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From Boomers to Millennials: How to Design an Engaging Employee Giving Program

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By Bryan de Lottinville

We’re approaching that time of year again, when charities start to make end-of-year fundraising asks, and employers launch what, for most, is their annual workplace giving campaign.

Before you take that dusty giving campaign playbook off the shelf, you should know that participation in conventional company-led efforts needs improvement. Between 2006 and 2012, America’s Charities reported that participation dropped from 41 percent to just 33 percent, and another 2015 report found that only 24 percent of people say they opened their wallets for workplace programs.

Many fundraising organizations note that giving levels have remained steady year over year, but their main challenge is a shrinking donor base. That means they’re trying to get more money from existing (typically older) donors, which means the demographics are not in their favor. And that “more from fewer” trend does not support one of the central goals of modern corporate giving programs: engaging employees.

The face of giving is changing rapidly, too. The conventional top-down directive to give to one or a handful of corporate-chosen charities no longer works. Today’s employees are empowered by technology in virtually all aspects of their lives, including wanting to choose which causes to which they donate their hard-earned money.

This change is driven by an emerging millennial workforce that demands the companies they work for provide them with a sense of pride and purpose, not just an income. Across generations, there are growing expectations for companies to help improve society (one country, India, has even made it mandatory, requiring that sizable businesses invest at least 2 percent of their pre-tax profit in doing good). These forces show that the same old ways of thinking won’t cut it anymore, and we must change the way we view corporate and workplace giving programs.

So, how do corporate giving managers and community investment professionals break through the status quo and make sure their “giving season” efforts achieve their goals? Looking at real data from our Fortune 1,000 clients, we’ve noted five practices that drive measurable results in workplace giving participation and engagement:

1. Empower broad employee choice


There is no one-size-fits-all cause for today’s diverse and multi-generational workforce. Employees are five times more likely to donate when they have options that fit their passions and resonate at a personal level. And while you’re at it, make it really easy and mobile-friendly. All the choice in the world doesn’t matter if the donor has to jump through hoops to give back.

2. Make giving easy through payroll deductions


Companies that offer donations via payroll see four times the rate of participation than programs that don’t. It’s the most convenient way for employees to give a donation of any amount to causes they care about regularly throughout the year. Plus, payroll deduction is an easy way to get a broader segment of your employee base to participate.

3. Make it a perfect match


When companies show an authentic commitment to helping their people give more to the causes that matter to them through matching, employees are twice as likely to donate. Companies with the most progressive workplace giving programs also use more advanced and creative strategies, where they match at a higher rate to strategic nonprofit partners, causes or pillars.

4. Kickstart giving with incentives


To boost participation, many companies offer incentives of “donation currency” that employees can direct to the nonprofits of their choice. Some companies pre-seed new employee giving accounts or give charitable gift cards as a reward. When they do this, they attract 117 percent more participants, while also reinforcing a prosocial corporate culture.

5. Volunteering boosts the likelihood of donating


Employees who volunteer donate on average 41 percent more money. The more engaged employees feel with a cause, the more likely they are to contribute. So, offering a variety of goodness opportunities can yield better results for your employee giving program. Keep in mind that adding rewards for volunteering creates even more impact.

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Gone are the days of the top-down fundraising program using the same old tactics and tools. Any one of these simple strategies, when done in the right way, will deliver measurable outcomes for your workplace giving program. And better yet, when you apply several, you may just find yourself transforming a stagnant program into a pillar of your employee engagement strategy.

Read more of the results of the Benevity workplace giving analysis.

Image credit: Benevity

Bryan de Lottinville is the Founder and CEO of Benevity, Inc., the leading global supplier of workplace giving and volunteer management software solutions, boasting an impressive enterprise client roster, including Apple, Google, Microsoft, Oracle and SAP, among others.

A recovering lawyer, Bryan is an experienced growth company executive with a knack for innovating new approaches and a successful track record in “constructively disruptive” organizations that reinvent industry practices. Prior to founding Benevity, he was Chief Operating Officer and Director of iStockphoto Inc. 

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Clorox Goes Sustainable?

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93
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When I think of the Clorox Co., I think of bleach, a product I love for its disinfectant properties. The company also makes some of the most well-known household products, including Pine-Sol cleaners, Liquid Plumr clog removers and Glad bags.

But it turns out there's more to the multinational company that has 7,700 employees worldwide and sales of $5.7 billion this fiscal year. 

Clorox is also a company that is serious about sustainability, as its 2015 Integrated Annual report shows. The report covers the company’s “good growth,” what it terms “profitable and responsible growth” during the fiscal year that ended June 30. The progress toward its 2020 Strategy is covered in the report.

One of the goals within the strategy is to reduce the company’s operational footprint 20 percent by 2020. That includes reducing greenhouse gas emissions, solid waste to landfill, energy and water. In one area, solid waste to landfill, Clorox has not only met its goal but exceeded it by achieving a 30 percent reduction.

The company also achieved reductions in the other areas, the have resulted in $116 million in cost savings in fiscal year 2015:


  • Cumulative reductions in greenhouse gas emissions (11 percent)

  • Energy consumption (6 percent)

  • Water consumption (11 percent)

The goal for corporate responsibility is to “reduce the environmental impact of our operations and improve the sustainability of our upstream supply chain.” That means focusing on ways to reduce waste. The company emphasizes building “an even stronger agile enterprise that streamlines our work to focus on those activities consumers are willing to pay for.” In fiscal year 2015, Clorox has driven “significant productivity gains” in a number of its functions, including $116 million in cost savings, according to the report.

Clorox focuses on achieving 10 zero waste-to-landfill facilities

One way that Clorox is reducing waste is through its goal of 10 facilities achieving zero waste-to-landfill by 2020, a company spokesperson told TriplePundit in an email.

Its plant in Fairfield, California, is now a zero waste-to-landfill site. Five other facilities are close to achieving the goal. Four others are “aggressively working hard to reduce their waste in order to be designated as low (90 percent plus solid waste diversion away from landfill) waste-to-landfill facilities."

There are several things that a facility must do to achieve zero waste-to-landfill designation, the company stated in its email:


  • Reduce, reuse, recycle or compost at least 90 percent of the waste streams at the site.

  • Send the remaining 10 percent or less of waste to a waste-to-energy facility.

  • Ensure no commonly recycled items such as paper, plastic, corrugate or aluminum are in the remaining waste.
Focusing on reducing waste and achieving zero waste-to-landfill is a smart strategy. Municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills are the third largest source of human-related methane emissions in the U.S., according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Methane is a GHG with a warming potential 23 times greater than carbon dioxide.

Focusing on redesigning and reducing product and packaging materials

Clorox estimates that only about 12 percent of its environmental impact comes from operating its 37 plants worldwide. Most of the environmental impact of the 1 billion products it sells annually occurs either before raw materials arrive at its sites for processing or after consumers buy products. So, the company is focusing on redesigning and reducing product and packaging materials.

Part of the focus is increasing the amount of recycled content used in its packaging and enabling the packaging to be recycled. Between 2005 and 2011, Clorox made sustainability improvements to 50 percent of its portfolio. For 2020, it has set specific goals for packaging and product ingredients, including:


  • Having only recycled or certified virgin fiber in packaging

  • Having over 90 percent of all its products in recyclable primary packaging

  • Including clear recycling instructions on all packaging

  • Eliminating PVC in all packaging
Remember the Glad bags mentioned at the beginning of this article? Clorox has introduced what it described as a “series of technology innovations” that deliver stronger bags using less plastic. Given that plastic is petroleum-based, that is good for the environment. Clorox cited several examples of using less plastic in its Glad bags, including the Tall Kitchen bags. Through product innovations, about 6.5 million pounds of plastic have been reduced in the Tall Kitchen bags, which is the equivalent of keeping 140 million extra trash bags out of landfills every year.

Not bad for a company with such a global reach. Not bad at all.

Image credit: Mike Mozart

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Volvo charges up global electrification strategy

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Swedish car giant Volvo is to develop an entirely new range of electrified smaller cars and build a full electric car for sale by 2019.

As part of this new strategy, Volvo said it expects electrified vehicles to account for up to 10% of total car sales in the medium term.

The first element of the new electrification strategy involves the introduction of plug-in hybrid versions of its 90 series and 60 series larger cars, based on the company’s new Scalable Product Architecture (SPA). This process has already begun with the launch of the T8 Twin Engine All-Wheel Drive plug-in hybrid version of its new XC90 SUV and will continue with plug-in hybrid versions of the new S90 premium sedan and other forthcoming models.

Volvo Cars says it will also broaden the range of plug-in hybrid cars it offers with the introduction of a new front-wheel drive Twin Engine variant.

The company maintains that it will further deepen its product offering with the introduction of an entirely new range of smaller 40 series cars based on its newly-developed Compact Modular Architecture (CMA), which, like SPA, has been designed from the outset for electrification.

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African Fairtrade gold to bolster commercial opportunities

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The advent of new supplies of Fairtrade gold from Africa could herald a jewellery revolution with the UK leading the way.

That was the view expressed yesterday at the London launch of the first supplies of Fairtrade gold from East Africa (Fairtrade gold has previously only been sourced from South America). 

"Up until now, consumer awareness of Fairtrade gold has been as limited as the supply of gold. But the progress made by Fairtrade International in bringing more mines up to the standards required for them to gain Fairtrade accreditation means that there is now the possibility that any customer can walk into their local jeweller and commission a piece of jewellery made with Fairtrade gold," explains Sarah Carpin, one of the launch event's organisers.

Michael Gidney, ceo of the UK's Fairtrade Foundation commented: "Gold production is a vital source of income for many people in rural economies. By making mining Fairtrade it gives miners greater financial and job security as well as improved working conditions, bringing benefits for them, their families and the environment. If trade certification can work for co-operatives like this, then it can work for groups across the African continent."
 

See the November issue of Ethical Performance for more.

 

Picture credit: Rose Necklace from wellbeing and beauty guru Liz Earle's first Fairtrade botanical jewellery collection.

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African Fairtrade gold to bolster commercial opportunities

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The advent of new supplies of Fairtrade gold from Africa could herald a jewellery revolution with the UK leading the way.

That was the view expressed yesterday at the London launch of the first supplies of Fairtrade gold from East Africa (Fairtrade gold has previously only been sourced from South America). 

"Up until now, consumer awareness of Fairtrade gold has been as limited as the supply of gold. But the progress made by Fairtrade International in bringing more mines up to the standards required for them to gain Fairtrade accreditation means that there is now the possibility that any customer can walk into their local jeweller and commission a piece of jewellery made with Fairtrade gold," explains Sarah Carpin, one of the launch event's organisers.

Michael Gidney, ceo of the UK's Fairtrade Foundation commented: "Gold production is a vital source of income for many people in rural economies. By making mining Fairtrade it gives miners greater financial and job security as well as improved working conditions, bringing benefits for them, their families and the environment. If trade certification can work for co-operatives like this, then it can work for groups across the African continent."
 

Picture credit: Rose Necklace from wellbeing and beauty guru Liz Earle's first Fairtrade botanical jewellery collection.

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Food giants unite to tackle European food waste

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With a value chain wide approach, from the field to the plate, Ardo, McCain, PepsiCo, SCA, Sodexo, Unilever Food Solutions and WWF have joined forces and their expertise to fight against food waste in the food services sector starting in Europe.

Given that studies show food waste occurs at every phase of the industry value chain, the International Food Waste Coalition’s approach engages with each sector calling on them to take their responsibility in the fight against food waste and to adopt a global strategy.

The coalition is currently piloting a project in schools from different countries of the European Union (EU). It says it is working to identify where food waste is happening in the different steps of the chain, to find efficient solutions, and at the end of the chain, to create awareness among students and teachers.

A final objective of the coalition is to consider legislation that assists or impedes the fight against food waste. For example, there is currently no uniform law in the EU which allows transfer of liability between the donors and the recipients of food donations.

“Effective collaboration amongst all stakeholders is essential for delivering a sustainable reduction in food waste across the total supply chain. Thanks to this important coalition, key companies are coming together to harness collective knowledge, utilise existing best practices and create engaging communication materials that will drive real action in reducing waste from ‘farm to fork’,” commented Martyn Seal, PepsiCo Europe's senior director environmental sustainability. 

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TerraPass, Moms Clean Air Force Talk Climate Change and Our Kids' Futures

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By Nancy Bsales, TerraPass

Climate change is not in some far off future: It’s happening now, and we are already feeling the impacts. That’s one reason why a group of moms is trying to get parents to take action on what they see as the greatest threat to their children’s health and future – the air pollution that causes climate change.

Moms Clean Air Force is a national organization of more than 500,000 parents, committed to fighting air pollution. When TerraPass learned that Moms Clean Air Force was bringing parents from around the U.S. to Washington, D.C., to educate lawmakers about climate change, we wanted to make the July 2015 Play-In for Climate Action carbon-balanced. This family-friendly protest against the air pollution causing climate change showcased what is at stake as temperatures and sea levels rise: our kids.

TerraPass had the pleasure of working with Moms Clean Air Force, and I had the pleasure of speaking with Molly Rauch about the organization's mission and how to get involved. We are thrilled to share their story and ways to get involved in the movement.

TerraPass: Tell us about the roots of Moms Clean Air Force? How and why did it start? And how many chapters do you have in the U.S.?

Molly Rauch: Dominique Browning founded Moms Clean Air Force in 2011 with the idea that moms, when united, are a powerful force for good. She wanted to harness what she calls the power of “mother love.” Moms are passionate about our kids’ health and future. We want clean air; we want strong pollution standards; and we want a world safe from runaway climate change.

If we can raise awareness of how these issues threaten our kids, and if we can raise our voices, we can make a difference. In addition to our national efforts, we now have chapters in 18 states and the District of Columbia.

TerraPass: What do you think is the biggest threat to our kids today?

MR: Climate change. Climate change is already devastating the lives of thousands upon thousands. It’s making heat waves hotter and longer; it’s fueling forest fires; it’s contributing to severe storms. It’s changing the vectors of diseases like malaria and Lyme; it’s making allergy season longer and more intense; it’s impacting some food crops, and it’s flooding coastlines.

As this process continues, we may experience food shortages, disease outbreaks, increases in heat deaths, more asthma attacks, civil unrest, mass migrations and electricity shortages.

Or, we can take this opportunity to create the future that we want our children to inherit.

TerraPass: What is the mission of Moms Clean Air Force?

MR: Air pollution isn’t just dirty. It is toxic. We are a national community of moms and dads united against air pollution – including the urgent crisis of our changing climate – to protect our children’s health. We arm members with reliable information and solutions through online resources, articles, action tools and on-the-ground events.

TerraPass: How do you leverage the influence of moms and dads to move your mission forward? What are the obstacles? What are the advantages?

MR: We provide opportunities for parents to learn about pollution and take action to stop it. We aren’t doing this for polar bears or leopards, even though we think they are wonderful. We are doing this for our beloved children. We tap into the deep well of love that parents feel for their children, and parents in turn respond with the energy, confidence and motivation to speak up.

We now have over 570,000 parents who have joined our fight. When policymakers, lawmakers and corporate leaders hear the voices of all these parents, they feel the heat. They make better decisions. Ultimately, they help protect our kids.

Our members email, call, write and meet face-to-face with decision-makers at all levels of government, from local to national. They also have opportunities to meet and talk with each other through our local chapters and on-the-ground events. They attend public hearings. They attend rallies. Or they click and sign our petitions. We welcome participation of all kinds. Naptime activism – quick actions you can take while your child is napping – can make a huge difference.

TerraPass: If you could have every parent do one thing to support fighting for our kids’ health, what would it be?

MR: Right now, states have an incredible opportunity to craft blueprints for how they are going to implement America’s Clean Power Plan, a recently-finalized rule from the Environmental Protection Agency that will reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by power plants across the country. It’s the largest step our nation has ever taken to combat climate change, and its success hinges on the constructive participation of states.

I would like every parent to call his or her governor. If every mom told her governor that she cares about climate change, and why, that would make a huge difference. States need to hear that parents want to limit climate pollution, and that we want to transition to cleaner energy.

TerraPass: How is Moms Clean Air Force taking these issues to Washington? Tell us about the Play-In.

MR: For the past two summers, we have held our Play-In for Climate Action on the grounds of the U.S. capitol in Washington, D.C. This summer we had 500 participants playing, singing, dancing, chanting and generally having a great, family-friendly day – while learning about the importance of taking bold actions to combat climate pollution. Families from dozens of states then visited their lawmakers’ offices to continue the conversation. It was a truly inspiring day.

We also bring our message to Washington in other ways. When there are public hearings on issues that affect our children’s health, we ask our moms to come and share their stories. We are trying to put a human face on the issue of air pollution. That face is your child’s face.

TerraPass: What are your goals for the next year … next decade?

MR: We are focused with urgency on creating a potent demand for meaningful climate action. We want to see every state submit a State Implementation Plan for America’s Clean Power Plan. We want to see strong methane emission standards for existing oil and gas industry sources. We want a strong international agreement to come out of the Paris climate talks in December. And we want to reach new parents, to help them see how climate change impacts their own children, and how they can help turn the tide on this public health crisis.

Over the next decade, we want to be laying the groundwork for a just transition to a fossil-free economy by building public support for clean air and healthy kids.

TerraPass: Share a story of why this is so important.

MR: At our Play-In, the Rev. Dr. Yvette Griffin of Detroit shared the story of how her granddaughter died last year from asthma complications. She was 13 years old. Asthma deaths are rare, but they happen, especially in African American communities.

Climate change is going to make asthma worse, for three reasons. First, heat makes asthma worse. Rising temperatures will make it harder to catch a breath. Second, plant allergens like ragweed pollen trigger asthma attacks. Guess what? Climate change is making pollen season longer and more intense. Third, climate change is predicted to increase levels of industrial air pollution like smog and soot.

That’s going to mean more asthma attacks, more lung infections, and more coughing and shortness of breath, and more tragic deaths like the Rev. Yvette’s granddaughter.

TerraPass: What can parents change in their lifestyles to ensure a better environment for their children?

MR: At Moms Clean Air Force, we focus on civic engagement, because we think we need a large-scale mobilization to address the problem of climate change. But individual actions are important, too.

We can line-dry our clothes. We can wash our clothes in cold water. We can weatherize our homes. We can choose energy-efficient appliances when we purchase new ones. I’ve also been thinking about the co-benefits of driving less. What an amazing opportunity it is for our health if we fundamentally transform our transportation system. If we walk and bike more, and create communities where these forms of transportation are realistic and accessible to more people, we can improve public health tremendously. Some of our most intractable health problems – heart disease, diabetes, and obesity – will decline if people walk and bike more.

These lifestyle changes can have huge personal and society-wide benefits.

TerraPass: What steps should parents take to join in this mission? How can parents be activated? Tell us where to start to get involved.

MR: Join the Force by signing up for weekly emails from us. We’ll share resources, invite you to take action, and keep you up-to-date on key policy developments. We also nurture a vibrant Facebook community, so you can join us there to learn more and connect with others who care about these issues. Let us know if you want to do more. We are always looking for parents who want to take action to protect our children’s health and future.

Image credit: Moms Clean Air Force via Facebook

Nancy Bsales has worked in Sustainable Solutions at TerraPass for the last 8 years. Follow Nancy on twitter @NancyBsales or give her a call at 973-743-5374.

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In Defense of Recycling and Common Sense

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By Greg Stanton and Michael M. Crow

In his New York Times opinion piece from Oct. 3, John Tierney marginalizes the environmental benefits of recycling and waste diversion when he posits that recycling a great number of manufactured and organic materials has no economic rationale. Mr. Tierney also claims that recycling practices could lead to a perceived elimination of jobs in “communities that have accepted the environmental trade-offs that come with those jobs.”

As leaders of the sixth largest city in the U.S. and the nation's largest university, respectively, we not only find Mr. Tierney's assertions faulty, but we also contend that they are based on an obsolete economic model that ignores a material's full cycle of extraction, production, consumption and potential for reuse.

By focusing only on end-use, Mr. Tierney completely ignores the fact that planetary resources are limited. The United Nations predicts: “Should the global population reach 9.6 billion by 2050, the equivalent of almost three planets could be required to provide the natural resources needed to sustain current lifestyles.” Accordingly, one of the recently released Sustainable Development Goals is to “ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.”

Unless we find ways to reuse waste and design our products and packaging to optimize material use, we will not meet the economic and social needs of a growing population. Enlightened institutions are working together to optimize financial, social and environmental resources by re-imagining an entire system based on a circular economy model, not merely harvesting economic rewards at end-of-use.

For example, Arizona State University (ASU) and the city of Phoenix are creating an economic development strategy around waste recovery. Each year, Phoenix waste collection vehicles travel more than 7 million miles to collect trash from residents – equivalent to going to the moon and back 14 times. Phoenix is committed to reaching a 40 percent waste diversion rate by 2020 through an initiative called Reimagine Phoenix, not only to reduce environmental impact but also because the development of new products, practices and businesses using recovered materials leads to more local jobs.

Mr. Tierney argues that cities should focus on only a few material streams, namely metal and paper. Again, this ignores the true costs of production and undervalues innovations that can drive economic growth.

The last 15 years have seen a sharp increase in real prices and price volatility of natural resources, metals and non-agricultural outputs. These supply-side risks impact product prices for consumers. If participants in the value chain were required to cover the true costs of their activities, the value of recycled materials would balloon overnight.

All of these trajectories suggest that we need to reduce our resource consumption by at least 75 percent, as was predicted in 1995 by environmental economists and scientists L. Hunter Lovins, Amory Lovins and Ernst von Weizsäcker. The current industrial model that ties business growth to the availability of “inexpensive” virgin materials is linear. We extract, process, manufacture, distribute, use and dispose. This model is not sustainable.

Because we are responsible for ensuring well-being for future generations, ASU’s Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiatives and the city of Phoenix are working together to re-imagine resources. Our goal is to create jobs, new businesses and tax revenue, all while reducing our environmental impact and diverting materials from area landfills. By design, we intend to reduce reliance on virgin materials and maximize their value for as long as possible.

Our future is at risk. We intend to answer the question Mr. Tierney posed at the end of his article and demonstrate how to build a sustainable city with a strategy that CAN sustain itself.

Image credit: Flickr/John Lambert Pearson

Greg Stanton is Mayor of the city of Phoenix.

Michael M. Crow is President of Arizona State University.

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Portland's Clean Diesel Initiative Builds New Specs for Green Construction

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The question of how to reduce automotive diesel emissions has been on the minds of many these days -- and not just those preoccupied with the fallout from automakers' recent scandals. As many well-established development companies can attest, real estate construction is dirty business. And its environmental impact is complicated by the type of heavy equipment that is required and the years -- or, in some cases, decades -- that projects often last.

For urban communities, and the developers that invest in the area in the form of new infrastructure, the length and breadth of a project can present a myriad of challenges, from noise and traffic control to air quality and emissions concerns.

One Portland, Oregon, development company, however, thinks it's found the answer. And as is often the case, its success relied on patient networking, dogged research and diligent note-taking.

Cairn Pacific LLC, which is known for its urban development projects, embarked on a multi-use project last year that involved redeveloping an 17 acres in popular Northwest Portland.  Located smack in the middle of one of Portland's densest neighborhoods -- a vibrant, desirable area near downtown -- the shipping facility and parking lot offered the perfect setting for a new, upscale community of buildings.

The first project developed as a joint project with Captsone Partners LLC, started last year, will become a mid-rise residential building with multi-use functionality. The LL Hawkins, named after the 19th century entrepreneur and banker Lester Leander Hawkins who helped set the foundation for Portland's turn-of-the-century success, would include a rooftop lounge, spacious residences, and retail shops and restaurants on the ground level.

Tom DiChiara, a co-founder of Cairn Pacific, credits the Northwest District Association with coming up with the questions and ingenuity that would eventually launch the clean diesel initiative. He said it was the neighborhood association's desire to find a way to lessen diesel emissions (and other environmental impacts) that brought the developer, the residents, the state's Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and a myriad of contracting companies together to explore sustainability options.

"The projects we’re working on in Northwest Portland are part of a large master plan" that was developed with heavy input from the neighborhood, DiChiara told 3p. "[The] Northwest Portland District Association raised concerns about air quality during construction," and a sub-committee was assigned to investigate whether the developer and contractors would be open to establishing some standards for diesel emissions. They were, and agreed to participate in a carefully outlined plan that involved a carefully laid-out set of steps and specifications designed to reduce carbon emissions during construction.

"It was a pretty elaborate point system that essentially monitored every piece of equipment that was on site, the type of motor it had, how long it ran and the day it ran. Our contractor cataloged all that activity on site. And we did a monthly check-in with the neighborhood association to see how we were doing in relation to the goals that were established by that plan."

At the heart of the plan was establishing what tier, or emission standards could be used on site. "Basically we wanted to encourage that all these motors on site were either Tier 4 or Tier 4 i [EPA designations for non-road diesel emissions]. They are the latest clean diesel technology," DiChiara continued. "And as to the ones that weren’t compliant, there was some thought that the DEQ would have some funds available to retrofit some of those machines."

Unfortunately, the funding application wasn't approved in time for that stage of the project, so Cairn Pacific worked around the issue by finding subcontractors who could rent compliant equipment.

DiChiara said having access to the Tier 4 technology was essential to making the clean diesel project a success, but it can be a challenge to find some types of machines like pile drivers and other heavy equipment that currently meet those standards."It is a really big challenge in the market," he said. "You try to push the market where you can but a lot of (contractors) don’t have the newest equipment, and equipment such as excavators, loaders, and other heavy diesel machines are extremely expensive, so people hang on to them for a long time."

Kevin Downing, coordinator for DEQ's Clean Diesel Initiative, said there are two federal programs that offer grants to retrofit diesel equipment that aren't up to Tier 4 specs, and his office helps contractors apply for and access those funds. The first is the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act, which allocates money for such uses on a regional basis. The second is the Department of Transportation's Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Act (CMAQ).

"We see as ourselves actually as working as a consultant in a large part," Downing said. The agency not only provides contact information, but provides input to help the contractors submit the best proposals possible. "We will help any Oregon project develop a proposal that best meets what EPA is looking for in their funding guidelines." Participation in the clean diesel initiative is voluntary.

Downing said that the success of this local clean diesel initiative has been a win-win for everyone involved. "We are very proud of this project, so much so that we have submitted it to EPA to be nominated for consideration among their annual Clean Air Excellence Awards program." And from a public health standpoint, Downing said, figuring out how to constructively lower emissions on the project is a significant starting point to reducing the impacts of human activity.

"Every ton of diesel particulate that is reduce contributes to an improvement in public health and environment that ranges from reduced risk for cancer, heart disease, heart attacks, asthma, bronchitis and COPD," as well as other diseases, Downing said. "So, the diesel engines are very powerful and an integral part of the American economy. They are the most efficient internal combustion engine in the world and their power and durability means that they are widely used in many applications where power and torque are really necessary for construction activity."

Figuring out how to lower emissions -- and sometimes within limited marketing options, as DiChiara pointed out -- not only ensure that construction projects can proceed as necessary, but that impacts to the environment and its residents are kept to a minimum.

This particular clean diesel initiative also accomplishes a milestone, Downing said, because it is the first privately-funded and established clean diesel initiative in Oregon. It is also believed to be the first of its kind in the country. That makes the accomplishments all the sweeter, Downing concluded.

DiChiara said that Cairn Pacific will continue the clean diesel initiative when it breaks ground for the next stage of development. The particular needs of that project will help refine the specs even further.

"Our intention would be to continue when we start next year with the next couple of blocks adjacent to the property we just finished within the master plan and we expect to be able to take the lessons learned in the program and continue to implement that next project," he said.

The underground garage the company will build will test the limits of these specifications, and help them explore more ways to refine the concept to meet other construction and market demands. "We’re hoping that the DEQ funds for retrofits will be available in time for that project so that we can expand the outreach to other subcontractors that have older equipment."

He said working with the neighborhood organization offered excellent opportunities to learn new ways of meeting green standards, which he says is a guidepost for his company. "I think it is fair to call it the cleanest construction project in the city," said DiChiara, who says he is using what he learned to encourage green changes in Portland's construction industry. "There really isn’t a down side to it from the society and neighborhood point of view; it’s just trying to make it happen."

Images: Courtesy of Cairn Pacific LLC

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Twitter Chat Recap: Yum! Brands & Partners on World Food Day -- #3pYumChat

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Today, TriplePundit, Yum! Brands, the U.N. World Food Program and Food Donation Connection came together at #3pYumChat for a special Twitter Chat about global hunger relief efforts and World Food Day.

There are 795 million people suffering from chronic hunger around the world, according to the United Nations World Food Program (WFP). This means that 1 in 9 people globally, many of whom are children, are going to bed hungry each night.  As one of the world’s largest restaurant companies, Yum! Brands believes it is its privilege and responsibility to address the global hunger issue.

During this hour-long Twitter Chat, we took an in-depth look at Yum! Brands’ World Hunger Relief effort. It's the world’s largest private-sector hunger relief initiative, spanning more than 125 countries, over 41,000 KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell restaurants, and 1.5 million employees. We heard from the company's largest World Hunger Relief partner, WFP, on the success this initiative has achieved since 2007 by raising awareness, volunteerism and funds to help create a world with zero hunger.

Yum! Brands also addresses hunger in the U.S. through its Harvest program. Since 1992, the Food Donation Connection (FDC) has coordinated the donation of more than 176 million pounds of the company’s food to over 3,000 nonprofit organizations – a fair market value of nearly $820 million.  Since its launch over two decades ago, Yum! Harvest has become the largest prepared-food donation program in the world. We heard from the FDC on how they are teaming together with the company to expand the Harvest program globally.

As we prepare for World Food Day on Oct. 16, we know the need to fight global hunger is as important as ever.

During #3pYumChat, we addressed the following topics, and more:


  • How Yum! Brands’ effort has raised $600 million in cash and food donations for WFP and other hunger relief agencies since 2007.

  • How WFP, the world’s largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide, delivers food in emergencies and is working to build resilience in communities across the globe. In 2014, WFP assisted more than 80 million people in 75 countries.

  • How the Yum! Harvest program, in partnership with FDC, offers a fantastic alternative to discarding surplus food domestically and internationally. FDC helps to coordinate the donation of over 10 million pounds of prepared food every year from Yum! restaurants to worthy nonprofit organizations.

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