Our Green Start program concentrates on fundamental conservation practices that yield deep impact to "jump start" organizations towards sustainability.

Initially, we act as an extension of an organization’s staff, planning and taking action on its behalf, including scheduling audits with existing programs, creating action lists and implementing them, setting up and/or facilitating an internal “green team” group, developing a strategy, and setting up and monitoring savings.

Over time, as organizations acclimate to using our tools (e.g. action worksheets, monitoring tools, etc.), they take over the planning, execution, and tracking of their own program.

Components of Green Start

For 3 months, we partner with nonprofits to serve as "personal trainers" to address:

Waste Management

Natural resources are precious. Our primary focus is to grow a "culture of reduction" while increasing nonprofits' ability to divert waste from landfills. [read more]

Energy & Water Conservation

We leverage the expertise and services of local partners to identify, implement and track nonprofits' organizational use. [read more]

Environmentally-Preferred Purchasing Policy

We couple our focus of reducing consumption with supporting the growing network of partners offering environmentally preferred products at competitive prices. We help the nonprofit be a contributing member of the "green economy" while continuing to address their social missions. [read more]

Education & Outreach

We combine education and outreach with facility changes to challenge the deep-rooted behaviors of the nonprofit staff, board members and constituents.

Measurements and Evaluation

Are we effective in our efforts? To promote ongoing changes, our methodology integrates planning and tracking tools to help nonprofits make informed decisions about environmental sustainability.

Actors of Green Start

The Green Start program provides the structure and connects the following key players so environmental improvements can be achieved:

Nonprofits

We want to help nonprofits stop flushing their funding down the toilet in the form of utility expenses. Instead, we want to build their capacity to deliver their missions while contributing to the green economy. [read more]

Volunteers

We see the "greening" of a facility as an opportunity to educate, involve, and train people on environmental sustainability. The Green Start program offers a Volunteer Consultant component, which couples dedicated community members with an experienced staff to help deliver the Green Start program.

Partners

We don't believe in reinventing the wheel. Instead, we partner with existing programs and services to access their experts and identify additional opportunities for achieving environmental sustainability.

Sponsors

We actively seek sponsors to finance the Green Start program so nonprofits can stay focused on committing financial investments to upgrades and staff resources to coordinate their sustainability efforts. Read more on how you can help bring environmental sustainability to the nonprofit community or simply contact us about being a sponsor.