CSR Blogs

Canada’s Sustainability Heroes: the Clean 50

Earlier this month, Delta Managementannounced the inaugural Clean 50, a group of committed individuals who have made significant contributions to sustainability or “clean capitalism” in Canada in recent years.

Helping Foster Digital Learning: What's In It For Business

Self-interest is the fundamental driver for investors in the "saving the world" business. Companies want to help educate people in remote corners of the U.S. and developing countries because educated people will get jobs, make money, and buy products. 

Living And Working To 100

The good news is that many of us will live to be over 100 years old. The challenge will be--and already is--preparing ourselves for new jobs as technology advances and markets change. This requires workforce training and education on a massive scale. As individuals, we need to continuously develop relevant skills and expertise, build our networks and relationships, and assess our priorities as we look ahead to longer lives in a dynamic world. In the meantime, there are and will be painful disruptions for individuals, families and countries.

Investing In Girls For Major Economic Growth In Developing Countries

 How do you add U.S.$3.4 billion to Kenya’s gross income every year? According to The World Bank, this could be achieved if all 1.6 million adolescent girls in Kenya completed secondary school and the 220,098 adolescent mothers were employed instead of falling pregnant early.

Nepal’s Green Massage

Can something as ahhh-some some as a massage be green? Why not? Our definition of green extends to experiences that give back, that are embedded in a local economy and directly benefit local people in need. If your massage does that, it’s green. But I go even further. I say massage can even offer insight into a country’s culture. I’ve had my muscles brutalized by Russian babushkii, my neck twisted by Thais and my organs rearranged by Indian swamis.

Impact Investing: Getting Financial Returns While Building A Better World

Imagine trillions of private sector dollars pouring into healthcare, affordable housing, education, agriculture, distributed utilities, and restructured social spending in emerging markets and here in the U.S.  No, not in the form of charity; rather, in the form of "impact investing." This is already beginning to happen, according to Antony Bugg-Levine, the newly named President and CEO of the Nonprofit Finance Fund (NFF).

The Red Flag over Playmobil’s Castle

 My daughter loves Playmobil.  She spends hours constructing and then animating complex scenes and she’s a master at combining parts from different sets to create new structures that aren’t in the well-thumbed Playmobil catalogue.

Swimsuit Maker Vilebrequin Wants To Keep Our Beaches Clean

A cynic might say that bathing suit manufacturer Vilebrequin has a self interest in clean beaches and the vital aquatic life it holds. After all, swimming, snorkeling, deep sea diving, boating, and other ocean-oriented recreational and educational activities are good for the swimwear business.

Martha’s Vineyard & Obama:Possible Dreams

It’s that time of year again when I vacation with the President and his family on Martha’s Vineyard. Well, we are not exactly together. But the 3 miles that separate us make it almost seem as if we were. The Big O, his lovely Michelle and the girls are just down the road apiece in Chilmark. “Up-island” we call it here on the Vineyard.

If You Need Strong New Nonprofit Board Members, Address Internal Housekeeping First

"We need you to find us a new board chair. We want the CEO of a major corporation who will contribute at least $100,000 annually including the company’s contribution, bring fellow CEOs onto the board, and fundraise vigorously."

Does Social Media Have the Power to Change the Way We Manage?

I share a love for social media with many in corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability. It is on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn that the most evocative conversations happen, contentious debates take place, and strategic relationships form. Consumers have taken to these channels to pursue their pet causes and peeves, and advocates have jumped in, to massive appreciation and feedback.

Shared Sacrifice: Call for New Leadership

It all started the day the world ended. The world as we knew it that is. September 15, 2008, the day Lehman Brothers, the fourth largest investment bank in the modern world, came crashing down. On that day, we began a fast and furious downward debt spiral. Panic set it, fear took over and the rest, as they say, is history.

What Makes a Sustainability Leader?

Many of us in the corporate responsibility and sustainability community were saddened this week by the death of Ray Anderson, founder and chairman of Interface.  If you don’t already know his story, Ray is perhaps best known for his compelling description of the ‘spear in the chest’ epiphany that shifted his environmental paradigm from old-school compliance

Social Emerges as Online Giving Driver for 2011

 As social networking is exploding, peer-to-peer giving is emerging as a compelling driver of social impact online.  In fact, Network for Good finds that Social Giving was the only giving channel to see strong growth in both Q1 and Q2 of 2011, compared to the same periods in 2010.  Cause marketing programs that leverage social networks for social good or include a social web component are growing in popularity and demonstrate the potential of fun, interactive and storytelling elements as enhancements to consumer engagement. 

S&P: The Genius of a Flexible Conscience

 In case you had not heard, America’s very own Benedict Arnold, rating agency Standard & Poor’s, downgraded the United States credit from Triple A to Double A in an act of sheer fiscal and political recklessness. The price of credit has just become substantially more expensive at a time when low cost credit is surely the best cure.

 

That they could do worse than they have already done this past decade is astonishing. But kudos to S&P for showing that they have a spine…even if it is attached to a tail.

How Management Consultants Can Build A Better World

 More and more, nonprofit philanthropists, such as Pierre M. Omidyar and Peter B. Lewis are providing management consulting services to their grantees in order to increase their organizational effectiveness. Good move.

The Dangerous Debt Ceiling Dance

 

Hallelujah! Salvation is here. Or so we are supposed to believe. The 3 Ring Circus that is two branches of Congress and the Administration is finally close to an accord on debt mania madness. What a surprise. Not…

Praise is not a free lunch

I was one of those who expressed qualified praise for McDonald’s Happy Meal changes: Apple slices, smaller French fries, slightly better beverage options.

Ten Things You Need To Know To Raise Capital For Your Nonprofit

For most nonprofit organizations, financial success depends on building a board of directors that is generous in helping to contribute and raise the "venture capital" to launch the enterprise, and strategic in working with the CEO to help establish and achieve a financially sustainable revenue model. It's nearly impossible for a CEO to maximize an organization's financial potential without a highly effective board. And where there's no money, there's no mission.

Worst story ever: no venture capital from the board

Iowa Eclipses Canada in Grain Production, Challenges China in Soybean Production

The U.S. state of Iowa is an agricultural superpower, simultaneously eclipsing Canada in grain production and challenging China in soybean production. No, these are not mathematical errors. 

Last year Iowa’s farmers harvested 55 million tons of grain while Canada’s farmers harvested only 45 million tons. Over the last five years, Iowa has averaged 57 million tons a year to Canada’s 49 million tons.

A Yogi’s Lessons on Greed

Greed. Envy. Arrogance. These are the three enemies of humanity according to world-renowned spiritual leader Radhanath Swami at Jivamukti Yoga studio on a recent summer evening.

What kind of disease does greed inflict on the soul and what exactly is greed anyway?

Growing Water Deficit Threatening Grain Harvests

 By Lester R. Brown

Many countries are facing dangerous water shortages. As world demand for food has soared, millions of farmers have drilled too many irrigation wells in efforts to expand their harvests. As a result, water tables are falling and wells are going dry in some 20 countries containing half the world’s people. The overpumping of aquifers for irrigation temporarily inflates food production, creating a food production bubble that bursts when the aquifer is depleted.

Leading by Listening

I read CausePlanet.org’s book reviews and articles on a regular basis for their wisdom and to follow the conversation. In preparing to write this post, I perused many recent pieces for inspiration.  Brilliant stuff…. if perhaps a bit head-spinning for most nonprofit CEOs when taken in large doses.  Fundraise this way, establish your culture that way, create a sustainable business model this way, connect with social media that way. And change sure is hard, but here’s how to do it (from my personal favorites – the Heath brothers).  Woah!

Pages

Subscribe to RSS - blogs