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Green Mountain Coffee’s ‘Organic’ Sustainability Evolution–with Mike Dupee

This was one of the most educational interviews I’ve done. Mike is able to admit when he’s wrong, to explain the internal motivations and strategy behind his company’s social responsibility programs and to go beyond corporate sound bites. Click the player to listen to our conversation. Prefer MP3? Right-click and download. [Audio clip: view full post to […]

The Private Side of Sustainability Is Sexy Too: Engaging CEOs in More Than Just Sustainable Window Dressing

There seems to be a problem.  An influential group of global CEOs list brand, trust and reputation as their “primary considerations for acting on sustainability.”  Motivators like revenue growth and cost reduction, consumer demand, employee engagement and retention and personal motivation lagged significantly behind. Many CEOs seem to have reversed cause and effect. Brand trust […]

A New Shade of Cause Marketing: Reward Donors (and Convert Them To Consumers)

Imagine frequenting your local coffee or sandwich joint and receiving said item on your tenth visit. Imagine being rewarded with a free trip from Boulder to Boston after choosing Continental for 100,000 air miles worth of travel. Easy, these customer loyalty programs have been around for a while, working seemingly well for both high-margin and […]

How will what you want me to do change my life?

Are you letting me know why I should make a donation, sign a petition, cast a vote or buy what you’re selling?  It’s an obvious statement, but one that’s not always executed on, despite perception. Kiva.org has faciliated more than $100 million in loans in a few short years. Really outstanding, except it could be […]

Why It’s Good Business For Levi’s To Care About What You Do With Your Jeans at Home

Your next pair of Levi’s might come with a clothesline or shoebox-sized dryer.  After a recent lifecycle assessment, Levi’s realized that 60% of the climate impact of a pair of jeans comes after the jeans are made and sold; nearly 80% of this is from drying the jeans in a dryer.  The presumed and easy […]

How Transparency Can Benefit Your Company (There’s More To Be Gained Than Consumer Trust)

“If you’re not scared by what you’re revealing, than you’re not being transparent enough” –Jeffrey Hollender, Seventh Generation If real transparency is scary, why create it?  Like with most things that bring real value (and take real effort), there are several benefits of having a glass-walled company.  A note before the benefits: transparency isn’t a […]

Can You Crowdsource Your Sustainability?

Smart business talk today revolves around meeting stakeholder interests.  But it can be daunting for companies to do that. Whereas before they were primary liable to shareholders, they’re now pressed to satisfy consumer demands for products that are sustainable as well as affordable and durable; they’re expected to take the environment and the community and […]

“Disruptive Philanthropy”–From the Social Enterprise Alliance Summit

By Lee Fox for Cause Capitalism. Philanthropy is characterized by specific behaviors in the context of compassion (the love of humanity), action (volunteerism), donation (the gift of money) and collaboration (partnerships).  Successful social enterprises require each of these elements to healthfully co-exist. Of course, all it takes is the pinch of a bad economy to throw […]

Is This What It Takes to Lead a Social Mission?

What does it mean to lead a company’s social mission?  Social mission is how I describe all of the elements that contribute to a business being socially and financially effective. It’s more than CSR because it’s ingrained into the organization’s business model in the best cases, and leaves a shine on all company functions and […]

Can Crowd-sourced Solution Campaigns Save The World?

Can crowd-sourced solution campaigns save the world?  Yikes, I need a better name for the concept, but here’s what it means: an original body that sets up the framework and partnerships to drive a social solution. The betacup and WeCanEndThis.com are two campaigns I’ve been following. Each brings together corporate, nonprofit, media, technology and design partners […]