Description:
The Institute for Sustainable Development is a unique partnership of chambers of commerce, philanthropic foundations and universities working to assist smaller enterprises in realizing triple-bottom-line sustainability and to equip a new generation of students with tools to put their sustainability knowledge into community practice.

Executive Summary:

Founded in 2007 by regional chambers of commerce, Duke University, the Fenwick Foundation, the Foundation for a Sustainable Community (the Institute’s current fiscal agent) and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Institute’s mission is to capture, create and transfer knowledge and application of best practices in sustainability in order to influence sustainable development research, policy and practice.

Green Plus™, the Institute’s centerpiece program, is our model to provide affordable, practical expertise to America’s small enterprises and to help them onto the path towards sustainability. Using chambers of commerce as the primary channel to market, the Green Plus™ program connects employers to actionable knowledge, subject-matter experts and their small-business peers around the country to improve their knowledge about and commitment to sustainability. Designed by the Institute’s founding academic partners, the Green Plus™ methodology includes a diagnostic tool to help small businesses and non-profits assess their environmental, social and economic performance; a Web-based platform which gives them actionable triple-bottom-line information; an online community of practice where stakeholders connect to and learn from one another (www.gogreenplus.org); and a recognizable certification and brand so communities, customers, funders and stakeholders can reward their efforts.

Through the Green Plus™ program, the Institute seeks to democratize sustainability by making the triple-bottom-line discussion accessible and relevant to all people – regardless of educational or income status and regardless of the size or resources of their company. Smaller enterprises – organizations with 50 or fewer employees – employ the majority of Americans, and while large organizations have both time and money to assess and improve their sustainability, smaller enterprise generally does not. The Institute’s model for promoting sustainability is to engage smaller enterprises with affordable sustainability education and training; to learn from them; and to convey their experiences in this space to community, policy and business leaders. Currently, the Institute is modeling this approach in Durham, North Carolina, and plans to implement this model in a variety of communities in North Carolina and beyond – especially in low wealth communities that have typically been left out of the sustainability discussion.

The Institute is also focused on equipping a new generation of students with tools to put their sustainability knowledge into community practice. Over the past two years, staff have worked to grow the Institute’s relationship with its academic partners, developing informal and formal partnerships with various departments and schools around the state. Working with university students and faculty, Institute staff have developed unique programs that connect graduate students with local small businesses, non-profits and local governments, to apply their talent to regional challenges and opportunities. And this summer, the Institute recruited its first cohort for the National Institute Sustainability Fellows Program. (http://www.gogreenplus.org/?p=1016).

What specific results have been achieved?

The Institute for Sustainable Development is using its unique channel to market – chambers of commerce – to access smaller enterprises around the country and to affect triple-bottom-line change within that specific group. During the first quarter of 2009, the Institute formally launched the Green Plus program in a targeted North Carolina market. Since then, Institute staff have formalized partnerships with seven chambers of commerce representing over 30,000 small businesses around the country. In July, the Institute announced a national partnership with the official SME sustainability program of ACCE, the American Chamber of Commerce Executives, with its 1,300 chambers and 1.2 million businesses. And in October, one of the largest American chambers of commerce, the Council of Smaller Enterprises (COSE), became the first business association to offer Green Plus to businesses in Ohio.

The Green Plus™ program is focused on developing appropriate metrics to enable our clients to measure changes over time in their organizations’ behavior in the areas of people, planet and performance. Through our diagnostic survey, we are gathering quantitative and qualitative baseline data about the current sustainability practices of our small and medium sized enterprise clients. One year after each organization’s initial engagement with the Institute and the Green Plus™ program, businesses will be required to complete and resubmit the diagnostic survey – thus allowing us to measure changes over time in those behaviors and attitudes. The first round of data collection will begin in April 2010.

In what ways are the efforts of this organization/individual unique and innovative?

One of the Institute’s greatest strengths is our capacity to build cross-sector partnerships. Our unique access to academic institutions, chambers of commerce, small businesses, and social and environmental organizations has allowed us to create a dialogue among non-traditional partners and to build an accessible and relevant body of resources for our target market. Our ultimate success will depend upon our capacity to continue to grow and build strong relationships. Our partnerships with academic institutions, like Duke’s Nicholas School for the Environment and UNC’s School of Social Work, enable us to create rich educational experiences for students and tangible outcomes for communities/businesses. Our collaboration with business-leadership organizations like ACCE will increase our capacity to have a widespread impact. And our growing relationships with non-profits around the country, like the Redwoods Group Foundation in Morrisville and the Council of Smaller Enterprises (COSE) in Cleveland, will allow us to invest heavily in targeted geographic areas and with targeted demographics.

In addition, our unique channel to market – chambers of commerce and other business leadership organizations – has allowed us to reach out to our nation’s smaller enterprises, a group that has previously not had access to resources. One in two Americans in the private workforce is employed by or operates a small business (“Small Business: 70 Million Strong…And Voting,” National Small Business Association factsheet). That makes small businesses a powerful capture-point for engaging new stakeholder groups in the dialogue around sustainability. And we are uniquely positioned to do so.

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How has the broader community been impacted?

Through the Green Plus Program, the Institute is creating vibrant, successful businesses and, in doing so, contributing to healthy, sustainable communities. Small businesses – those with 50 or fewer employees – are an important engine of economic development; they employ the largest number of people, are a key engine of new job growth, and provide a strong tax-base for communities. Sustainable businesses – those that are economically prosperous, environmentally conscious and socially responsible – are more likely to survive market instability; pay better wages; along with their employees, invest more in their communities; and are better positioned to compete for strong employees. In short, sustainable businesses allow communities to be more competitive in a changing global marketplace. Organizations with fewer than 50 employees are the vast majority of employers in North Carolina. Enabling smaller employers/enterprises to become sustainability leaders will help transform communities around the state and the country.