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Author Archive
Posted on March 25th, 2013 by brittany
Natural Products Expo West – a grandiose three-day tour of flavors to savor. Have a bite of raw cacao, munch an organic corn chip with fresh salsa, sample a kale chip with vegan cheese, and how about a sprouted cashew to top it off?
Aww the tasting extravaganza that is ExpoWest!
1% for the Planet was pleased to have a solid presence from our member companies Clif Bar, ECOlunchboxes, Spindrift, PeopleTowels, Harney & Sons and TruSweets. Wherever we went, a bustling member booth was to be found: Janie Hoffman, of Mamma Chia, was debuting her new Chia Squeeze vitality snack; Neal, of Three Twins Ice Cream, sported his Three Twins branded shoes around the show while also talking about his delectable new ice cream sandwiches; Klean Kanteen started the party off right with a Happy Hour to benefit their 1% for the Planet recipient partner, 5 Gyres; Mark, at Ascenta Health, showed off their new animal supplement line; Caroline, at Elemental Herbs, presented her beautiful new sunscreen line; Elizabeth, at Purely Elizabeth, discussed her up ‘n coming Ancient Grains Oatmeal; and Wean Green lit up the party with their colorful glass containers and gelato party to benefit their 1% for the Planet recipient partner, Grades of Green.
You guys rocked it and it was truly a delight to find so many familiar faces amongst the masses!
While we walked the show quite a bit to check in with all those near and dear, Rebecca, Brodie, and I were also hugely grateful to be sharing a booth space with Nature’s Path EnviroKidz. In the midst of what could quickly become sensory overload, having our home base at Nature’s Path was just what the thing. Perhaps unbeknownst to some, Arran Stephens, founder of Nature’s Path, is also quite a gifted poet. I, along with many others, was hugely grateful for Arran’s calming presence and thoughtful poems that he would share with us throughout the show. Thank you, Arran!
And while the show is a busy space, it’s also hugely inspirational and a true coming together of so many wonderful people working to really make a difference.
Bud Sorenson, board member of Whole Foods Market and proud padre to our beloved 1% Development Director, Trina Peterson, walked the show floor with us, introducing us to his many friends exhibiting at the show, and also invited us to join him in the conference room where Whole Foods Market was announcing live that they would be requiring all products in their stores to include GMO labeling, to achieve full transparency by 2018. After a busy fall working to support GMO labeling through our high impact partnership initiatives, we were very excited to hear this news, along with many of our attending member companies. This step taken by Whole Foods Market is a prime example of how business can work to really make a difference on this planet.
Cheers to transparency and a great show!
Posted in Events, Our Team
Posted on December 14th, 2012 by brittany
Well, personally this is my favorite time of the year, and I hope that whoever may be reading this post is just as excited! ‘Tis the season for sipping hot cider, reconnecting with dear friends and family, and gifting thoughtfully (have you heard about our #LoveYourMother campaign!? Get at it!). I hope that you’re all looking forward to a wonderful holiday in great company.
And now, before we sign off for the holidays, Rebecca and I wanted to extend a huge thank you to our California network for a remarkable past few weeks. Thank you to Shaper Studios and to Klean Kanteen for most recently hosting 1% network gatherings.
Down south in San Diego, we brought together folks from The San Diego River Park Foundation, Fathom Change, Squeeze Play (thanks for the bounty of produce Brad, Alicia and Kristin!), Drips Water, San Diego Coastkeeper, and Van Eck Enterprises. Derrik showed the group around Shaper Studios, where he and co-owner, Chris Clark, help customers create DIY surfboards, or as Derrik says, “the surfboard version of build-a-bear.” If you’re in need of a new board anytime soon, be sure to check them out!
Up north in Chico, Rebecca and I walked into the Klean Kanteen headquarters to find co-owner, Michelle, skipping on – obviously – a skipper. Work becomes a bit more fun when you’ve got Just Jump It adjacent to your offices! Jeff and Caroleigh gave us a great tour around their facilities where we got to peer in at what they said was “just a sampling” of their co-branded water bottles — shelves upon shelves full, and take a stop in to see their packing and shipping warehouse (photo below), which is quite the operation during this holiday time! We were then joined by member companies YourCableStore.com, California Solar Electric Company, and nonprofit partner Bridging the Gap, for a more in depth discussion about 1% partnerships and opportunities. Thank you guys for making the trip to join us!
We’re really looking forward to working with our California network in the coming new year to put these thoughts and ideas into action. The feedback we’ve acquired from these gatherings has been enormously helpful and will be the backbone of our 2013 business plan. If thoughts arise in the meantime – comments, suggestions, questions – please do send them my way (brittany@onepercentfortheplanet.org)!
It’s been our pleasure having had the opportunity to meet face-to-face with so many of the people behind our network these past few months! Thank you for teaching Rebecca and myself so much about this vast landscape – all the way from San Diego to Chico! We’re very much looking forward to continuing the conversation. Happy Holidays!
Posted in 1% For The Planet Community, Members, News, Non-Profit Recipients
Posted on November 20th, 2012 by brittany
“Everytime I’ve done something good for the environment, I’ve made a profit.”
You’ve probably heard this quote from Yvon Chouinard, who is referring to the concept of doing well by doing good and how this relates to business. Rebecca and myself were delighted when Yvon discussed this with the attendees of our 1% network gathering last Wednesday at Patagonia’s offices in Ventura, CA (photo below). Yvon had us imagine a theoretical gas station that gives back a portion of each sale to the local community and the potential difference that this could make. Wouldn’t you prefer to get fill your tank there? Why, yes!! I was proud to share with the group that this concept is not theoretical, but alive and thriving right in the town of 1% for the Planet’s Headquarters: Waitsfield, VT. The Village Grocery (called the “VG” by the locals) has their Giving Gas concept, which donates one cent for each gallon of gas purchased to a local charity. And just as Yvon suggests, people (including 1% for the Planet’s staff) go out of their way to make sure they get their gas from the beloved VG. It feels good to give back!
This point certainly resonated with the 1% members at our gathering (and thank goodness or 1% for the Planet would not exist!). But giving back isn’t easy. In fact, Yvon mentioned that commonly people or companies are deterred from giving simply because they do not know who to give to. As a result, they either don’t give anything or they create extremely cumbersome grant applications to bring the information to their fingertips. While these grant applications can be effective to vet organizations, the complexity and timeline of them often becomes a roadblock for nonprofits. Consequently, big opportunities are missed. However, if you have an informed crew (Yvon nods to his Environmental crew to his right!), then you’re able to dish out the dough pronto and confidently get the money to the causes you know need it most.
While we don’t all have the Patagonia Environmental crew standing to our right, the beauty of the 1% for the Planet network is that it helps to make these resources accessible! Amongst our network of 1200 businesses and 3000 nonprofits, there is a lot of valuable information. Who’s doing the best work? What issues are time-sensitive? What issues are local to me? By keeping in touch with one another, we’re ensuring that these questions get addressed and that donations be allocated to the most effective nonprofits working on the most relevant issues! A prime example:
Surfrider Foundation’s The Twenty Film: This is a kickstarter film that has just nine days left to get to their goal of $78,000. Please support the cause to save California’s Gaviota Coast!! Donate to the cause, share the link of Facebook, Twitter, and through your list serves.
As the issues are dynamic and change daily, it’s essential that we keep in touch. To keep the conversation going, we need to hear from you – our members, our supporters and our nonprofit partners. What issues are most pertinent in your community and need our attention and support? Your feedback will help us galvanize action from our network to ensure that donations get allocated where they matter most. Share them with us (brittany@onepercentfortheplanet.org)!
That said, Rebecca and I send huge thanks to you ALL for an amazing gathering. Thanks to Michael at McConnell’s for the delicious ice cream, to Drew at Pop Culture Beverage Company for supplying tasty beverages, to all our member companies and nonprofits who came to share their perspectives and feedback, and of course, to Hans and the crew at Patagonia for hosting us! Finally, a huge kudos to Yvon Chouinard for recognizing the power of corporate philanthropy and getting this whole thing started…. thank you!!
Posted in News
Posted on November 5th, 2012 by brittany
Thanks to a generous grant from the Orfalea Foundation, 1% FTP now has the opportunity and resources it needs to launch an in-depth effort to build out its California network. To kick it off, myself and colleague, Rebecca, have been hosting several 1% FTP network gatherings throughout this golden state. The goal of these gatherings is to get caught up with our local members and nonprofits, meet face to face, chat about what high impact partnerships are currently underway, and to discuss what environmental issues should be on the docket! Thus far, we’ve had four gatherings in Berkeley, San Francisco, Petaluma and Santa Cruz.
These gatherings have been fantastic! Last week at The Hub, San Francisco, I was so pleased to actively watch members and nonprofits connect and create plans for follow-up working relationships. Bill Acevedo, of member company Wendel, Rosen, Black and Dean, LLP invited Mike Marshall, Executive Director of nonprofit partner Restore Hetch Hetchy, to be a guest on his radio show, The Wendel Forum. Mike will use the air time to discuss his current work on Prop F – a ballot measure that requires the city of San Francisco to make a plan for the city’s water future. Thanks to Bill and his show, Mike will now be getting the word out for “YES on F” to a new audience. Be sure to listen in – you can hear it every Saturday morning at 9:30 a.m. here!
Of course, if you’ve been reading your 1% email communications, you’re well aware that we are in the final push with Patagonia‘s Twitter campaign for Vote the Environment. Naturally, we’ve woven in some tweeting fun at these events and all attendees have greatly enjoyed getting out their #becauseilove statement to support the campaign! Whether or not you’ve been able to attend an event, we encourage you to take action and Vote the Environment! Pictured below, myself along with Forest and Ingrid, of 1% member company Painted Sun Recordings, vote the environment #becausewelove YOU.
When we’re not busy crafting our clever Vote the Environment tweets, it has been wonderful to hear about the great work that’s underway amongst our network. Here in the east bay, the conversation revolved heavily around sustainable agriculture and access to local food. Linda, of Self-Sustaining Communities, and Leah, of Mesa, gave updates about their organizations’ initiatives on both food and agriculture — Self-Sustaining Communities is busy remodeling urban spaces into local community gardens, while MESA is providing cross-cultural exchanges to preserve traditional techniques and to spur innovation amongst today’s up-and-coming farmers. Over in Petaluma, with Neal of 1% member company Three Twins Ice Cream (pictured below), the Daily Acts, the Leadership Institute for Ecology and the Economy and the Petaluma Wetlands Alliance all partook in an inspiring discussion about the opportunity to pool their time and resources together to protect their local Petaluma River.
As exemplified by the aforementioned conversations, these gatherings have allowed us to see clear examples of the 1% model in action. This past Monday at our Santa Cruz get-together, Laura Kasa, the Executive Director of Save Our Shores, shared with us a great story about how she became acquainted with the 1% network through Peak Teams. Peak Teams, a 1% member company that provides organizational development to businesses around the world, reached out to Save Our Shores, because they were interested to learn about their work and if it might align with Peak Teams’ mission of leading positive change. This was back in April of this year, and since this initial check-in, Peak Teams has become Save Our Shores’ most significant donor, they’ve spoken at fundraisers and provided silent auction donations, and this past August, Shane Toohey, CEO of Peak Teams, joined the board of Save Our Shores. “1% for the Planet was the way we got connected to such a great company. We are grateful,” remarks Laura.
These gatherings have been a bundle of fun and inspiration, and the people attending them make all the difference. From the law firms, musicians and real estate agents, to the makers of some bare necessities of life: sail bags, salsa bowls, awesome shades (modeled below by our very own Rebecca Calahan Klein!), delicious soda, surf trips and ice cream, it makes for quite the delightful medley of businesses and nonprofits all coming together to support the planet!
Thank you all for the great work you do, and a huge thanks goes out to our event hosts: Three Twins Ice Cream, the Community Foundation of Santa Cruz County, and The Hub (both Berkeley and San Francisco)! For those of you in the Ventura, Chico, San Diego, or LA area – stay in touch (brittany@onepercentfortheplanet.org), because we are coming your way soon!
Lastly… it’s the day before election day so it seems most befitting that I gently remind everyone to VOTE! and conclude this post with a Vote the Environment Tweet:
@Bnunnink: I vote the environment #becauseilove & believe in the power & influence of #CSR to support a healthier planet & future http://bit.ly/SOQv1I
Posted in News
Posted on October 9th, 2012 by brittany
Ready to party with @1percentFTP and @voteenviro? I hope so! This coming Thursday, we’re hosting a Twitter Party to ramp up discussion about the Vote the Environment campaign. Four weeks ’til Election Day — let’s bring the environment into the political discussion!
Ready!?
1. On October 11th, 2012, between the hours of 10:00 and 11:00 am (PDT), arrive at your computer, iPad, iPhone, Smartphone, etc…
2. Login to your twitter account!
3. Fill in the blank with the place/outdoor activity that you love most:
I vote the environment #becauseilove _________.
4. Tweet!
5. There are many things to love about the environment. Repeat steps 3 & 4 as often as you fancy, mentioning one, several or all of these things!
Tips & Tricks:
**add a photo of the place you mention! #picturesareworthwaymorethan140character
**take a photo of yourself with THIS sign and add it to your tweet!
**tag @voteenviro if you want to see your tweet come up via the Vote the Environment widget featured on Patagonia’s homepage
**tag @1percentFTP if you want our network to see your tweets!
**tag your friends/followers and encourage them to partake
10-11 (PDT) on 10.11.12, let’s get Tweeting!!
Posted in 1% For The Planet Community
Posted on October 3rd, 2012 by brittany
Time’s a-tickin! Tonight marks the first presidential debate between President Obama and Governor Mitt Romney and Election Day is but five weeks from today! Are you registered? Are you informed? Are you ready?
This fall, 1% for the Planet is partnering with Patagonia to help spread the word about their Vote the Environment (VtE) campaign. VtE is a campaign that encourages Americans to do three things: register to vote, educate yourself about your congressional representatives’ environmental voting records, and vote the environment on election day! The VtE campaign is engaging the realm of social media via a Twitter hasthtag, #becauseilove, which enables voters to integrate a personal statement into the political discussion about why they love the environment.
Who’s involved? Who’s Tweeting? I am (@bnunnink)! Along with @1PercentFTP, @paulinejstevens, @leahpcameron, @bfriedsam and… you?! New Belgium Brewing (@newbelgium) eagerly hopped aboard to spread the word to their network, Jack Johnson (@jackjohnson) has been a huge advocate for the campaign and even Ascenta Health hailed us from Canada to see how they could help, recognizing that, regardless of being in a different country, we all inhabit the same planet and if we are to achieve the most beneficial and sizable changes, collaboration across borders is essential.
5 weeks left!! Ready to get involved? See how in three easy steps:
1. Start Tweeting! Share with your friends and followers why you vote the environment! Tweet from your personal Twitter account and your organization’s Twitter account.
Fill in the blank with the name of your favorite place or outdoor activity and then tweet your completed sentence: “I vote the environment #becauseilove _____________.”
**Bonus Points**
Attach a photo to your Tweet (photos are worth so much more than 140 characters!)
Print out this VtE sign, fill it out, take a photo of yourself holding it, and TWEET! Tag @1PercentFTP and we’ll retweet you!
2. Bring your website’s traffic into the VtE conversation by using this widget. Let us know the average website views your site gets per month (voteenviro@onepercentfortheplanet.org), and we’ll get you the embed code for the VtE widget, which allows any visitors to your website to tweet then and there.
3. Join us! On 10.11.12, show up to your computer (or iPad, or smartphone…) for a Twitter Party and let’s get a Twitter storm underway about why we vote the environment. 10:00-11:00 am PDT on 10.11.12!
Questions? Comments? Please send them to voteenviro@onepercentfortheplanet.org
Posted in News
Posted on June 7th, 2012 by brittany
It’s springtime in Vermont. Rivers are running high, grass is growing vigorously, fowls, calves, goat kids and lambs teeter about trying to find their coordination, our fourth year intern, Danny, is back in the haus (welcome back, Kuz!), strawberries are ripe, and the backlog of donation receipts from late April is finally winding down. April 30th is the due date for the majority of our member companies to send in their certifying documents to show that they donated a full 1% of sales from their most recent fiscal year. While this can be a tedious process sifting through lots of paperwork, the pay off lies in learning about all of the great recipient organizations supported by our members this past year.
One partnership that exquisitely exemplifies just how deeply a company’s philanthropic commitment can be integrated into their business model is that between 1% member company, Borea Adventures, and nonprofit partner, The Arctic Fox Center. Borea Adventures joined 1% for the Planet back in the fall of 2009 and from the get-go they knew they would put their 1% donation toward a local Icelandic nonprofit organization, the Arctic Fox Center. The Arctic Fox Center works to protect the only native terrestrial mammal in Iceland, focusing on research, education and sustainable tourism.
The partnership between Borea Adventures and the Arctic Fox Center has been a pleasure to watch as it continues to deepen and strengthen over the years. While it began with a simple (yet significant!) donation of 1% of sales from Borea Adventures to the Arctic Fox Center, the support now extends far beyond the monetary donation. Borea Adventure’s support now includes a Borea Adventure trip specific to promoting further education about the Arctic Foxes. The trip is led by the director of the Arctic Fox Center, Ester Rut, and sails its guests around the Hornstrandir Nature Reserve in the West Fjords of Iceland — a region that is home to the foxes. In addition to this new trip offer, Sigurdur, of Borea Adventures, has collaborated with Ester to develop a new project, The Wild North, which focuses on creating a more streamlined dialogue between scientists and tourists to develop and promote sustainable wildlife tours with the Arctic fox as the main attraction.
The relationship between Borea Adventures and The Arctic Fox Center is a remarkable example of how a growing business can really integrate the 1% commitment into their business model. Sigurdur informed us that in the year ahead, Borea Adventures hopes to be able to share their equipment and boats with the Arctic Fox Center for their research and field trips. That is what this alliance is about – spreading the wealth, working cooperatively, and creating a greater, more lasting impact than any one of us can accomplish on our own. Thank you to both these groups for reminding us how philanthropy can be intrinsic to a company’s triple bottom line, leaving us all — business, people, planet, and arctic foxes — better off at the end of the day.
Posted in Members, Non-Profit Recipients, Philanthropy
Posted on March 23rd, 2012 by brittany
Wedding gifts: often redundant, sometimes essential, occasionally pulled out of the closet just before the person who gifted it to you comes by for dinner, and always, of course, a useful tool to impress the ladies — http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDda4zG3zvE. But other times wedding gifts have an entirely different effect: Arjan and Rimjhim tell the story of how Nature’s Path’s latest granola series, Love Crunch, came out of an idea to have their wedding guests gift community service projects in place of material items. Love Crunch is now a product that gives back Bite4Bite so that for every bag you buy, Nature’s Path will donate the equivalent amount in cash or organic food to the food bank (up to $1 Million per year!).
This story was my introduction to one of our newest members, Nature’s Path, who has joined 1% for the Planet with their EnviroKidzBrand. Nature’s Path donates 1% of sales from EnviroKidz products, the brand’s children’s line of cereals and bars, to species and habitat conservation or education programs for kids. Since the inception of EnviroKidz, Nature’s Path has donated $1.4 million. In 2012, Nature’s Path proudly joined 1% for the Planet with EnviroKidz.
I was completely taken aback (with delight and admiration, of course!) by the core values that began Nature’s Path and that remain as the solid foundation upon which the company thrives today. Nature’s Path is a remarkable example of a company looking at its triple bottom line and really living and breathing its everyday values. Founded by a family that grew up on an organic farm, they’re highly committed to organics and proper land stewardship. As founder, Arron Stephens, says, “Always leave the Earth better than you found it,” Nature’s Path truly goes the distance to provide a product that does good from the moment its ingredients are planted in the soil, to the point where kids eating it for breakfast are prompted by artwork on the cereal box to learn about the food cycle.
It was truly a pleasure to kick off this year’s Natural Product ExpoWest show with a luncheon hosted by Nature’s Path. Myself and colleague, Rebecca, had the pleasure of welcoming the Nature’s Path family into the 1% for the Planet network, hearing their history, plans for growth and engaging with the 1% network, and watching as a scholarship from the Rodale Institute to support young organic farmers was named in honor of Arron Stephens. Congratulations, Arron!
The great energy from this lunch seemed to extend seamlessly throughout the rest of the show. As the show divvies its expansive space into sections based on products, 1% was really present everywhere – there’s the water bottle area, where 1% member company, Klean Kanteen, was generous enough to share booth space with us, the vitamin and supplement area where Ascenta Health showed off their new capsule form of their Omega-3 oils, the ice cream was downstairs, where we welcomed new member company McConnell’s Ice Cream, and also tasted the new cake mixes provided by longtime standing member company Three Twins Ice Cream (“Gotta have cake to go with your ice cream!” says Neal). Other members present at the show included Clif Bar, Harney & Son’s Tea, The Bamboo Bottle Company, Purely Elizabeth, Planet Inc., People Towels, Elemental Herbs (thank you, Caroline for your wonderful lip balm!), Wean Green, Mamma Chia, Zuperfoods, Angell Bar, Lara Pearson, PurBlu Beverages and Natural Hero. Phew!
It’s the stories like that of Nature’s Path, and the diverse nature of our membership base that make this alliance so intriguing. It’s enormously encouraging to see the movement spreading virally, and during our happy hour co-hosted with Klean Kanteen it was a hoot to bring together such an eccentric crew — from ice cream makers (Three Twins & McConnell’s!), to lawyers (Lara Pearson and Wendel, Rosen, Black and Dean) or green retirement plan providers (SocialK), we had a solid 1% presence. In addition to current members, prospective members swung by to check in and other show attendees frequented our booth to learn about the business model and/or to find out how they could get one of the beautiful steel 1% pints! I want to graciously thank all of our members that attended the show! There’s nothing more invigorating than getting out and meeting the faces that stand behind the good work, and to speak with the people who are causing revolutionary change in the way we do business.
Posted in Events, Members, News, Our Team
Posted on January 23rd, 2012 by brittany
 (Pauline, Tom and James exemplify remarkable teamwork skills as they collaborate to calculate 1% of revenue.) You may have seen some new authors on the blog lately and that’s because 1% for the Planet has recently welcomed three new data doctors. With the New Year upon us (happy Year of the Dragon, today!), 1% for the Planet is transferring its database from a system we’ve long since outgrown to a much more robust platform that will cater better to our member companies and nonprofit partners! Later this year, we look forward to launching a new database and website that will allow for greater interconnectivity, enhanced member and nonprofit profiles, transparent giving information and better search mechanisms for our website visitors! More to come on the new database in due time, but first let’s kick things off with some introductions to the new crew: James, Pauline and Tom.
James Kinne gradutated from Hartwick College in Oneonta, NY, and is our resident pro musician here at 1%. His time outside of the 1% office finds him playing shows and recording with his two groups, Last October and the Phineas Gage Project. His passion for our planet and music merge within the office, supplying a diverse and “interesting” selection of music for all at 1% to hear. Born in New York City, James has always loved Vermont and moved to the Green Mountains in 2005 following his heart. Splitting his time between 1% and music, and sometimes merging the two… it’s safe to say that James dances to his own drummer. Thank goodness he doesn’t currently own a drumset…
Pauline Stevens is a recent graduate of William Smith College is Geneva, NY, where she majored in environmental studies and minored in anthropology. Although she enjoyed living in the Finger Lakes Wine Region for the last four years, she is stoked to be back in Vermont. She has spent the last five summers working on her parent’s organic vegetable farm in Shoreham and while in college, she interned at the New York Wine and Culinary Center and Ventosa Vineyards. Ever since she received a blender for Christmas when she was nine, she has had a strong interest in food and loves every aspect of it- from weekly pizza Tuesdays with friends, to making and selling ice cream to the Shoreham Inn. She’s excited to learn more about how 1% operates and become part of a growing environmental non-profit. Although her new position as a Data Doctor is a major change from having her hands in the dirt every day, she loves spending time with the 1% team and having frequent staring contests with Tom!
Tom Robson is a newly minted alumnus of Dickinson College where he received his B.A. in Environmental Studies. Prior to joining 1% for the Planet he spent his time in Alaska working as an Environmental Scientist for a large engineering company. Life in the for-profit world was interesting, however Tom is excited to help foster new business and non-profit relationships in order to more easily achieve 1%’s mission.
Living in Alaska was nice, but Tom feels more at home working, and recreating in the Green Mountain State, as he’s a New England native. Tom is a competitive cyclist, avid runner, and experienced skier, and the Mad River Valley is the perfect setting for all three passions.
Once the snow melts, Tom is looking forward to cycling up the App Gap!
 (Image 1: James, Pauline, Tom | Image 2: Tom, Pauline, James) Thanks to these guys for their diligent data entry and willingness to flip-flop between monotonous data work and creative writing prompts in a matter of minutes! With the assistance of this jaw-dropping squad, 1% for the Planet is well on its way to providing premium service to the 1% network!!
Posted in Our Team
Posted on November 4th, 2011 by brittany
Well, by now I’m sure most of our followers, members and partners have had a chance to watch our remarkable film, [one percent] of the story. No?! Grab a cup o’ tea (maybe a crumpet too!), and settle in for 15 minutes of sheer delight.
Once you’ve seen our film you can’t help but love it, but also, you may realize that it truly is one percent of the story. The film touches on the stories of our member companies – the businesses making this 1% commitment – but it does not zoom in on the real reason we exist: our nonprofit partners. As Yvon Chouinard said when he co-founded 1%, we all (business too!) have a responsibility to the planet and “the best way to do it is to just dig into your pockets and give the money away — to people who are willing to do the good work.” That’s what this blog post is about – those people who are doing the good work. You may remember last year we shared some stories by collecting films from our nonprofit partners, and this year we take a similar approach but with written stories of success. Here is the first story of many to come, about how our member companies have assisted nonprofits to do the good work:
Today we have a story from The Snow Leopard Trust – a group working to protect the endangered snow leopard. The Snow Leopard Trust received a 1% donation from member company Mountain Outfitters.
This past summer, Mountain Outfitter’s donation was put toward special projects focused on education, species conservation and research. One of their first projects this summer involved working with local families to develop livestock insurance programs. Upon removing the economic burden that livestock predation places on these rural communities, the Snow Leopard Trust has implemented a system that will reduce snow leopard persecution in these communities. Once these insurance programs were implemented, the organization furthered their community engagement by working with local schools and educating the students about the importance of a keystone species such as the Snow Leopard.
The Snow Leopard Trust has seen great results from these recent efforts. In their reserves in India, they’ve seen population growth increase three fold over the past 11 years! The organization has chosen a comprehensive model to protect the species, and a smart model that does not just rope off areas designated solely for the leopard, but a model that works with the current system to create an integrative solution that benefits all parties involved.
Thank you to The Snow Leopard Trust for sharing your inspiring story of success, and thank you to Mountain Outfitters for providing the support that allowed this great work to happen.
Are you a nonprofit that’s done something great with a 1% donation? Tell us about it! Send your written highlights (and maybe photos, too!) to brittany@onepercentfortheplanet.org.
Happy Friday!
Posted in News
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