You know, when I was single it was my rule not to accept a Saturday night date after Wednesday…(OK, Thursday at the absolute latest…Friday if I really liked the guy)  So to be respectful of your time, I want to ask you now to join me on a date with the Earth for one hour this Saturday. In its third year, Earth Hour will take place from 8:30 – 9:30 pm …wherever you are…in the world. 

Initiated by the World Wildlife Fund  in 2007, the goal of Earth Hour is to band together as many of us as possible to make a symbolic statement about climate change and “cast a vote” for earth by turning off our non-essential lighting for one hour. The first Earth Hour was launched in Sydney, Australia in 2007 with 2.2 million people and thousands of businesses participating and this year the goal is one billion people, businesses, schools and municipalities in multiple countries and cities around the world.  To date over 2800 cities and 84 countries have committed to participate in this global election between Earth and global warming.

Key cities in the US include Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, New York, San Francisco and Washington, DC.    What a sight that will be to see landmark buildings and blocks darken at the same time.  Make sure you watch the You Tube video to see images from the last two years.

Earth Hour US also has a great kids website with a fun, happy song, easy to understand video explaining global warming and several games to play like Geo Bee which helps show where Earth Hour will take place around the world.  My two boys are already thinking about how Sydney and many other cities on ”the other side of the world” will have completed their Earth Hour by the time we wake up on Saturday, so we also plan to track the place and time throughout the day until we approach our hour. 

Commit21, a platform of JustMeans over in London, is encouraging us to commit to one action to drive the overall Earth Hour effort.  Go online, post your commitment or join a group that aligns with the kind of activity you would like to do – for example spend one hour online emailing friends about the event. 

I’ve committed to hosting a neighborhood Earth Hour BYOC – bring your own candle, cooler and kids – in my backyard.  The Earth Hour US website also has some great tools – like this “I’m not afraid of the dark” sticker template which we are going to give out to the kids.  If you like, you can join my group here and commit to hosting one in your neighborhood.

And tonight watch Ed Norton, official ambassador for Earth Hour ‘09, on Larry King Live who will talk more about the event and what we can do.

So please say “yes”, commit to an activity, and turn on your environmental awareness by turning off on the 28^th.

 © Copyright 2009.  All rights reserved.  The Green Samaritan.

I’ve given a speech a couple times now called “Trends in Philanthropy” and one of the things I talk about is the blurring of the lines between an individual’s work life, personal life and philanthropic life.  Instead of having philanthropy be a year-end check-writing exercise, folks are integrating their personal passions, their professional expertise, their consumer habits, their vacation time and even their household decisions, into a single identity that expresses a consistent set of values.  

Are You Looking for an Integrated Life?

We’re no longer content to compartmentalize, supporting poverty-stricken children in Africa while buying diamonds from the bullies who create conditions of despair. Globalization, with all it’s complications, has made us aware of the impact of buying habits and lifestyle on people half the world away. 

So it’s no wonder that more than ever, surveys are showing that people want to buy things from socially responsible companies, they want to work for socially responsible companies, they want to feel like their work is not disconnected from their passion and that they are making a difference in the world.  “Doing well while doing good.” 

If you’re looking for a job that is a boon to the world as well as yourself, here are a few resources worth checking out:

Acumen Fund Fellows

This one is for the college kids who started a dorm-recycling program and organized a fundraiser to raise awareness about the atrocities in Darfur.  In other words, not for the casual observer.

Acumen is a well-respected microfinance organization that finds and funds sustainable businesses that provide products and services to the “bottom of the pyramid” consumers in the developing world.  It treats the poorest of the poor as consumers, able to make choices about their priorities.  They demonstrate that, if given access to capital and support, individuals who are–by any traditional measure–completely UN-creditworthy can run profitable businesses and that those people will in turn pour resources into their communities. (This is my description.  Visit their website for a better description.)

In addition to investing in these social businesses, Acumen has taken on the admirable challenge of building a new generation of leaders for the sector by offering one-year fellowships.  An Acumen fellowship is an opportunity to be immersed in the world of social entrepreneurship with a hands-on opportunity to combine business learning and social return. 

“Each year, [Acumen] provides extraordinary young professionals with a unique opportunity to serve our investees organizations in Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, India and Pakistan and also build leadership skills for the future. Fellows have been critical in supporting our investments and at the same time extracting insights from their work that are shared with the sector more broadly. “

If you want to seriously pump up your resume pre-business school or before launching your own social enterprise, click here to learn more about their fellowship program.

Just Means

Just Means (www.justmeans.com) is all about positive social change.  They partner with businesses who want to engage in conversation with their stakeholders and promote their socially responsible practices. Business members pay to belong, including Seventh Generation (green cleaning products), Best Buy and Timberland.  Just Means has also recruited a robust guest blogging community (I’m a guest blogger there myself, writing on topics of philanthropy and social enterprise every other Monday).

In addition to news and community, Just Means has a “Cool Jobs” section.  Current openings posted there include Executive Director for the Oakland, CA-based People’s Grocery: “People’s Grocery is a community-based organization in West Oakland that develops creative solutions to the health problems in our community that stem from a lack of access to and knowledge about healthy, fresh foods. Our mission is to build a local food system that improves the health and economy of the West Oakland community.” Cool jobs, indeed

Zoosa.org

Thanks to Sean at Tactical Philanthropy for pointing out this new beta site.  “Zoosa.org collects opportunities for individuals to use their professional skills toward a positive social impact” You can search for jobs or volunteer opportunities and, if you’re so inclined, find resources to help you get elected.  Zoosa.org needs a lot of filling out but it’s a great concept and I hope it does well.

Idealist.org

The grandaddy of nonprofit job sites is definitely www.idealist.org.  Still the largest, if more traditional. Includes internships, volunteer opportunities and organization profiles, as well as listings of graduate school fairs and current job openings.  Definitely a great resource for those just starting out and looking for a job in the nonprofit sector.

Local Listing Sites

Do a Google search on the terms “Nonprofit resources” and the name of your region.  You’re bound to find a resource center, library, university or some other portal that lists local nonprofit jobs.  In the Chicago area, check out the Greater Chicago Nonprofit Gateway.  Lots of metropolitan areas have these kinds of sites and you’re bound to find some local listings.

Other suggestions for resources to find a job with a socially responsible company are encouraged!  Please leave a comment with your stories of how you found your great job that allows you to marry your values and your professional career.  I’d love to use them in the next version of my speech.

More Socially Responsible Jobs:

I was remiss in not adding these two to my original list, especially as they are sites I visit frequently, and am adding them now (9.10.08).

Social Actions Job Board

Tactical Philanthropy Job Board

Tom Szaky was a freshman at Princeton when he and some friends stumbled upon a killer fertilizer: worm poop. “We were trying to grow better pot and it turned out worm poop did the trick” Tom told me matter-of-factly at the start of our conversation. At the time they were just trying to improve their homegrown plants, but Tom knew this find had broader implications. And furthermore, he was inspired that their fertilizer was made from garbage. Rather than stick it out in college a full four years, Tom waved goodbye to campus life and said hello to the life of an eco-entrepreneur. His goal is to run the world’s most environmentally friendly company, TerraCycle. “I was not a huge environmentalist, I just wanted to use waste as an economic driver,” Tom said. In bringing this first product to market, they didn’t have the capital to invest in new packaging. Nor did he want to waste raw materials. So they reused 1 liter soda bottles to package the stuff, collecting them locally.

TerraCycle soon branched out into a myriad of waste based products: bags made from old Capri Sun pouches and old plastic bags, cleaners, lawn and garden products – packaged in reused bottles of course, office products such as juice pouch pencil cases and homework folders, eco-binders and so on. Each product is unique and requires a distinctive plan in order to collect the targeted typically unrecyclable trash. Tom uses an innovative brigade model to collect materials typically. One of Tom’s favorite projects involved a front cover ad in Newsweek in which TerraCycle requested people’s plastic bags. Quite niftily, the ad itself turned into an envelope into which people could place their plastic bags and mail them in. Tom received over 40,000 plastic bags from that one ad, which were used to make reusable bags. “It’s a win-win and a really fun product too.”

Every piece of news coverage for TerraCycle will not fail to mention the abundance of high profile partnerships Tom has created. TerraCycle goods can be found at major retailers such as Office Max, Whole Foods, Target, Home Depot, and Wal-Mart. It’s not surprisingly then that Tom’s favorite part of his job is creating just such big partnerships. “ I was grocery shopping this weekend and picked up a box of Capri Suns and saw that my logo was on the side of the package. That just gets me.”

The biggest surprise for Tom has been the realization of what you can do with waste. “Fundamentally there is almost no waste that cannot be upcycled and no product that cannot be made from upcycling. We can create a solution.” For those new to the term upcycle, Wikipedia defines it as “a component of sustainability in which the use of waste materials to provide new products. It is generally a reinvestment in the environment. This process allows for the reduction of waste and use of virgin materials.” Upcycling differs from recycling. Recycling often uses more energy than making something from virgin materials, Tom points out. This is never the case when upcycling.

While I love the idea of a product made from waste, I can’t help but wonder about hygiene and other related issues. I asked Tom if consumers or retailers had had any negative reactions and apparently not – “People are really into green products right now so they are much more receptive.”

Throughout our conversation and my pre-interview research, one issue was on my mind: greenwashing. I see Kraft partnering with TerraCycle (see press release) to invest in upcycling the loads of plastic packaging created when you make individual 6.75 ounce drink pouches as a way to allay Kraft’s guilt. I would hope that the partnership was a step in the direction of creating better packaging that can be more easily reused. Tom replied that they will collect 50 million juice pouches this year and while that is not enough, they can take it all. “We don’t see the issue of not being able to use the waste.” While he agreed that they should use more reusable stuff, Tom pointed out insightfully that “People aren’t great at recycling…It’s better to have lighter packaging get tossed away that is not recyclable. At the end of the day the argument is there environmentally to package juice in a pouch as it is lighter.” To Tom, greenwashing is when a company claims they have a 96% natural product when it’s just 96% water. Or when a company brags about using recyclable packaging, when it all is. Or when BP runs an ad which features “kids swimming near oil rigs with dolphins.” “But this Kraft thing is a serious step. If that is perceived as greenwashing then everything is. What these companies are doing should be encouraged.”

Before closing the conversation, I am always one to ask about profitability. TerraCycle is backed by a venture fund with most money invested in growth. Tom unfortunately could not speak to profits (other than “It is definitely profitable”), but he could share with me his sales, which have been growing exponentially. In 2004, TerraCycle had revenues of $70,000, up to $0.5M in 2005, $1.5M in 2006, $3.3M in 2007 and projected sales of $7.5M in 2008. That’s some garbage! As for the future, Tom imagines TerraCycle will double in size every year, something he thinks will be manageable. What’s next product wise? Look out for TerraCycle’s upcoming launch of a line of gift wrap and trimmings made entirely of waste.

[This piece also posted to the Just Means All Things Reconsidered blog today]

CARE, one of the largest relief and development organizations in the world has just launched “CARE Connections,” a social network for CARE supporters to discuss relief and development issues. The email announcing the launch was inauspiciously titled “Move over Facebook, here comes CARE Connections.”

I think its a smart recognition on CARE’s part that there is space in the digital realm to bring together a varied set of conversations about development and humanitarian issues. The best features of the CARE Connections portal are those that get it away from feeling like you’re just supposed to be discussing the organization itself. They have blog and news feeds which might be useful once they have a few more sources they’re drawing from. Additionally, because CARE incorporates advocacy in many of their development campaigns, there are a variety of action opportunities that users can browse.

At the end of the day though, I have a hard time believing that people will add another sign-in branded around any single organization like CARE to their routine. Many, many people support their work. Many of those people are interested in the sort of digital discussions that happen when you bring groups together around common interests. But few are going to want to hang around and create a new set of log-in data and connections around a specific organization. The buy-in to CARE just isn’t high enough, and the value proposition to the user isn’t unique enough.

I think its really hard to brand a general change focused network around a specific organization. Mycommitment.org (a project of the Clinton Global Initiative) has had some struggles with this as well. I think at the end of the day, sites like Change.org and Justmeans.com have a much better chance as stand alone social change platforms than anything built into just one organization will.

If nothing else, CARE should think about getting rid of the orange and black Halloween feel to the site..

What do others think?

In order to make change happen in the workplace, companies and individuals need to shift their ideas about what work is, and what a job entails.

One company that is trying to enable this change is http://www.justmeans.com/

Why is Just Means important?

The goal of JustMeans is to question the assumptions behind how we have traditionally thought of value.  Both how organizations create value and also what we value in our lives.  Our goal is to showcase the organizations, ideas, people, and collaborations that are shaping the future of business.  In providing a platform where thousands of individuals and companies trade knowledge, we hope to exponentially lower the transaction cost of doing business in the world of social responsibility.  Only then will we be able to create the sustainable future and lives that so many of us want.

We call JustMeans the trading floor for social responsibility.  In the old days, trading floors were established to drive down the transaction costs of trading commodities and equities.  Lower transaction costs meant that more deals could be done, more goods traded.  Back then, value was defined by a price.  Today, it is as well, but there is much behind that price.  If you create a $0.79 pork burrito, does that price accurately reflect the externalities on the environment, labor, or our health care system?  In our own neighborhood in Harlem, 125th street is lined with every fast food restaurant where a full meal can be bought for $5.    As Amartya Sen has pointed out, the average longevity of a resident of certain poor neighborhoods in New York is lower than that of an average citizen in Bangladesh.

What are the main types of jobs on your site?

JustMeans is different from other platform in that we believe that you can create change in all three sectors (non-profit, for-profit and government).   Companies that use JustMeans to find talent include entrepreneurial non-profit organizations, clean technology firms, socially responsible venture capital firms, Fortune 100 companies, small to medium growing businesses, and development project management positions.   Most people that use JustMeans have a real skillset, like marketing, finance, or engineering and are looking to implement that skillset to help grow a business or department.

Why did you start Just Means? 

After studying economics at the University of Chicago, I was concerned about the lack of focus on externalities/public goods in the curriculum.   Value was defined by short term financial gain and this definition shaped my colleagues perception on the role of business in society.  A successful business was one that created short term financial value at all costs, a successful career was defined by the size of your paycheck. 

As a result, I created StartingBloc, a non-profit organization that educates, empowers and connects emerging leaders to drive positive social change across sectors.  The organization started with a $1,000 grant from the University of Chicago and I continued work on it for over four years.  The idea was to create a competitive leadership development program for undergraduates and young professionals.  In partnership with leading business schools, we showcased the people, organizations and models of change that were driving the fields of social enterprise and sustainability forward.    Running the organization was tremendously rewarding but I felt that we needed a place where these ideas could be showcased to many more people.

The companies that use your site include Timbaland, Jumpstart and MBAs without Borders. What do companies like these have in common? 

They all share an understanding that there are many groups that companies/organizations should be accountable to beyond just investors/donors.  These groups include current and potential employees, customers, vendors, suppliers, communities, journalists (both old and new), and the environment.

Do people who work for a meaningful purpose enjoy their jobs more than other people?

Yes.  I think this is just human nature.  People are inherently good.  If you are working on something that you are passionate about and also has a positive impact on the world, you are going to feel like you are an active participant in shaping your reality.  Paulo Freire, author of Pedagogy of the Oppressed, discusses how the lack of meaningful work is one form of oppression.  Through work, people become active participants in creating their world.  If you do not enjoy your work or find freedom through it, you are essentially oppressing yourself.

What is your number one tip for being fulfilled in your job?

Figure out what you are passionate about.  The money will follow.

If you are interested in finding out more, check out http://www.JustMeans.com