Get to Know 2degrees

2degrees helps organizations to solve their sustainability challenges by utilizing the expertise of an online community of 10,000 sustainable business professionals. Each member belongs to a number of managed working groups, such as “Zero Waste” and “Carbon Management”, which provide information and discussion on issues that are important to them. From there, assisted by 2degrees’ team of experts, public and private sector organizations have the opportunity to address their sustainability challenges, make contacts and share ideas, tools and best practice.

To learn more, visit 2degreesnetwork.com.

Print vs. Online Publication: ABCT Shares their Challenges and Solutions

By Susan Henninger

Many organizations today find themselves evaluating whether they should take their publications online, keep them in print, or find a combination of the two venues that suits both their members or clients and their Boards of Directors.

David Teisler, CAE, Director of Communications for the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT) in New York City, advises businesses and organizations to, “Think about what it is that you want as your end outcome and everything else will flow from that,” adding, “Take the time to learn as much as you can before you begin to make decisions!”

In ABCT’s case, Teisler explains that they put their two journals online six years ago and added PDFs of their newsletter slightly afterwards. However, the organization members and committees had actually started to consider this move several years beforehand.

“We saw that the world was changing and at the same time we noticed that many of the things we used to consider products had morphed into services,” recalls Teisler. Using ABCT’s fact sheets as an example, he elaborates, “We used to sell the sheets but when we realized that our ultimate goal was to drive traffic to our website, our purpose shifted from creating a small revenue stream from the sale of the sheets to increasing information dissemination by making the sheets readily available at no cost to our members so they could then share them with their clients.” Teisler adds that if companies want to be relevant in today’s world, they need to be able to understand and take advantage of the online universe and all it can offer.

Teisler describes the newsletter conversion process as easy and low-cost because ABCT simply had their printer create a PDF when he printed their newsletter. Conversely, transitioning their print journals online was an immense undertaking. Since the group wasn’t even sure where to begin the process, Teisler and his associates spent a significant amount of time researching the pros and cons of going online with their written materials and trying to discern who would be best able to create the text and platform that they wanted for ABCT. Teisler asserts that this was a crucial step because, “You really need to know your options and who the players are.” Their research group was diverse, made up of stakeholders that included members from their finance and publication committees, editors, and their Board of Directors, and they took many factors into consideration including:

·      The various costs of the options

·      How to come up with a consistent format for their Request for Proposals so submissions would be easier for them to compare and evaluate

·      What librarians favored because they’re “the ultimate buyers”

·      The opinions of other societies, authors, and editors

·      Whether they should give up their rights and sell their journals to a publisher or form a partnership in which they could retain their rights

ABCT ultimately decided on a combination of print and online newsletters. They put their newsletter online in static (not dynamic or searchable) PDF files while continuing to mail them to their members because both Teisler and his boss, Executive Director M.J. Eimer, believe that “It’s essential for an association to demonstrate its continued relevance and to do this it has to visit you in a personal, physical form other than a dues notice or a call to action.”  Teisler feels this approach has been optimal for ABCT because they discovered that, despite numerous and diverse online reminders to their members such as email blasts, “There are still a lot of people out there who don’t realize that our publications are now online.”

For the journals, ABCT used what Teisler calls “a true online conversion”, meaning they put them online as web pages (not PDFs) through a professional publisher, for the following reasons:

·      This is the direction in which the scientific publishing world is moving.

·      Researchers depend upon online access to find references for their articles which will then lead to citations for your publications’ articles so; if you want your publication to be relevant then it must be easily accessible online.

“It’s the impact factor that helps drive perceived relevance in the scientific community,” he elaborates. “The impact factor is determined by the number of times that your articles are cited in a given period. The more you can get your important articles out in front of other researchers so they can choose to cite them in their own articles, the greater the impact. The greater the impact, the more other authors will want to submit to your journals and the more librarians will want to keep your publications on their subscription list.” Ultimately this “domino effect” should lead to more recognition of, and revenue for, your organization.

Teisler has two valuable tips from ABCT’s experience with online conversion to share with readers:

·      You should assume that submission and management software that the publisher uses will be different than what you use which means you’ll need to retrain your editors and production people.

·      Most large publishers have cookie-cutter templates so if you like the way your publication looks and favor its editorial style and guidelines then you must be sure to write in your contract that the new publisher will need to accommodate your existing templates.

Though finances needed to be an element in their final decision, organizational values turned out to be more important. According to Teisler, “We looked toward the future and realized that we wanted to be in alignment with other essential psychological journals as well as to retain the look and feel of our publications and that premise was what we based our final decisions on.”

Making a Difference: Glamour Gals

One of our clients is making headlines by giving back! Check out this brief news clip depicting the commendable efforts of Glamour Gals.

Techniques to Increase Twitter Follower Base

By Allison Goetzmann

As an intern working for Singlebrook this summer, much of my time has been spent promoting our Free iPhone App contest, especially through Twitter.  A few short months ago, I would not have been able to tell you one thing about hashtags, retweets, followers, or the proper use of @ in tweeting.  However, over the course of the summer I’ve found myself delving deeper and deeper into the Twitter world.  I’m no expert, but I have discovered several tools that I feel might be useful to anyone trying to increase their impact and navigate the seemingly convoluted realm of Twitter.

1.  Local Tweeps  – This is a zip code level directory sponsored by SMBtweet.  I typed in 14850, and the site brought up other Twitter users from Ithaca, each with a “follow” button.  In addition to finding local people to follow, the site also allows you to add yourself or your company to this list to gain more followers.

2.  Just Tweet It – Just Tweet It boasts the ability to “find twitter users like you” by    encouraging you to join up to 3 categories.  Joining a category means adding your name and information to the group, and seeing/following anyone (or everyone) else in the group.  Most groups have several hundred followers.  Sample categories include "technology" and "web developers."

3.  Twitter Groups – Twitter Groups is similar to Just Tweet It; the website has “twibes," which are simply groups of twitter people with common interests.  Different twibes that Singlebrook has considered joining include web-development, non-profit, and greenbusiness.

4.  Twitterfall – This site allows you to type in hashtags, which then prompts recent twitter posts with that tag to pop up one at a time and move down the screen (like a waterfall, hence the name).  I think this can be effective if you come up with the right hashtags to track.  There is no limit on the number of hashtags you can follow; they’re easy to add and delete.

5.  Tweetchat – This site is much like Twitterfall; it allows you to choose a hashtag to follow, then directs you to a Tweetchat room, where posts with the hashtag are auto-updated.  You can pause the list, and utilize the user controls to weed out spammers and feature people you like.

6.  #CharityTuesday – This is a very popular hashtag that is used on Twitter every Tuesday to encourage tweeting about favorite charities, projects and causes.  It seems especially helpful in reaching out to non-profits.
       


                            Happy Tweeting!

Issuers and Investors Unite! Mission Markets has opened its doors

This is a message from Mission Markets which we have reposted from their blog.  

Mission Markets is in beta launch, accepting both issuers and investors in the social and environmental fields to sign up as members. We're growing fast - after less than a week, we already have 5 issuers and 5 investors on board! Call or email us for basic info, for a demo of the platform, or for help signing up. Or feel free to login yourself, at www.missionmarkets.com. We look forward to seeing you on the Mission Markets sustainable investment platform!

- The Mission Markets Team

WikiPositive Enters its Soft Launch Phase with Collaborating Partners

This post contains recent news from Benchmark Asset Managers, one of our fellow B Corporations.  Their WikiPositive website is a simple tool designed as a starting point for anyone seeking or sharing information about positive initiatives in both the for-profit and non-profit sectors.



The website is now emerging from its second phase of development and beginning a “soft launch” period, during which it is signing up social entrepreneurs, organizations and companies who are making a net positive impact and want to post information on their initiatives or other positive initiatives they have found. WikiPositive is designed to be the first open-source, collaborative platform providing a simple starting point for research on companies with products or services that are good for the world. Ample space for critiques and questions will provide a healthy dialogue around key questions and issues in the sustainable and positive impact space. WikiPositive will showcase companies and organizations of all shapes and sizes, including both for-profits and non-profits.  The website is for everyone: volunteer researchers around the globe looking for responsible investments; philanthropists or individuals hoping to contribute to sustainable and responsible initiatives; students; journalists; or anyone else interested in learning more about endeavors that are building a more sustainable future and ways that they can get involved! 


Visit www.wikipositive.org today to learn more about our history, our mission, and how you can use and contribute to our site, or register as a user using our quick and easy sign-up process at www.wikipositive.org/user/register.  You can also find us on Facebook and Your Olive Branch (yourolivebranch.org). Please contact Rachael Stephens at stephens@benchmarkam.com for more information on becoming a contributor, or Steven Gervais at gervais@benchmarkam.com if you would like to learn more about doing great research!

Information provided by Jessy Nadar, Benchmark Asset Managers

We Are the Ones We Have (Been Waiting For)

By Joe Romano, 

GreenStar Marketing Manager


(This is an article about the recent BALLE conference, written by an attendee.  Romano is part of Local First Ithaca through our local cooperative grocery store, GreenStar.)


Everything is going to change. The question is whether we let the changes play out in increasingly destructive ways or embrace the deepening crisis as our time of opportunity.
                                                      —David Korten, BALLE
founding Board member


As we go to press, crude oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil rig is spilling into the Gulf of Mexico at an estimated rate of more than 210,000 gallons a day. And it is about to spread to some of the most vulnerable habitats in our country. Already the foul-smelling, brown and orange blobs and slicks are coating the reeds and grasses of the delicate Mississippi Delta marshes like melted chocolate. The “accident” has put one of the nation’s largest sources of seafood, and the entire workforce of that industry, and the families and children who rely on it for food, clothing and shelter at risk. 110 species of migratory songbird depend on the wetlands directly in the path of the oil. By the time you read this, 200 million gallons are likely to have been spilled, enough to coat the entire coastline of North America and South America. That illustrates the size of the slick, which in actuality is headed straight for the Gulf Coast and is likely to hit the Florida Keys, then travel up the eastern seaboard of the US.


British Petroleum, a multibillion-dollar, multinational business, is responsible for this calamity, which has already claimed 11 lives.


Our federal government is responding in the same lackadaisical way that it responded when Wall Street took our retirements away and when Katrina took one of our greatest cities away. Essentially it is doing nothing. Sadly, the words of Sarah Palin, perhaps the unlikeliest of sages, may begin to ring true. It would be fair to ask — how is “that hopey, changey thing workin’ out for ya?”


The truth is, we need the government to come down hard on Big Businesses when they are harming average folks. But Big Government won’t do that because Big Business and Big Government depend on one another to survive. Why would either group give up the enormous privileges the other group bestows upon them? It just isn’t in either one of their self interests. So we can’t continue to “hope” for change. We must act.


So what do we do? What can we do? After all, Big Business and Big Government have an awful lot of steam in that engine of theirs, how could average people ever hope to derail it? Well, the truth is they can’t. But the story doesn’t end there. Because there is something we can all do.


Last month, several hundred people met to discuss exciting new alternatives to the sad misrule of corporate greed and corrupt and unresponsive government. The Eighth Annual Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE) Business Conference was held in Charleston, South Carolina and GreenStar was one of the few food co-ops represented there. The BALLE conference program states a simple mission: “together we can support the emergence of a new economic system, one that supports life.”


These people are not high-concept/low output types. They hail from diverse, high-powered backgrounds in sustainability, farming, economic development, environmentalism, cashless exchange, monetary theory, green industry, philanthropy, activism, food security, permaculture, local business, non-profit, renewable energy and cooperatives. Many have left top positions in government, city planning, community development, law, urban development, media, manufacturing, entrepreneurship, investment banking, finance, urban planning and telecommunications. All of the members have come together to make real things happen in their communities at the level of real people living real lives. They believe our economy should be based not at the level of multibillion-dollar corporations, but at the local level. These are people of action and with the work of their communities their ideas become realities.


BALLE attendees toured the Noisette neighborhood in North Charleston, where a large segment of a former US Navy base was purchased by an independent local group and developed into an interdependent web of businesses and neighborhoods that include a progressive recycling/green manufacturing business that takes recycled waste from the surrounding neighborhood, like glass and vegetable oil and oyster shells from restaurants. They process the glass into products that range from glossy countertops to flooring, all the way to pervious materials that can be used to make green, permeable roadways. They recycle restaurant oils into biodiesel that is used to fuel the boilers of the organic brewery that is part of the same green business district. The oyster shells are cleaned and returned to the ocean, thereby maintaining the biocycle in the local waters.


Up the road is a green roof plantation, where living, leafy roofing panels are grown and used to make living green roofs that maintain a temperature that is almost 30 degrees cooler than a conventional black roof and 20 degrees cooler than a conventional white roof. The green business district houses more than 60 cutting-edge green businesses — design companies, building arts companies, environmental agencies, art galleries, engineers, planners, a sports apparel manufacturer and a biodiesel producer. All are housed in LEED-certified modular style buildings where each tenant can take up changing amounts of space dependent upon need. A beautiful, Beaux-Arts style powerhouse is being converted into a massive civic center.


Nearby, the local retail district includes local beer pubs and natural and local foods restaurants. Clothing made from recycled fiber is sold on the same street and local services like hair cutters and massage therapists round out the offerings. This has already become a destination from other neighborhoods in town, but there is a plan for more LEED-certified green residential housing to be built in a park-style setting originally designed by the famous Olmsted brothers of Central Park fame. In addition to wildlife refuges and smaller mini-parks the city has purchased the waterfront as part of the plan, and a public waterfront walk and park has been built, affording waterfront access to all residents, not just those who can afford the price of waterfront property. There is also an amphitheatre, an “innovation center” and a prison re-entry program.


There literally isn’t room to tell all the details of this exciting revitalization at Noisette, but suffice to say that in 2008, Natural Home Magazine named it one of the nation’s “Top 10 – America’s Best Green-Built Neighborhoods.”


But how can this type of green urban model and the others like it, in cities all across America, change the face of business? That massive engine continues to barrel down the track. What BALLE hopes to achieve is to set another train rolling on another track, one that is life-affirming and beautiful, profitable and fun. Because as Annie Leonard, the author of The Story of Stuff, pointed out in her keynote speech, “We’re trashing the planet, we’re trashing each other and we’re not even having fun doing it!”
The simple plan BALLE has is that folks will just start jumping off of their train and onto ours, because we’ll be doing better stuff and ultimately having better lives.


The most moving presentation of the event was that of Lily Yeh, a tiny woman whose personal inner light allowed her to bring art to the most troubled of Philadelphia’s mean streets. Her patience and compassion allowed her to rally a community that had seen entire blocks demolished and vacant buildings abandoned to drug dealers. After five years of trying, she somehow convinced even the most hardcore drug dealers to stop their lives of crime and join her in creating African art, angels and warriors from the broken bits of glass and the broken lives around her.


Not satisfied with transforming streets filled with drugs, murder and prostitution to streets of art, public pride and community ritual, Lily moved on to Rwanda, where she helped that nation face the horror of the genocide that occurred there. She literally buried their dead, inspired the people to design and build their own incredible memorial space, to face and mourn their devastating losses with screams and tears, and then led the survivors toward their awaiting future. Her Taoist concepts of light balancing darkness allowed for two simultaneous projects there, the genocide memorial, and the mobilization of the survivor’s village.


Alone, Lily led the survivors of this genocide from stunned isolation, immobility and starvation, to become a joyous community that feeds, clothes and houses itself. She helped them develop a range of industries from textiles to clothing design, culminating in the actual manufacture of their own solar panels which they use to power their homes and light their celebrations. Alone, she had found a way to heal the soul of a savaged nation. She said she was not able to do these things because she was courageous, just that she was afraid of becoming a coward. By the end of her talk she had taken the entire auditorium through sobs and tears, ultimately elevating them to a joyous, sustained standing ovation.


Ithaca is a community that is not afraid either. We will continue to take on the oil companies when they want to do their dirty fracking in our beautiful backyard. Ithaca is a community that has always spoken back to power, and now we are an official BALLE city, too. Over 80 businesses are taking part in Local First Ithaca, our local BALLE Chapter. GreenStar is one of its founding members and is active in its operations as well.


There is so much already happening in our town, that when we begin to make the connections some of these older BALLE networks have made we will begin to stretch the boundaries of how people in cities live, too. In so doing we will perhaps be able to learn new ways to inhabit our communities that make big oil companies obsolete, we will create more business models that create capital for real people, not corporations. We will then begin to address the needs of all our citizens and raise the living standards of those who currently just don’t have enough. When our energy comes from the sun or the wind we’ll never need fear it spilling into our oceans.


Already, that’s a train that has left the station, with a whole lot of people on board.

Original Article

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