One Percent for the Planet

“Maximizing a company’s change-agent potential means tightly integrating its approach to contributions and sustainable business practices with its overall business strategy. When these three are tightly knit, sustainable practices become indispensable to the success of a business. But very few companies have done this well.”

“Activists have the vision and the will to see it through, but they need more resources. Business has the power but they don’t use it well. So the key to more effective change is in aligning these macro-societal forces.”

Craig Mathews, who donates two percent of net sales to local environmental organizations near his store in Yellowstone, Montana, thinks the environmental commitment 1% FTP membership demonstrates has boosted his sales and the loyalty of his customers.

Corporate giving to environmental and social justice groups is an indispensable piece of a larger strategy for affecting change, and One Percent for the Planet (1% FTP) was established to encourage, facilitate, and administer exactly that. The organization was launched by Yvon Chouinard, environmental activist and founder of Patagonia, and Craig Mathews, owner of Blue Ribbon Flies, in 2001. Chouinard and Mathews had empirical experience with the success environmental commitment had helped bring to their businesses. They wanted to unify other companies to help solve the environmental crisis, and help them build successful companies at the same time.

Patagonia has been contributing 10 percent of pre-tax profits or one percent of sales, whichever is greater, to environmental groups each year since 1985. Chouinard calls this an "earth tax”, believing his company has a responsibility to conserve and protect the natural resources it utilizes to make and market its products. Chouinard wanted to expand this idea of "environmental tithing" throughout the private sector, and at the same time support the efforts of thousands of environmental activists around the world. Craig Mathews, who donates two percent of net sales to local environmental organizations near his store in Yellowstone, Montana, believes the environmental commitment 1% FTP membership demonstrates has boosted his sales and the loyalty of his customers.

Terry Kellogg, the new Executive Director at 1% FTP, believes the intersection between business and the environment is the most fertile ground for affecting change. “As business holds more and more power, it’s axiomatic—companies can choose to use that power productively or not.” Kellogg has come at the challenge of directing that power in a productive way from a variety of angles, working from the non-profit side to change damaging forestry and mining practices, from the business side trying to sell an environmentally differentiated product, and as a change agent inside a large company (Timberland) committed to developing more sustainable practices.

“Each of those experiences was rewarding in its own way, and each of them I believe led to positive changes that I hope will live on,” says Kellogg. “But the pace at which we are affecting change doesn’t match the scope of the problems we face. The business person in me sees this as something like a market gap. What are the most important vehicles to fill that gap? To me, the focus should be on encouraging companies to become, and teaching them how to become, the most powerful agents of change that they can be. Maximizing a company’s change-agent potential means tightly integrating its approach to contributions and sustainable business practices with its overall business strategy. When these three are tightly knit, sustainable practices become indispensable to the success of a business. But very few companies have done this well.”

“Look at anything that you’d consider an important environmental victory over the past 35 years and you’re likely to find that an advocacy group played a key role in making it happen. Activists have the vision and the will to see it through, but they need more resources. Business has the power but they don’t use it well. So the key to more effective change is in aligning these macro-societal forces.”

One of the primary objectives of Green Steps is to harness the power of the consumer, and Kellogg sees 1% FTP as an effective tool toward that end.

“With the exception of driving growth in organic foods, the consumer thus far has played much too small a role. If you’re feeling good about having exercised your civic duty to vote, think about how much less power that vote represents today than it did before companies concentrated the enormous power they now have. The most important votes we make today are the choices about what we buy and who we buy it from, but only a small fraction of people understand this, and even those of us that believe it to the core of our being are challenged to consistently make meaningful choices. Sometimes there is simply no good option available and sometimes the price premium on that option puts it out of reach for all but a few. There’s also a problem with getting actionable information to the point of purchase in a form that is clear enough and meaningful enough to make a difference; to induce someone that would not have otherwise acted to act. The 1% FTP logo is actionable information. A more active and engaged consumer is the most important goal, and the key is to make it easy for the consumer to do the right thing. 1% FTP is the best answer to that challenge that I have seen, and that’s why I took this job. It has enormous potential. My focus day in and day out until it happens will be to see that we realize that potential.”

Here’s the way the program works. You commit to contribute one percent of your company’s annual net revenue (total sales minus discounts, allowances, and returns) to any one or a combination of 1% FTP’s approved list of non-profit recipients. (Already giving large to an environmental group not on the list? In most cases, you can sign them up.) You write checks directly to your non-profit recipients, and at the end of the year, One Percent certifies that you have met the criteria. Members pay a separate and additional administrative fee based on their net revenue to cover overhead. For example, a company with annual net revenue between $100,000 and $500,000 would pay $500 to help administer the program. The top fee is $15,000, which will kick in for all of you racking up $200 million annually or better.

Members may use the 1% FTP logo in print advertising and promotional literature, on banners, window stickers, hang tags, or as Jack Johnson did, on the back of the plastic-free packaging for his new CD In Between Dreams. However you use it, it’s a clear demonstration of your commitment to the environment, both internally and externally.

(For more on One Percent for the Planet, Terry Kellogg can be reached at 978/462-5353, or via e-mail at terry@onepercentfortheplanet.org. Visit One Percent on the web at www.onepercentfortheplanet.org.)

Why One Percent for the Planet?

Enable and encourage values-based purchasing by differentiating businesses in any sector that are committed to the environment. Consider organic food for a moment. Enabled by the standard and the label, the organic market in the U.S. has grown in excess of 20 percent annually (CAGR) for more than a decade. This growth has helped convert more farmland to organic and reduce the amount of chemicals used in farming. The organic market works because the standard is clear and the label is easy to understand. But in terms of driving environmental change, it’s limited to one small piece of the economy. (Organic cotton and other fibers are a growing exception.) Any business of any size, focus, geography and any degree of “green” can participate in One Percent for the Planet (1% FTP). With members as diverse and well-known as Patagonia, Jack Johnson, Clif Bar, Newman’s Organics, and Foster's Wine Estates Americas (formerly Beringer Blass Vineyards), we are beginning to achieve the kind of scale and visibility that will enable 1% FTP to be among the most important indicators of a company’s environmental commitment in the marketplace.

Expand the environmental conversation beyond occasional news clips and headlines. Particularly in the U.S., people don’t hear enough about environmental issues, and when they do, the issues are rarely framed in a positive light. Increasing the number of products and services in the market that carry a clear environmental message can go a long way to raising awareness and inspiring more people to do the right thing. 1% FTP is a perfect vehicle for this because it clearly differentiates those companies who are proactive and committed to being a part of the solution.

Boost funding for environmental organizations by inspiring companies to give. While some of our members gave one percent or more of their revenues to environmental groups before they joined 1% FTP, for many others, 1% FTP was the inspiration that helped them make the one percent commitment. To date our members have given more than $5 million to environmental groups and a good chunk of this is “new” money.

Engage companies and their employees in thinking about and acting on environmental issues. Powerful things happen when more people get personally involved with environmental issues. They create lasting relationships, learn more, and feel empowered. These results are good for the companies where these people work and they become possible when environmental giving is a high profile and engrained aspect of a company’s image and culture.

Drive Environmental Change. Some of the most important environmental progress has been initiated by environmental non-profits. 1% FTP will inspire a new level of support for these organizations and thereby help drive solutions for environmental problems.

Jack Johnson Steps Up

Who knew an authentic passion for the environment, an uncompromising devotion to family and friends, some genuine humility, a refusal to self-promote, and a general disdain for the music-business-as-usual would translate into the phenomenon that is singer/songwriter, film maker, and surfer Jack Johnson? And now Johnson has signed on with One Percent for the Planet (1% FTP), pledging one percent of net revenues from CD sales and touring to environmental organizations.

The power of his celebrity doesn’t hurt either. It took 1% FTP four years to grow to 92 members. In the three months following the release of Johnson’s new CD In Between Dreams, which features the 1% FTP logo prominently on the back, they’ve added 68 new members. Coincidence? 1% FTP Executive Director Terry Kellogg thinks not.

How did Johnson get turned on to 1% FTP?

“Some friends of mine, the (legendary surfing) Malloy brothers, happen to live next door to Yvon Chouinard, so I learned about it from them. Between our record label, our production company, and the touring, we’re out there in front of a lot of people, especially young people. It’s a snowball thing. We’re hoping we can turn on a younger generation to the idea of sustainability.”

While Johnson works to rally his burgeoning fan base to the cause, his band and road crew are demonstrating the authenticity of their commitment by working to minimize their environmental impact on his sold out summer tour. All of the band’s trucks and buses run on biodiesel. They have a full time recycling coordinator to provide receptacles and then oversee and maximize the often negligible recycling effort at each venue. All posters and promotional materials are printed on 100 percent post consumer recycled paper, and all t-shirts are organic cotton. They also have a caterer with them on the road, in part to reduce food and packaging waste. (If there is food left over, it is given to local homeless shelters.) And they’re offsetting the entire tour’s emissions by funding sustainable energy and reforestation projects.

“If my wife were here she’d probably remind me of another five things we’re doing!” Johnson laughs. “It may be my name out there, but Kim is really the driving force behind all this stuff.”

Humble to the end. For more on Jack Johnson, go to www.jackjohnsonmusic.com.