20 ideas final web
TRANSCRIPT
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2/28SVN co-founders Josh Mailman and Wayne Silby
Overthepast20years,themembersofSocialVenture
Networkhaveturnedtheirvaluesintoactionand,inthe
process,changedthewaytheworlddoesbusiness.We
hopethislistandtheindividualsbehindtheideas
inspiresyoutokeepinnovatingwhileputtingyourvalues
andspiritatthecenterofallyoudo.
Herestothenext20yearsofchangeandgrowth!
OS
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Today, the concept behind SVN might seem
commonplace, but its genesis two decades
ago was the result o a revelation. The idea
or SVN came rom realizing that there
was a generation o people involved in the
business community that had progressive
social values, Mailman says. We decided
that it was imperative or us to use our
resources to create a new paradigm: one
in which business operates to add value to
societywithout compromising the well-
being o uture generations.
SVN started in 1987 as a small group o
values-driven entrepreneurs and leaders whogathered or a meeting in Boulder, Colorado.
Today, SVN is a support system or a diverse
community o more than 400 members,
including company ounders, social
entrepreneurs, investors and key inuencers.
PIONEERINGANEWPATH
JOSHMAILMANWAYNESILBY
Since SVN began, the attitudes o its
ounding members have been increasingly
embraced not only by businesses and
nonprofts, but also by the public at large.
The way that people think about business
and social change is merging, Mailman
explains. SVN helped innovate that shit
through its ocus on values.
Indeed, thanks to the visions and
actions o Silby, Mailman and thousands
o other pioneers and innovators who
have participated in the network, SVN has
catalyzed undamental social change during
its 20-year history. Because o connections
orged amongst like-minded members,
SVN has helped launch organizations
like Investors Circle, Business or Social
Responsibility (BSR), Net Impact, Business
Alliance or Local Living Economies
(BALLE), SVN Europe and Social Impact
Leadership Coalition (SILC).
Rebbe Chuck Blitz once said, There are
no big people, remarks Mailman. Were it.
Lets get something done.
Co-ounded by Wayne Silby
and Josh Mailman in 1987,Social Venture Networkconnects, leverages andpromotes a global communityo leaders working to createa more just and sustainableeconomy.
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Domini, who ounded Domini Social Investments in 1991,
began questioning investment practices while working
as a stockbroker in the 1970s. When I was asked to
recommend a company that was on the verge o getting
a big military contract, I realized I didnt want to ask the
caring people who were my clients to invest in killing
machines, she says.
Joan Bavaria had a similar experience, leading her to
create Trillium Asset Management Corporation, the frst
investment management frm solely dedicated to socially
responsible investing. Since ounding the frm in 1982,
shes seen SRI change not only the way people invest,
but also the way companies run their businesses.
SRI has also emerged as an important vehicle or
consumers to demand that corporations operate ethically.
Since 1987 Trillium has fled or co-fled over 200
shareholder resolutions. Domini has fled more than 140
shareholder resolutions since 1994, convincing companies
like Apple and JPMorgan Chase to adopt more air andsustainable policies. We ask companies the questions that
no one else is asking, putting important issues on the table
or discussion, says Domini.
In 2003, another SRI pioneer, SVN co-ounder Wayne
Silby and his frm Calvert Fund, fled 20 shareholder
JOANBAVARIA
SOCIALLYRESPONSIBLEINVESTING
The fnancial industry isnt known or being especiallycaring, but ater years o working with investors, AmyDomini and Joan Bavaria ound that they cared about a lotmore than just money. Socially responsible investing (SRI)is based on the idea that the way you invest your money
matters, and that investments should be in line with thevalues o the individual or corporation that makes them.
resolutions with major U.S. corporations. Seven were
immediately withdrawn ater the companies agreed either
to the terms o the resolutions or to enter into discussion
with shareholders. These strong results, and similar ones
in the ollowing years, indicate a sea change; corporations
today are becoming more receptive to consumer demands
in the orm o shareholder resolutions.
Organizations like Responsible Wealth, a network o
socially conscious high-income individuals, are also using
shareholder resolutions to advocate or more equitable
wealth distribution and to ensure that issues like air
corporate taxation, living wages, employee ownership,
and greater corporate accountability are being addressed
by todays companies.
As the number o SRI unds continues to grow, SVNmembers are at the oreront o change, leading the way
at renowned organizations like Calvert, PaxWorld Funds
Portolio 21, Winslow Management, and Progressive
Asset Management.
I didnt want to ask the caring people who were
my clients to invest in killing machines. AMY DOM
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5/28Domini Social Investments founder Amy Domin
CO
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Co-ounder Ben Cohen is nationally
known as a leader and pioneer in socially
responsible business, both rom his work
with Ben & Jerrys and Business Leaders or
Sensible Priorities. From the beginning, heunderstood the potential o using business
as a medium or social change. We realized
one o our major assets was packaging,
Cohen says. It could be used as a orm o
alternative media.
In 1988 Ben and co-ounder Jerry
Greenfeld helped establish 1% For Peace,
a nonproft initiative that worked to
redirect 1% o the national deense budget
to und peace-promoting projects and
activities. Their Peace Pops, introduced that
same year, served as a marketing tool or
the oundation, providing inormation on
the campaign and encouraging action.
By the 1990s, Ben & Jerrys had become
one o the most popular ice cream brands
in the United States. With their success, Ben
and Jerry had proven that consumers are
eager to purchase products that are aligned
with their values. From strict recycling rules
to the employee-driven Green Team, Ben
and Jerrys earned the respect o consumers
by walking their talk. Business is the most
powerul orce in society, Cohen says. It
has the highest potential or solving social
problems. Once consumers saw examples
o prosperous companies integrating social
concerns into their business practices, they
were emboldened to demand the same
o other businesses. Businesses could no
longer say it was impossible.
Michael Kieschnick, co-ounder o
Working Assets, is using similar tactics
to leverage business or social change.
Working Assets, a wireless long distance,
publishing and credit card company,
donates a portion o its top-line revenues
to progressive nonproft groups. In a twist,
the company allows their customers to
drive these philanthropic decisions. Each
year, customers choose the organizations
the company supports based on issues that
matter most to them.
For Kieschnick, SVN has been a place to
brainstorm and get eedback rom others
who understood what he was trying to
do. From the beginning, SVN has been
a hothouse o ideas, says Kieschnick.
We can share successes and learn rom
the critiques o riends who want us to
succeed. Cohen adds, When SVN wascreated, the concept o socially responsible
business didnt even have a name. It was
good to come into contact with people
who elt the same wayto inspire and
learn rom each other.
LEVERAGINGBUSINESSFORSOCIALCHANGE
Once consumers saw examples of
prosperous companies integrating
social concerns into their business
practices, they were emboldened
to demand the same of other
businesses. BEN COHEN
BENCOHEN
Ben & Jerrys Homemade isa quintessential example o acompany that paved the way
in using business to eectpositive social change apoint they make on every pinto their now 40-plus avors oice cream.
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SEEDINGTHEORGANICREVOLUTION
Beginning in 1983, when Stonyfeld was a 7-cow arming school, Hirshberg and his
partner Samuel Kaymen operated the yogurt company using core values o environmental
sustainability. We were children o the 60s and had no choice but to question the
conventional models and try to integrate these values, Hirshberg says.
By putting values frst and marketing second, consumers became passionately loyal to
the brand, driving the companys growth into the largest organic yogurt company in the
world. And there was another side eect: Our net profts were actually better than our
competitors, Hirshberg says. What began as a set o practical steps to change the way
we did business resulted in a better business and a model or other companies to ollow.
Stonyfeld continues to set an example through socially responsible practices like donating
10% o profts each year to eorts that help protect or restore the Earth and using yogurtlids to educate consumers about environmental issues and motivate them to take action.
Based on his experience with Stonyfeld, Hirshberg worked with SVN to ound the
Social Venture Institute to educate other values-driven entrepreneurs. And as the organic
ood market continues to grow, other companies like Organic Valley, SPUD, Kopali and the
Vermont Bread Company continue to thrive.
Ultimately, the power behind the idea o organic ood lies in the beauty and balance o
interconnected lie. Our real mission is not about organics, Hirshberg says. It is about
connectivity. We are trying to oster connections with the earth, with our bodies, with
the plants and other animals.
GARYHIRSHBERG
As Gary Hirshberg, President and CEO o Stonyfeld Farm, sawthe demand or organic products grow steadily over the past 20
years, it was clear that the organic revolution was well underway. But as more and more consumers began to see organicoods as the natural choice, Hirshberg knew the revolutionneeded to grow to scale.
Our real mission is not about organics. It is about connectivity. We are
trying to foster connections with the earth, with our bodies, with the
plants and other animals. GARY HIRSHBERG
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The only solution was to reinvent the
MBA, Libba says. First by doing it and
then by helping other schools.
On 9/11/2001, Libba was in Ecuador
when she heard the devastating reports o
the terrorist attacks back home. Overcome
by the news, she decided she should pursue
her dream o a business school ocused
on sustainability. On that same day,
Giord was in Connecticut acilitating an
investment discussion, along with many
SVN members. Ater hearing news o the
traumatic attacks, the group took the next
our days to esh out Giord and Libbas
idea or a sustainable business school.
In 2002, Bainbridge Graduate Institute(BGI) opened, oering the frst MBA
program in the U.S. that ocuses on leading
socially and environmentally responsible
businesses. Unlike other schools that
oer concentrations in sustainability, BGI
incorporates social and environmental
responsibility into every class, including
fnance, marketing and organizational
systems.
GREENMBA
As Libba explains, BGI is an incubator
or business education so other schools can
teach these principles. Many aculty rom
other institutions immerse themselves in
our monthly residential program and many
schools are asking BGI or help in designing
sustainable MBA programs.
BGIs network model or social
responsibility and sustainability education
is inspired by the practices o SVN.
Without SVN there would be no BGI, says
Libba. SVN inspired us to believe in the
possibility o a socially responsible business
school, and instilled the network model
that makes BGIs work high-impact.
In August 2003, the Presidio School
o Management in San Francisco
began oering an MBA in Sustainable
Management. The Presidio MBA provides
students the opportunity to work with a
variety o companies and organizations
solving real-time challenges while
theyre learning how to think like
sustainable managers. Presidio Provost
Ron Nahser says, Through our project-
oriented curriculum, the Presidio MBA
program prepares proessionals to lead
organizationsprivate, public or non-
proftin ways that are more socially and
environmentally responsible as well as
fnancially successul.
GIFFORDPINCHOTELIZABETHPINCHOT
SVN inspired us to believe in the
possibility of a socially responsible
business school, and instilled the
network model that makes BGIs
work high-impact.
ELIZABETH (LIBBA) PINCHOT
In the 20 years that Giordand Elizabeth (Libba)Pinchot spent as consultantsor Fortune 100 businesses,they ound that manyexecutives trained in businessschools held belies counter-productive to a healthyenvironment and a justsociety. They realized that i
business leaders were ignoringtheir broader responsibility tosociety and the environment,something about the businessschool system had to change.
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Hollender knew something needed to be done. He took action by beginning a mail order
catalog business selling environmental solutions. As we grew and explored issues, he
says, we saw that toxic chemicals and the products that use them were hugely important
yet were things that ew people knew about.
Now the nations leading brand o non-toxic and environmentally sae household
products, Seventh Generation is making a dierence by saving natural resources, reducing
pollution and keeping toxic chemicals out o the environment. Every consumer who
buys a Seventh Generation product is making sure that the world their children are
growing up in will be that much less contaminated, Hollender says.
SVN has connected us to a big storehouse o wisdom as we explore a brave new
business territory thats largely uncharted, Hollender says. The vision behind our idea is
a world where people dont carry hazardous chemicals in their bodies, the environment
is ree o toxic pollutants, and the economy diligently conserves its natural resources or
consumers and uture generations. We want to make it easier or consumers to create this
world through their purchasing decisions and everyday activities.Other SVN member companies like Cli Bar and New Lea Paper are revolutionizing
their sector by serving as examples o how companies can tread lightly. Since launching
a dedicated environmental program in 2001, Cli Bar is working to reduce its ecological
ootprint in everything it does, rom purchasing carbon osets to sustainable
manuacturing and shipping. Similarly, New Lea Paper is driving the entire paper industry
to higher environmental standards.
The recent ocus on treading lightly has also resulted in the creation o companies
ocused on reducing carbon ootprint. SVN member organizations like Ecologic and
Carbonund.org are dedicated to educating consumers about the dangers o climate change
and making it simple or individuals and organizations to reduce their climate impact.
TREADLIGHTLY
JEFFREYHOLLENDER
Jerey Hollender witnessedthe eects o an unhealthy
environment when hisson was hospitalized ater
suering an asthma attackin their home. An asthma
specialist confrmed the causewas 100% environmental
and part o the cure included
using non-toxic cleaners.
The vision behind our idea is a world where people dont carry
hazardous chemicals in their bodies, the environment is free of toxic
pollutants, and the economy diligently conserves its natural resources
for consumers and future generations. JEFFREY HOLLENDER
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Greyston brings togetheror-profts,non-profts and spiritual centers to help
low-income communities transorm
themselves. I honor businesses or what
they do, I honor nonprofts or what they
do, I honor government or what it does,
and then I invite everyone to the table
so that together we can come up with
innovative and broad-based solutions
that can serve as many people as possible,
Glassman says. The ewer or less diverse
voices you invite to the table, the smaller
and narrower your solution will be and the
ewer people it will serve.
The Greyston Foundation has become
a national model or inclusive community
development. An important element othe oundations model is the Greyston
Bakery, a company that lives its values
by prioritizing both profts and social
contributions. Their tagline, Great desserts
by great people doing great things, reects
the essence o the company. Led by CEO
Julius Walls, Jr., Greyston Bakery uses
profts to und the community development
programs o the Greyston Foundation,
such as job training or adults, ater-school
programs or children, and building
aordable housing or low-income amilies.
They also have an open hiring policy that
provides jobs and training or individuals
who have struggled to fnd employment.
As a ounding board member o SVN,
Glassman credits the network with directly
supporting his Greyston initiatives. He
met Ben Cohen, co-ounder o Ben &
Jerrys, at the ounding meeting o SVN in
Boulderbeore it was even called SVN.Sharing similar values, Ben helped Greyston
Bakery become the sole supplier o cookies
and brownies or Ben & Jerrys popular
ice cream. This partnership signifcantly
expanded the bakerys business, making
more resources available to the work o the
oundation. Their ongoing partnership is
one o many collaborations that grew rom
SVN connections.
Other SVN members like Tami
Simon o Sounds True, Tom Chappello Toms o Maine and Zen business
expert Marc Lesser are prime examples
o entrepreneurs working to integrate
spirituality and business.
SPIRITINBUSINESS
JULIUSWALLS,JR.BERNIEGLASSMAN
A student o Zen Buddhism, Bernie Glassman elt he neededto bring the essence o Zen, which is the realization o theinterdependence o lie, to everyone rom the poor andhomeless to business people and political leaders. He realizedhis vision by creating the Greyston Mandala, a network obusinesses and nonprofts engaged in community development
in Yonkers, New York.
I have been called to serve my
people. It is a privilege leading a
company that invests in people
and community. Greyston puts
good values rst. I would not have
it any other way. JULIUS WALLS, JR.
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The National Center or Employee
Ownership, ounded by Corey Rosen in
1980, helps encourage more companies to
explore employee ownership by providing
accurate, unbiased inormation and
research on ESOP s, equity compensation
plans such as stock options, and ownership
culture. As a U.S. Senate staer in the
1970s, Rosen helped drat legislation on
ESOPs at a time when very ew companies
even knew what an ESOP was.
Successul clothing designer and
entrepreneur Eileen Fisher developed a
successul ESOP that put nearly a third
o the company in the hands o her 624
employees. King Arthur FlourAmericasoldest our companyhas benefted
enormously rom employee ownership.
EMPLOYEEOWNERSHIP In 1996, owners Frank and Brinna Sands
were looking at how best to propagate the
company or the next 200 years. Seeing
their employees as amily and wanting to
give something back to them, the Sands
began to transition to an ESOP structure
under the leadership o CEO Steve Voigt. In
the ten years since, King Arthur Flournow
100% employee-ownedhas grown rom
60 to nearly 200 employees and generates
$55 million in annual sales. Voigt attributes
much o this growth to the entrepreneurial
employee-ownership culture.
Rosen believes employee ownership
has the capacity to create drastic changein the way wealth is distributed. Around
the world, the gap between rich and poor
has become increasingly wide, he says.
Employee ownership is a means to harness
the market to provide or greater equity, in
the literal and airness sense, or everyday
employees. Today, 25 million employees
are owners in the companies they work or,
including SVN member organizations like
VATEX and Mal Warwick Associates.
COREYROSEN
Employee ownership is apowerul way or businessleaders to create a more justeconomy. From employeestock ownership at EILEENFISHER to 100% employeeownership at King Arthur
Flour, smart companies areembracing this practice orthe values it represents andthe added beneft o increasedproductivity.
Employee ownership is a means
to harness the market to provide
for greater equity, in the literal
and fairness sense, for everyday
employees. COREY ROSEN
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In 1986 Mason and her husband Roger Brown ormed Bright Horizons Family Solutions,
which is now the worlds leading provider o employer-sponsored child-care, early
education and work/lie solutions. Our goals were to create an organization that would
simultaneously honor and respect early childhood educators, be a great place to work, and
be an environment that would allow employees to ourish, Mason says.
Bright Horizons now manages more than 600 child-care centers or many o the
worlds leading corporations, hospitals, universities, and government agencies. WhenBright Horizons started, it was difcult to get major corporations involved, says Mason.
But now most corporations realize their bottom line is tied to being amily-riendly and
respectul o amilies.
Masons company lives its values by working with homeless children through two
nonprofts, oering proft sharing within the company, and providing a amily-riendly
work environment or its own employees. Mason joined SVN when starting Bright
Horizons and sees it as an essential actor in the companys success. The riendships
developed and discussions with other entrepreneurs dramatically inuenced the way I
developed Bright Horizons, Mason says. SVN was a great source o riendship, support,
ideas, and a great place to really explore challenges and fnd tremendous community.
Mason and Browns innovative business ollowed the path set by Arnold Hiatt at Stride
Rite, who pioneered child-care at the work place. In response to amilies encountering
problems fnding both child and elder care, Hiatt opened Stride Rites frst company-
run day care center in the U.S. in 1971 and then opened its Intergenerational Day-Care
Center in 1990.
FAMILY-FRIENDLYWORKPLACE
LINDAMASON
Our goals were to create an organization that would simultaneously hon
and respect early childhood educators, be a great place to work, and beenvironment that would allow employees to ourish. LINDA MASON
While working or Save the Children in the Sudan in the mid-1980s, Linda Mason raised $15 million and served over 400,000
amine and war victims. Upon returning to the U.S., Mason sawthat the United States had its own crisispoor-quality childcare.The number o mothers in the workorce was rapidly increasing,and the supply and quality o existing child-care was inadequate
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For Wicks, this vision grew rom the
business she ounded in 1983, White Dog
Ca, and its mission to serve customers,
community, employees and nature. Food is
purchased rom local arms where animals
are raised on sustainably grown pasture
and produce. Long distance purchasing
is limited to what is not available locally.
Operations are powered by electricity rom
wind power generated in Pennsylvania.
Ater achieving success with the ca,
Wicks had an epiphany. It wasnt enough
to have good business practices within ones
own company, Wicks says. We had to
work cooperatively with other businesses
to build a whole local economy based on
these values. Taking what she learned to a
higher level, Wicks started the White Dog
Foundation, which uses 20% o the Cas
profts to build a local living economy,
including connecting local armers with
other restaurants.
David Korten, author oWhen
Corporations Rule the World, came to SVN
as a Visionary Advisor ater meeting Wicks
at a conerence sponsored byYes! magazine
and the Positive Futures Network, which
Korten co-ounded to actively engage
people in creating a just, sustainable andcompassionate world.
LOCALLIVINGECONOMIES
At SVN, Wicks and Korten teamed up
with Michael Shuman, author oGoing
Local, and Laury Hammel, owner o the
Longellow Clubs and a longtime activist
in ounding business organizations, such
as BSR and its New England predecessor.
Wicks and Hammel co-ounded the
Business Alliance or Local Living
Economies (BALLE) at the 2001 SVN
Fall Conerence, and currently serve as its
co-chairs. Says Korten, who serves on the
BALLE board along with Shuman, with
over 50 local networks and more than
15,000 members across North America,BALLE is starting to change the economic
story that shapes business and consumer
behavior, as well as government policy,
by building awareness o the implications
o each choice we make between a global
corporation and a local business.
JUDYWICKS
The solution is clear we must
decentralize business ownership,
food production, and energy
production into self-reliant local
economies. JUDY WICKS
As a pioneer o the local livingeconomy movement, JudyWicks believes communitysel-reliance isnt just autopian vision, but our very
survival. The corporate-controlled global economicsystem, based on the continualgrowth o large corporationsand long distance shipping,is using up more naturalresources than the earth canrestore and contributing toglobal warming, Wicks says.The solution is clear wemust decentralize businessownership, ood production,and energy production intosel-reliant local economies.
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Investors are now agreeing. Green energy got $71 billion o global investment in 2006,
while central power plants won less than hal the world marketbeaten by cheaper, aster
micropower and negawatts (saved electricity). Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), which
Lovins co-ounded in 1982, continues to lead this and other business transormations that
create abundance by design.
An independent, entrepreneurial, nonproft think-and-do tank, RMI osters the efcient
and restorative use o resources to make the world secure, just, prosperous, and lie
sustaining. RMIs 60 sta members have helped corporations design $30 billion worth o
super-efcient acilities in 29 sectors.
One o RMIs our or-proft spin-os is E SOURCE, an electric-efciency inormation
service that laid the oundation or the multi-billion-dollar negawatt industry. Another,
spun o in 1999 to promote the tripled- to quintupled-efciency Hypercar vehicles
that Lovins invented in 1991, now does business as Fiberorge. Its commercializing a
manuacturing process or near-aerospace-grade advanced-composite structures at
automotive cost and speed. Such ultralight cars will halve their weight and uel use, be
saer, yet cost the same to makeand save U.S. oil equivalent to fnding a Saudi Arabiaunder Detroit. Such innovations underlie RMIs Pentagon-cosponsored Winning the Oil
Endgamea roadmap or an oil-ree America by the 2040s, led by business or proft.
Examples o other great companies working on clean technologies include Verdant Power,
Expansion Capital Partners, and Bion Environmental Technologies.
CLEANTECHNOLOGY
AMORYLOVINS
In 1976, physicist Amory Lovins wrote a amously controversial
paper suggesting that more power plants were unnecessary andunaordable. A sot energy path that emphasized efcientuse, less-centralized supplies, and renewable sources would, heargued, work better and cost less.
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William McDonough has been a leader in
the sustainable development movement
since its inception, designing and building
the frst solar-heated house in Ireland in
1977 and the frst green ofce or the
U.S. Environmental Deense Fund in 1985.
Time magazine recognized him as a Hero
or the Planet, stating that his utopianism
is grounded in a unifed philosophy that
in demonstrable and practical waysis
changing the design o the world.
McDonoughs product and process
design frm, McDonough Braungart Design
Chemistry (MBDC), oers a unique
Cradle to Cradle Certifcation. This stamp
o approval provides companies with a
means to tangibly and credibly measure
achievement in environmentally intelligent
design and helps customers identiy
products that are sustainable. SVN member
company IceStone, manuacturer o
durable building materials made o recycled
glass and concrete, was recently awardedthe certifcation.
The phrase cradle to cradle, a play on
the phrase cradle to grave, reers to the
new industrial revolution that McDonough
GREENBUILDING
is championing. In his book Cradle to
Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things,
he and co-author Michael Braungart argue
that we should eliminate the concept
o waste altogether, while preserving
commerce and allowing or human nature.
In the book, they promote upcycling, a
method o recycling in which the products
o recycling are as good or better quality
than the original product. Downcycling,
in contrast, reers to recycling in which
the recycled product loses some o its
original quality.
McDonoughs work has inspired other
frms to ollow in his ootsteps. Bazzani
Associates was ounded in 1983 by Guy
Bazzani with the goal o improving the
economic, social, and environmental
health o the communities they serve. Weuse proven sustainable building practices
because our clients want us to and because
its the right thing to do, Bazzani says. The
Triple Bottom Line guides every decision we
make rom how we design a building to the
fnal fnishes we select. Its not only good or
the environment; its good or business.
Another landmark sustainable
development is underway in Loreto Bay in
Baja, Mexico. Conceived by the Trust or
Sustainable Development, the villages make
up the largest sustainable development
under construction in North America today
Our goal is to become an international
model or how a development can enrichan existing landscape and community while
remaining proftable and economically
viable, says David Butterfeld, Loreto Bay
Company Chair.
WILLIAMMcDONOUGH
Our goal is to become an
international model for how
a development can enrich
an existing landscape and
community while remaining
protable and economically
viable. DAVID BUTTERFIELD
Green building practices havecome a long way since theadvent o solar panels. Nowentire buildingsand thearchitecture frms that buildthemare operating witha ocus on sustainability.
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Drayton ocused on one idea: provide
social entrepreneurs with an entire web o
resources to help them develop their visions
into enterprises that uel long-term social
change. Today, Ashoka provides fnancial
support to more than 2000 leading social
entrepreneurs in over 60 countries (known
as Ashoka Fellows) elected to join its
network. With that, it provides a strong
and lielong community o peers that oers
support and advice. Fueled by this powerul
mix, Ashoka Fellows bring their enterprises
to scale, and in the process, catalyzestructural changes in the communities in
which they operate and around the world.
The very small investment needed
to launch a powerul new idea and
entrepreneur sets in motion a long-
term change, Drayton says. Each social
entrepreneur is a role model, Drayton says.
His or her success will encourage many,
many others to stand up, care and organize.
SOCIALENTREPRENEURSHIP
BILLDRAYTON
As many o SVNs members were growing their companies, Bill Drayton wasormulating work around a dierent kind o entrepreneurial activitywhatis now called social entrepreneurship. By 1980, there was a new generationcoming up that was tired o the inefciencies o the older order, Draytonsays. We could see that the historical moment had come or transormation.With that, Drayton launched Ashoka: Innovators or the Public.
Now in operation or more than 25 years
Ashokas impact is ar-reaching. Upon
surveying Fellows fve years ater joining the
organization, Ashoka ound that 97 percent
continue to pursue their vision ull-time. 90
percent have seen independent institutions
copy their innovation, and over hal have
changed national policy.
Says Drayton, SVN has been
enormously helpul, especially in our
early years. Its belie in the integration o
social and business worlds is a view that is
quite central to Ashokas understanding o
history and the opportunities beore us.
Each social entrepreneur is a role
model. His or her success will
encourage many others to stand
up, care and organize.
BILL DRAYTON
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NATURALCAPITALISM
The bookNatural Capitalism: Creating the
Next Industrial Revolution, written by Paul
Hawken, Amory Lovins and L. Hunter
Lovins in 1999, was praised by President
Bill Clinton as one o the fve most
important books in the world today. While
the philosophy behind natural capitalism
is frmly based in science and logic, itsinsights are visionary.
Somewhere along the way to ree-
market capitalism, the United States
became the most wasteul society on the
planet, Hawken said in an article he wrote
orMother Jones magazine. Until the
1970s, the concept o natural capital was
largely irrelevant to business planning, and
it still is in most companies. Decades rom
now, we may look back at the end o the
20th century and ponder why business and
society ignored these trends or so long.
Through his Natural Capital Institute,
Hawken works with institutions and
individuals to help them better understand
principles and practices leading to social
justice and environmental restoration. Asinterest in natural capitalism increases, he
sees nothing but positive outcomes.
Natural capitalism is not about making
sudden changes, uprooting institutions,
or omenting upheaval or a new social
order, Hawken says. Natural capitalism
is about making small, critical choices that
can tip economic and social actors
in positive ways.
PAULHAWKEN
Natural capitalism is about
making small, critical choices
that can tip economic and social
factors in positive ways.
PAUL HAWKEN
Its no secret that oureconomic activity is exceedingthe planets limits. As natural
capital is degraded by thewasteul use o resources like
energy, water, fber and soil, thevalue o these assets is rising.
Thats why a growing numbero natural capitalists are
seeking a change nothing shorto an industrial revolution,
toward a world in whichbusiness and environmental
interests overlap.
C
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FAIRTRADE
The impact o Fair Trade goes ar beyond
money, Rice says. It is dignity, power,
and hope. U.S. consumers have become
unwilling accomplices because we enjoy
the cheap products brought to us by global
manuacturing chains. We must give
companies incentives and tools to take care
o workers and the environment without
sacrifcing proftability.
By building social responsibility,
environmental sustainability, supply chaintransparency and corporate accountability
into the new global business model,
TransFair has successully channeled
nearly $85 million in above-market pricing
to arm workers in some o the poorest
countries in Latin America, Asia and
Arica. Every dollar invested in TransFair
over the past six years has resulted in $7 o
additional income or Fair Trade armers.
Ashoka took notice o Rices extraordinary
progress by awarding him a ellowship
in 2000. In 2006, TransFair received Fast
Companys Social Capitalist Award or the
third year in a row in recognition o its
groundbreaking work.
According to Rice, SVN has provided
him with an opportunity to share his story
and encourage more business leaders
to embrace Fair Trade practices. SVN
members represent a highly inuential
community o people, he says. I eel
privileged to be able to inspire them to
make Fair Trade a part o their businesses
and everyday lives.
Other companies like Equal Exchange,
ForesTrade, Guayak Organic Yerba Mate
and Indigenous Designs are leading the
charge by supporting Fair Trade practices.
PAULRICE
The impact of Fair Trade goes far
beyond money. It is dignity, power,
and hope. PAUL RICE
Ater spending 11 yearshelping develop cooperativesin Nicaragua, Paul Ricebelieved that something better
was possible or armersworldwide. In 1998, Ricelaunched TransFair USArom a converted warehousein downtown Oakland.Today, TransFair is the onlyUS certifer o Fair Tradeproducts, harnessing thepower o business to avoid
exploitation in the globalsupply chain. By auditingtransactions between licensedcompanies and Fair Tradeproducers, TransFair ensuresthat each product bearing theFair Trade Certifed label hasbeen produced according tointernational standards.
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21/28Founder of TransFair USA Paul Rice (center
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Founded by Horst Rechelbacher in 1978,
Aveda has been at the ore o natural
beauty care. As the son o an herbalist
and a naturalist, Rechelbacher was born
with a respect or nature and the amazing,
healthul properties o natural plant
ingredients. As a result, Aveda is one o
the worlds largest purchasers o organic
ingredients, all o which are traceable rom
soil to bottle.
But the natural beauty philosophy
behind Aveda goes beyond whats in the
bottle. Rechelbacher believes responsible
packaging, manuacturing and corporate
NATURALBEAUTYCARE
practices are equally important. He was
the frst to incorporate recycled content
in beauty packaging.
We support values that cultivate
a sustainable economy and culture,
Rechelbacher says. We fnd inspiration
or doing so in nature and believe that
nature is not merely something to be
cherished and protected, but emulated
as a model o sustainability.
Rechelbacher continues his mission
through Intelligent Nutrients, an online
store oering organic, highly nutritional
ood-based products and gits. He
continues to raise the bar on consumer
saety by using only organic, USDA-
approved grade ingredients, underscoring
his philosophy that what you put on your
body should be as sae as what you put in
your body. Rechelbachers vision is o a
new paradigm in beauty committed tohealth and saety.
HORSTRECHELBACHER
Nature is not merely something
to be cherished and protected,
but emulated as a model of
sustainability. HORST RECHELBACHER
As we learn more about theeects o chemicals ound inmakeup and beauty products,the benefts o natural beautycare seem exponential.Companies like Aveda, Dr.Hauschka Skin Care, Dr.Bronners and Warm Spiritrevolutionized the beautyindustry by oering productswith a health and socialmission.
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ShoreBank was ounded in 1973 by our
small business loan experts who dreamed
o reversing the decline o Chicagos inner
city neighborhoods. They knew fxing the
entrenched problems o urban decay would
require a dierent approach and a new kind
o institution. In ShoreBank, they created a
development bankone that could make
a proft while transorming neighborhoods
through enterprise.
At frst they ocused on retaining and
rebuilding the physical environment
by providing loans to residents who
wanted to renovate the neighborhoods
deteriorating buildings. Later, they went
on to solicit Development Deposits
rom across the U.S., drawing on socially-
minded investors who wanted to support
community development and still earn
a competitive return.
Today, the ShoreBank amily consists otwo commercial banks, based in Chicago
and the Pacifc Northwest, and ShoreBank
International, a consulting company
that helps fnancial institutions and their
SOCIALFINANCE
SHOREBANK
What i a bank cared as much about improving the communityas maintaining proftability? Thats the thinking behind socialfnance. Today, companies like ShoreBank serve as exampleso fnancial institutions that have been able to build individual,amily, business and community strength and sustainabilitythrough loans and education.
unders, governments and communities
around the world provide credit or micro
enterprise, small and medium businesses
and housing. Starting with its partnership
with Nobel Prize winner Muhammad
Yunus o Grameen Bank in the 1970s,
ShoreBank International has worked with
more than 65 banks and development
fnance organizations in more than 40
countries, advancing more than $300
million in small business loans to date.
In recent years, SVN has inuenced
ShoreBank to ocus on environmental
as well as economic sustainability.
ShoreBank is living up to its bold tagline,Lets change the world, by proving
that the triple bottom line goals o
proftability, community development
and conservation are both compatible
and mutually reinorcing. Other great
organizations working to advance social
fnance include RSF Social Finance, UNC
Partners, Condor Ventures, MicroCredit
Enterprises, Underdog Ventures and
Renewal Partners.
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FUNCTIONALFASHION
Ater two months o wearing the sandals,Frasers eet elt alive in a new way. Sensing
she was on to something big, Fraser wanted
to spread the word to women back home.
Unortunately, the Birkenstock design was
everything that ashion wasnt in the 1960s.
Tiny and dainty were the desired attributes
o eet, she says, Birkenstock certainly
didnt ft into that picture!
Convinced o the merits o Birkenstock
sandals, Fraser began importing and
selling them rom home. At frst, retailers
told her women would never wear theseshoes, but by the early seventies, a cultural
shit brought along a change in ashion
sense. The Birkenstock sandals ft right
into the health-conscious style o the new
generation. I knew that this was not a ad,
it was part o something bigger, a mind
shit that encompassed more than just
dress codes; a new, dierent way to look
at lie, to seek a connection with nature,
Fraser says. Birkenstock was part o this
movement; it opened peoples eyes to the
mind-body connection.
Frasers value-based approach to business
has brought Birkenstock Footprint Sandals,
Inc. rom a small home business to the
multi-million dollar company it is today.
Her company honors its belie in the powero community by sponsoring initiatives like
grants, product donations and an employee
volunteer program that contribute to the
well-being o the recipient communities.
We were the pioneers and made it easier
or other companies with similar products
and ideas to enter the feld; the whole
comort ootwear market exploded, helping
everybody to prosper.
MARGOTFRASER
I knew that this was not a fad, it
was part of something bigger,
a mind shift that encompassed
more than just dress codes; a new,
different way to look at life, to seek
a connection with nature.
MARGOT FRASER
When Margot Fraser traveledto Germany in 1966, she neverexpected to return homewith an answer to the worldsoot miseries. During a visitto Bavaria, a yoga instructorshowed her a pair o sandals,
suggesting they might alleviatesome o her oot pain. Thedesign made sense to me, theoutline asymmetrical, like aoot, the contoured ootbedit looked like something myeet might enjoy, Fraser says.This was Frasers introductionto Birkenstock sandals.
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25/28Birkenstock Footprint Sandals founder Margot Fraser
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Our publications show people ways to live
with social and environmental concerns
in mind. Our Green Festival events work
to support green businesses and increase
the ever-growing population o green
consumers, says Denise Hamler, Director
o Green Business Programs or Co-op
America and Green Festival.
EDUCATINGCONSUMERS
Co-op America uses a unique approach
that involves both consumers and
businesses. They educate people about how
to use their spending power to promote
social and environmental sustainability,
help socially and environmentally
responsible businesses emerge and thrive,and pressure irresponsible companies to
adopt responsible practices. Hamler says,
We need to create and educate a critical
mass o educated and environmental
consumers. SVN brings together the true
social change makers and leaders. These
are the people and organizations we want
to play with.
Co-op Americas programs have had
a signifcant impact on the world in
recent years. Their Community Investingprogram moved more than $1.5 billion
into disadvantaged communities in the
U.S. and abroad over the past our years;
their Fair Trade Alliance mobilized over
250,000 people to advance Fair Trade; and
their Climate Action program has rallied
businesses, consumers and investors to
address the issue with the speed and powerit requires and helped launch a solar
company to make it aordable.
Another SVN member organization,
ABC Carpet and Home, is educating
consumers on sustainability through a
variety o innovative initiatives. They help
customers assess their energy efciency
through ABC Real Goods Solar, and their
MISSIONmarket program connects
consumers with charities, helping them buy
Gits o Compassion in support o causes
like literacy, poverty and the environment.
Other organizations like Rugmark, Global
Exchange, Bioneers and the Rainorest
Action Network are among those at the
oreront o educating consumers aboutcrucial environmental and social issues.
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Our publications show people way
to live with social and environment
concerns in mind. DENISE HAMLER
In 1982, a visionary groupo people joined togetherwith one common belie;that an economy that worksor the people and theplanet was possible. And soCo-op America was born,dedicated to creating a justand sustainable society by
harnessing economic poweror positive change.
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SOCIALCHANGEMEDIA
WhenMother Jones magazine was
launched in 1976, the country was ready
or a publication that eatured investigative
reporting on the great unelected power
wielders o our timemultinational
corporations.Mother Jones reporters have
consistently broken stories well ahead
o the media pack, earning a substantial
readership and the respect o both
independents and the mainstream. The
steady support o the SVN community
continues to be enormously helpul
toMother Jones as it surs the waves o
change in media.
Utne Reader, ounded in 1984 by Eric
Utne, has also been a leading voice or the
alternative and independent press, bringing
readers the other side o the story on issues
rom the environment to the economy
and politics to pop culture. Utne provokes
thought and inspires action by oering
the best o the independent press as well
as original writing.
Utne is a Readers Digestor the next
generation, Eric Utne says, and its vision
is to help make the world a little greener
and a little kinder. Through Utne Salons,
in which readers connect with each other
or conversation and inspiration, Utne
has spurred the creation o businesses,
schools and cultural partnerships. Utne
credits SVN with keeping him inspired
and helping with practical concerns. SVNwas where I learned business rom my
ellow entrepreneurs, he says. Investors,
advertisers and some o our best story ideas
all came rom SVN.
Utneis a Readers Digestfor the
next generation, and its vision is to
help make the world a little greene
and a little kinder. ERIC UTNE
UTNE
Smart, thorough, probingmedia are an essentialingredient to a successuldemocracy, but in recent
years steady consolidationo the mainstream media,together with the recenttrend o slashing newsroomstafng and budgets, haveput corporate agendas arahead o the publics interest.To fght this, independentmedia organizations such
as Utne Reader,MotherJones, and The Nation areinspiring and inormingprogressive change by stayingdevoted to journalistic ideals,oten covering stories thattraditional media wont touch.
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