Meet Dr. Donna Sockell

By:Adam Cohen Issue: Conscious Capitalism Section: Advisory Board

Director, Curriculum Emphasis on Social Responsibility, Leeds School of Business

Dr. Donna Sockell

Leeds School of Business 345L Koelbel 419 UCB University of Colorado Boulder, CO 80309

p: 303-492-3937 E: [email protected] w: http://leeds.colorado.edu

Dr. Donna Sockell, an accomplished scholar, came to the Leeds School of Business in 2005 to focus on her love of teaching in the classroom. She is the Founder and Director of the Curriculum Emphasis on Social Responsibility (CESR) at the Leeds School of Business, a program (launched in 2006) that is exceptional in undergraduate business education. Facilitated in large part by the Leeds’ family gift, CESR is responsible for the infusion of discussions of values and social responsibility at all levels of the required undergraduate curriculum in business, including the design and teaching of two dedicated classes at the freshman and junior levels. Donna’s program currently oversees the offering of over 10,000 credit hours at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Hallmarks of Donna’s efforts are creative electives that involve experiential learning through exposure to executives and real world problems. Donna also has collaborated in the development of a sustainability portfolio for graduate students at Leeds.

In addition to being responsible for CESR’s curriculum efforts, Donna directs CESR in projects outside the classroom. Through CESR, Donna conceived of Leeds’ Professional Mentorship Program, which pairs juniors in 2-year mentoring relationships with professionals in their field of interest. CESR spearheads this effort and collaborates with a school-wide group of programs to offer the Professional Mentorship Program. CESR is also collaborating with ICOSA to host a conference on Conscious Capitalism, where students from all major Colorado universities can learn from business people who make money by operating businesses that help solve society’s problems. Finally, Donna remains active as a senior instructor at the school and is the recipient of the 2009 Frascona Award for outstanding teacher of the year.

Prior to joining the University of Colorado, Donna spent several years at Rutgers University where she was a Full Professor and Director of Credit Programs for the Labor Education Department. During her tenure at Rutgers, her major programmatic accomplishment was the development of a 5-year masters program which entailed the design of the program through the process of gaining university approval. In the early 1980s, Donna served as an award-winning Associate and Assistant Professor at Columbia University and State University of New York at Binghamton. While at Columbia University, Donna was a facilitator of cases on organizational change for middle and upper-level executives and developed a program for IBM offered through the Graduate School of Business at Columbia.

Donna earned a Ph.D. from Cornell University and acquired her Master’s Degree in Industrial and Labor Relations from New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations also from Cornell University. Donna obtained her Bachelor of Arts in 1977 with a major in Economics from Union College in New York. Donna holds a “Type D” Principal Licensure from the Boulder Valley School Leadership Academy from the University of Colorado at Denver.

Donna has authored or co-authored more than 25 articles in scholarly venues. From 1985-1992 she served as an Editor for Advances in Industrial and Labor Relations. From 1991-1993, she was elected and served as member of the Executive Board for the Industrial Relations Research Association. She has taught extensively and presented regularly to management and labor groups on topics ranging from discipline issues, legal developments and organizational change. She also actively presented numerous papers and served as discussant at meetings of organizations including: Southern Economic Association, the Academy of Management, Industrial Relations Research Association, Western Economics Association, the American Sociological Association, and the Law and Economics Association. Active in consulting, Donna designed and taught ethics courses for organizations such as the NY Commodities Exchange, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Future Industries Institute, among others. For fun, she co-authored Julia’s Journey, a fantasy designed for children, which has been used in several classes in New York and Colorado.

Meet Dr. Douglas Jackson

By:Adam Cohen Issue: Conscious Capitalism Section: Advisory Board

President and CEO Project C.U.R.E.

Dr. Douglas Jackson

Project C.U.R.E 10377 E. Geddes Ave. Centennial, Co 80112

p: 303.792.0729 E: [email protected] W: www.projectcure.org

Dr. Douglas Jackson is President and CEO of Project C.U.R.E., a humanitarian relief organization that collects and delivers donated medical supplies and equipment to developing countries worldwide.

Jackson became President and CEO of Project C.U.R.E. in 1997. Since then, he has helped expand Project C.U.R.E.’s reach to every corner of the globe; the organization now works in more than 120 countries. Jackson’s father, Dr. James Jackson, founded the organization in 1987 after a trip to Brazil exposed him to the plight of patients being turned away from clinics that lacked basic medical supplies and equipment.

Prior to joining Project C.U.R.E., Jackson was Provost for Colorado Christian University in Lakewood, Colo., where he oversaw the academic, financial, operational, advancement and student life functions of the university. Previously, he served as Director of the Fermanian Business Center at Point Loma University in San Diego, Calif., where he led programs to foster business opportunities for college students and business professionals in the San Diego community and abroad.

Jackson’s experience includes working as a law clerk, a judge's clerk and an assistant court administrator. As an attorney, he administered the legal affairs for the international agricultural firm of CTB, Inc., a Berkshire Hathaway company headquartered in Milford, Ind. He has researched and authored articles and consulted in the areas of finance, real estate and small business. Additionally, Jackson taught university courses in finance, investments and law for 15 years.

Jackson graduated magna cum laude from Northwest Nazarene University in 1982, where he received a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. In 1985, he earned a Juris Doctor from the University of Colorado at Boulder, receiving the American Jurisprudence Award for Excellence in the study of law. In 1992, Jackson was awarded a Ph.D. in Business Administration with an emphasis in finance and econometrics from the University of Colorado at Boulder, authoring a dissertation on leveraged buyouts and secondary public offerings.

In the community, Jackson is a Rotary International Paul Harris Fellow and the past President of the Denver Rotary Club #31. He is on the Boards of Directors of the Institute for International Education, which administers Fulbright Scholarships, and Leader’s Challenge. He is a member of the National Who’s Who Registry and a graduate of the leadership program LEAD San Diego. Other projects that Jackson is involved in include HOPE International, Christian Executive Officers, YMCA and the Leadership Denver Association. Jackson received the Lifetime Achievement Award in Healthcare from the American Red Cross and also accepted the Colorado Ethics in Business Award on behalf of the team at Project C.U.R.E.

Jackson resides in Centennial, Colo., with his wife and three young daughters.

Meet Christopher Pelley

By:Adam Cohen Issue: Conscious Capitalism Section: Advisory Board

Managing Director, Capital Investment Management

Contact Christopher Pelley

Capital Investment Management 8055 E. Tufts Ave. Suite 1350 Denver, CO 80237

P: 303.221.1000 x8220 E: [email protected] w: www.cimcodenver.com

Here’s what you should know about Chris Pelley…

Three Passions and Time

Chris devotes seemingly endless passion and time to what is important to him. He serves as managing director of CIMCO, the private wealth management firm he founded in 1994. He is also committed to promoting social entrepreneurship (using entrepreneurial principles to organize, create and manage a venture to make social change). And, last but not least, Chris is active in ACG, a global association for professionals in corporate growth, development, mergers and acquisitions. Rising before dawn to fit in his exercise routine, Chris is often still sending e-mails late into the night.

Capital Investment Management

Chris founded CIMCO as a result of his almost three decades of experience working as an investment adviser in London, New York and Denver. With a talented team of recognized independent experts in law, tax, banking and other proficiencies, CIMCO embraces the Japanese proverb: “None of us are as smart as all of us.” The firm serves clients nationwide and in Europe in a process “to invest your time before you invest your money.” They are prepared to ask, listen, understand and advise in order to pursue real investment solutions for their clients. CIMCO is now one of the largest financial advisory practices in Colorado.

Social Entrepreneurship

In helping CIMCO clients make decisions about their personal transitions (and in raising two daughters of his own) Chris learned that people’s legacy, children and charity are important and significant. He decided four years ago that he could either work at improving his golf game or do something meaningful. That something meaningful quickly became social entrepreneurship and being the Paul Revere of a new, big idea: serving as change agent for society, seizing opportunities others miss and improving systems, inventing new approaches and creating solutions to change society for the better.

Passion Meets Synergy

After attending the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship in Oxford, England along with his daughters the past few years, Chris saw a synergy between his clients’ need to share not just their money, but their talents, and the concept of becoming a social entrepreneur. He now introduces his clients to this rewarding way to leave a legacy. And, never one to think small, he is aligned with Ashoka, the global association of the world’s leading social entrepreneurs, as well as University of Denver, Colorado State University, Regis and University of Colorado to make Denver a leader in the movement.

Chris has a BA in Psychology and a BS in Economics from the University of Missouri. He also earned a Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC) designation from the American College and is a Registered Principal with Securities Service Network, Inc., member NASD/SIPC.

What is Conscious Capitalism?

By:Jan Mazotti Issue: Conscious Capitalism Section: Letter From The EditorWhat is Conscious Capitalism? The term evokes a bit of confusion when said aloud. I’ve been asked, “Is Conscious Capitalism when you know you are a capitalist and are working to exploit every money-making opportunity? Or, is it being socially conscious while following the basic capitalistic premise?”

While working on this issue of ICOSA, we defined Conscious Capitalism as the reorientation of a business focused solely on the pursuit of profits to one focused on integrity, higher standards, and serving all stakeholders – employees, suppliers, customers, investors, the community, and the world at large. Conscious Capitalism embodies the pursuit of a higher purpose than just business as usual – it is a win-win-win model. Conscious Capitalism is an ethos that pervades strategy and form. It assumes that the fundamentals of capitalism must change if global businesses, communities and governments are going to thrive.

Conscious Capitalism is not just Corporate Social Responsibility – it’s bigger and steeped in measurable purpose. New Belgium Brewing’s robust efforts at community collaboratives, corporate culture, and energy consciousness demonstrate loyalty and stakeholder inputs.

Wainwright Bank, values both the intangible and the tangible, and can demonstrate that allocating capital in underserved markets is not only socially responsible, but profitable.

Others are focused on long term results. By 2015, Denver’s Road Home is committed to ending homelessness and establishing services so that every individual when faced with homelessness, is supported by a community that is ready to respond, ensuring that everyone has a safe place to call home.

We believe that the Conscious Capitalism movement can transform the world. It won’t come solely from one group, but originates from collaborative relationships between the ABCGs – academia, business, community organizations, and government – working together to make substantial, strategic, and meaningful change.

With negative news filling the media these days, we are proud to be affiliated with each of the people and organizations in this issue. We have one life to make a difference. Why not now?

The Game of C & C

By:Gayle Dendinger Issue: Conscious Capitalism Section: Letter From The Publisher

A World Where Chess Imitates Life

From studying the great gurus, as well as learning from our great ICOSA contributors, we have tapped into the creative, the charismatic, the brilliant, and the pragmatic to gather common sense, white papers, fables, parables, voodoo, statistics, studies, opinions, and possible whoppers. From these ideas we are beginning to develop the principles of Connection and Collaboration.

Three of these foundational principles are:

*

Design a strong systemic infrastructure. *

Populate with people who can and will make a difference. *

Understand the reach of every person or organization.

Abstract concepts are difficult to conceptualize, so we will periodically use metaphors to evoke a broad array of visualizations by likening an idea to something a little more concrete and perhaps more fun.

One set of metaphors we will refer to will include symbols used by the Native Americans. The spider web was used in a previous issue as we discussed interconnection and intercollaboration in terms of a spider web with its concentric rings representing various geographies and the radii strands representing sectors.

Another set of metaphoric conceptions will discuss goal oriented

activities in terms of a living game of chess. In the case of this article:

*

Principle one above gives us the board, *

Principle two provides the players, *

Principle three helps us understand, tap into and multiply the reach and power of the players.

The Game of C & C is a very high level game and is not played just for fun, but for very high stakes. Our opponent is not the traditional opposing white or black army but the real enemies we face such as ignorance, poverty, war, and overpopulation.

The chess analogy applies closely to the far reaching work done by the organizations in this edition of ICOSA; in the strategy and game play they used to address the larger issues facing our world. Effective strategy can be seen in the story of Kickstart International by selling a product to help poor farmers in Africa make a profit and be lifted from poverty. Atlas Copco’s initiative, Water for All, demonstrates that access to clean drinking water can change the lives of millions. It can also be seen in the work of Ato Yohannes Gebregeorgis,the librarian turned activist and Founder of Ethiopia Reads, who diligently works to bring his homeland out of poverty through education and literacy programs. Or maybe, it’s MillerCoors who empowers its employees to make a difference in the communities where they work and play.

These organizations used these and other principles to consciously and collaboratively make a difference. Their conscious capitalism, the topic of this issue, is not solely focused on profits but on something bigger, something greater than us – the chess game of life. It’s up to all of us to plan and make our next move.

Partnerships In The Philanthrocapitalist World

By:Meghan Pelley Issue: Conscious Capitalism Section: Jewel Of Collaboration

An Interview with Matthew Bishop

In Philanthrocapitalism: How the Rich Can Save the World, the Economist's New York bureau chief, Matthew Bishop, and London-based economist Michael Green investigate a seemingly new trend in philanthropy, with the "new money" billionaires behind it.

Bishop and Green refer to this new trend as philanthrocapitalism, and to those who practice it as philanthrocapitalists.

Philanthrocapitalists, in contrast to many old money philanthropists, give with an expectation that their giving will yield certain and measurable social returns.

As the authors explain, “one key ingredient of philanthrocapitalism is the responsibility and willingness of economic winners to give on a large scale, another is that they apply to their giving the same talents, knowledge, and intellectual vigor that made them rich in the first place.”

I recently spoke with Matthew Bishop, and asked him to expand on his observations of successful philanthrocapitalists.

In Philanthrocapitalism you describe a new generation of billionaires - game changers - who are literally restructuring the practice of philanthropy. Tell me more about these philanthrocapitalists and what they have in common? What accounts for their unusual success?

One commonality that these game changers share is that they have all been successful in business. The reason for their success is that they are good strategic thinkers and innovative problem solvers. They approach giving with an attitude of how do we really make a difference, they understand the system and they look for tipping points and bottlenecks.

Additionally, they have a lot of ambition. They’ve been successful in business and they see an opportunity to be successful in philanthropy as well.

Larry Page, one of the Google founders, built a huge global company in just ten years. He believes he can solve the problem of developing clean energy at low prices – an agenda that would be daunting to most of us.

Game changers are used to dealing with problems on a global scale. Someone like Bill Gates is used to operating at a global level and dealing with huge challenges and executing them.

Also the fact that they all have a large amount of money at their disposal would be an obvious similarity. However, Gates’ fortune is small compared to governments and large corporations. More importantly than the money though, game changers are distinguished by their ability to invest dollars effectively. They are results driven and they don’t like giving for its own sake.

How do these game changers differ from one another?

There are many differences in terms of the motivations and what they want to achieve. The causes that inspire them are all different. They might derive inspiration from religion as Domino’s Pizza founder Thomas Monaghan did or simply from imagining new possibilities as Bill Gates did after reading a World Bank report on investing in health in the developing world.

Some of the game changers come from a very entrepreneurial background. Richard Branson for example has a good instinct about where things are going next in the market. He tackles blue-sky initiatives, such as his self-declared war on climate change. Similarly, CNN founder Ted Turner pledged $1 billion to the U.N. because he believed it was the right thing to do. Others are more financially oriented and data driven. They want to see precise metrics to measure how their social investments are faring.

At ICOSA we celebrate collaborative effort. It is, we believe, the key to success in business and life. What role does collaboration play in philanthrocapitalism? Is collaborative effort a central feature of the movement?

Every philanthrocapitalist who wants to achieve change at scale has to find clever ways of using money to team with partners to achieve greater scale. Leverage is the motto of all philanthrocapitalists, not leverage in the sense that it was related to the 2008 financial meltdown, rather the necessity of getting more bang for their buck in order to succeed. To put their money to work most effectively, philanthrocapitalists must find partners and collaborators.

Again, Bill Gates is a good example of this. He has committed himself to give away $3 to $4 billion annually. He believes he can’t achieve the goals he set to effect change on daunting problems such as the American education system and diseases including HIV/AIDS, diarrhea, tuberculosis and malaria on his own. Realistically his foundation is tiny compared to governments or large drug companies.

One of his goals is to eradicate malaria, which currently kills an estimated 1 million people per year. A huge collaboration he has brought together includes Fox News, the NBA, Rupert Murdoch, Bono, the World Bank, the UK government, Big 8 agencies, the Church by Rick Warren and the President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame. Managing the breadth of this collaboration is challenging even for someone like Gates as a businessman, however he realizes that partnerships are more effective than if a government or his foundation would be tackling this issue alone.

The Rockefeller family model of philanthropic giving has been remarkably successful. In what way has the collaborative nature and collective focus of this model contributed to its success?

John D. Rockefeller, Sr. who started the dynasty was a strategic thinker and he understood the role of institutions. He was far ahead of his time in the distribution of his wealth philanthropically. He helped spur the green revolution in Africa and Asia through the improvement of agriculture. Norman Borlaug received much of the credit for this change, but Rockefeller funded the initiative.

Looking back at the Rockefeller’s long-term strategy over several generations shows an interesting family model, one that is committed to philanthropy. In fact, one of the grand-daughters of John D. Rockefeller funds a global philanthropy circle, which teaches others about how to be philanthropists. The Rockefeller family puts philanthropy at the heart of their family. Every year they gather to share their experiences with each other; and in doing so, they hold each other accountable as a family. I reckon they are a happier family as a result of that commitment to philanthropy.

What do you think of black-tie galas? Are these events an example of what you describe as "conspicuous giving?" Do these events serve any useful purpose?

Many wealthy people have asked a lot of questions about the place of galas during the downturn. During a recession hardships come to light and these types of galas seem more wasteful than in good times; yet galas remain the most effective way to get people to commit to causes, so they continue to happen.

The peer pressure element of black-tie galas is strong. Many people reserve tables with their friends, which can often be a good recruitment vehicle for new donors. However, one change that is likely a result of the economic downturn is that the giving at these black-tie galas is less conspicuous. Galas have steered away from auctions during which people outbid each other because it’s seen as a bit too much. The Robin Hood Foundation for example uses an electronic device for making donations, keeping donations private rather than creating a conspicuous show of giving. We are also seeing goodie bags replaced by the opportunity to make donations to charities.

Ironically, a lot of great philanthropic organizations needs are being met by peoples’ vanity – not by people who have a good bone in their body, but by people who want to impress their fellow citizens. While people who are committed to doing good don’t need black-tie galas to encourage their giving, those people who otherwise wouldn’t give are encouraged to do so through these types of galas. Of course we would prefer that people are better than that, but the black-tie gala creates a vehicle to access their money too.

Describe what you believe constitutes "best practice" in corporate philanthropy? In your opinion, what firms best illustrate this practice?

Much of corporate philanthropy in the past has been arbitrary. Corporate donations were often determined by the CEO or his wife’s interest in a local or global cause. This type of arbitrary giving does some good, but it is largely unrelated to the company’s central mission. Today companies are starting to understand that they have a responsibility to be good corporate citizens and give back to the communities in which they operate. The more that giving becomes part of their corporate strategy, the more they will think it through and the greater impact their giving will have.

Effective corporate philanthropy is more than an add-on to their business, it is something central to their DNA. Coca-Cola is a great example of a company that realized it needed to incorporate good corporate citizenship into its business model to continue its long-term success. Coca-Cola used to have negative press about its water use. They realized that water sustainability was vital to their business and today they are actively working to become a net zero water consuming company. They are working to ensure that they have a sustainable water supply, which is important for their growth in developing countries.

Another corporate philanthropy success story is Nike. They used to have a terrible reputation for the way they treated workers in the developing world, but they have since changed their treatment of such workers. Nike has formed great partnerships with non-profits to promote the empowerment of women in the developing world. They believe they are helping a core segment of their future customer base by taking this stance.

Of course corporations still have a long way to go, but many of them are on the right path and it’s a matter of figuring out how to do it well. Leaders of these companies must first realize that good corporate citizenship is a long-term commitment and not a short-term PR boost. They must be able to visualize where their company will be in twenty years and determine how they can build a better world to operate in, so that the people who grow up to be major consumers will view them as companies on the side of progress and good rather than the opposite side.

Meghan C. Pelley is with Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management in Washington, DC. She has attended the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship at Oxford University for the past five years. Meghan has a special interest in promoting new philanthropic paradigms. She is a graduate of Georgetown University.

More Than Just Clowing Around

By:Jan Mazotti Issue: Conscious Capitalism Section: Jewel Of Collaboration

Guy Laliberté’s Effort to Save the Planet One Drop at a Time

This last September Guy Laliberté, the Founder of Cirque du Soleil, blasted off to the International Space Station (ISS) to bring awareness and instill action around one clear purpose: to raise humanity’s awareness of water-related issues.

Broadcasting live from the ISS, Laliberté said, “I am an artist not a scientist, but water has touched me and inspired me. Water is a source of life. A child dies every eight seconds because of contaminated water and I knew it was urgent to act.”

For these reasons, he created the One Drop Foundation to fight poverty by providing access to water and raising awareness among individuals and communities about the need for mobilization in order to make safe water accessible to all.

Moving Stars and Earth for Water - A Poetic Social Mission

Bringing artistic representations of the importance of water from 14 global cities on five continents in an exquisitely collaborative way was the goal. Forty-five celebrity activists, including Al Gore, Peter Gabriel, U2, Salma Hayek, Shakira, Matthew McConaughey and Garou read poetry, sang, danced, and shared the facts. On October 9, Laliberté told the audience that water is the, “Basis of most social problems and at the heart of many humanitarian crises that face human kind – health, education, environment and poverty.”

Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore presented the basic facts. He addressed the linkage between the water crisis and the climate crisis and how it threatens the future of life on Earth. He talked about how global warming and pollution play a role in the rapid evaporation of water from our oceans. He talked about the eco-infrastructure and how the snow packs are deteriorating. “In order to solve the climate crisis and in order to save the beauty and the habitability of our planet so that we will have fresh drinking water for people and the water we need for agriculture, we have to have a worldwide effort to solve the climate crisis,” Gore said.

During the show, world renowned professor, scientist, and environmentalist, David Suzuki reminded viewers that water is, “The key connector between all forms of life on earth - past, present, and future.” He reminded us that with so little of such a precious resource, “You think we would use it wisely. Unfortunately this is not the case. We are depleting water resources rapidly.

Imagine water for all, imagine children swimming in clean water around the world and imagine a celebration of this blue planet!”

Traveling the globe and space, the webcast visited South Africa, where Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai continued the story. The Mission circled the globe touching people in Rio de Janeiro, Paris, Mexico City, New York, Sydney, London, Marrakesh, Mumbai, Osaka, Santa Monica, Tampa, and Moscow. As part of the U2 concert in Tampa, Bono introduced Laliberté by saying, “He’s on a mission to talk about how precious water is on the planet.” Perhaps it’s time for us to pause and reflect, perhaps it’s time for us to change, and perhaps it is time to imagine another way.

Yann Martel, acclaimed Canadian novelist, was contracted by Laliberté to create an original poetic work, where a drop of water would serve as the main character. It would unfold in installments throughout the broadcast touching regional issues along the way. For example, in South Africa, the poem touched on the importance of education and water, while in Japan it addressed the melting of the ice caps because as an island, the rising oceans are of concern.

Throughout the broadcast, Cirque du Soleil performers from all over the world were featured. The production costs were an estimated $6 - $10 million on top of the $35 million he personally paid to get to the ISS.

For Laliberté it was a way to incorporate the expertise of Cirque du Soleil with the trip to the ISS. It was a way of using the moment to make something bigger - not just something personal. “Through art, I want to draw people’s attention to environmental issues, to raise humanity’s awareness,” he said.

One Drop’s Global Efforts

Because water is the main cause of death globally, the ONE DROP Foundation is mobilizing people all over the globe to find sustainable solutions to water access problems and to adopt better usage practices for the scarce resource. It is an effort to provide water to over a billion people who do not have access to water in sufficient quantity or quality. It is a global solidarity effort around water.

Water access issues are at the core of many human rights and community issues. Poverty exacerbates the problem. Poverty heightens water access problems, which in turn drive poverty issues deeper. In most cases, the poor pay up to 10X more for water than the wealthy. Average daily water use is also affected. For example, in Mozambique the average citizen uses only 10 liters of water per day, while the average U.S. citizen consumes 575 liters per day – over half on basic sanitation and hygiene activities.

It is a fact that 80% of illnesses in developing countries are water related. These illnesses further push families into poverty because they cannot attend school or work. Gender roles are also affected by water access. It is often the role of women and girls to collect water for their families, thereby preventing them from formal education in their country. By simply adding water pumps closer to homes, it increases collection and efficiency and allows females access to education. And, these efficiencies can add up to $100 USD per year to the family budget.

Another issue is over-consumption.

Over the last 100 years, the world’s population has tripled while water use has increased sevenfold.

Agriculture consumes 70% of the world water use, while industry consumes 20%, and households consume 10%.

Using a tripod approach, ONE DROP focuses primarily on young people and women by raising awareness, education and mobilizing people through art and culture; improving access to water while promoting responsible water management techniques; and by providing microcredit loans.

Technical projects, supported by ONE DROP, provide water access, food security, and promote gender equality in developing communities. Performance is measured by number of lives saved, number of girls that go to school, number of people living in dignity, and the number of protected ecosystems. Take ONE DROPs work in the Estelí region of Nicaragua. Infrequent and irregular rain has contributed to very limited access to safe drinking water. Regional policies, especially deforestation, have resulted in few infrastructures to collect rainwater and have contributed to low groundwater retention and increased vulnerability to natural disasters, such as hurricanes. ONE DROP, in partnership with local water partners, will directly impact the lives of over 1,200 families by improving access to safe water, ensuring food security, supporting personal efforts at equality and awareness in Estelí. Or, in the dry tropics near the Guacirope River basin of Honduras, ONE DROP is on the ground, supporting local partners and their efforts to directly impact 1,000 families and over 15,000 men, women and children. Going forward, ONE DROP has planned projects in Central America, Sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa, and Southeast Asia.

ONE DROP is funded by a $100 million contribution from Laliberté that spans the next 25 years, as well as from donations from Cirque du Soleil’s 4,000 employees and from the public. Other funding commitments have come from Canadian and international partners including Oxfam, the RBC Foundation, and the Fondation Prince Albert II de Monaco.

How You Can Play a Role

There are many things you can do to. Here are just a few...

* Get the names of local organizations that work toward protecting water and get involved. * Think about what you eat. A kilogram of meat requires 5 to 20 times more water to produce than is used to produce a kilogram of cereal. The average North-American uses 5,000 liters/day to feed itself; with half going to meat production alone. Eating a hamburger is equal to a two and half hour shower! * Install a water saving toilet. Non-efficient toilets use nearly one-third of a home's total water consumption. A new toilet could cut up to 45,000 liters of water use per year. * Use environmentally friendly hygiene and cleaning products. It will help keep water supplies cleaner. * Bottled water can cost up to 10,000 times more than tap water. Annually, $100 billion is spent on bottled water around the globe. Just a quarter of that amount would provide access to safe drinking water to the whole planet. * It takes 10 liters of water to make a sheet of paper. The pulp and paper industry is the third largest water polluter, producing over 100,000 tons of toxic refuse each year. Use both sides of a piece of paper or think before printing emails and other documents.

Today, there are over 50,000 people signed up to make a difference with ONE DROP.

“Today, I continue to dream of a fairer, more just world - a world where every human being has access to clean water and can live in dignity and health. The wildest dreams can come true when we all invest our energy, willpower and creativity. One drop at a time, one step at a time, we can do it. We can create a ripple effect,” said Laliberté.

What the Drop of Water Had to Say a fable by Yann Martel

Montreal

Sun and Moon were arguing, again.

Brother and sister, they’d wandered the Universe

and found in this corner a good home.

Sun adored being the star of the show,

so many admiring planets spinning in his orbit.

Moon, more modest, was drawn to Earth.

Now Moon was looking at her brother glumly.

“What’s the matter?” asked Sun.

“My planet is drying up,” replied Moon.

“Earth, that speck of dirt? Why do you care?”

“Because it’s my garden. I love Earth,” Moon pouted,

as she slid into a lunar eclipse so she wouldn’t have to see her brother.

“If Earth is drying up,” continued Sun, “why don’t you adopt a nicer planet?

There’s Saturn, for example, or Jupiter, they’re both impressive.”

“You don’t understand anything. You’re the dimmest of stars!” bawled Moon.

“Is that so?” huffed Sun, bursting with solar storms.

“Excuse me,” came a small voice from planet Earth.

“What?” said Sun and Moon together. “Who are you?”

“I’m a drop of water,” said Drop of Water. “I need your help.”

Johannesburg

Drop of Water spoke:

“I take many forms, so that all may be pleased.

I can be liquid, as heavy as gold,

as silky as music,

as quenching as poetry.

I can soothe dry throats

and make fields blossom.

I can rush through pipes,

gushing into pots and sinks,

so that while I work,

children may go to school.”

Rio de Janeiro

Drop of Water continued:

“Fresh, I can push and flow down the broadest arteries,

Amazon, Mississippi, Danube, Nile, Euphrates, Volga, Yangtze, Mekong,

so that great green bodies might be fed.

Salty, I can answer the needs of sailors and seas,

so that fish and ships might float in the blue.

And salty or fresh, from blue oceans or green jungles,

I am the softness in the breath of lungs

that restore the planet.”

Paris

“So what’s the problem?” interrupted Sun.

“Look at those beaches, there, there and there,” pointed Moon.

“The ones covered in thick, oozing black?” asked Sun.

“Those very ones,” said unhappy Moon.

“I rather like them. They take my heat in very well.”

“Perhaps, but look at the sad eyes peering through,

blinking seabirds, and hear the coughing fish, gasping for air.”

“I hadn’t noticed,” said Sun, looking closer.

“And look at those rivers and oceans, there, there and there” pointed Moon again.

“With the lovely slicks? My light plays off them so beautifully,” said Sun.

“But look at the lifelessness beneath them.

They’re floating graveyards,” replied Moon.

“I hadn’t noticed,” said Sun, looking closer.

New York

Drop of Water spoke again:

“I can be smaller too, so small that sometimes I,

a drop, am a whale next to the water molecules I meet,

who tirelessly support all living matter,

as discreet as the internal structure of the Statue of Liberty.

No sap or blood can flow without water in it.

There’s no life that doesn’t know me intimately,

there’s no life that can live without me.

I am the heart and soul, the primeval soup,

of all that cares. I arrive with birth and depart with death.”

Mexico City

“I can mix the fresh and the salty too, for the good of all,

as when the salty sweat of the farmer pours from the furrow of his brow

into the furrow of the earth he has freshly watered.

Of all that moves, I am proudest of the slow growth of grains,

who never forget to nurture their soul, which they call moisture.

Of all the clothes I can wear hanging in my closet,

I am proudest of the one called food.

When I am food, I am celebrated by all

and every mouth seeks to undress me.”

Sydney

Drop of Water went on:

“I can also be mist, supplying fogs, clouds and morning dews,

or I can be ice, sharing my cool with drinks and penguins. So you see,

I’m pure and simple, eager to please, willing to accommodate.

Drink me, heat me, freeze me, sprinkle me, swim in me,

I give myself to each and every with open heart,

yet so many exploit me.

My dear brothers Chad and Aral are vanishing,

and my sweet Murray-Darling is most undarling.

If I cannot move freely and abundantly,

how can I give freely and abundantly?”

Marrakesh

Sun, struck by concern, peered harder still, and the day became hot.

“What are those ants that crawl in your garden?” Sun asked his sister.

Moon replied, “They’re called humans, my brother.”

“And what do you think of humans, Moon?”

“They’re beautiful but they’re foolish.

When there’s trouble in the world, the men send their women home,

and when there’s trouble in the home, the women send their men out,

so that too often humans are thinking with only half their brains.

They forget what it was like when they were children,

when boys and girls played as equals, splashing water on each other.

Instead women and girls carry jars of water on their heads

to-and-fro from well to home, leaving exhausted prints in the sand.

Are we not all equal before God?”

London

“And what are humans doing about their plight?” asked Sun.

Drop of Water replied: “Though blameless, I have been judged

and unfairly condemned. I am treated like a raw material.

Oil, that impenitent criminal, mocks me,

‘Can you not turn to vapour? Then save yourself and me!’

I remind Oil that Jesus on the Cross had only one complaint:

‘I am thirsty.’

His final attachment to life on Earth was precious water.

Have we still not learned that with loving kindness

we should slake the thirst not only of gods but of each other?

Surely what He deserved by grace, we deserve by right.

To partake of water is no less a need than to partake of love.

Oil laughs, as remorseless as vinegar.”

Tokyo

“I despair,” said Drop of Water, “and I retreat to colder, calmer climes.

I seek peace in the meditation of ice.

Icebergs are Buddhist monks I send forth,

released into the world from the great monasteries of the Poles.

Their mantra is the blue light humming within their frozen cores.

Their message is peace and oneness,

but alas they simply vanish.

Every year monks leave me and never return.”

Mumbai

“Still I give,” continued Drop of Water, “or I take, as the need may be.

So when I am holy Ganges, and I am always holy Ganges,

I give to the living and I take away the dead.

Nothing has more good karma than water,

which never seeks release from the cycle of birth, death and rebirth,

but always returns to serve others.”

Santa Monica

“I am moved by your plight,” said Sun.

“What do other creatures say,

the ones that aren’t half-brained?”

Drop of Water replied:

“The ones that live within me are constant in their lament.

They weep and give me their salty tears in hopes of nourishing me.

From shrill krill to barking sharks to blues-singing whales,

all mourn the ruination of their neighbourhood.

As for creatures of the land,

they come to see me every hot day,

bears to my lakes,

hippos to my rivers,

zebras to my water holes,

and all drop their heads in sadness.

Lastly the creatures of the sky,

their misery is such that they buckle and plummet,

and those that can float find comfort directly on me,

while those that would sink seek refuge in lifeboats they call nests.”

Tampa

Sun turned to his sister Moon and said:

“You are right to love your garden.

It is beautiful.

Water is a hundred billion clasped hands,

a great chain that embraces the globe,

I see that now.

This planet is like no other I know,

a solitary kite in the sky,

a whistle in the dark,

a song amid the dreary,

a dance in the middle of foot-dragging,

a dazzle of colour splashed onto a drab wall.

Truly this garden of yours is a gem,

a sapphire of incomparable blue.”

Moscow

“Is there any hope?” asked Sun and Moon together.

“Oh yes,” said Drop of Water.

“In the beginning was water

and to water there is no end.

Water is a child, holder of future,

so let the child be.

It’s a question of balance,

between abundance and scarcity,

between use and abuse.

A day will come soon, I hope,

when I will be owned by none and shared by all,

when I will be sullied by none and nourish all,

when I will be taken freely and given freely.

In the beginning was water

and to water there is no end.

Water is a child, holder of future,

so let the child be.

A day will come soon, I hope,

when we will start over,

at peace with water,

at peace with our future,

one planet, one drop.”

What the drop of water had to say - Copyright © 2009 Yann Martel by arrangement with Westwood Creative Artists Ltd.

Jakks Cares

By:Jan Mazotti Issue: Conscious Capitalism Section: Jewel Of Collaboration

Touching The Lives Of Children For Generations

"For a child, a toy is an enchanting thing; a vehicle that transports them, even for a moment to magical places inside their imagination. Our toys spark creativity and bring smiles to children everywhere. That is the gift that we strive to give to children in need around the world,” said Stephen Berman President and Chief Operating Officer of JAKKS Pacific.

California-based JAKKS Pacific, Inc. is a multi-line, multi-brand toy company that designs, produces and markets toys and related products, writing instruments, pet toys, treats and related products, as well as other consumer products. The company focuses its business on licensing trademarks and brand names with long product histories and sells its products through toy and retail chains in over 60 countries.

Everyday JAKKS™ Cares works to bring happiness and make a positive difference in the lives of the greatest number of kids and pets around the world. They are strongly committed to being philanthropic and socially responsible corporate citizens and try diligently to create changes that will improve the lives and well-being of children for generations to come. JAKKS™ Cares activities also implement ways to "Reduce, Reuse and Recycle" to help preserve our planet.

JAKKS Pacific®, the parent company of JAKKS™ Cares, heartily embraces social responsibility through employee volunteerism and product donations to schools, hospitals and large non-profit organizations in our local communities and around the world. Genna Rosenberg, Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications & Investor Relations says, “Our greatest asset is our people and our products.”

Started in 1995, with just a few toy products in their cadre, Jack Freidman and Stephen Berman decided to build a toy company that created toys with innovation that were fun and supported traditional play patterns. It worked. Today, JAKKS™ is a top five toy company that has received myriad recognitions, including Wal-Mart’s Vendor of the Year in 2004 and 2005, the Toys “R” Us Vendor of the year for the sixth time in 2006 and Mr. Berman was named Corporate Humanitarian of the Year by Operation Smile in 2009. Now, with many notable brands in its line-up, including Cabbage Patch Kids, Care Bears, SpongeBob SquarePants, and Neopets, JAKKS™ Cares has donated more than $40 million in toys, school supplies and monetary endowments to millions of underprivileged kids, both domestically and abroad. Global, National, and Local Reach

Driven by the mission to “bring a smile to every face” JAKKS maximizes its impact, “Through fantastic strategic partnerships,” says Rosenberg. Bill Grein, Major, U.S. Marine Corp (Retired) and Vice President of Marketing and Development for the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation says this, “JAKKS is one of Toys for Tots’ top two national corporate sponsors and has been for the last six years. During that time, they have helped our Marines fulfill the Christmas holiday hopes and dreams of over two million of our nation’s neediest children.” Grein continued, “…were it not for the quality toys JAKKS provided, those deserving children would very likely have been overlooked at a very special time of year.They are not only a toy partner; they are a generous and caring friend, who has chosen to make a difference in the lives of less fortunate children.”

Moreover, JAKKS has changed the lives of hundreds of kids through the Operation Smile partnership. Rosenberg shared the story of Wang, a 12-year old boy living in China that needed surgery to correct a cleft lip. He was ostracized because of his deformity which made him withdraw from school and his community. With as many as one-third of their global employees “adopting” an Operation Smile child, Michelle, a Hong Kong based employee, chose to help. Michelle engaged with the JAKKS™ Cares team to arrange transport for Wang to Hong Kong for the surgery and rehabilitation. Today, this young boy is living a normal happy life and is back in school.

JAKKS™ Cares has donated more than $40 million in toys, school supplies and monetary endowments to millions of underprivileged kids, both domestically and abroad.

The May 12, 2008 earthquake in China and Myanmar hit close to home for JAKKS Pacific. They have hundreds of employees based in China in addition to thousands of factory employees affiliated with the company who were affected by the recent disaster. JAKKS Pacific’s U.S. and Hong Kong employees rallied together and generously raised $27,000 to help support children and families affected by the natural disaster. As part of the JAKKS™ Cares philanthropic giving program, JAKKS matched each dollar donated, resulting in a total contribution of $54,000 to support relief efforts of the Red Cross Society of China. The funds were used to assist China’s earthquake survivors through the purchase and distribution of relief supplies, coordination of logistics and transportation of disaster workers to the hardest hit areas, as well as reconstruction work in mainland China and Myanmar.

Nationally, JAKKS stepped up after Hurricane Katrina left thousands of kids without basic needs. Partnering with Feed the Children, JAKKS donated and distributed hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of toys and supplies to the hurricane-ravaged area. JAKKS™ Cares has also partnered with industry foundations and local school districts (i.e., Los Angeles Unified School District) to provide school supplies to needy families and as incentive prizes for reading programs.

Locally, the company has partnered with the Los Angeles Police Department to provide toys for children who suffer trauma during parent arrests, accidents and or abuse situations. Rosenberg says, “It deflects some of the trauma they are feeling.”

Other strategic partnerships include: Big Brothers, Big Sisters, Boys & Girls Clubs, Camp Ronald McDonald for Good Times, Kids Wish Network, Red Cross Disaster Relief Funds, Special Olympics, and the Toys “R” Us Children’s Fund.

Don’t Forget The Animals

More and more pet owners treat their pets like children, so JAKKS Pets™ has partnered with the American Kennel Club and the Cat Fanciers Association to brand pet products that support the work of these organizations. Animal Humane Societies and other animal-related charities are also part of the JAKKS™ Cares strategy. On the Green Scene

In addition to in-kind giving and employee volunteer programs, JAKKS™ Cares activities include conservation and recycling activities at their corporate offices and distribution centers, as well as implementing environmentally friendly and socially responsible global sourcing and manufacturing practices worldwide. The company has implemented new lighting throughout their facilities and have adopted other environmentally-friendly practices throughout the supply chain. Furthermore, they are committed to human rights practices for their workers abroad.

Community engagement and giving back are important to JAKKS. The company demonstrates its commitment to children, animals and communities around the world. They are an excellent example of using the core business and products to support their goals globally. They were also a key partner in the Afghanistan humanitarian shipment referenced by ICOSA publisher, Gayle Dendinger, in his Inspirations piece.

Thanks for all you do JAKKS!

Denver's Road Home

By:Jamie Van Leeuwen, Ph.D Issue: Conscious Capitalism Section: Jewel Of Collaboration

How Community Collaboration is Paving a Pathway to Self-Sufficiency for the Homeless

Several years ago, Malcolm Gladwell wrote an article in The New Yorker that told the story of a homeless man named Murray. Like many of the chronically homeless, Murray had fallen into a hard-to-break routine: he’d be picked up by police for public drunkenness, incarcerated for detoxification, and when too inebriated – which was often – he’d be admitted to the local emergency room. It’s by this routine that Murray lived and died on the streets of Reno, using the city’s most expensive emergency services. Gladwell’s article is titled “Million-Dollar Murray,” referring to the amount of money Reno officials estimated it cost not to do something about Murray’s chronic homelessness.

In the article, Gladwell uses Murray’s story to illustrate an important point that also serves as the premise to Denver’s Road Home: to be successful in the long run, we must invest in strategies to end homelessness, rather than endlessly fund programs that serve simply to “manage” the issue. In 2005, when Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper and City Council approved Denver’s Road Home, the city’s 10-year plan to end homelessness, we knew it could not be successful without collaboration from all facets of our community. Nearly five years later, Denver’s Road Home is a moral and fiscal responsibility that the entire community has come to own, transforming the lives, attitudes and face of our city. Denver’s Road Home is both the right thing to do… and the smart thing to do.

The initiative began in 2003 in response to an increase in the city’s homeless population, as well as mounting public safety concerns. At that time, Mayor Hickenlooper convened a broad-based commission of community leaders to develop a comprehensive plan that would seek to address the root causes of homelessness and bring an end to homelessness as we know it in Denver. The Homeless Commission, together with 350 community volunteers, spent the next 18 months conducting an exhaustive research and planning process. Through their work, the commission came to the same conclusion that Reno officials did years later: the choice is not whether we want to provide housing for people who are homeless, the choices are the type of housing and the cost of the housing.

Before Denver’s Road Home, detox and jail comprised a very expensive substitute-housing program for the homeless in Denver. The city had been spending more than $70 million annually on shelter, health care and other services for the homeless without creating long-term solutions. For this reason, it would be necessary to implement a coordinated, efficient plan that would emphasize accountability by all participants (including the homeless), as well as a fiscally responsible response that would save taxpayers money in the long run. The Homeless Commission proposed the “housing first” model, a long-term strategy of providing affordable housing and employment for our homeless. The premise of the housing first model is this: it takes every bit of energy for someone to survive on the streets, the more quickly someone moves into housing the sooner they can stabilize their life and address other issues. Housing assistance is the first priority, followed by case-management, mental-health and substance-abuse counseling, employment and other services that help promote stability and self-sufficiency.

To achieve the ambitious goal of ending homelessness as we know it by 2015, a regional effort was imperative. Of the more than 10,000 homeless men, women and children estimated in the six-county metro area, 54 percent lived outside of Denver. With a metro-wide homeless problem, collaboration with surrounding counties would be key to expanding affordable housing and shelter beds and closing gaps in services.

Finally, Denver’s Road Home would need to balance the provision of housing, treatment services and job training with expectations of personal responsibility and self-reliance from those who receive the services. It would need to be about creating opportunity and helping people regain control of their lives.

The final plan, approved and implemented in 2005, was unique in its approach to not just serve the chronically homeless, those who are enduring long-term or repeated homelessness and typically suffering a serious mental illness or substance addiction, but also to provide opportunities and hope to all people living on the street, in shelters, or staying with friends and family. Denver’s Road Home has both compassion and accountability and has been tremendously successful in uniting our community to help end homelessness in Denver. After four years, the progress of this community collaboration is tangible and encouraging.:

* In the first three years, Denver experienced an 11% drop in overall homelessness and a 36% decrease in chronic homelessness; * Four years into the plan, more than 1,500 new units of housing for the homeless have been created; * Since implementation, the initiative has prevented more than 2,200 families from becoming homeless and helped more than 3,200 homeless people find jobs; * Side by side with the faith community, we’ve mentored 564 families out of homelessness; * To accomplish this, this community leveraged public dollars with more than $12 million in foundation and private sector support. Denver’s Road Home has generated $46.1 million in private, foundation and public sector support in the first four years in partnership with our fiscal agent, the Mile High United Way. Denver’s Road Home has worked closely with the community to develop strategic initiatives that not only generate awareness and resources for the plan, but also directly impact those we aim to support. This past October, Denver’s Road Home held its eighth “Project Homeless Connect” at the Pepsi Center; a single-day outreach program that connects the community to the homeless and the homeless with much-needed services, including employment, housing, health care, legal resources, identification, food-stamp benefits and more. Staffed entirely by homeless service providers and volunteers, Project Homeless Connect provides an opportunity for community organizations, businesses and individuals to be part of the plan to end homelessness. For the past two years, University of Denver students, faculty and alumni have hosted the event on their campus. Since the first Project Homeless Connect, Denver’s Road Home has helped connect more than 3,000 homeless people with more than 4,500 community volunteers, success that has prompted recognition from the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness.

In 2007, Denver’s Road Home partnered with the city’s Public Works Department, Mile High United Way and several private sector business organizations to launch the Donation Meter Project. Utilizing “retired” parking meters, this grassroots campaign is designed to increase awareness about Denver’s Road Home and redirect money that might otherwise be given to panhandlers into initiatives that provide meals, job training, substance abuse counseling, housing and other programs to those in need. To date, we’ve been successful in securing $1,000 sponsorships for each of the 86 meters installed throughout strategic downtown locations. While coins collected from the meters have raised approximately $25,000 per year and panhandling in the areas around the meters has decreased, an added value is the program has significantly raised awareness about homelessness and garnered attention from media outlets throughout the country.

Our annual fundraiser also has garnered widespread support from the Denver community and from our downtown hospitality industry in particular. In the initiative’s early stages, Walter Isenberg, a member of the original Homeless Commission and President and CEO of Sage Hospitality, wanted to do more, so he offered to host a fundraiser at one of the several downtown Denver hotels his company operates. Isenberg pledged 100 percent of the hotel room revenues from the night of the party, provided Mayor Hickenlooper would host the event in his pajamas, and the Annual PJ Party Benefiting Denver’s Road Home was born. The event, which is planned and executed almost entirely by individuals and professionals who donate their time and expertise, continues to grow in popularity and exceeds fundraising goals year after year. In 2009, the event sold out for the fourth year in a row, and 14 downtown hotels and restaurants donated a portion of their revenue on the night of the party. Coupled with corporate and community foundation gifts, the event raised half a million dollars for Denver’s Road Home. Next year, the PJ Party planning committee is setting the bar high once again. In addition to the Annual PJ Party, the planning committee will declare January 28, 2010, “PJ Day in Denver,” and encourage schools, businesses and other organizations around the city to raise money and awareness for the initiative by donning their pajamas for the entire day. As a result of this community effort, the PJ Party alone raised more than $1 million in resource for the homeless in the first four years.

Despite our tremendous success, the coming years pose new challenges. When Denver’s Road Home was launched no one could have foreseen the worst global recession since The Great Depression. Housing foreclosures, unemployment and funding cutbacks will continue to place new demands on Denver’s Road Home.

Lately we at Denver’s Road Home are often asked if the economy is going to impact progress we are making to end homelessness. While we have seen an increase in the newly homeless, the number of chronically homeless people has decreased. Indeed, it has been a challenging year. But we have also experienced great success and have seen a promising future. As a result of significant cost savings to the community credited to Denver’s Road Home through decreased use of detox and jail facilities by the homeless, the Denver City Council recently passed a proclamation supporting the development of 482 new units of affordable housing.

From the beginning, the citizens of Denver were promised a plan with achievable and sustainable goals with measurable action steps; a plan that emphasizes collaborative efforts and accountability from all people in the Denver community. As we move into year five of Denver’s Road Home, we have never been more determined to move this initiative forward. Through public, private and foundation support, Denver’s Road Home has not only exceeded its goals, objectives and outcomes for the first four years of the plan, but also has been designated part of a Model Cities program. Denver now co-chairs a model cities initiative with New York City as part of a Hilton Foundation grant through the National Alliance to End Homelessness where key leaders from across the country meet to share best practices and lessons learned. With five years left to go, and one of the most challenging economies of our lifetime, more than 4,000 homeless men, women and children still need our support. While we are on the right track, our work is far from done and our community must now more than ever work together to ensure that every ‘Murray’ in Denver; every homeless man, woman and child, has an alternative to living life on the streets.

When we started this initiative, we were asked frequently if we thought it was naïve or even ridiculous to tell people we were going to end homelessness. More than four years later, looking back, we ask: Isn’t it ridiculous to think we can’t?

Is it so outrageous to believe that in the next six years, given the successes we have experienced by a community coming together, that we can create enough units of housing, enough jobs and enough services so a woman and two kids who are victims of domestic violence don’t have to sleep in the back of their car for six months before we can identify housing for them? So a man who ends up homeless as a result of an addiction doesn’t have to live on the streets for eight years before we can connect him with treatment and housing? So a youth, who is kicked out of his or her home as a result of sexual orientation or an untreated addiction doesn’t have to sleep under a bridge or prostitute themselves on the streets for six months before they have access to housing?

Ending homelessness is not that we will never see a homeless person in our community again. Ending homelessness means making sure we have the services in place so when a man, woman or child is confronted with the unthinkable, that this community has a response to ensure that everyone has a safe place to call home.

Jamie Van Leeuwen, Ph.D, is Executive Director of the Mayor’s Office of Community Impact for Denver’s Road Home and Chair of the Office of Drug Strategy at the Denver Department of Human Services.

Business Methods Tackling Social Problems

By:Rebecca Saltman Issue: Conscious Capitalism Section: Jewel Of Collaboration

The Skoll Foundation

Social entrepreneurship is the true conscious capitalism of the 21st century, putting ethical values ahead of stock valuations. When I first learned of the term ”social entrepreneurship” I realized it could easily account for all the crazy work I have been doing for most of my adult life – certainly “cause-a-holic” was a pithy, but ultimately dismissive, term. When I described this 21st century concept to my mother, she was very relieved to finally assign a label to my constant flurry of activity (a flurry that was only rarely bound to a concomitant paycheck). On a flight to Denver my mother was so excited about her new discovery she tried it out. She was asked by the business woman in the seat next to her, “What does your daughter do for a living?” Mom proudly responded, “She is a social entrepreneur!” When the business woman promptly volunteered, “Oh, she owns a dating service?”, my mother was somewhat deflated. Her response did little to disabuse the woman of her misconception, while serving to abuse me. The good news is social entrepreneurship has finally moved into the collective consciousness and there are actually people that have not only heard the term, but can define it and live it. I had the opportunity to experience first-hand the magic engendered by the Skoll Foundation while attending the Skoll World Forum at the Said School of Business at Oxford in March of 2009. The event hosted notables such as Matthew Bishop (New York Bureau Chief of The Economist and author of Philanthrocapitalism), Elizabeth Lindsey (first female national fellow and first Polynesian Explorer at the National Geographic Society), Ken Brecher (former Executive Director of the Sundance Institute) and Lord Putnam of Queensgate. In creating his foundation, Jeff Skoll took an entrepreneurial approach by investing in, connecting and celebrating the world's most promising social entrepreneurs in order to effect lasting, positive social change worldwide.

Despite twisting my foot on a cobblestone path (Oxford is famed for many historical discoveries, sidewalks not being among them) I managed to attend a multitude of forums and experience the many valuable speakers. I was moved by the Foundation’s aptitude for bridging the many and varied resources of its guests. Kudos to Kelly Creeden, Marketing and Program Manager, and the masterful team that oversees the planning, scheduling, management and most importantly the needs of 800 internationally renowned "professional collaborators" at the World Forum. Kelly and the team certainly personify that spirit Jeff Skoll was evincing in creating his Foundation in 1999 - pursuing his vision of a world where all people, regardless of geography, background or economic status, employed the full range of their talents.

“Because the Skoll Foundation focuses its energies on solving the world’s most pressing problems by breaking down silos between organizations and encouraging collaboration, what is emerging is an entire industry for social change that is greater than the sum of its parts. Since 2005, Root Capital has taken important lessons from the Skoll Foundation on how to be 'pathologically collaborative',” says William Foote, founder and CEO of Root Capital and an avowed Skoll Fellow.

Social entrepreneurship as defined by the Skoll Foundation is, on the surface, eminently pragmatic:

The social entrepreneur aims for value in the form of transformational change that will benefit disadvantaged communities and, ultimately, society at large. Social entrepreneurs pioneer innovative and systemic approaches for meeting the needs of the marginalized, the disadvantaged and the disenfranchised – populations that lack the financial means or political clout to achieve lasting benefit on their own.

Skoll, who was the first employee and first President of eBay, believes that strategic investments in the right people can lead to lasting social change. It is this belief that elevates the pragmatic to the sublime. Many of the problems of our modern world, ranging from disease, to drugs, to crime and to terrorism, derive from the inequities between rich and poor,” he says, “be they rich nation vs. poor nation or rich community vs. poor community. It is in the best interests of the well-off to help empower those who are not as well-off to improve their lives."

The Skoll Foundation’s mission is to advance systemic change to benefit communities around the world by investing in, connecting and celebrating social entrepreneurs. These collaborative pioneers are proven leaders whose approaches and solutions to social problems are helping to better the lives and circumstances of countless underserved or disadvantaged individuals. By identifying the people and programs already bringing positive changes to communities throughout the world, the Skoll Foundation empowers them to extend their reach and deepen their impact, fundamentally improving society. Jeff and his partners traffic in updates on key initiatives undertaken by social entrepreneurs around the world, and then share those best practices and innovations with other partners and Fellows.

J.B. Schramm, is President and Founder of College Summit, an organization dedicated to raising the college enrollment rates of low-income, and commonly underserved communities nationwide. His observations as an academic advisor at Harvard, as well as his personal experiences graduating from an inner-city Denver high school, compelled him to practice the kind of entrepreneurship that the Skoll Foundation prizes. His answers to my three questions are both simple and illuminating, and truly advertise Jeff Skoll’s vision.

How Has Collaboration with Other Skoll Social Entrepreneurs Added Value to Your “Membership” in the Skoll Community?

The Skoll Foundation was an early supporter of College Summit’s vision that all students should have the same opportunity for post-secondary success. In April 2008, the Skoll Award and relationship provided us with the opportunity to be featured in a 25 minute segment on PBS’ NOW with David Brancaccio as part of their Enterprising Ideas series. In addition, at the 2009 Skoll World Forum, my meeting with a producer from PBS’s NewsHour led to a national segment with Judy Woodruff at a College Summit partner high school in St. Louis that had transformed from low-performing to all students expected to graduate college-ready. Both segments have raised our profile as a credible authentic voice within education policy and have been valuable tools in communicating the impact of our work.

How Have You Integrated Collaboration and Collaborative Strategies in Your Overall Organizational Goals?

Skoll funding and support connected us to not just influential funders and foundations, but tremendous thought partners and champions. College Summit’s institutional success has led to valuable partnerships with Deloitte and the Gates Foundation, helping us to build tools for data analysis and integrate our efforts into K-12 efforts nationally. College Summit has also been building relationships on Capitol Hill, the U.S. Department of Education, and with advisors to President Obama.

How Has Connection and Collaboration Affected the Impact Your Organization Has on the Ground?

The key to College Summit’s success on the ground has been the deep and open relationships we build with our partners’ schools. Our outcomes have improved dramatically as a result of our interactions with administrators, staff, and teachers to continually improve our programming and services. Most specifically, our collaboration has yielded broad consensus around the need to introduce services in every high school grade, and our new “Whole School” program addresses the 9th-11th grade contingent, maximizing college enrollment for low income students. College Summit’s work with the Skoll Foundation continues to reap very public profits. Wakefield High School student and College Summit Peer Leader Tim Spicer introduced President Obama to the nation for his recent education address, broadcast from Wakefield High in Arlington, VA.

This year, both at the World Forum and beyond, an important change came to light; the social entrepreneurs are now joining together with each other to drive expansion, improve operational efficiencies and increase impact. Some examples of cooperative work between Skoll social entrepreneurs include:

* Aflatoun, which focuses on teaching social and financial literacy to children, is working with the Afghan Institute of Learning, Committee for the Democratization of IT, Fundación Paraguaya, Visayan Forum Foundation and Escuela Nueva to deliver Aflatoun’s curriculum through these existing teaching networks. * Partners In Health and Riders for Health are partnering to improve the delivery of health care to rural poor in Lesotho and, potentially, other African countries. Riders for Health is also in the initial stages of a partnership with mothers2mothers to increase the mobility and efficacy of “Mentor Mothers” in their work to stop transmission of pediatric HIV/AIDS. Andrea Coleman, CEO and co-founder of Riders for Health, proclaims that money management is not the same as creating an equitable model for development. Jeff Skoll and his partners have illuminated that very point to her critics and fans alike, over and over. “Being part of the Skoll Foundation has allowed us to develop and test our social enterprise models, the prime example being our Transport Asset Management (TAM) programme in Gambia,” she said. “With TAM, Riders is exploring new ways of making effective use of money in the developing world... this would not have been possible without the Skoll Foundation. The relationship that the foundation creates between awardees has provided us with countless examples of best practice and innovative ways of working. Our partnerships with the Barefoot College and Gram Vikas in the Gambia have allowed us to share our knowledge and experience... (to) achieve results that would not have been possible had we acted individually.” * Global Footprint Network, Kickstart and IDE-India are all providing training for the inaugural session of an innovative leadership and enterprise program for high school graduates in Zambia run by Camfed. Aimed at developing entrepreneurial business and leadership skills through classroom work and distance-learning, the program will address themes of food security, ecological sustainability, sanitation and education. * Fundación Paraguaya now serves as an implementing organization for Kiva in delivering microloans in Paraguay. * Root Capital and TransFair USA work together to assure that farmers reap the full benefits of fair trade; higher income, enhanced environmental stewardship and stronger communities. Root Capital has also partnered with the Acumen Fund, the Skoll Foundation and others to create the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs to increase the amount and effectiveness of capital, technical, and business assistance for entrepreneurs in developing countries.

These are all meaningful partnerships designed to help increase a sustainable impact. While the Skoll Foundation has provided a venue to meet and exchange ideas, these partnerships have developed independently between the entrepreneurs. Enabling this level of connection to evolve into more strategic partnerships, driving both organizational breadth and societal impact, can only strengthen the power of the “conscious capitalism model” in the years ahead.

Rebecca Saltman is a social entrepreneur and the President and Founder of an independent collaboration building firm designed to bridge business, government, nonprofits and academia. Contact Rebecca at [email protected].

Amber Waves

By:Michael Connors Issue: Conscious Capitalism Section: Jewel Of Collaboration

A MillerCoors Close Up

Beer, in my humble opinion, is one of the pinnacle achievements of mankind. I also consider myself quite the aficionado. When I think of beer in general, I think of special occasions: weddings, sporting events, and barbeques. Essentially, it is an inextricable part of Americana. Therefore, when I was asked to write the article for MillerCoors it was difficult to hide my enthusiasm. I graduated from Golden High School and cannot remember a time when Legacy Coors

was not in the background of my memories, both as a community employer and citizen. When I was a child, I remember my father reminiscing about their road trips to Colorado from Louisiana to go skiing and bringing back a trunk full of golden twelve-packs to sell at a great profit. It was then the ultimate micro-brew. As a Colorado native, I know Legacy Coors to be a part of the foundation of the local community and an important partner in cases of natural disasters or other community tragedies.

Fast forward to today. Legacy Coors, in 2005, joined forces with Molson Canada to compete in a Global Economy and present itself as a global citizen, becoming Molson Coors. Then, in 2008 Molson Coors and SABMiller joint ventured to become MillerCoors – giving them greater domestic presence. Today the merged organizations have become MillerCoors and remain committed to the community at large.

Besides their commitment to natural-disaster recovery, MillerCoors maintains an over-arching community involvement program that encompasses five core responsibilities. With the force of an organization representing eight major breweries, a craft brewery, and two micro-breweries, MillerCoors has the capacity to magnify and focus the impact of their core responsibilities, production practices, and philanthropic efforts that promote responsible consumption, supports environmental sustainability while creating a sustainable supply chain, invest in people and communities and model ethical transparent business practices. Cornell Boggs, MillerCoors’ Chief Responsibility and Ethics Officer, says that with, “brewing great beer comes great responsibility.”

Community stewardship is encouraged in all aspects of MillerCoors, from production, to sales, to consumption. The guiding principles around community involvement at the company are embodied in R.E.A.C.H. which stands for responsibility, environmental stewardship, aid in emergencies, cultural diversity, and heritage. Together, R. E. A. C. H. and the five core responsibilities, mentioned above, compose a comprehensive community involvement program that enhances MillerCoors’ standing in the community and, ultimately, the bottom line. Community Engagement

During my interview with MillerCoors’ Vice President of Community Affairs, Mr. Al Timothy, I asked about the multi-pronged approach to community involvement. MillerCoors, he explained, “Supports efforts in these areas because they feel that they are not mutually exclusive and, when engaged properly, MillerCoors is then better able to collaborate with organizations that strive to improve communities where they work and live, thus helping to make a broader and more substantial impact. And at the end of the day, such community enhancement is good for business.”

When engaging internally or with the global community, MillerCoors begins at home. At Legacy Coors, for example, they have established Affinity Groups that allow employees to join forces with people of similar interests, and thus connect and collaborate within the larger organization. MillerCoors’ Minority Affinity Group is actively involved in minority supplier development by encouraging suppliers to consider increased supplier spend from minority-owned organizations. As a result, there is active collaboration and networking between first and second tier suppliers through hosted functions and through enterprise development activities. In fact, in 2008 MillerCoors awarded grants to minority-owned businesses for continued business education at the Kellogg School of Business at Northwestern University and the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.

MillerCoors also sets the standard when it comes to employee community involvement. Mr. Timothy points out that MillerCoors, “infuses a sense of community involvement in the workplace simply by prioritizing philanthropy, sustainability, and responsibility.” Simply put, to foster real change you start with people. to foster real change you start with people

They empower their employees to make a difference in the communities where they work and play and it seems to permeate the atmosphere of MillerCoors at large. Over the past several years, employee volunteers have collectively posted over 60,000 hours of community/volunteer time annually. Timothy said, “Through our volunteer activities, we dedicate resources to important causes, such as protecting our environment through beach restoration and watershed improvement projects, and providing food baskets to needy families through the Sam Sandos Christmas Basket and Cena en el Barrio programs.” Environmental Stewardship

When it comes to beer, there is one word that brings the manufacturing process and environment together – water. That’s why MillerCoors encourages volunteerism aimed at environmental stewardship associated with their production practices, as well as the impact on their communities. It takes a lot of water to make beer. Legacy Coors has long been famous for the “Rocky Mountain Spring Water” that makes its beer so crisp and enjoyable. As Mr. Timothy pointed out “Water is the blood of the beer business.” It is clear that no other resource involved in making beer is as important. Water flows through every step of the brewing process.

Given their roots in the Rocky Mountains and near the shores of Lake Michigan, they take water stewardship very seriously. MillerCoors is looking at ways to minimize water usage while making more beer. In fact, they are very proud to operate some of the most water-efficient breweries in the world. The established water usage target set by the United Nations Environment Program for brewers worldwide is 5.00 barrels of water for each barrel of beer produced. In 2008, MillerCoors recorded a 4.10:1.00 water-to-beer ratio. This year, they will aim to reduce that ratio to 3.96:1:00.

Water conservation, like many of their community-support programs, is only one feature of a larger corporate-responsibility picture. Mr. Timothy noted that Bill Coors long said “waste is simply a resource out of place.” “waste is simply a resource out of place.”

Therefore, the organization works to reduce and reuse waste - like making ethanol out of their spent grain and beer by-products, recycling of left-over production and packaging materials, and energy conservation. Going forward, MillerCoors has vowed to cut energy usage by 15% by 2015. Timothy said, “At our Texas brewery, we cut our reliance on natural gas by 9.3 percent by using biogas from wastewater in the boilers, and in California, the biogas from our anaerobic digestor’s powers electrical generators.” Sustainable Development

While sustainable production practices and community support are key to building and maintaining a profound sense of responsibility throughout the organization, perhaps most important to the management and employees of MillerCoors is responsible consumption. Beer is a product that carries with it an inherent potential for abuse. As a brewer, MillerCoors is working with community groups and private industry to educate and offer resources to curb underage drinking and drunk driving. Timothy says, “Drunk driving is completely preventable.” MillerCoors’ signature program for drunk driving prevention, You Hold The Key. Never Drive Drunk, has been activated in markets nationwide. In addition, they have numerous other drunk driving prevention programs including MillerCoors Free Rides, 1-800-Taxicab, Keep Your Balance, and a Certified Alcohol Sales Training (CAST) and Training for Intervention Procedures.

All of these programs focus on leveraging the existing public transportation and private cab infrastructure, e specially around holidays, in order to help keep the public safer and give revelers more resources to make better decisions. Additionally, MillerCoors focuses its advertising on legal drinking-age adults and supports programs like Respect 21 on Campus, Take Care, Student Emergency Medical Services Foundation, the W.I.N Foundation, and Raise Your Standards, to name a few.

What I discovered during my time with Mr. Timothy and during my exposure to the organization is that there is a true commitment to the communities where MillerCoors employees live and work. They want to help make a difference in the world around them and having access to the resources of such a large company helps them generate a noticeable impact. There is a true sense of volunteerism, environmental stewardship, promotion of responsible behavior and sustainable production practices because, simply put, “it’s the right thing to do.”

Conscious Capitalism, fundamentally, is the desire by all of us to help make the world a better place through our activities at work or at play. I believe this to be an attribute true of nearly all peoples on this earth. And this belief gives me great comfort and hope that companies, like people, will most often choose to do the right thing – just like MillerCoors.

Michael Connors has a M.A in Literature and is a Colorado native who grew up in the shadow of the Coors brewery. His interests include hiking, skiing and enjoying fine beer.

MillerCoors and Project C.U.R.E., together improving healthcare in developing countires

“Together we can change for the better the situation for children and their families in my country,” said Her Excellency, Mrs. Ernestina Naadu Mills, the First Lady of Ghana, at Project C.U.R.E.'s First Ladies' Luncheon earlier this year. The luncheon, sponsored by MillerCoors, raised enough money to send more than $2.5 million in medical supplies and equipment to hospitals and clinics in Ghana.

The luncheon was the fourth of its kind for Project C.U.R.E., a humanitarian relief organization that collects donated medical supplies and equipment in the United States and delivers these materials to doctors and nurses, and the patients they treat, in developing nations around the world. Previous events involved the first ladies of El Salvador, Mexico and Belize.

MillerCoors and its employees have been involved in Project C.U.R.E.’s work for several years. In 2005, a small group of passionate employees began volunteering their time at Project C.U.R.E. to help with sorting and packing donated medical supplies and loading containers for delivery to people in need. Their enthusiasm for the cause attracted the interest of other employees, and MillerCoors was soon holding quarterly volunteer days at Project C.U.R.E. ICOSA_vol1-6_FINAL.indd

What started as an employee initiative to give back to those less fortunate in the world grew into a corporate focus. In March 2008, Coors Brewing Company was a major sponsor of the First Ladies’ Luncheon with Mrs. Margarita Zavala of Mexico. For the luncheon honoring the first lady of Ghana in July 2009, MillerCoors was the title sponsor. Because of MillerCoors’ generous title sponsorship, all the money raised at the luncheon in July will go to delivering life-saving medical relief to people in Ghana, directly supporting the first lady’s goals for improving healthcare in her country.

The sponsorship also provided a unique opportunity for MillerCoors to engage in a full-circle corporate social responsibility program – one in which the company could make a meaningful impact for people in need of assistance and simultaneously added value to and recognized its employees’ interests and volunteer service to a nonprofit organization. MillerCoors employees will load containers of medical supplies and equipment for delivery to Ghana; some of them will also travel to Ghana to see the impact the company has made.

“MillerCoors and its employees understand first-hand the positive impact we are making in the lives of men, women and children in Ghana, and other parts of the world,” said Dr. Douglas Jackson, President and CEO of Project C.U.R.E. “In fact, together with MillerCoors, we’re saving lives! There’s nothing more meaningful than that.”

* LEGACY COORS = Coors Brewing Company prior to the joint venture with Miller.

The American Transplant Foundation

By:Jan Mazotti Issue: Conscious Capitalism Section: Jewel Of Collaboration

Connecting and Collaborating to Save Lives

Just weeks ago, at a book signing and speaking event in Los Angeles, Steve Farber, a lawyer, power broker, and philanthropic leader, met a young woman named Caitlin. This woman, just 20 years old was in need of a kidney. She had luckily been given a kidney just six years prior by her father, but it had failed and Caitlin was facing a nine year wait to get another one. Nine years is the wait in California for a kidney or liver. Already on dialysis for two years, she would have to be on dialysis for another seven, if her body could hold out that long. Farber asked her how she was coping with everything and she said, “not well, but you just deal with it.” Struck by her candor and bravery, Farber introduced Caitlin to the crowd before beginning his talk. He shared her story while reminding the crowd that 18 people die every day waiting for a kidney or liver. That’s 6,500 people a year. He said, “It’s needless…these deaths.”

About an hour later, Caitlin and her mother came back over to talk to Farber. Caitlin was sobbing. Farber reacted by saying, “I hope I didn’t say something that caused you to feel this way. What is wrong?” Caitlin, through her tears, looked at Farber and said, “It is because of what you said.”

Caitlin pointed out a woman across the room and told Farber that they had a discussion and had talked briefly about blood types and that she had agreed to be her donor. They were going to visit the doctor in coming weeks. If all goes well, Caitlin’s life will be saved!

Born and raised in Colorado, Steve Farber has been called the most powerful man in Denver – credited with bringing the Democratic National Convention there in 2008. As a child, Farber experienced kidney failure and spent extensive time at the Children’s Hospital. He says he remembers it vividly, even today.

Then in 2003, some 40 years later, Farber experienced kidney failure again. This time, without a transplant Farber would die. He explored various options before settling on a live donation from his son, Gregg in May 2004.

I had the extreme honor of visiting with Mr. Farber about one of his new passions, the American Transplant Foundation, and why he chose to create it. He talked about the substantial issues surrounding transplantation, why he wrote the book On the List: Fixing America's Failing Organ Transplant System with Harlan Abrahams and what's next on his agenda.. Why is there a need for the American Transplant Foundation (ATF)? How is it different than other non-profits addressing transplant issues? I was sitting with a priest during this journey to deal with my spirituality and I realized that if I got through this ordeal, there was a lot more for me to do. I knew if I got through the ordeal and God let me stay on this earth there were some other things that I had committed to do. One of them was establishing the Foundation. Before I established the Foundation, I did some due diligence to find out who was around and doing what job. What I found was that nobody was around that could simplify the complexities for me. Forming the Foundation and trying to get the word out to create a greater awareness about transplantation is a big part of it. And then after an article that ran in the Denver Post I received a lot of letters and emails that were thankful for my openness, especially concerning my family and personal issues. That’s when I decided to write the book. I wish I would have had a roadmap to get through this thing when I was going through it - I didn’t know anyone who’d had a transplant. Maybe I could serve as a roadmap, dealing with the physical and medical issues, as well as the emotional issues. It’s tough to conceive and deal with all the things that are put before you.

There were organizations like the Donor Alliance, the organ procurement organization, doing a wonderful job at recovering organs and matching them with their recipients. They have certainly created awareness around organ and tissue transplantation.

But what often gets lost is that there are more than 104,000 people in the United States waiting for a life-saving organ transplant.

One person being an organ and tissue donor can save 8 lives and impact the quality of another 100.

The impact would be unbelievable if everyone registered and shared their desire to give the gift of life by becoming an organ donor.

One of the things we did at the ATF was going to the Department of Revenue with a plan. We said, “What if everyone who submits a state tax return in Colorado could sign up to be an organ donor?” That’s when we knew that we were going to the legislature and lobby if needed. But it wasn’t needed. One week later, the Director of the Department of Revenue called me and said, “It’s done.” We have also created an Endowed Chair at the University of Colorado Hospital in transplantation.

Just like anything else, unless you continue to communicate with the community it slows down.

“Generally it costs upwards of $125,000 for procedures and we’ve had so many people call and say, ‘I don’t have insurance.’ We try to direct them to the right spot,” said Farber.

Steve Farber, Colorado Governor Bill Ritter and Heidi Heltzel at the Crosby, Stills and Nash benefit concert. Photo by Joshua Duplechian-Rich Clarkson & Associates. The real goal of the ATF is awareness – getting patients and their families to the right sources, to talk to them ourselves, to be the connector of resources. How is the American Transplant Foundation trying to change policy issues to tighten the gap between organ supply and demand? In your opinion, what are the most pressing legislative/policy issues?

There are so many. For starters, the Foundation has lobbied against the Family Veto law. We changed one word in the statute and now the wishes of the deceased donor, not their family, must be respected.

Additionally, we have been approached by different State legislators regarding the introduction of various pieces of legislation that would promote organ and tissue donation. One such example is “Opt Out” legislation, which would presume that all Colorado residents are donors unless they opt out of the donor program. But it’s unclear if such a measure would pass because it’s difficult for some people to accept the concept of opting out of a program instead of opting in. A number of European countries have already implemented opt out programs.

There are other national movements in the U.S. and there are many competing theories – the Free Market Camp, the Human Rights Camp… Senator Arlen Specter has tried to enact legislation that has been referred to as the Economic Approach. Currently, “valuable consideration,” which is the exchange of either money or goods and services from one person to another for the donation of an organ, is prohibited. It’s a felony. Specter, through his Economic Approach, wants to give States the right to create incentives that will encourage organ donation by allowing the provision of benefits, such as health insurance for living donors or burial costs for deceased donors. If you put a system like this into effect there will be a greater impact on the health and welfare of the whole community.

With more transplants you have more patients coming off dialysis, returning to work and contributing to the local economy. At the same time it saves the state money through various state funded programs. So why not do this? We need incentives to encourage people to become either living or deceased donors.

Today, Medicare limits the coverage of immunosuppressants for many transplant patients to three years. If Medicare covered the drugs for the life of the patient the government would actually save money in the long run. When Medicare stops covering the drugs, many people either reduce or stop taking them because they can’t afford them. Then they go into rejection and all of a sudden they’re back on dialysis again waiting for another transplant. That’s our medical system.

We’ve ask federal legislators, as they craft this new health care reform, that they extend the drug program for the rest of a transplant patient’s life. It’s been received very well. It’s really about what the free market is going to drive.

It comes down to fundamental fairness and equity issues.

(He laughs…) I feel like I’ve had more than a hand in it, I’ve had a kidney too. It sounds like you considered transplant tourism and then backed off. Why?

I had the ability to fly to a foreign country and get a black market organ. So many others don’t. But when it was all presented and after talking to a lawyer, who had gone to Turkey, for a kidney that the more I explored it - it was illegal.

The moral issues, paying somebody money, so that they could put food on the table by buying an organ from them, just didn’t sit well with me.

And then the movie Midnight Express kept going through my mind.

Just two weeks before I was scheduled to go to Turkey, I ran into a doctor friend at the Blue Bonnet restaurant. He said from across the restaurant that I looked terrible. I sarcastically said thank you. He said, “Wouldn’t it be a shame if you died when your son is a match?” I just sat there.

After dinner I went home and called my son and said, “Are you still there for me?” He said okay and we decided we’d do it in the next two weeks, but he said, ‘just don’t tell mom.’ I laughed and said don’t worry about it. It was ironic because the tables were turned. My son was now giving his father the gift of life.

You’ve said that one of your important life lessons was your willingness to be the beneficiary of change, but not prepared to be the agent for it. How have you taken that lesson and incorporated it into your endeavors? How do you see yourself changing the world?

I never forget what my mother said (and she told me constantly) about when I was a baby and the miracle of my life. Even though I was only 18 months old at the time, I remember the measles ward. About 6 years ago I received a call from a lady and she asked if I was the Farber boy brought in to the hospital in 1944. I said, “It depends. Who are you?” She said, “If you are that baby I was your nurse.” So we went for dinner – she was 85 years old – and she remembered my mother bringing me in to the hospital and telling her there was no hope – it was just a matter of time.

We have to know how much we really can change. It’s been said in the Talmud that if everybody saved a life, you could save mankind. Each of us can contribute in some way if everybody saved a life, you could save mankind. Each of us can contribute in some way and if we’re looking to contribute in the greatest way then being an organ and tissue donor is it.

It’s like setting goals - you have to know you can reach and achieve them. If you can, then you have some impact on making it a better world. When you accomplish one goal, then you can set the next one and make it a little loftier. That’s business to me. The 10 year plans – I’ve never been one for that. That’s the way I view my impact on the world.

Does collaboration play a role in building the Foundation and the other activities you pursue? How?

Collaboration is the key! A lot of what we set out to do can’t be done alone. You’ve got to have partners and adventurers. If you try to isolate yourself, you lose. It’s also a way to test your ideas because nobody has a monopoly on solutions. The beauty of partnerships is that you can sit down with a few people and get their ideas. When you bring in other people and you have a collaborative effort, you’re going to get to where you want to get a lot faster.

You’ve said that “a continuous search for why I’m here and what I really am intended to do” is what defines you. Why are you here and what were you intended to do?

Even when you’re on a path, maybe the wrong path, you have to recognize it. I was a pre-med major at the University of Colorado - Boulder. During my senior year I wondered if I would waste four more years of my life if I didn’t want to be a doctor. That day, I went to Boulder and asked my advisor if I could get into law school. The next day I picked up an application, applied to take the LSAT, and really never looked back. So maybe it was my destiny to save more lives through the Foundation than if I had become a doctor.

You have to find something you are passionate about. If you don’t, you are not going to be very successful at it. Every community requires leadership and the older I get the less energy I have. My vision is focused on what’s going to occur and on the younger people who are going to make a difference.

To learn more about organ and tissue donation visit http://www.americantransplantfoundation.org/.

New Belgium Brewing

By:Emily Haggstrom Issue: Conscious Capitalism Section: Jewel Of Collaboration

Increasing Fiscal and Sustainable Profits by Including Mother Earth as a Stakeholder

Just slightly north of Old Town Fort Collins, Colorado, set against the picturesque views of rolling fields leading up to the base of the Rocky Mountains, lies a new age log cabin type building with a rustic Colorado mountain feel. In the parking lot bikes and cars sit together as naturally as barley and hops. When you enter the building, just inside the bright wooden doors that make up the entrance, guests will meet the unusually happy staff of the New Belgium Brewery (NBB) within. In fact, these employees are so happy it’s rare that anyone ever leaves. And they’re not just happy to be there, they’re excited, and they have a lot to be excited for. \When you ask Kim Jordan, CEO, and Jennifer Orgolini, Sustainability Director at NBB, how collaboration with both their peers and the community at large help sustain their operations; you will receive one of those long awkward pauses. And just as you start to second guess the question, Kim responds, “We had to picture what collaboration looks like here because we’re so immersed in this reality that for us it’s as natural as breathing. So we needed to take a moment to tease out that dynamic a little bit to even be able to answer a simple question like that.” It’s as easy as breathing. In fact, collaboration is so easy for New Belgium it’s the hallmark that sets them apart from other craft brewers in the industry.

In capitalistic America it is often difficult to find businesses that thrive not only for profit, but for sustainability. New Belgium has continuously climbed, year after year, to the top of the corporate consciousness ladder to produce a quality product and a method for sustainability that even their employees are addicted to be a part of. The interplay of people, planet and profits with a triple bottom line approach helps evaluate their performance as a business while measuring their impact environmentally, economically and socially. Since becoming a commercial brewer in 1991, New Belgium has nurtured and refined their core values and beliefs, helping them experience consistent growth for over 15 years. Moreover, with each successive year New Belgium invests its profits into new innovations to improve their current means of renewable energy.

Cutting Edge Community Collaboratives

This year happens to be a very special year for New Belgium, who will become a pioneer in the craft brewing industry, as a test case for the Department of Energy’s new research grant, funded under the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. New Belgium along with other energy conscious businesses, Colorado State University, and the City of Fort Collins, will be one of the recipients of the Smart Grid Investment Grant program that was awarded to aid in the growing initiatives of FortZED. FortZED is a collaborative public private enterprise focused on creating the world’s largest active zero energy district on the emergent Smart Grid infrastructure.

New Belgium chose to participate in the FortZED collaborative for a variety of reasons. Going forward, NBB felt that their continuous growth would eventually lead to higher energy usage and that by aligning themselves with the project they could be role models in implementing change while acting as a real world case of taking intelligent energy conservation theory and putting it into practice. The grant outcomes are expected to demonstrate peak load reduction, which reduces energy use during peak hours on the national grid infrastructure. Energy Conscious at All Levels

As part of the project, New Belgium will demonstrate that when energy is peaking they can reduce their loads by generating power onsite or load shedding. Since receiving the grant in October, NBB has already started installing solar panels for their solar electricity system which will provide a percentage of power to their buildings. This solar array will support New Belgium’s efforts to reduce the use of non-essential motors, fans and pumps that will be able to be turned off on-demand.

Besides solar, there are additional load-shedding activities at the brewery. The largest daily electricity draw is from thermal storage and fermentation. To address this energy surge, New Belgium is developing a system to generate cold water at night when it is easier to cool, reducing power off of the grid. Because the issuance of the grant is so recent, each of these projects and many more are in the planning phases. But, NBB hopes to have both projects completed within the next two years.

Corporate Culture

Other than helping save Mother Earth one new project at a time, NBB is also extremely focused on its corporate culture and has been from the very beginning. It’s the reason why very few employees ever leave. They have created a sustainable model for employee retention that gives back to the very people who make up the core of the business and work to contribute to its success. It is why after a year of service employees get a “fully loaded” cruiser bike. And, it is why every employee receives part ownership in the company after only one year of service.

And because employees are new owners it’s only fair they know what their bottom-line is. Through an “open-book management” approach each employee is truly contributing to something that’s theirs. It gives them a sense of accountability. It creates a living with meaning.

There is an ethos that permeates through the walls of NBB that gives employees the feeling of being accepted for who they are. “They never have to hide behind their true personalities. So no matter what they do or who they are, they still represent a whole. They are New Belgium,” says Jordan.

Community Service

And speaking of bikes… have you used yours to participate in the funky scavenger hunt they call Urban Assault, or meandered into the Tour de Fat, possibly pledged your commitment to Team Wonderbike, or parked your bike and spread a blanket at the Bike-In Cinema on the New Belgium lawn?

If you’ve said no to any or all of these you’re really missing out. New Belgium works tirelessly to make their nationwide events major successes, while drawing attention to environmental sustainability along the way. In fact, at every event NBB aims to lessen their carbon footprint while raising money to give back to the local community where they serve beer. Each event comes fully equipped with recycling and composting receptacles from groups in town that partner with New Belgium to divert waste from local landfills.

Increasing Fiscal and Sustainable Profits by Including Mother Earth as a Stakeholder

So while participants ride bikes in crazy costumes, slurp on one of New Belgium’s amazing brews, or land themselves some groovy giveaways they can feel good knowing they’ve contributed back to NBB’s bottom-line. Through event participation, attendees contribute to the brewers overall investment into community involvement, serving up their corporate culture to people all over the U.S., and reinforcing environmental sustainability all while breaking out in a good sweat and reducing environmental impact. Hey, it’s all in a hard day’s bike event.

Considering the community collaboratives, environmental stewardship, corporate culture, and community service initiatives, it is important to note that I haven’t even scraped the barrel of “groovy” things New Belgium takes part in continuously every day, every month, and every year.

Seriously?!

How many businesses, let alone brewers do you know that make significant investments in renewable energy? How about any businesses that focus on partnering with local non-profits, non-governmental organizations and environmental agencies to make collaborative efforts and leverage their influence to make a large concentrated community endeavor? How many companies do you know that encourage healthy activities daily by promoting on-site yoga or biking into work? What about a business who steps into a role of advocacy to promote progressive plans that change the face of watershed, offer alternative forms of transportation or create a ground swell of enthusiasm over wind power?

You might find that other businesses can focus on only one issue at a time in addition to focusing on profit. This is where NBB sets itself apart, because there is a firm belief that each task contributes to the bottom-line and is mutually reinforcing the next.

Why does New Belgium do it? Because of that great beer born on “fat tires” rolling through the streets of Belgium.

Emily Haggstrom has a B.A. in Journalism and Media from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She is a member of the Level One Society in Denver, Colorado and sits in on various charity committees. In an effort to impact her local community she also volunteers for Whiz Kids Tutoring, Inc. as well as Denver Health Medical Center.

Living The Mission

By:Kim DeCoste Issue: Conscious Capitalism Section: Jewel Of Collaboration

Private S.T.E.M. Solutions & Public Education

“When systems fail, or produce the wrong results, big problems can result. Misunderstanding, overusing, or abusing interconnected systems can lead to regression in relationships …When connected networks work well, great productivity is possible.” -Gayle Dendinger, ICOSA Publisher

US. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan was appointed by President Barak Obama and recently referred to education as “the human rights issue of our generation.” Many agree.

The roots of the U.S. public education system go back to Jefferson and other 19th century American thinkers. For most adults today, it is a foregone conclusion that children will be educated in a public school unless their parents or guardians opt for private or home-based education. Either way, American youth have access to education.

We have seen the uptick of concern in recent years as many worry about how competitive American students are in the world. Politicians at every level here in the United States are talking about “STEM” education in particular. That is Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. Most agree that the U.S. is losing the race to stay ahead in the sciences and the relative performance of U.S. students on the global stage is slipping at an alarming rate.

Ironically, the United States remains a beacon for those studying sciences at the advanced levels. Many countries worry about the issue of “brain drain” on their talent pools, especially as young educated people come to the U.S. to study and then seek to make the United States their home. Obviously, this depletes homegrown talent from foreign countries, but what does the demand for those non-US scientists and academicians say about the generations we are raising here ourselves, our own home-grown talent?

In Colorado, there is a phenomenon referred to as the “Colorado Paradox.” It is reflected by the fact that the state ranks near the bottom (47 at last count) in high school graduation rates, yet it has one of the most educated adult workforces in the country. Colorado is considered a desirable place to live, so educated workers come in increasing numbers annually. They expect their children to receive good public education services and, indeed, there are many excellent K-12 school districts and several outstanding public colleges and universities from which they can choose. The question is how are many of those programs staying competitive?

Here in this state and in many others, we are facing an imminent funding crisis in public education. Governor Ritter recently referred to it as a “cliff coming,” and, while he insists that he has put more new money in higher education to date, he concedes that there is an imminent challenge in 2011 when stimulus dollars from the Federal government will no longer be available. Among citizens for the most part, this problem seems to be lost amid conversations about the economy and healthcare. And, ironically, we now see government intervention in the leadership and management of private companies, like the automotive and banking industries. The opposite trend may be taking place in public education.

Here in the United States there is a trend toward private capitalization and management of schools. Results seem to indicate that private groups manage local education better than public officials or administrators of public school districts. What are the implications? Can we afford to lose the public education system in the United States?

Causes for this trend are many and too complex to present here; so is the discussion about school choice, vouchers and charter schools. These topics are worthy of discussion but are not the intended focus of this article. What we seek to portray is the good work that is being done with private money in the public education system at all levels and what can we learn about these successful initiatives as we continue to challenge the existing system in an attempt to improve it for the benefit of all who rely upon its service.

A Look at Higher Education

There have been means by which private money has been directed into institutions of higher learning for generations. Certainly even our most established private universities, Harvard and Yale, have long relied upon the good will and fiscal faith of alumni and others to help them to maintain and expand their stature. Recent reports by The Wall Street Journal do indicate, however, that, “the universities [Harvard and Yale] …said their endowments, higher education’s two largest, each lost 30% of their value in the year ending June 30. Combined, the pair of investment pools shrank by a staggering $17.8 billion.”

Similar funding challenges face public universities and colleges which are feeling the pressure of revenue shortfalls and state budget crunches across the country as well. funding challenges face public universities and colleges which are feeling the pressure of revenue shortfalls and state budget crunches across the country as well.

What are they doing to offset this problem and to evolve programs?

Metro State College of Denver

In these challenging times, people look to colleges (even community colleges, increasingly) and universities to provide real, relevant learning services. In Colorado, one-fifth of all public higher education students attend classes on the Auraria Campus in downtown Denver and the majority of those, nearly 22,000, attend Metro State. In a state with several high-profile and successful institutions of higher learning, Metro is an example of accomplishing its goals through successful private sector collaborations.

The Colorado aerospace industry is the second-largest space economy in the nation and the Aviation and Aerospace Science Department was a recent recipient of $1.5 million in a “Satellite Toolkit Grant” from Analytical Graphics

Education Alliance, Inc.

In a non-descript building just west of the main campus, cutting-edge technology is deployed to give aviation and aerospace students access to flight simulators that make Metro State's Aviation and Aerospace Science Program the sixth-largest in the nation and they offer the only four-year degree in the state.

Graduates from Metro fly for major airlines, administer and manage international airports and hold leadership positions around the country. Recent estimates from the Federal Aviation Administration suggest than more than 17,000 air traffic controllers will be needed to replace those retiring in the near future due to mandatory retirement rules. The FAA selected Metro as one of 31 colleges nationwide, and the only one in Colorado, for its Air Traffic Controller Collegiate Training initiative to help address this need. Metro is a fine example of the deployment of private money to help a traditional public institution of learning excel and produce excellent student success results.

Colorado State University

Colorado State University is a land grant university. Traditionally it was regarded by natives as the “agriculture school” in the state. These days, amazing new projects are coming not only from the Ft. Collins campus but from around the state and from new and exciting initiatives the university is delivering to further its mission, particularly in support of the sciences and often with help from private donations.

The Monfort Family Foundation provides significant funding to Colorado State University to support recruitment and retention of top-quality faculty largely in the STEM disciplines. Selection of the Monfort Professors comes from an in-depth selection process that includes nominations from all eight colleges. In addition, the Monfort-Professor-in Residence program brings accomplished leaders from business, government and the arts to campus to interact with students and enrich their learning experiences.

Some of the leaders who have visited CSU include Sylvia Earle, marine biologist and explorer-in-residence at the National Geographic Society; Carl Williams, civil rights attorney; Robert Fornaro, president, AirTran Airways; and Kent Rominger, former NASA space shuttle commander and Vice President of Advanced Programs, ATK Launch Systems.

Private companies and foundations have made significant investments in spinoffs that were founded on technology developed at Colorado State. Fort Collins-based Bohemian Investments, a private investment company, has contributed to CSU startup Solix Biofuels Inc., an alternative energy technology firm that is focused on developing algae into biodiesel. The Bohemian Foundation has also contributed funds to CSU startup Envirofit International, which has developed clean-burning cook stoves and two-stroke engines that are helping to solve huge environmental problems in the developing world.

The Shell Foundation committed $25 million to Envirofit to design, build and disseminate 10 million cook stoves throughout the developing world over the next several years. The company has already sold over 60,000 stoves in India alone!

Envirofit and Solix were founded at the Engines and Energy Conversion Laboratory (EECL) in the Mechanical Engineering department at CSU; both companies still maintain active research agreements with the EECL. Approximately 95% of the funding for the EECL comes from private sources. The EECL has partnered with companies like Caterpillar, Waukesha, Cummins and Woodward Governor on ground-breaking and innovative research.

Computer companies also have been major contributors across campus. Among the contributors are Sun Microsystems and Hewlett Packard, which have provided computers to such projects as the living-and-learning community known as the Academic Village, the Engines and Energy Conversion Laboratory and the new 45,000-square-foot Computer Science Building. The state-of-the-art computer science center features leading-edge technology to help empower students with the skill set and expertise needed to compete in the global economy.

Next door to the Computer Science Building is the Warner College of Natural Resources, named after Edward M. Warner, renowned geologist, philanthropist and distinguished alumnus, who donated $30 million in 2005 to position the college as a global leader in research and education. The gift led to the first named college at Colorado State and one of only a few named public colleges or schools of natural resources in the nation. Warner's gift is the largest in the history of Colorado State University and is believed to be the largest private gift given to name any U.S. public college of natural resources. The gift has allowed for great strides in geological education, research, and oil, gas and mineral exploration. The gift also created two endowed chairs in geophysics and economic geology at Colorado State.

And finally, no look at CSU would be complete without a nod to The College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences which continues to attract significant private dollars in such areas as equine sciences. Several endowed chairs (for professors) have also been created in recent years, including the Ken and Virginia Atkinson Chair for Musculoskeletal Imaging, the Abigail K. Kawananakoa University Chair in Equine Musculoskeletal Integrative Therapies and the Iron Rose Ranch University Chair in Equine Reproduction. Other donors have endowed a graduate cancer biology program and a professorship of complementary and alternative medicine, the first of their kind in the country.

Examples of private funding for public higher education abound across the country. What is clear is that with increasing pressure from legislative budget cuts at the state level in particular, traditional public universities will have to continue the creative pursuit of private money to remain competitive here in the United States and among competing campuses around the world.

Private Money at Work in K-12 Schools

Generally the burden for funding K-12 public education is controlled at the state and local level and the means by which funding is sent to, received by and deployed in a school district varies by state, by region and by district. Few realize that public education was not originally conceived as a federally managed program. Much of this lies in the fundamental belief that favors local control.

Under Ronald Reagan, government expanded to include a Cabinet- level post for a Secretary of Education. Some argue this was the beginning of a trend that continues today with federal “oversight” and intervention in the administration of public education. Certainly more recent matters such as the Bush Administration’s No Child Left Behind have created additional pressure on the public education system. Some call this an example of an unfunded mandate. Some see it is an attempt to impose accountability and standards on the system. Either way, it is clear that there is a messy mix of issues clouding our ability to drive success in our K-12 public schools. Accountability is easy to pass along at every level. In a meeting earlier this month, current Education Secretary Duncan stated that, “...the biggest problem with NCLB is that it doesn't encourage high learning standards. In fact, it inadvertently encourages states to lower them. The net effect is that we are lying to children and parents by telling kids they are succeeding when they are not." He further encouraged educators and lawmakers to immediately reauthorize the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

Though many points around education are disputable, what is not disputed is that school funding and school performances are, in many cases, at all-time low levels in American public schools, particularly in the STEM disciplines.

SAT scores among U.S. students (of all races) peaked in the early 2000’s but are now trending downward according to the College Board. The trends disappoint those in education who hoped to see improvement. According to Chester E. Flynn, Jr., President of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a think tank in Washington D.C., “If there is any good news here, I can’t find it.” He further commented that he expects this to drive the conversation among governors and superintendents to seek national standards.

Yet is the challenge of STEM education being handled in the meantime? In a very ad hoc way. Districts turn increasingly to the good-will of private individuals, private companies and PTOs to fund, manage and sometimes even deliver services they used to deploy with different autonomy.

Principal Gina Smith of Acres Green Elementary School in the Douglas County School District, south of Denver, looks to her PTO to continue to fund programs in the 2009-2010 school year that used to be funded by the district. In the past two school years under the direction of PTO President, businessman and father of three, Brad Levy, the Acres Green PTO spent over $125,000, which was raised by the PTO to fund summer school reading remediation, the acquisition of sound systems to help improve student learning in the classrooms, the creation of a science lab, the purchase of library materials, supporting teacher grants for classroom materials like art, music and additional reading supplies, as well as physical and outdoor education programs.

These monies were raised by selling cookie dough, by an annual school auction, through the annual student race for education, by clipping box tops and with the support of local businesses like Whole Foods, Papa John’s Pizza, Red Robin and Taco Bell, to name a few. Without the effort of the PTO and the support of the school’s families, over 700 kids in the 6th wealthiest county in the United States would not have had access to those services. Douglas County voters did not pass bonds last year that resulted in $58 million in budget cuts that will take place over the next 3 years. The district’s operating budget of $450 million is being carefully managed to minimize the impact on student learning, but clearly it is a challenge to remain competitive under such circumstances. Without private partnerships and private money, one could only speculate what might happen to one of the highest-performing districts in the state that currently serves over 54,000 students.

There are conversations about private STEM academies coming to the district backed by major employers in the area. One such proposal that is circulating is for the construction of a $200 million STEM Academy. Advocates for the STEM Academy argue that, “community leaders who are working to build STEM High and Academy believe that the habitual disconnect between education and industry must be replaced with a mission of academic relevance.”

One can imagine the challenges for a district facing $58 million in budget cuts to argue for or against such an academy operating within its district. Clearly “industry” in this case does not want to deploy the $200 million to the existing public school system. While such a school that seeks to show how “the finest teachers will be recruited into a professional environment with deserving salaries that are augmented with summer internships in … [the] high tech industry” is a blessing to the students it will serve, it could also be a challenge to the district in which it must operate. Can the two find a middle ground that benefits as many students as possible? Certainly that must be the goal, but it is a challenging conversation.

Examples such as these are myriad and can be found all across the United States. Answers are not easy and academic and political leaders must grapple with many issues to attempt to resolve this challenge.

In the spirit of ICOSA, which advocates for collaboration and cooperation to address and solve the most difficult questions, we can only hope that a productive conversation can lead to definitive action to channel the good will and good funding resources available to support the public education system we enjoy. Clearly public education is not free and clearly it is a benefit to all in our society and around the world who stand to benefit from the innovation and hard work of future generations of American learners.

Kim DeCoste Is President of DeCoste & Associates. Contact Kim at www.decosteassociates.com or call 303.470.9898

Home Sweet Home

By:Lee Rasizer Issue: Conscious Capitalism Section: Jewel Of Collaboration

Affinity Homes

Anyone who has witnessed a magician tear apart a dollar bill only to watch as the currency suddenly appears whole has a sense of how Larry Lipman operates.

A self-described “serial entrepreneur,” Lipman’s latest venture in the building sector, under the umbrella of The Affinity Corporation Inc., on the surface is seemingly scattered in multiple directions.

It’s actually the byproduct of tearing apart the underpinnings of the affordable housing sector and recasting it as a whole entity with the greater good in mind.

The construction of affordable, system-engineered housing serves as the foundational piece of Lipman’s venture but it also branches off into divergent areas such as bridging the achievement gap in low to middle-class individuals; community and economic development aimed at helping blue-collar workers achieving first-time home ownership, adult training and apprenticeship programs, and the green movement.

That big-picture thinking in the end will make that buck, not by hocus pocus, but using this clearly-defined blueprint with an altruistic bent.

“It’s about reaching and touching people,” Lipman explained about his company, for which he serves as President and CEO. “Money takes care of itself if you do the good thing. I don’t want anybody to be confused and not understand that we’re about making money. But first and foremost, we’re interested in improving quality of life and humanitarianism.”

we’re about making money. But first and foremost, we’re interested in improving quality of life and humanitarianism.”

Affinity’s philosophy isn’t as a builder or developer per se but as an organization that supports the stewards of the community.

The company works with municipalities, non-profits, faith-based organizations and community development companies that may have the political clout and ability to attract grants and funding in order to create community economic development but perhaps lack the capacity to pull all the parts together. “Our whole premise is relationships,” he said.

Sensitivity to the needs of low-income homebuyers; taking steps necessary to assure those families remain within those structures, including access to health care and other core services in the surrounding areas; providing access to the opportunity ladder and even employing individuals in those communities to construct homes all were “passionate principles” drawing Dr. Samuel B. Little to join Lipman’s redevelopment efforts.

Little has spent nearly three decades working in the government and public housing arena on neighborhood solutions, including a dozen years as Associate Deputy Director at the Housing Authority of Baltimore City and five more as Executive Director of the Office of Resident Services at the District of Columbia Housing Authority in the nation’s capital. He’s put his clout and international relationships behind Lipman’s company and now serves as its Executive VP for Global Business Development.

“I have spent a good number of years in the public sector as an administrator of housing programs that sought to transform blighted developments into neighborhoods of choice, especially for first-time homeowners,” Little said. “The best models of development integrate the physical and community support services in the approach to rebuilding neighborhoods. I’ve seen project after project fail miserably because the design omitted the needs of families. In too many instances, communities reverted back to the debilitating conditions that required redevelopment in the first place."

“What was very attractive to me was it was a well thought out strategy that reflected passion for people that not only wanted to empower individuals but strengthen families and improve the overall landscape of communities,” he added. “I think it’s rather unique in the way it’s done.”

Lipman’s underlying passion for this project initially stemmed from his involvement with real estate and rental properties nearly six years ago in Denver, Colo. He found himself trying to create opportunities for lower-income families, supporting their efforts to build credit and eventually owning property through shared-equity type contracts.

But he quickly discovered during that time that many of these same clients struggled with missed payments, problems with budgeting, lack of upkeep and other issues, and this frustrated him.

Those feelings were compounded by the unscrupulous dealings he’d seen from other folks in the rental sector whose sole purpose he viewed as profit-minded and whose actions landed countless tenants on the street.

Lipman’s mother having served as a social worker was steeped in his consciousness as well. He wanted lower-income people empowered to improve themselves and not just be beneficiaries of welfare and other social programs.

“I looked at affordable housing in the truest sense of the word and said, ‘This can be fixed and improved,’” Lipman said.

Yet there were myriad other issues to tackle. His link with a local builder that bought land and built low-cost “McMansions” demonstrated first-hand that technology wasn’t being fully utilized to efficiently build these affordable homes.

Lipman’s subsequent fact-finding mission around the country, beginning in 2006, and incorporating visits to hundreds of community housing development organizations, uncovered countless tales of speculative construction projects with little payoff for the non-profits that sank thousands of dollars into hiring contractors.

Like Lipman’s experience, Little listened to countless tales of projects failing to materialize after months and perhaps years of time and effort.

The solution Lipman envisioned would be multi-layered.

His company would provide cradle-to-grave project services, integrating the steps necessary to plan, organize, finance and build single dwellings to entire neighborhoods. That would mean encompassing such chores as feasibility studies to soil analysis in preparation of sites to aiding with grant writing and connections with the Federal Home Loan Bank, all while non-profits maintained control of the projects.

Those ventures would encompass unique, multi-product housing solutions to meet specific needs in specific locations, ranging from apartments and condominiums to single and multi-family residences to low-income housing, row houses, townhouses and multi-story mixed-use dwellings.

“Often times in development projects, entities focus on one part of the country or a particular housing type,” Little noted. “But Larry’s whole concept was to be responsive to the housing needs globally, in different parts of the country and with a multiplicity of housing types. Many housing projects will have traditional or what I call low-income housing that doesn’t reflect the architectural value of the broader neighborhood. But with the multiple building designs, Larry’s able to do housing across the country and he’s taken time to understand the needs of the African-American, Latino and Indian communities and can incorporate different architectural styles. It gives him an additional trust that he’s responsible to the needs of broader society.”

The acquisition of a well-established Dayton, Ohio, manufacturing plant specializing in engineered housing meant that such projects not only would match together perfectly on site at a lower fixed cost than traditional stick building but saved time by preparing the homes off-site during site preparation. The structures could be built much more cost effectively too, since union wages tied to federal funding didn’t apply because of the off-site construction. And the units could be transported to a multi state area, affecting economies on a regional scale while paring the cost of each contract item.

Lipman currently touts construction time at two-thirds of conventional building methods and costs $10-$15 less per square foot.

His company is planning manufacturing hubs in six different regions spanning the Midwest, Northeast, Gulf Coast, Southeast, Southwest and Texas. Each will be designed to fulfill private and public construction contracts within a 400-mile radius of those plants.

“If you can reduce the price of the land, reduce the price of the infrastructure, reduce the cost of the building and the carry or delivery costs, you make a home much less expensive. It’s not hard to do,” Lipman said. “You just have to put some thought into it.”

The energy efficiency of these homes, based on Housing and Urban Development guidelines that link median income to the appropriate level of mortgage costs, could help assure families weren’t taking on an expense they couldn’t sustain by giving them more home for their money. All Affinity homes are Energy Star rated and can be built to any Energy and Environmental Design green standard.

Affinity recently applied for a grant in Ohio for a plant that will run on solar energy, which would rank it among the state’s first such factories. The company’s energy division also is working with scientists on using a solar roof rather than panels atop a structure as part of future designs, with an eye towards selling some of the electricity collected back to the grid.

“It’s improving communities by doing better projects,” Lipman maintained.

But the item that truly differentiates Lipman’s master plan is an education component. A substantial piece to the competitive grant process for non-profits seeking to obtain grants from the Federal Home Loan Bank or government entails providing an empowerment program for the demographic they serve. Mentoring the steps necessary to move from rental properties to home ownership, discussing the accompanying economic growth needed to make the jump, and providing advice on budgeting, credit counseling and mortgages, are handled by many such organizations, with the financial backing of cities and counties.

Lipman, though, saw another potential side of empowerment from his own personal prism that could be added. Growing up in Delaware, he was a solid A and B student in elementary school until moving to middle school, as he put it, “on the other side of the tracks.” Suddenly, his grades dipped sharply. His self-esteem tanked. It was initially attributed to emotional issues due to moving until a therapist advised his family nothing was wrong.

“It haunted me until a few years ago when I figured it out,” he admitted.

What he discovered is that the foundational curriculum he was supposed to know at his new school differed from his previous institution, causing an educational or achievement gap. The answer, in his view, was as simple as finding what he’d missed and getting him back to a level playing field with the rest of the students.

Lipman investigated the issue further and discovered an educational tool started in South Africa, now on five continents and U.S. based, designed to bridge those gaps. He saw it as a powerful means at lifting up those disenfranchised or let down by the public school system in the communities his company will serve.

An offshoot of his parent company, Affinity Learning, now is a licensed provider of the EDUSS educational remediation tool. It diagnoses foundational gaps from first grade all the way to the adult level and provides a prescriptive learning plan to bring students back to a level playing field in math, english and phonics. Lipman has made the product available for licensed teachers to not only work with families but also made sure community centers, faith-based organizations and public housing projects have access.

By assisting people to attain higher levels of educational proficiency, Affinity views itself as investing in the continuing growth of the people within communities. “I thought, what a great way to couple housing, economics and community with education,” he said.

Singapore-based investors, Solvators Inc., agreed. The company has made a $20 million capital investment so that the $43 million worth of projects Lipman has contracted and pending will get off the ground. The workload includes six townhomes for a casino workforce in Lawrenceburg, Ind. and a senior assisted living facility in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Affinity also is deep into negotiations for a 1,200-unit ecotourism project in Mississippi, a 100-acre redevelopment project in Trenton, N.J. and also is focusing on Indian reservation housing needs that HUD says may include as many as 200,000 units.

His investors eventually want to replicate his model throughout Asia, Africa, Latin America and Eastern Europe. The plan is to export management but not own plants or equipment overseas. Little’s contacts abroad with ambassadors, diplomatic staff and foreign business leaders should be a key component in those efforts.

“Almost everybody is working with me because I’ve touched something in their heart,” Lipman said. “Habitat for Humanity did the same thing – found a way to help people and provide something they normally wouldn’t be able to do on their own.”

Lipman admitted the road to this point has been “difficult” and included people telling him that they weren’t really interested in the humanitarian side of his vision, only finances.

He’s gone through business partners, even invested his life savings. Yet the humanitarian side of this crisis pushed him forward.

“I wanted to do better (financially) but over time it became … ‘Someone’s got to do something about this. This is horrible.’ I wanted to help some people improve their lives, get into a home and not get taken. But it evolved into community economic development… and being part of a ‘new definition,’” Lipman explained. “Cities don’t want to just slap houses up anymore. They want to create real communities. That’s what it’s really evolved into.”

Lee Rasizer has spent more than two decades in professional journalism, working for major U.S. newspapers. He is currently a freelance writer and editor based in Littleton, CO, and can be reached at [email protected].

Corporate Social Responsibility

By:Perri Petricca Issue: Conscious Capitalism Section: Jewel Of Collaboration

Makes Good Business Sense

How times have changed! Major law firms across the country are actually paying first year associates – salary and benefits – to not work at their firms but, rather, to pursue full-time work for a non-profit for a year. The economic recession has impacted business to a point where law firms do not currently need an influx of new lawyers, but these same firms know that the economy will rebound and they will need new talent when it does.

Other companies, from large financial companies to small construction firms, from health care conglomerates to biotech companies on the cutting edge of research, have formalized volunteer programs with the singular goal of providing change in their communities – to transform people’s lives through the power of their collective effort, that both inspires a spirit of citizenship and corporate responsibility.

These are just a few examples of how companies are building Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives into their business plans. In the past, businesses large and small would engage in philanthropy based upon a sense of responsibility to their community. Today, with greater competition for customers and for talent both nationally and internationally, CSR is proving to be a powerful tool not only for community engagement but for bottom line success.

These sophisticated, coordinated CSR strategies serve a dual purpose: they assist in efforts to recruit and retain talent while also making a philanthropic contribution to the community. More and more employers – of various industries and various sizes with various missions – are realizing that this makes good business sense.

A new report by the Massachusetts Business Roundtable (MBR), in collaboration with the Emerging Leaders Program, an executive training program at University of Massachusetts Boston, documents significant shifts over time in corporate philanthropy, and concludes that CSR has emerged as a critical strategy for employers looking to recruit and retain talent. The report, “Corporate Social Responsibility and Employee Recruitment and Retention: A Primer,” finds that, “As more and more companies try to differentiate themselves from their competitors, they must treat Corporate Social Responsibility as far more than charity. CSR must be a core component of their business model.”

“As more and more companies try to differentiate themselves from their competitors, they must treat Corporate Social Responsibility as far more than charity. CSR must be a core component of their business model.”

The report continues MBR’s history of exploring issues of corporate philanthropy and sharing its findings with the broader business community. It not only confirms that CSR is an important strategy for the recruitment and retention of talent, but it provides a useful tool for employers who are looking to use CSR more strategically as an integral part of their business plans. The report is based upon interviews with 20 Massachusetts companies, predominantly large employers, representing a cross-section of industries. It compiles current CSR best practices and provides a variety of examples of how employers are using CSR more strategically as an integral part of their business plans. The following five key findings of best practices are drawn from the report’s recommendations:

Create and Maintain a Clear Link to the Company’s Mission and Secure Executive Endorsement.

Corporate leaders emphasize that CSR is central to their corporate cultures. Philanthropic decisions are inextricable from the companies’ business decisions, and these decisions flow from the top down and from the bottom up.

A good example comes from the experience of Wainwright Bank & Trust Company. For over two decades, Wainwright has been steps ahead of the industry with a socially progressive agenda like no other bank in the country. When many of the 14,000 banks in existence when Wainwright was founded in 1987 were devoting themselves to maximizing only the financial bottom line, Wainwright was planning a strategy that would depend not only on doing well but also going good. The Bank’s social justice platform, its second bottom line, is fueled by the business platform, and in turn its social justice initiatives helped fuel business – they are mutually supportive. The Bank’s many progressive initiatives have helped it acquire over $820M in assets.

Engage Employees at all Levels as Decision Makers and Leaders in Regard to CSR Targets and Activities.

Corporate philanthropy and volunteer programs are opportunities for employees from throughout the company to become engaged citizens, both with their communities and with each other. Well designed programs provide mechanisms for garnering input from employees and give employees choices as to how they might contribute. Recognizing that executive leadership will set the general direction for a corporation’s CSR programs, employees should play a central role in helping to define and refine these programs. Employees can help identify specific projects worthy of corporate investment. They can provide constructive feedback once a CSR program is launched as they participate, witness its impact and consider how the program might be improved.

Over the last ten years, IBM has been one of the largest corporate contributors of cash, equipment and people to non-profit organizations and educational institutions across the U.S. and around the world. One of its strategies is to team up with employees to support organizations they care about in the communities in which they live and work. IBM provides support to employees who volunteer their personal time to community projects. This support from the employer both encourages and sustains corporate philanthropy through volunteerism.

Leverage Employees’ Skills and Their Ability to Make Positive Contributions to the Community.

Employees deploying their skills to benefit a community can give them confidence in the positive contributions they can make and help the community see the employees – and the corporation – in a new light. At Unistress Corporation, part of Petricca Industries, “in-kind” contributions have enabled a sense of ownership in the organization’s CSR strategy by leveraging the company’s biggest asset, its employee skill base. As a manufacturer of precast/prestressed concrete products and specialists in road construction and large-scale highway infrastructure, Petricca’s employees have unique skills in construction and heavy equipment operation. Employees are often called upon to utilize their experience in non-traditional ways that benefit the community they live in. Whether clearing land or constructing playgrounds, the employees are encouraged to participate by leveraging their expertise as machinery operators and engineers. Not only do Petricca’s employees feel proud about the contributions they made to their hometown of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, community members witness first-hand the skill required to operate heavy machinery – and saw these crewmen, and their employer, with new appreciation.

Provide Opportunities for Employees to Develop New Skills.

CSR programs provide valuable opportunities for employees to become engaged in new ways. When employees take on new roles that are different from the ones they hold at their corporation, they are learning new skills, and their coworkers can recognize different strengths that might not be obvious in the workplace. CSR can help make a company a workplace of choice.

Since 2000, EMC Corporation has supported programs in the U.S. that encourage K-12 students, especially girls and underrepresented minorities, to pursue their interest in science and technology. Through its partnership with North High School in Worcester, Massachusetts, EMC is the corporate partner to the Technology and Small Business Community, providing volunteer assistance in the classroom and sponsorship of other education programs, such as robotics partnerships, across the state. These initiatives allow employees to develop skills outside of their professional expertise and provide EMC with a valuable experience with their next generation of potential workers.

Encourage Teamwork Through Group Volunteer Programs.

Group volunteer programs allow team members to work with each other in new ways. By working together on projects outside of the office, employees can gain a better understanding of their co-workers and appreciate talents that may not be apparent within the work environment.

has a longstanding legacy of community giving and developing community partnerships. For example, with their bright blue t-shirts and BlueCrew logo, andmore than 1,000 volunteers strong, the BCBSMA volunteer corps is a familiar sight and a highly sought-after team. Over the years, the BlueCrew has built a Habitat for Humanity house, helped City Year run a school vacation camp, helped a community health center hold a women’s health summit, provided mentoring services for the Blue Scholars program, decorated elder care residences, and raised money for dozens of organizations. These experiences have brought BCBSMA employees together in new ways that benefit them, their employer, and the community.

In addition to defining these best-practices, the report suggests components of corporate citizenship that can help maximize the impact of a company’s CSR efforts, including:

Forming Meaningful Partnerships with Non-profits. When companies and charities form partnerships, the results can be more visible to the employees and yield significant benefits both for the non-profit and the larger employer.

Using Core Competencies – Donate Skills as Well as Money. There are many cases in which employees can leverage unique skills that can often be out of reach for many non-profits and has the added benefit of being a tangible, visible contribution.

Working with a Non-profit on Issues that Align with Business Objectives. For organizations that are just beginning to explore a formalized CSR program, it is recommended that they first focus on issues that align well with their business objectives.

Learning from Mission-Driven Organizations. For some organizations, the social mission is in fact the corporate mission. Current thought leaders in the CSR space suggest that an innovation transformation in which corporations are refocusing resources on social needs is already underway.

Developing best practices requires commitment on the part of the corporation. In the best cases, a team of stakeholders within the corporation are driving the development of formal programs to engage all employees in the corporation’s philanthropic and volunteer programs. Smart leaders understand that this has positive impacts on the recruitment and retention of employees, on the community, and on the company’s bottom line. Even in a down economy, it is important for companies to keep their eye on long-term goals and keep CSR as part of their strategic mix.

Perri Petricca is the CEO of Pittsfield-based Petricca Industries and Chair of the Massachusetts Business Roundtable’s Task Force on Corporate Social Responsibility.

Atlas Copco

By:Sara Schmuck Issue: Conscious Capitalism Section: Jewel Of Collaboration

Joining Forces to Bring Quality Water to All

Over a billion people worldwide lack access to clean drinking water.

Human beings need at least one liter of water per day to survive and 50 liters for reasonable comfort.

Better water, sanitation and hygiene could reduce diarrheal diseases such as cholera and dysentery by as much as about 30 percent according to the World Health Organization.

More than 65% of the world’s population does not have enough water. Every day, diseases that could be prevented by better water quality kill thousands of children, most of them below the age of five. But there are several programs to deal with this global crisis. One of them originated at Atlas Copco.

Employees of Atlas Copco launched an initiative of their own, called Water for All (WFA) over 20 years ago. A severe drought in Peru inspired Atlas Copco as a corporation to help the plight of the thirsty. Rather than just donate money to a cause, Atlas Copco enlisted contributions from its employees and formed the organization.

Since its founding in 1984, Water for All has helped provide close to one million people with steady access to clean drinking water. Water for All cooperates with non-political aid organizations, funding different kinds of water projects in countries such as Kenya, Sudan, Burkina Faso, India, and Afghanistan. For example, in Tibet, Water for All works with the Swedish Tibetan Society for School and Culture. The group’s main aim is to improve the educational opportunities for children in Tibet, but with Water for All as a sponsor; it has also installed wells with drinking water at three schools, which are used by the children as well as by thousands of villagers in the vicinity.

The organization is funded through employee contributions, which Atlas Copco matches. The motto of Water for All is, “Clean drinking water is a basic human right.”

What Kind of Solutions are Provided?

The goal is to give people access to safe drinking water by providing sustainable solutions which they can manage themselves. Simple methods that are used include either digging or drilling wells for which Atlas Copco's equipment is sometimes used, building weirs, protecting existing natural sources such as springs or simply installing hand pumps.

Jo Cronstedt, Vice President, Public Affairs and Environment, notes that traditionally it is the women in developing countries who have the job of fetching water, often at the cost of their education. “Girls and young women in Africa, for instance, can spend much of the day walking long distances to and from water sources instead of attending school. Therefore an extra valuable achievement for Water for All is to install a pump at a school so that the girls can get education and water at the same time.”

Participation from the Recipients

Those who benefit from the donated funds are required to contribute to the project with resources and/or labor. Thus, the local village contributes with work and a small fund for maintenance and repair of the water wells. Again, women are typically chosen to look after the wells in the local communities to ensure sustainability of the project.

Among other things, Atlas Copco is a manufacturer of water well drilling equipment and related accessories. So, its employees see and learn about water issues more than most people. Atlas Copco, through Water for All, is committed to “help people to help themselves” by having end users take part in and have ownership of the project. This helps ensure long-term success.

Atlas Copco North America has just started its fundraising efforts and expects to contribute to a specific project late this year. Chris Heap, Vice President of Human Resources at Atlas Copco Drilling Solutions, says, “We look forward to being in a position to fund a project. We can look at it and say, ‘That one’s ours.’”

Core Values Drive the Organization

Jo Cronstedt, Vice President of Public Affairs at Atlas Copco Sweden, sees his company’s commitment to Water for All as extremely positive. “It aligns with our basic core values, interaction, commitment and innovation. Water for All doesn’t just provide funding; it provides sustainable solutions.”

Furthermore, at Atlas Copco, core values drive the daily business. Cronstedt said, “We try to choose suppliers with a social conscience, and we want our customers to feel comfortable working with us for the same reason.

Heap serves as the chairman of the Water for All Committee in the U.S. Heap said he’s been impressed with the generosity of Atlas Copco employees, especially during a time when many charitable donations are down. Along with Atlas Copco North America, Atlas Copco India and China are also new members of Water for All.

Mikael Lorin, Chairman of Water for All, Sweden, said, “I wish you could see the gratitude in the eyes of the people I met when I was on a mission. It says more than both words and pictures; it goes straight into the heart.”

Water for All recently worked in Malawi in southeast Africa. Water for All worked with the Adventist Development and Relief Agency to drill and dig for water in villages surrounding the Malamulo Hospital in the Mulanje District. This provided much needed access to water in an area where an average 1,600 people had to share one well. Now, every village in the area will have its own well and a water pump, meaning just 250 people have to share a well.

Malawi has a young and booming population; two out of every three residents are younger than 20 years old. Contaminated water contributes to many diseases that lead to early death, such as cholera. In fact, one in five children die before age five. Cholera and hepatitis are commonly found in drinking water that doesn’t come from good wells.

“We are very happy to see so many of our people take an interest in this important issue, which is not only about health and sanitation, but also about creating significant social benefits. Having clean water in schools means better access for children to education,” said Cronstedt. The plan ahead is to expand the Water for All membership further, so that eventually all employees who want to, regardless of their location, will be able to help needy communities get access to clean drinking water.

The Atlas Copco Group is a global industrial group of companies headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. U.S. offices are in Commerce City, Colo., Garland, Texas, and Rock Hill, S.C. Atlas Copco develops and manufactures industrial tools, compressed air equipment, construction and mining equipment, assembly systems and offers related service and equipment rental. The products are sold and rented through a worldwide sales and service network reaching 150 countries.

To learn more or to contribute to Water for All, contact Chris Heap, Atlas Copco Drilling Solutions LLC, 2100 North First Street, Garland, TX 75040 or visit www.atlascopco.com.

A Catalyst For Change

By:Steven F. Young Issue: Conscious Capitalism Section: Building Bridges

Wainwright Bank Proves Socially Progressive Banking is Not an Oxymoron

Since its founding in 1987, Wainwright Bank & Trust Company has proven that allocating capital to underserved markets is not only socially responsible, but profitable.

The bank contemplates two bottom lines. Foremost is the business platform which fuels the social justice platform. They are mutually supportive and the success of one depends on the other.

Wainwright is a publicly traded, state chartered commercial bank headquartered in Boston. Of the 8,300 banks in the country, it has grown to be among the 600 largest with $1 billion in assets. In addition to private banking and a retail network consisting of 12 branches, the bank has thriving consumer and commercial lending areas and a wholly-owned investment subsidiary, Heritage Capital Management.

"With a sense of inclusion and diversity that extends from the boardroom to the mailroom, Wainwright Bank & Trust Company resolves to be a leading socially progressive bank, committed equally to all its stakeholders - employees, customers, communities and shareholders alike."

In the typical corporate model, shareholder concerns reign supreme, and in most cases still is the only consideration. But Wainwright thinks this is a very one-dimensional view and one that will increasingly not be sustainable as society continues to move towards greater social and global consciousness.

The bank offers the same products and services, at the same pricing, within the same market as its competitors. But bank analysts, consultants and other industry observers agree, Wainwright is unlike any other bank in the country, even among those who profess to be socially responsible. Understanding why can be broken down into internal and external practices.

Internal Practices

Wainwright’s human resource policies have been lauded nationally as among the most progressive. While the average employee turnover rate in the banking industry is 23% annually, Wainwright experienced a 9% turnover last year – why?

The bank provides a generous benefit package that includes full dental coverage, free life insurance, health club and public transportation subsidies, and a 401(k) plan that is second to none. While the average teller trainee in the industry receives a one week paid vacation to start, all full time employees at Wainwright receive 3 weeks paid vacation. And the bank provides a minimum "living wage" to all full time employees that, according to the non-profit group, United for a Fair Economy, is currently $11.27 an hour. The bank’s mission statement reflects the concepts of collaboration and partnership. All stakeholders have an equal seat at the table.

Wainwright’s management practices have been lauded nationally as among the most progressive. Diversity is encouraged throughout the bank. The Board of Directors consists of nine outside members of which two are female and two are African-American. Of the 67 officers, 37% are female and 12% are minorities. Among all 166 employees, a third of them speak 22 languages other than English, from Arabic to Ukrainian, and 10% are openly gay or lesbian, including two senior vice presidents.

The bank believes that by creating an open and embracing environment, employees can bring their whole selves to work each day. The rewards are tangible; loyalty, retention, increased productivity, and public recognition, such as being named one of the Best Places to Work in Massachusetts, puts Wainwright in the same company as AT&T, Subaru and Starbucks, being ranked among the top 10 companies in the country for gay & lesbian employees.

Wainwright also believes one of the primary keys to customer loyalty and greater profitability, is a simple premise: if employees are happy, customers will be happy too. External Practices

Partnerships and collaboration are at the heart of the bank’s external activities as well. This includes its lending practices, investment of depositors' money, products and services offered, philanthropy and seemingly unique to Wainwright in the banking sphere, its social advocacy.

Wainwright is one of the few banks in the country with a department solely committed to socially responsible community development lending. The bank has provided over $700 million of these loan commitments to finance projects such as homeless shelters, food banks, affordable and special needs housing, HIV/AIDS services, environmental protection, immigrant services, inner-city schools, community health centers, and breast cancer research, among other causes. Of the $700 million in these types of loans provided there’s never been a default; an enviable track record for any bank.

Clients consist of a who’s who roster of progressive non-profits in the Greater Boston area including American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, Union of Concerned Scientists, Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition, Trust for Public Land, AIDS Action Committee, Greater Boston Food Bank, New England Foundation for the Arts, Oxfam America, The Boston Foundation, Earthwatch Institute, Amnesty International and hundreds of others. For Pine Street Inn homeless shelter alone the bank has financed over $20 million dollars for a dozen projects over the last 18 years.

Community development lending is a significant part of the business strategy. Currently, over 50% of the bank’s commercial loan portfolio is committed to these types of loans. The majority of commercial banks in this country couldn’t say even 1% of their portfolio, if any, was allocated to this sector.

Bankers generally assume these loans are unprofitable, risky and just another form of charity. But nothing could be further from the truth. The bank’s community development loans are not discounted. They are market priced just like any other commercial loan. But even more interesting is that

ICOSA_vol1-6_FINAL.indd The majority of Wainwright’s customers are aware their deposits help fund these loans. It attracts customers who like the idea that their money supports local community development and creates a passionate loyalty to the brand.

Not only has there been extensive media coverage about the community development projects financed, the bank has received numerous awards, including the U.S. Treasury’s “Bank Enterprise Award.” The award recognizes a bank’s commitment to providing financing for projects located in underserved communities and is accompanied by a cash reward. Over the last 11 years Wainwright has received over $1.8 million dollars from this program.

In addition to its community development lending, Wainwright has created some unique products within the banking industry.

In 2001 it launched an online service for non-profits called CommunityRoom.net that, among other things, offers free, hosted web pages to any non-profit client to accept online donations. Over 200 of the bank’s 700 non-profit clients have joined CommunityRoom.net and donations generated through this channel total $7 million to date. Industry observers have stated no other bank in the world offers such a service.

Visitors to the site can review a non-profit's programs and services, make a donation, read tips on how to be a strategic donor, or access a library of position papers on socially progressive topics such as HIV/AIDS, the current state of civil liberties, and global sustainability. Donors also have the option of becoming members so each time they visit the site they don’t have to re-enter their personal information and can print out a history of their giving at tax time.

Other examples include The Wainwright Bank Green Loan, launched in 1999, that provides a discounted home equity loan rate for energy efficient home improvements, and more recently, the Equal Exchange CD, a three-year certificate of deposit that provides a competitive interest rate and whose deposits act as collateral for a line of credit to Equal Exchange, a Fair Trade coffee merchant providing third world farmers with a livable income and sustainable farming methods. Green Banking

The bank has received significant recognition for is its environmental initiatives.

Every company seems to be going green these days, but as early as 1993, the bank began recycling waste and using recycled papers and vegetable based inks. Other initiatives include purchasing renewable energy and carbon offset certificates, installing low energy lighting, purchasing Energy Star® rated computers and appliances, and building some of the first green branches in the country. The bank is recognized as a pioneer in what is now referred to as “Green Banking,” including being named one of the Top 10 Green Banking Firms in the country and one of the Top 20 Sustainable Stocks in the world.

Perhaps the most significant of Wainwright’s environmental activities and one that has garnered much press attention, is building its last four branches to LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, specifications as defined by the U.S. Green Building Council. The Coolidge Corner, Brookline branch became the first bank building in New England to be certified “Silver” and the Newton Centre branch is one of the first in the country to be awarded a “Gold” certification.

The bank’s newest branch, opened last October at Ashmont Station in Dorchester, a suburb of Boston, is unusual not only because it’s located in a new Transit Oriented Development or because it is seeking LEED certification, but that it features a full-service espresso bar in its lobby operated by Flat Black, a local Fair Trade coffee company. Philanthropy ICOSA_vol1-6_FINAL.indd

The bank has committed to providing at least 2.5% of its pre-tax income annually to charitable organizations but the actual amount generally exceeds 3%, or three times the industry average. With over 700 non-profit clients the bank decided several years ago to provide donations exclusively to organizations it has a banking relationship with and furthermore, to favor those addressing socially progressive issues.

Each year at its customer appreciation event, attended by 500 of its for-profit and non-profit clients, the Wainwright Bank Social Justice Award is presented to an individual and their associated organization that has significantly contributed to social change in their particular field. The Award is accompanied by a $10,000 dollar donation to the organization.

Several employees of the bank are registered to conduct financial literacy classes for public and private high school students in partnership with Project Hope. Groups of employees also volunteer their time to non-profit clients such as sorting food at the Greater Boston Food Bank or serving the homeless at Pine Street Inn. The Boston Business Journal just last year ranked Wainwright as providing the highest number of volunteer hours per employee among 75 Boston-area companies.

In addition to CommunityRoom.net the bank also has physical Community Rooms at most of its branches. These are free, after hour conference rooms available for non-profit clients to use for meetings. Advocacy

One of the most unique aspects of the bank’s corporate social responsibility, especially considering it’s a publicly traded company, is its advocacy on behalf of social issues. Because of the progressive causes championed and supported in various ways, and the recognition received for that, the bank believes it has created a certain amount of what it calls “cultural capital.” And as controversial as some of the issues may be perceived to be, it’s not afraid to deploy it.

For instance, one of the board of directors represented the bank to testify before Congress in support of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would have outlawed discrimination against gays in the workplace. In 2002 the Board filed a letter, and a Director read it, before the Massachusetts General Court in opposition to an anti-gay constitutional marriage amendment. It was the only publicly traded company, much less a bank, to do so. The bank is also a signatory to several social justice initiatives including the Ceres Principles, NOW’s Women-Friendly Workplace Pledge and the endorsement of a living wage in Massachusetts. Recognition

The bank has never made a subprime loan or provided complex loan products to borrowers who obviously couldn’t make the monthly payments. Nor has it held any mortgage-backed securities containing subprime loans in its investment portfolio.

The bank has received extensive media coverage including being featured in news sources such as NPR, TIME, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Today Show, CNBC, Fox News and dozens of local, national and international magazines and newspapers.

Early last year a book was published by Harper Collins entitled The High-Purpose Company: The Truly Responsible (And Highly Profitable) Firms That Are Changing Business Now by award winning author, Christine Arena. She and a group of ten McGill University graduate students developed a new methodology to measure corporate social responsibility and then applied it to 75 companies that claim to be socially responsible, including IKEA, Toyota, and GE. Wainwright was ranked number one on the list as the “ultimate high-purpose company” and was the only company mentioned in the book to have an entire chapter devoted to it.

Another best selling author, Patricia Aburdene, who has sold 20 million copies worldwide of her Megatrends series of books, included a three-page profile of Wainwright in her last edition, Megatrends 2010. In it she states, “Wainwright’s DNA is so deeply encoded with the commitment to social responsibility, you almost forget it’s a bank.”

And just a few months ago a new book was published by author Margaret Benefiel entitled The Soul Of A Leader. The cover includes an endorsement by Desmond Tutu and contains extensive interviews with Wainwright’s own Bob Glassman, Anita Roddick of The Body Shop, Tom and Kate Chappell, founders of Tom’s of Maine, and U2 guitarist, The Edge.

The bank employs no public relations firm but has no lack of publicity and media attention.

Going Forward

Wainwright Bank has had consistent growth in its book value per share, steady profitability and a robust dividend policy. The bank is on track to exceed $31 million in net interest margin for 2009, which will be a record and remains ‘well capitalized.’ For the first six months of 2008 average deposits increased by 11% and average outstanding loans by 13%.

Account growth, asset growth, net income-by any of those measures Wainwright Bank has done well. Its value proposition continues to distinguish it from its competitors by not only creating far greater customer loyalty, but by continuing to attract consumers, business and non-profits who increasingly question how their banks are investing their money. Indeed, socially progressive banking is not an oxymoron!

Steven F. Young has over 30 years experience in banking and is currently a Senior Vice President at Wainwright Bank. Since 1992 he has worked closely with Wainwright Bank co-founder, Robert A. Glassman, in creating Wainwright's socially progressive brand.

Building Bridges Through Conscious Endeavor

By:Jan Mazotti Issue: Conscious Capitalism Section: Building Bridges

Three Men on a Mission to Make an Impact

"I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestioned ability of a man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor." -Henry David Thoreau

There was this little blue building that served as a hub in the village of Punjabi, India…

It served as a “bridge” for local organizations, collaborating with innovative socially conscious entrepreneurs and investors, to address the healthcare chasm that so often occurs in rural, developing areas of the world. Their core belief: Healthcare is a fundamental human right. While millions of the world’s poor face health crises regularly, many common diseases of poverty are preventable and treatable. In India, for example, there are less than 0.6 physicians per 1,000 people and the average life expectancy is only 64 years. Something had to be done to tackle these rural healthcare issues.

E Health Points is a project being incubated in India through the efforts of Ashoka, The Naandi Foundation, Healthpoint Services, and invested in by Uhuru Capital, aims to prove that innovations in technologies and business models can transform the sector. To use technologically-advanced methods of communication coupled with high quality, efficient medical care was the goal. So far it is working. Villagers have access to cutting-edge healthcare and basic diagnostic services, while obtaining clean drinking water at affordable prices.

“We don’t call what we are doing philanthropy, we call it having an impact,” said Peter Kellner, managing partner of Uhuru Capital Management and the Uhuru Sustainability Foundation, and an investor in the above referenced for-profit social business. Justin Rockefeller, Vice President of Uhuru capital says, “If Uhuru can provide funding to organizations like this, then that’s a real game changer.”

Rockefeller went on, “What’s interesting, should Health Point do very well, and we certainly hope that it will, the returns from that initial investment would come directly back into the Foundation and that capital would then be reallocated out to other social businesses.”

Uhuru Capital is an investment management platform designed to enable investors to pursue financial returns while facilitating global economic and social development. Uhuru is a, “Fund of hedge funds that will share 25% of its partnership fees to entrepreneurial ventures in developing markets. It combines the financial model to achieve with the desire to do good," said Kellner.

Bill Drayton, CEO and Founder of Ashoka and social entrepreneur since elementary school, spoke with us about how his organization is bridging the gap to make everyone a changemaker. Peter Kellner, a venture capitalist committed to supporting social entrepreneurs, shared the work of Endeavor, a non-profit that he co-founded that fosters entrepreneurship in developing countries, as well as his work at Uhuru Capital Management. And then, Justin Rockefeller, another bridge builder, shared his perspectives on how he works to build bridges between millennials in both the social giving and political arenas. Collectively, these three men are on a mission to make a global impact. Who Are These Guys?

Founded by Bill Drayton, Ashoka is the world’s working community of more than 2,000 leading social entrepreneurs. It champions the most important new social change ideas and supports the entrepreneurs behind them by helping them to get started, grow, succeed, and collaborate. As Ashoka expands its capacity to integrate and connect social and business entrepreneurs around the world, it builds an entrepreneurial infrastructure comprised of a series of global initiatives that support the fast-growing needs of the citizen sector. Ashoka’s vision is to create change today so that an Everyone A Changemaker™ society can become the reality of tomorrow. Bill Drayton

“Social entrepreneurs are problem-solvers, not idealists. We’re driven by innovation not by charity. And we don’t believe in hand-outs. We use entrepreneurial strategies to achieve social change.”

As a junior at Princeton in 1990, Kellner met Drayton for breakfast on a Sunday morning. They remained acquaintances while Kellner studied as a Fulbright scholar in Hungary. Kellner traveled around Latin America with Drayton where he was heavily exposed to Ashoka’s model and Fellows.

“Endeavor was born from a very simple observation. After living in Central Europe and Russia, having traveled through South America, it donned on me that in these emerging countries business entrepreneurs needed support,” Kellner said.

So, in 1998, and in partnership with Linda Rottenberg (at that time working with Bill at Ashoka), he founded Endeavor. “You had microfinance and microcredit which were just coming of age. You had big multilateral projects in these countries, but then you had this massive missing middle and there was really no one out there searching for the entrepreneurs who would transform their economies, create jobs, and create inspirations. So that’s what we did,” said Kellner. So far, the organization has helped build businesses with 330 entrepreneurs who now employ 86,000 people globally. According to Kellner,

“We believe that by removing barriers and increasing support for future business role models, we will move the macroeconomic needle of these emerging economies forward,” commented Kellner. Out of Endeavors work, Kellner went on to form Uhuru Capital Management. “It has surpassed my expectations,” he said.

GenerationEngage, co-founded by Justin Rockefeller, is a non-partisan youth civic engagement initiative that connects young Americans at community colleges to one another, to political leaders, to other civic organizations, and to meaningful conversations about the future.

Building Bridges… One Social Entrepreneur at a Time

“Peter was finishing at Princeton. He had the same values as I did and was an extraordinary entrepreneur. I wanted him as a friend,” said Drayton. “He is generous and has extraordinary talents. He’s introduced me to very valuable people.”

“Collegial entrepreneurs, brilliant people who provide leadership to bring major change and support an Everyone A Changemaker™ world, are imperative to make Ashoka’s work. They will bring fundamental transformation,” said Drayton.

That is where Drayton, Kellner, and Rockefeller see eye to eye. That is where each of them brings their talents.

At Ashoka they look at what the Top 200 social entrepreneurs are doing in any area and whether they are bettering the lives and causing change in their communities. Then they run a very core process looking for the best ideas, bringing those entrepreneurs together, identifying universal patterns and top ideas. Only then do they shift into collaborative entrepreneurship efforts.

Each pattern must have a collegial entrepreneur in charge of it. “That isn’t going to happen with a bunch of managers. It’s going to require a really brilliant entrepreneur who can help the group work together to tip the world to that idea. Every role requires high talent,”says Drayton.

According to Drayton, Peter Kellner is one of the best at finding those kinds of people. “He is an extraordinary community builder and networker. He brings a level of sophistication and understanding that is very hard to find.”

The attributes of a successful social entrepreneur, according to Kellner are, “persistence, creativity, a vision-based single mindedness, and being prepared for action. They are flexible enough to bob and weave to get there. They’re not dogmatic about their strategy. They’re naturally inspiring to others. And, they are natural collaborators.” He goes on, “Great social entrepreneurs look for win-win outcomes. Since Adam Smith it’s been ‘your loss is my gain.’ But we’re moving into a world where ‘your gain is my gain.’ Great social entrepreneurs have wired into their DNA a win-win thinking. They are non-zero sum thinkers Great social entrepreneurs have wired into their DNA a win-win thinking. They are non-zero sum thinkers, even though we’ve been taught to be zero sum thinkers by our schools and our capital markets.”

Besides finding those global “changemakers”, Kellner and Rockefeller are pressing the frontier in social investment. Uhuru is an example of innovation that was created to address, “An inflection point in history that is being driven by the field of social entrepreneurship,” said Kellner. “In my small little capacity, if I’m able, I’d like to have some kind of impact on the world of financial management and how it advances the field of social entrepreneurship.”

When Rockefeller joined Uhuru, Kellner said, “we sat down and figured out what role he would have. We, at Uhuru, wanted to expose the next generation - Gen Y and the millennials - who are really thinking differently about high impact philanthropy and careers where they’re making money. We know that they want to do both concurrently. Justin will focus on next generation strategies with Uhuru and its partners. He will bring people into this new possibility, this new network, of high impact capitalism. It’s a natural fit for him.”

Then there is the Hybrid Value Chain™ (HVC™) model from Ashoka that is advocating and supporting systematic transformation of relationships between the business and citizen sectors based on the creation of mutual economic and social value. At the core of this new approach is the assumption that social entrepreneurs require inventing a new form of doing business and an unprecedented level of business-social congruence. It is important to note that HVC™ partnerships are distinct from typical philanthropic and corporate social responsibility collaborations. Instead, they are based on profits for all partners to ensure long-term sustainability based on the premise that companies and social entrepreneurs can interact as equals. It assumes that we must, “design products and services that tap into the wealth of the poor, change the logic of traditional business models, and leverage the power of communities as consumers and producers,” said Drayton. Where is Social Change Going?

“The millennial generation is pretty extraordinary in how different we are from previous generations in terms of values. Millennials are the consumer activist generation. They are willing to vote with their wallets and their feet,” said Rockefeller. In fact, 86% of millennials worldwide and 92% of millennials in the U.S. would leave an employer if corporate social responsibility values didn’t reflect their own. 89% of millennials are likely to switch brands if the second brand is associated with a good cause. Rockefeller describes millennials as the, “Barney Generation,” identifying and solving problems in short periods of time. He said we have to, “Prove a model that others will adopt. We have to build one Grade A commercial product after another so that the bottom line is sound.”

Ashoka, through the Youth Venture Program, provides youth the opportunity to create and build something. “If you give a young person the opportunity to build something of consequence, it will transform their lives. We all believe that,” said Kellner. When asked about Ashoka’s Change Your City campaign, Kellner said, “Everyone has changemaking DNA, many people just don’t have it turned on. Through engagement, particularly with young people, maybe we can create catalysts to weave all parts of community together to create concepts of social entrepreneurship.”

Ultimately the goal is to “embrace the frustration,” says Rockefeller. “We all suspect that the status quo could be done more efficiently. It’s no longer okay to just recognize that that’s true. Increasingly, millennials are starting programs that challenge the status quo at all levels. The end game is to provide more competition to big companies and non-profits and move the needle. The smaller goal is that it is great practice for young people to start a program, even at a club or school. It is where you learn about leadership, empathy, and creating an organization. That is the skill set that will be valuable for the rest of their lives.”

When asked about their individual roles in changing the world, Rockefeller said that the bridge will include, “Millennials who think differently about business and alignment of values-based investing. I’m trying to build a bridge among generations. I’m trying to build a bridge from the old way of thinking about business and philanthropy.”

Kellner laughed and said, “I’m a small participant in a much larger mosaic. There is a lesson I learn everyday from Bill Drayton and that is, ‘humility of purpose and design to empower other people to empower other people.’ But I don’t know how great I am at it. He taught me that, ‘to enable someone else is not just rewarding, but it has exponential impact and spread strategy,’ and that is the most rewarding thing to me."

The Pachamama Alliance

By:Jody Berger Issue: Conscious Capitalism Section: Collaborator Profile

Cross Cultural, Multi-Continent, Multi-Faceted Collaboration

Any organization calling itself the Pachamama Alliance would have to dream big. There could be no other way.

With a name like that, a grand plan is more than implied; it’s an imperative embedded in the ancient syllables. Pachamama translates to “the earth, the sky, the universe and all time,” in the pre-Incan language of Quechua.

No question, the name is grand. And the mission? Grander, still.

“We are committed to generating a huge social profit that benefits all children of all species for all time,” said Lynne Twist, one of the founders and architects of the Pachamama Alliance.

Clearly, if you set out to serve every child that exists now and forever into the future, you better not go it alone. Collaboration is key—especially if you are a non-profit operating on a shoestring budget.

And the Pachamama Alliance is a case study in collaboration—cross-cultural, multi-continent, multi-faceted collaboration, and expansion on the same scale.

Initially, the Alliance focused on one swatch of green, deep in the Amazon. In 1994, Twist, her husband Bill and ten other Americans partnered with the Achuar (pronounced osh-wahr) tribe in Ecuador to preserve that tribe’s territory and way of life.

Over the years, as the Twists listened to the Achuar and learned more about their worldview, the Alliance grew beyond Ecuador and San Francisco, where the Twists live, to include an untold number of people in 40 countries.

The mission also grew from saving the rainforest to saving the planet and all life. Twist understands the enormity of the task and the necessity of working in partnership.

“We work with anybody and everybody,” she said.

“We’re open to strange bedfellows because there are no real villains. There are misguided actions and misunderstandings but we don’t think we’re flawed as a species.”

“We’re open to strange bedfellows because there are no real villains. There are misguided actions and misunderstandings but we don’t think we’re flawed as a species.”

“We’re willing to work with governments and oil companies that are seen as predators by some of the tribes of the Amazon,” Twist added. “We’re willing to work with anybody where we all come together in a way that will support and nurture and liberate all of us from a way of life that’s destroying the very fabric of life.”

****

If the whole thing—a husband and wife team visiting the Amazon and creating an alliance to save the planet—sounds like a dream, it’s because it is. Or at least, that’s where the Pachamama Alliance began.

In 1994, Twist was 17 years into a life-long quest to end world hunger. As the chief fundraiser for the Hunger Project, she took a two week leave to lead a group of people to Guatemala with her and a colleague, the author John Perkins.

In Guatemala, Perkins introduced the group to a spiritual leader who offered to take thirteen people on a Shamanic journey.

That night, sitting around a fire, the Shaman began chanting and drumming. From there, he led the Americans into a trance-like state where they could explore through their own dreamscape. After hours or minutes—none of the participants could say for sure how much time had passed—each of the 13 reported back what they had seen. Some said they had fallen into a deep sleep. Others experienced themselves as animals roaming the natural world.

Twist told of growing powerful wings and a long, curved beak. She had become a large bird, soaring over a vast expanse of green. As she flew, she saw disembodied faces floating up out of the forest. They were men with orange geometric designs painted on their faces and crowns of red and yellow feathers on their heads.

The Shaman suggested that all the visions could be communications. To Twist and Perkins, he said the men in their shared vision were reaching out to them. “You need to go to them,” the Shaman said.

First things first. Twist had a job and a life and a family to return to so she wrapped up the trip and left Guatemala. The only problem was the dream didn’t leave her.

“I started seeing the same faces, with their orange geometric markings and the red and yellow feather crowns, in board meetings,” Twist said. “I was driving over the Golden Gate Bridge and saw the faces floating towards me.”

She saw the faces when she was asleep and when she was awake. She saw them when she was trying to think about what happened in Guatemala and when she was trying not to.

The faces became a distraction until finally, Twist gave in. She called Perkins and planned a trip to visit the Achuar.

The Achuar are an ancient culture living deep in the Amazon. Over centuries, they’d had little or no connection to modern cultures. Perkins and Twist believe that the Achuar knew that changes were coming and that outsiders would come into their community. The Achuar feared contact with the outside world so instead of waiting for the inevitable, they chose to initiate it.

The Achuar sent a message through the dreamscape asking for people from the modern world to contact them. “They sent it out into the world,” Twist said. “I was one who received it.”

Perkins, the Twists and nine others traveled south through Quito and boarded a small plane that took them in groups of four to a dirt landing strip deep in the rainforest. When all 12 assembled in the clearing, the Achuar people stepped out of the forest.

The Achuar seemed grateful for their guests although they immediately laid down the ground rules. “If you’re coming to help us, don’t waste your time,” they said. “If you’re coming because you know that your liberation is bound up with ours, then let’s work together.”

***

The Pachamama Alliance began as the union of indigenous tribes of the Amazon and conscious committed people of the modern world, by necessity.

The two groups, the rainforest tribes and residents of first-world cities, are inextricably linked and yet fundamentally opposed.

The two groups, the rainforest tribes and residents of first-world cities, are inextricably linked and yet fundamentally opposed.

The Achuar dreamed a future much like their past—where they survived by taking only what they needed at the time they needed it from a plentiful rainforest. To them, people of the modern world dream something different. Modern worlders dream of a future that offers more—more money, more cars, more factories and more reasons to deplete natural resources.

The Achuar and other Alliance members believe the world is as you dream it. They also saw that these two dreams would create worlds that could not co-exist.

The architects of the Alliance could see why the modern worlders wanted the rainforest. They knew there was monetary value in the trees and minerals beneath in the soil. They understood that clear-cutting forests and drilling for oil made sense within a specific vision of the future.

At the same time, the founders of the Alliance understood that the world they wanted to dream into existence depended on saving the rainforest.

And the choice had to be made quickly. If the rainforest disappeared, one future became impossible. To prevent that, there was no time to go through tree by tree or acre by acre, explaining why each pixel of the panorama needed to be preserved. The Alliance members needed to reframe the entire picture.

The Pachamama Alliance decided to change the dream of the modern world. To do this, the Alliance set up a website www.pachamama.org and began taking donations to fund their work.

Alliance member also began plotting to spread the word. Back in California, Twist began talking up this idea with like-minded souls and together they created the Symposium, a half-day seminar that asks people to examine their relationship to the earth and the possibilities for changing the future. From there, Twist took the show on the road.

“She did a fundraiser at the Star House in Boulder,” Kit Tennis remembers. “And we got so enthused we cancelled our entire next day and went to the Symposium.”

Tennis and his wife, Anita Sanchez, were community activists at heart who had built a career consulting with Fortune 100 corporations on issues of organizational development and cultural change. They had two children, a beautiful home and a thriving business, yet there was something else, something that remained out of reach.

“In the Symposium, there was a moment when the shades flew up on the windows and the doors blew open and I could see a way to bring my strengths and skills into the community,” Tennis said.

The Symposium included a multimedia presentation that highlighted groups all over the globe that were striving to save the planet and erase the notion of scarcity. There were organizations in Africa and Asia, in the United States and throughout Europe that were working for an environmentally sustainable, socially just and spiritually fulfilling future.

“At that moment, the disappointment and pessimism that I’d been carrying for 25 years fell away,” Tennis said.

That was in June of 2007. Within six months, Tennis and Sanchez trained to become Symposium facilitators, traveled to Ecuador with their sons and the Pachamama Alliance. The following Spring, they facilitated their first Symposium to a large group at Sun Microsystems Colorado campus.

Now, the couple facilitates Symposiums all over the country and spends as much as 70 percent of their workweek volunteering to change the dream of the modern world. They are not alone. More than 2,000 men, women, and teens have learned to facilitate the Symposium, allowing the message to be spread in 40 countries this year.

***

Activity is everywhere and still, Ecuador remains ground zero for the Pachamama Alliance.

Roughly the size of Nevada with only 14.5 million people, this country remains below the radar for many Americans. Not many Westerners took note when Rafael Correa Delgado, an American-trained economist, ran for president on a platform aimed at helping the 38 percent of Ecuadorians who live below the poverty line. Few beyond the Pachamama Alliance noticed that he also incorporated the Alliance’s greenplan for environmental reform into his platform.In November 2006, Correa handily defeated the billionaire businessman Alvaro Noboa for the country’s highest office. Within months, Correa presented his country with a referendum asking to scrap the entire constitution and start all over, from scratch. Nearly 80 percent said yes to drafting a new constitution and hundreds of thousands turned out to help.

Correa convened a 130-member constitutional assembly and arranged as many as 30,000 town hall meetings throughout the country over an 18-month period. Indigenous people, including the Achuar and other Amazonian tribes, showed up and contributed their ideas. The Pachamama Alliance, with its international connections, was able to bring in South Africans who had just written that country’s constitution and other experts to help.

In the end, the assembly produced a 444-article document that prohibits discrimination, respects private property, increases spending on health care and the poor and enshrines more rights for indigenous people. Even more exotic, the constitution protects ecosystems and species other than humans.

“This is absolutely a game changer for our species,” Twist said. “There is now on this planet a constitution that grants legal rights to nature. Trees, the forest, rivers, animals—they all have rights.”

“It was an astounding democratic process,” she added.

Nearly two-thirds of the Ecuadoran people voted to approve the new constitution in September 2008. Six months later, in a field of seven presidential candidates, Correa won 52 percent of the vote, nearly twice the number of votes of his nearest rival.

The work of the Pachamama Alliance did not go unnoticed by the Ecuadorans or their neighbors.

“This is the first of many countries, we hope, to recognize rights of the natural world,” Twist said. “It’s the first country living in this new context.”

It’s a new context and a new dream.

Jody Berger is a writer and communications consultant living in Denver. She can be reached at [email protected].

To find a Symposium near you, simply go to www.awakeningthedreamer.org.