The most significant area of personal impact and one that is well within your sphere of influence.  Sustainable actions directly aligned with personal savings include: alternative fuel transportation, fuel efficiency and personal reduction (commuting, ride share, alternative transportation).

 •    Electricity Consumption: By switching to wind or renewable sources, the average family could save the equivalent to thousands of miles driven in a car.  Sustainable actions include: source control (wind, renewable, offsets), home efficiency (energy star appliances), and personal energy management.

 •    Water Consumption: Clear fresh water is rapidly becoming an endangered resource in even the most developed countries.  Sustainable actions directly aligned with personal savings include: water management (personal use and outdoor watering) and waste water management (controlling what goes down the drain and into the storm drains).  

 •    Waste Disposal: A large portion of what goes into the average garbage is recyclable.  By separating your plastics, glass, and paper, the weekly volume sent to the landfill could be cut by more than half.  Sustainable actions include: inquiring about recycling programs with traditional collectors and locating recycling centers in your area.

 When you consider that over 80% of our personal impact can be bucketed into four major categories, taking eco action becomes easier. Take eco action today! Walk your green talk.

United Way of Buffalo’s Thank a UPS Driver Campaign – Pictorial

United Way of Buffalo kicks off the UPS thank a driver campaign in conjunction with UPS reaching One Billion dollars in contributions. 

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Embedded Philanthropy: The Future of Giving

Embedded Philanthropy: The Future of Giving

Involving consumers and employees in corporate philanthropic efforts has grown significantly in scope and breadth in recent years.  Cause marketing and cause branding have become a marketer’s tactic-du-jour touted everywhere (including this blog) as the best way to engage not only the attention but also the hearts and minds of consumers and employees alike.  While these efforts run wide, few effectively delve into a company’s larger social responsibility efforts in a meaningful way.

What’s the next, deeper level of consumer and employee engagement?  What’s the mechanism for leveraging corporate philanthropic dollars to affect more meaningful social change while still benefitting the corporate image?

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Coca-Cola Receives Committed to the Environment Award

CCE has been honored with a Committed to the Environment Award, a new award from the International Charter Organization (ICharter) that evaluates how major companies around the world are managing their environmental impact.

ICharter recognized CCE for:

• The company’s strong governance structure, with engagement at all levels of the business

• Cutting carbon emissions by 11.5 percent since 2007

• CCE’s efforts to use more recycled PET and bioPET alternatives (such as PlantBottle)

• Helping develop technology to reduce energy use in our venders and coolers

• Using technology to monitor resource use more closely, helping to increase efficiencies  

ICharter, based in the United Kingdom, has developed a set of standards to promote ethical conduct, continuous improvement and excellence in customer satisfaction throughout organizations. Its new Committed to the Environment Award is designed to recognize companies that are leading the way in managing their environmental impact and to use them as examples for other firms to learn from. 

Judges analyzed data to determine whether companies were achieving their objectives and how they fared compared to other companies in the same industry and the same region. Judges also reviewed each company’s environmental strategy and plans. Other companies that were nominated include IBM, FedEx and Barclays Group. 

Click here to read ICharter’s full review of our CRS progress.

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Goodness 3.0*: The New Corporate Giving (And Why You Need It!)

Doing well by doing good: it’s not just a corporate catch phrase or nice-to-do anymore, it’s a must do for a growing number of businesses. With Pepsi cancelling its 23 year stint of Super Bowl commercials to instead invest $20 million in a philanthropic social media project, it is safe to say that social responsibility has gone mainstream.

A growing number of consumers expect businesses to not only “do good” but to provide opportunities for them to give back to causes that resonate with them.  And to be more open, innovative and collaborative about how they do it.  Cone Research found that 88% of millennial consumers (aged 18-24 years) and 79% of all consumers would switch from one brand to another (all else being more or less equal) if the other brand was associated with a good cause. (Source: 2008 Cone Cause Evolution Study).  Furthermore, a 2009 Edelman study found that 61% of consumers have bought a brand that supports a good cause even if it wasn’t the cheapest brand. (Source: 2009 Global Edelman Good Purpose Study). 

Employees also want to work for companies that care. Cone Research found that 79% of people would also prefer to work for a socially responsible company (Source: Cone Millennial Cause Study 2006) and 79% of employees think it’s important that their companies match their giving. (Source: 2008 Cone Cause Evolution Study).

In today’s climate where companies have a growing need to deliver authentic social responsibility and community investment programs, and where individuals feel more strongly about supporting worthy causes with micro-donations, Benevity offers a powerful and incremental way for corporations to make a difference.

Turbo Boost Your Business Sustainability Action

Frequently we find that businesses approach sustainability in an ad-hoc manner, often lacking a common aligned business purpose.  Although the intentions are inspired by expanded social or eco awareness, the actions are not necessarily impactful in building long-term business sustainability.  A strategic approach can help align the mindset of an organization and ensure that the approach ties to the overall profitability drivers of the business.

However, picking the right business sustainability strategy is not an easy task, and implementing it across the entire organization can be even harder.  As a result, many businesses end-up approaching sustainable change from the same traditional structured business processes.  Instead, why not seek out business actions that:

•    Meet specific business needs
•    Engage key stakeholders
•    Efficiently generate defined marks of progress

  For many business executive searching for these answers, now may the perfect time to revisit traditional business plans and communication strategies.  Our sustainability consulting finds progressive companies are already considering changes that more accurately reflect current business sustainability risks and opportunities.  Some overarching business sustainability strategies to consider:

•    Cost effective strategies are employed when dollars, resources and time are in short supply.  These practices can be an effective way to identify obvious areas of business sustainability improvement and address quick and easy solutions.

•    Risk management strategies are typically focused on addressing internal weak points in an attempt to protect the bottom line.  This is a tactic often employed when considering a sustainability concept that is seen as having a potentially large negative impact.

•    Innovation strategies are progressive strategies that seek out opportunities to add value.  These strategies are often viewed as leading actions and the marks of the most progressive companies.  They are defined by a shift in the way something is currently being done to make radical and revolutionary changes in thinking.

A strategic business sustainability plan can be a road map for a company to truly differentiate itself in an increasingly competitive and economically challenging market.  It is also an opportunity to communicate to stakeholders and the broader business world that the company is headed in a positive direction, responsive to change, and committed to addressing current expectations.

New Fatherhood Brings Eco-Awareness

As someone who works day to day for a business sustainability consulting and research company with its finger on the pulse of consumer perceptions and behaviors around green and sustainable issues, I naturally tend to view my own life as well as friends and family through this same lens.

On July 28, 2010 my second son, Liam Mason was born, and the whole eco-green thing suddenly became much more personal.  Along with the countless nights without sleep and droves of family members parading in, through and out of our home, I become an EcoAware Dad! 

As someone who works day to day for a business sustainability consulting and research company with its finger on the pulse of consumer perceptions and behaviors around green and sustainable issues, I naturally tend to view my own life as well as friends and family through this same lens.

On July 28, 2010 my second son, Liam Mason was born, and the whole eco-green thing suddenly became much more personal.  Along with the countless nights without sleep and droves of family members parading in, through and out of our home, I become an EcoAware Dad! 
 
After about two weeks…I realized…I was taking a completely filled trash bag out to the big black city barrel at least once a day. Even worse, it was jammed full. Those sporty Flintstone tires would be getting a workout this week!
 
How can a family use that much trash in one day?  Diapers, paper plates, toiletries, empty boxes…and my one major pet peeve – my wife’s Zephyr Hills Spring water bottles. Of course this was not “life as usual” but I began thinking about which things could and should be recycled, and what really belonged in the trash. And about what different product choices we could be making to cut back on this disposable avalanche.
 
Other thoughts also started popping up. As I played “you turn the water off – I’ll turn it back on” with my 18 month son as we brushed our teeth, I thought…someone would have LOVED to have been given that wasted water as a cool and refreshing drink.  I think I just heard my Mothers’ voice from the past…”Someone is starving in India and you want to throw those delicious lima beans away?” 
 
What I realized of course is that it’s easy to talk about being green and eco-conscious, but that as a parent it ‘s part of my job to make sure my boys grow up with a clear and concise picture of what a good citizenship of this Earth should be.  Time to walk the talk and make sure I am using my awareness to discover and create teaching moments.

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Ornaments of Hope – Raising Awareness about Youth Homelessness

KooDooZ together with the Santa Monica Boys & Girls Club hosted an evening to raise awareness of youth homelessness.  

Invited to speak was 7-year old Jonas Corona, founder of Love In The Mirror who serves to remind us that anyone of any age can make a difference, and Ehecatl Rojas, outreach coordinator for Los Angeles Youth Network who described the conditions under which a youth might find him/herself homeless. 

Kids in Foster Care

• The foster care population in the United States is approximately 496,000 (2007 figure)

• 20,000 youth leave foster care nationally each year with no job or income, few educational prospects and little emotional support or community connections

• 20%-50% of these kids will find themselves homeless within 6 months due to lack of resources and support.

Kids who Run Away

• It’s estimated that between 1.6 and 2.8 million youth run away or are kicked out of their home each year.

• 21% of teens who ran away from home did so due to current episodes of sexual and/or physical abuse within the home. 

• Approximately 5.8 million children were involved in an estimated 3.2 million child abuse reports and allegations.

• Beyond abuse or neglect the trigger to run away can happen just as easily from rejection based on youth who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.

Kids and Alcohol / Drugs

• 47% of teens in public school say that drugs are used, this suggests as many as 5.7 million public school children in the U.S. attend schools with both drugs and gangs.

• 11% of all alcohol in the United States is consumed by youth ages 12-20 years.

• Children who have been sexually abused are 3.8 times more likely to develop drug addictions.

Kids who are Bullied

• Almost 30% of youth in the United States (or over 5.7 million) are estimated to be involved in bullying as either a bully, a target of bullying, or both.

• 46% of teens in public schools say there are gangs in schools.

Causes of youth homelessness also include the typical suspects – lack of affordable housing, poverty, unemployment, and mental health. Many homeless youth lack the finances, skills, maturity and independent living skills that can help them end their homelessness.

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