Welcome to Skoll eNews, the Skoll Foundation's bimonthly update on Skoll activities and news in the world of social entrepreneurship!



Mindy Lubber Persuades Companies to Go 'Green'

Three years ago, when Mindy Lubber of Ceres, Inc., invited institutional investors to a conference on the business risks from climate change, she had a hard time getting them to agree to come.

"This was at a time when the term 'climate risk' didn't exist," she recalled. "The Wall Street leaders said, 'We don't go to environmental conferences. We'll send our new associate who just graduated from college and took a course on the environment.'"

Mindy managed to change their minds by having some of their biggest clients – public pension fund managers – issue follow-up invitations. As a result, 200 financial leaders and $1 trillion worth of institutional investors attended the conference.

Times have changed:

• Last year 500 financial leaders and $5 trillion worth of investors flocked to the second investor summit hosted by Ceres.
• In May the Al Gore film about global warming, An Inconvenient Truth, debuted to large crowds. It is currently the third highest-grossing documentary of all time.
• In June a group of 27 institutional investors called on Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox to require that publicly traded companies disclose the financial risks from climate change.
• Last week leading U.S. investors announced $1 billion of new investments in emerging clean technologies in the U.S. and abroad.
• This week, after years of debating whether global warming is real or a hoax, Congress is conducting six hearings on how the government should respond to climate change.

"Every environmental issue that we all care passionately about, the future that we care about, and whether there will be a future for our children – all that is in jeopardy now," said Mindy. "Air issues and water issues fall within the umbrella of this monster we are wrestling with called global warming. It is profound. It is growing. It is no longer controversial. It is accepted science. We need to get on with the business of changing practices."

The 'Queen of Mean'

Growing up on Long Island, New York, Mindy started out with a very different perspective. "I was a cheerleader – the queen of mean. Then I joined the recycling club," she said.

That was the beginning of 27 years devoted to saving the environment. After starting a recycling program in her hometown, she earned a master of business administration degree and a law degree, became executive director of Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group and later started the National Environmental Law Center.

Mindy was a founding board member of Ceres when it was launched in 1989 in the wake of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska in order to push for higher standards of corporate environmental performance and disclosure. She started the first U.S. mutual fund wholly owned by nonprofit public interest groups in 1991. She became the president of Ceres in 2003.

Ceres works to build sustainability into the core way that businesses act. It emphasizes the financial value of issues like global warming and water shortages to businesses. "They may not matter over quarterly earning periods, but they sure do matter over the midterm and longer term," Mindy explained.

The organization doesn't run negative campaigns about noncompliant firms or organize boycotts. Its approach is to engage stakeholders in fundamental conversations about the value of changing the way they do business – to their bottom line as well as to Mother Earth.

"What we are hearing more and more is that when they are pushed to do more, when they take on specific projects, it is the most motivating thing for their employees. They are able to recruit better employees and they talk about it in their marketing campaigns," Mindy said.

It isn't easy to get some businesses to the table. Ceres does so by working on what Mindy calls "pressure points" that influence corporate leaders: boards of directors, powerful investor groups and opinion leaders. The organization even has a partnership with Yale University that involves redefining good corporate governance to include long-term risks related to factors such as global warming. Last week Ceres, Yale and insurance giant Marsh (a unit of Marsh & McLennan Companies) announced plans to train 200 U.S. corporate directors on climate change governance issues by 2008.

Making Headway with Corporations

Ceres has made progress with about 70 companies to date, including Bank of America, which now has a comprehensive climate policy; Pacific Gas & Electric Co., which is implementing strong energy efficiency and greenhouse gas reductions programs; McDonald's, which is working to implement strong environmental programs throughout its extensive supply chain; and Dell, which has taken a strong public policy stance on electronic product recycling and recently pledged to triple the amount of material it recycles by 2009.

In 1997 Ceres brought together environmental, labor and human rights organizations with companies in a global consultation process which created the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). The GRI has become the international standard for companies to disclose their social and environmental footprint. More than 850 companies are currently using the standard, most of which are based in Europe.

"One of the things we've found is that what gets measured gets managed, and what gets disclosed gets done," Mindy said.

With Skoll funding, Ceres is working to persuade 25 more companies to make significant new public commitments on climate change, to increase the number of U.S. firms disclosing their social and environmental impacts using GRI from the current 75 to 200, and to assist institutional investors in deploying another $1 billion in clean technologies. U.S. companies are way behind firms in Europe in going "green."

At the same time, Ceres is trying to move corporations to support public policy that codifies environmentally sound standards. Mindy argues that businesses will benefit if leaders help set those standards and do so sooner, rather than later. Otherwise, she points out, they may make investments in technologies that could soon be outlawed.

As Mindy's understanding of the powers that influence public policy grows, so do her ambitions. "We ought to think about how to use these levers to support all the fundamental issues we care about. It is about actualizing the role of public pension funds and making sure that boards of directors of the largest publicly traded companies are following through with their duty," she said.

"None of this is about activist campaigns. It is about the financial risk to the economy from climate risk and how to get business leaders to see the value of acting rather than procrastinating – to be part of the solution."

Ceres is located at 99 Chauncy Street, Sixth Floor, Boston, MA 02111; telephone: (617) 247-0700; email: lubber@ceres.org

DID YOU KNOW?

An Inconvenient Truth, the movie about former Vice President Al Gore’s campaign to raise public awareness about global warming, will go on sale on November 17. The film’s official Web site, ClimateCrisis.net, provides news, blogs, “take action” ideas and details about the scientific data on global warming.

Californians rank global warming among their top three environmental concerns, saying it is more of a problem than water pollution and pollution in general, according to the nonprofit Public Policy Institute of California’s annual survey. Eight in 10 residents in the recent poll said they believe global warming will pose a threat to the state’s future economy and their quality of life.

Skoll Receives Applications from 34 Countries

Skoll Foundation staff members are busy reading letters of intent from nonprofit organizations applying for 2007 Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship.

The applications are an interesting mix representing 34 countries and six continents. Forty-four percent are from organizations addressing economic and social equity. The next two most popular categories are environmental sustainability and health, with each representing 16 percent of the applications. Ten percent of the applications are in the tolerance and human rights area, while the peace and security and institutional responsibility areas each have 5 percent.

Applicants will be contacted about the status of their applications by late October. Finalist candidates will receive instructions about further documents to submit. The Skoll Foundation staff will arrange meetings, telephone interviews and/or site visits to gather additional information and carry out due diligence.

The 2007 Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship will be announced at the next Skoll World Forum, which convenes March 27-29, 2007, at Oxford University in England. To learn more and sign up for notification of when registration opens for the World Forum, click here.

Girl Scouts Train to Become Social Entrepreneurs

Stories from The New Heroes are inspiring Girl Scouts across the nation to become leaders of community change. As part of a new program called “Challenge and Change,” approximately 1,000 teen-aged Girl Scouts from rural communities were trained at 22 locations in 16 states around the U.S. during the summer to become community change agents. During the one-week retreats, they viewed several New Heroes videos that tell the stories of female social entrepreneurs.

"We have seen firsthand how the videos inspire the girls, as well as the community members and adults who are coming on board. The stories open their eyes to what’s possible. It has been remarkable," said Amy Pearl, executive director of The Learning Innovation and Technology Consortium in Portland, which created the social entrepreneurship curriculum.

The videos are a core part of the learning program that teaches girls to understand and put into action the strategies of successful social entrepreneurs. The girls identify a problem in their communities that they care about, then learn to design and implement a sustainable plan for solving it. Adults do not coax them; each girl chooses a project based on her own interests and concerns.

The girls have far-reaching plans, ranging from starting community theaters to stamping out methamphetamine labs. One group from the Hornet’s Nest Council in North Carolina, serving a low-income, predominantly African-American community, is trying to rescue an old schoolhouse that has great sentimental meaning for elders and transform it into a teen center that would focus on "seeing change in our generation." Specifically, the girls are working on ending drug abuse and preventing teen pregnancies, providing access to college admissions resources and bringing in mentors—in other words, turning their whole generation around from being mired in despair to embracing opportunities.

The girls get a year’s worth of support through the program, in hopes that they will put together a sustainable idea. Ashoka will provide seed funding to any girl who puts together an initiative through its Youth Venture program.

"Challenge and Change" is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which promotes community development in rural communities that are losing their young people to big cities. Their proposal came at an opportune time for the Girl Scouts of America, whose directors are trying to make the organization more relevant to today’s youth.

For more information about the program, contact Susan Cippoletti, project manager, Girl Scouts in Rural Communities, (212) 852-5038, scippoletti@girlscouts.org.

Social Edge Debuts Two New Features

An expert on effectiveness for social benefit organizations and a professor on philanthropic strategy are offering two new features on Social Edge, the global online community where social entrepreneurs, nonprofit professionals and other social sector practitioners connect to network, learn, inspire and share resources.

Steven LaFrance, founder of LaFrance Associates, recently interviewed more than 50 social entrepreneurs and their staff members and examined more than 350 pieces of literature on their organizations. He shares the seven critical scaling capabilities for effectively growing impact on his Social Edge blog.

Peter Frumkin offers excerpts from his new book, Strategic Giving: The Art and Science of Philanthropy, on Social Edge. He is professor of public affairs at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs and director of the RGK Center for Philanthropy and Community Service, which are both located at the University of Texas at Austin.

Transitions at the Skoll Foundation

The Skoll Foundation has named Paula Kravitz as Marketing Projects Manager. In her new role, she is a key member of the Marketing and Communications team who manages several “Connect and Celebrate” programs of significance to the foundation and social entrepreneurs worldwide, including the Skoll World Forum and select film and media initiatives.

Paula has extensive experience in strategic marketing, communications and media development. She most recently co-owned Blaney/Kravitz Communications, working with clients such as Luna Bar, Genentech and Franklin Templeton Investments. She previously worked as a producer for Women’s Educational Media and as a senior strategist and client partner for Razorfish, Inc.

On another note, Senior Program Officer Christy Chin has accepted a position to become Director of Alumni Affairs at The Philanthropy Workshop West at the Hewlett Foundation, where she will be focused on helping to shape a network of effective philanthropists from TPW West’s graduates. During her four years at the Skoll Foundation, she helped develop and evolve the foundation’s programs to advance the field of social entrepreneurship. We wish her the best in her new endeavors and trust that our paths will stay connected in the larger world of philanthropy.

Opportunities at the Skoll Foundation

In addition to seeking a new Senior Program Officer, the Skoll Foundation will soon hire another Program Officer to join the Program and Impact Team to help advance the field of social entreprenership. Key attributes being sought are a combination of intellectual curiosity, a passion for social change, a focus on tangible results and a desire to work within a team culture that practices continuous learning and improvement. If you know individuals who fit this description, please forward them the job descriptions which can be found at http://www.skollfoundation.org/aboutskoll/job_openings.asp.

Roots of Peace Collects Pennies for War-Torn Countries

On the fifth anniversary of September 11, more than 1,000 students honored the nation’s police officers and firefighters by kicking off the annual Roots of Peace Penny Campaign. The ceremony took place in Fremont, California, which has the highest concentration of Afghan Americans living in the U.S. It was widely covered by the media.

The Roots of Peace Penny Campaign has inspired thousands of American students and community members to collect more than 10 million "pennies for peace" to protect lives and restore the hopes of future generations in war-torn countries. Some funds will be used to help youngsters in Afghanistan have safe schools and soccer fields.

The campaign is a student program of Roots of Peace, an organization founded by Heidi Kuhn that transforms toxic minefields into farmlands and communities.

Riders Celebrates in Style

September is a banner month for Riders for Health, which makes health care available in remote areas of Africa by training local health workers to maintain motorcycles.

The U.K.-based organization celebrated its 10th anniversary in style on Monday with an afternoon tea attended by its patron, Her Royal Highness Princess Anne. Among those attending the celebration at the exclusive Hurlingham Club in London were World Superbike Stars Troy Corser and James Toseland and comedian Ross Noble.

In other news, Riders for Health was named last week as one of 25 finalists for five Tech Museum Awards to be awarded by The Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose on November 15. The finalists were chosen from among 951 entries representing 98 countries. All are developing innovative ways to use technology in solving global challenges.