CENTER FOR BUSINESS
AS AN AGENT OF WORLD BENEFIT

Westpac, an Australia-based financial services and banking company, has been working with the Cape York indigenous people who face a life expectancy of less than 50 years, have an average annual income of $8,600 per annum, and fewer than 10% of their working age population are in unsubsidized employment. The 10,000 people living in 17 Cape York communities face an epidemic of substance abuse, a breakdown of law and order, and dysfunctional governance structures. Westpac’s involvement represents an innovative way to contribute to capacity building while expanding the company’s customer base. Westpac’s approach includes Family Income Management (FIM), Business Hubs and an assist in the development and implementation of the Computer Culture educational project. In addition, three twelve-month Westpac Fellowships have been established in strategic positions in the regional organizations to help build their capacity to roll out their strategies. Westpac has been named and ranked among the most socially responsible companies in Australia.

GrameenPhone has a dual purpose: to receive an economic return on its investments and to contribute to the economic development of Bangladesh where telecommunications can play a vital role. This is why GrameenPhone, in collaboration with Grameen Bank, is aiming to place one phone in each village to contribute significantly to the economic uplift of those villages. Grameen Phone’s basic strategy is coverage of both urban and rural areas. In contrast to the “island” strategy followed by some companies, which involves connecting isolated islands of urban coverage through transmission links, GrameenPhone builds continuous coverage, cell after cell. While the intensity of coverage may vary from area to area depending on market conditions, the basic strategy of cell-to-cell coverage is applied throughout GrameenPhone’s network.

Grameen Bank (GB) has reversed conventional banking practice by removing the need for collateral and creating a banking system based on mutual trust, accountability, participation and creativity. GB provides credit to the poorest of the poor in rural Bangladesh, without any collateral. At GB, credit is a cost effective weapon to fight poverty and it serves as a catalyst in the overall development of socio-economic conditions of the poor who have been kept outside the banking orbit on the grounds that they are poor and hence not bankable. Since the bank does not wish to take any borrower to the court of law in case of non-repayment, it does not require the borrowers to sign any legal instrument. Although each borrower must belong to a five-member group, the group is not required to give any guarantee for a loan to its member. Repayment responsibility solely rests on the individual borrower, while the group and the Grameen Bank center oversee that everyone behaves in a responsible way and none gets into a repayment problem. There is no form of joint liability, i.e. group members are not responsible to pay on behalf of a defaulting member.

Macroplastic, maker of plastic bags, along with a businessman from a supermarket chain, a non-governmental organization and the Federation of Industries (FIEP) for the state of Curitiba have decided to address the issue of garbage pollution in one of Brasil’s most industrialized regions. The innovative scheme to address the consumer-caused pollution is working in one area, Matinho. Macroplastic produces grocery bags of 6 different colors (rather than traditional, single one-design-fits-all bags). A supermarket chain purchases the bags for their regular packaging needs, the consumers receive the bags for free when shopping for groceries, and get educated about recycling process by trash collectors who are trained to separate and handle the trash correctly and communicate with consumers around the right use of bags.

According to Natura's website, the search for beauty is a legitimate yearning of all human beings, but based on stereotypes imposed by society. Natura believes we must demystify the ideal of beauty and maintain ourselves by cultivating and conserving our bodies. In an effort to move towards a more sustainable business model, Natura, Brazil’s leading cosmetics company, launched a new product line, Nature Ekos. Natura Ekos line of fragrances, personal care and ambience products draws from the wealth of Brazil's biodiversity and is inspired by traditional uses of plant ingredients. In keeping with the concept of sustainability, Natura Ekos products are biodegradable and use bottles and packaging that contain recycled material. Refills are provided for each product, which both reduces their environmental impact and increases the price competitiveness of the Ekos products.

The Beach Solar Laundromat uses eight solar thermal panels to heat water for the Laundromat, potable water for the second floor apartment and for space heating in radiators. The building was built in 1939, and the mechanical retrofit took place in 2002 and 2003. Natural Gas consumption has been reduced by approximately 30% as a result of the energy initiatives undertaken. Revenues have grown 160% over eighteen months as customers actively choose the Beach Solar Laundromat because of its environmentally friendly energy initiatives.

The Winter 2004 Issue of the Stanford Social Innovation Review tells the story of Placer Dome's development of "The Care Project" to facilitate the lay off of more than 13,000 employees in seven countries in a fair and responsible manner. A Canada-based global mining firm, Placer Dome purchased 50 percent of the South Deep Mine from Western Areas Limited in 1999. The mine required massive restructuring in order to make it profitable and to bring it in line with Placer Dome’s safety standards, resulting in nearly a third of the mine’s workforce being let go.

‘Sekem’ means vitality from the sun, the ripples of which have touched people, environment and community in multitude of ways. It is an initiative in Egypt with a vision of sustainable development through economic, social and cultural progress. Operating via an umbrella organization called Sekem Holding, products like natural pharmaceuticals, organic food, and organic textiles are manufactured in a hope to heal the earth and spread prosperity in the country.

E7 is an international environmental NPO comprised of the world's leading electric utilities. Major global environmental and social issues that affect the electric utility industry are considered to be the top priorities of the E7.Each E7 member considers the management of environmental issues among its highest corporate priorities, and all support the concept of Sustainable Development. The E7 electricity companies operate on the national territories of the G8 countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, United Kingdom and United States). Membership in the E7 is by invitation. The E7 may also invite other organizations from around the world to become Partners and contribute to the implementation of the E7’s goals. The number of E7 members from any single country is limited to a maximum of two (2) and these. must be the largest, or among the two largest, electricity producing companies, in the country that is under consideration. The E7 has a unique operational knowledge of the electricity sector. In other words, the E7’s diversity of experience and expertise complement each other granting it an all-encompassing scope of the global electricity industry. Sharing this wealth of experience with countries facing new pressures on their electrical industry is the most valuable way the E7 can contribute to sustainable development throughout the world.

Over the past 15 years, Groupe DANONE has moved into a number of emerging markets, including China, Indonesia, India, North Africa, and South Africa. In all of these countries, the sale of high quality food products is held back by the low purchasing power of consumers. Today Asia, Latin America and the Africa/Middle East region account for no less than 24% of group sales. To make its products accessible to low-income consumers, the company launched DANONE's Affordability Initiative. Through this Initiative it has developed products with significantly enhanced nutritional value that meets local needs at an affordable price, without compromising high standards for quality and food safety.

“Sustainable agriculture” is a competitive and productive type of agriculture striving to include, in addition to food quality and safety standards, a balance between respect for the environment, economic and social repercussions on the local environment, and profitability. Groupe Danone is one of the first food-manufacturing groups to have committed to sustainable agriculture, an essential requirement for meeting consumer expectations, considered as a complementary approach to organic agriculture. This commitment, however, does not mean that the Group is neglecting organic agriculture, as shown by the purchase of Stonyfield Farm in the United States.

The US Department of Energy’s goal of obtaining six percent of US electricity from wind by 2020 is not simply a necessary and relevant objective but a huge business opportunity for the organizations in the wind energy industry. Siemens recognized the gap between this aim and the capability available in the market and hence launched its first wind turbine manufacturing plant in Iowa in 2007.

A company driven by the desire to improve global sustainability, Monsanto India is not only helping the farmers in the country increase their yield but simultaneously educating them about practices that help improve their lives. Recognizing the immense business potential in India with 25 percent of world’s cotton fields and combining this with its breakthrough research in Bt gene (bacillus thuringiensis), Monsanto has helped millions of farmers live a more prosperous and healthier life.

SELCO INDIA (the Solar Electric Light Company) is a solar energy services company that sells, installs and services solar lighting systems to the underserved in rural India. SELCO is headquartered in Bangalore, India and has 25 solar service centers offices in the states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. With a staff of more than 150, SELCO has installed more than 45,000 solar lighting systems. SELCO has also partnered with more than 12 local financial institutions. SELCO’s primary mission is to uplift the quality of life among the underserved and also create enabling conditions for income generating activities. Solar lighting has led to better education, smokeless environment and longer working hours; thus uplifting the quality of life of the beneficiaries. SELCO has ensured that its clients can get door-step service and door-step financing: two key components for the successful dissemination of modern energy services in the underserved areas.

Billing itself as “the hallmark of Environmentally Sensitive Hotels”, The Orchid is a 245-room “ecotel” or Eco-Hotel located in Mumbai, India. It is Asia's first certified eco-friendly, five-star hotel certified as ISO 14001. Guests are encouraged to participate in the hotel’s environmental crusades and they reportedly do so with much enthusiasm and zeal.

Project Shakti is an alternative distribution system and a bottom-of-the-pyramid initiative created by Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL), a subsidiary of Unilever. Shakti allows HLL access to the previously untapped market of rural villages in India, which do not fit the traditional distribution infrastructure. Shakti is oriented to both income generation and community development. By targeting low-income populations, particularly women, this project addresses deep social problems - like iodine deficiency or diarrhea disease - by training Shakti women to provide education about products that address these health issues, and also making the products available in remote areas of the country.

The development of the new Toyota Prius from its 1997 predecessor was conducted almost from scratch and resulted in improved environmental and driving performance. The Prius, whose name is derived from the Latin for "prior to", is positioned to play a significant role in determining the current and future direction of the automobile. The Prius answers the question of what form vehicles could take in the 21st century if they take the environment into consideration.

Recognizing the sizable challenge of having an aging workforce with an average of mid-fifties at one of its plants in South Africa, Nissan took steps to replenish its workforce. Young relatives of the retirees were recruited to assure continuity of family incomes, older relatives served as their mentors before retiring, and financial planning and small- to medium-size business consultants were provided to all retirees. As a result company rejuvenation stimulated community development.

Honey Care Africa is an innovative, rapidly expanding Kenyan social enterprise established expressly to increase the income of rural farmers. To date, Honey Care has doubled the income of several thousand small scale farmers through its "Money for Honey" program, which trains them in commercial beekeeping and then buys their honey at a guaranteed price. Honey Care then packages and sells the highest quality African honey. The overall objective of the company is to produce and market high quality honey that will successfully compete on the world market with honey products from elsewhere. To achieve this objective the company has opted to work with the rural community groups in an out-grower model whereby it has introduced modern beekeeping methods using the Langstroth hives. In this approach, the company closely monitors the production process to ensure quality of honey produced by the contracted out- growers.

The third largest cement manufacturer in the world, CEMEX, decided it needed to move from selling materials to selling solutions. Using low fixed prices, materials on credit, pre-costed housing designs, and supervised construction services for Mexicans, CEMEX developed its "Patrimonio Hoy" program to make housing affordable and possible for 70,000 of the poor in Mexico.

Bank ABN AMRO has made sustainability a cornerstone of its business. The bank strives to include a concern for social and environmental issues in the decision-making of every strategic business unit. These activities have gained such prominence that a special unit, the Sustainable Development Group was organized to coordinate sustainability work across the organization. The innovativeness of this sustainability mindset has led to numerous activities that are creating a shift in the impact of ABN AMRO on environment and society.

In consonance with its name of Triodos or ‘three way’, Triodos Bank has built its business model on the three pillars of people, planet and profits. The belief of the bank is simple and its mission is lucid - it finances companies, institutions and projects that add cultural value and benefit people and environment with the support of depositors and investors who wish to encourage social responsibility and a sustainable society.

Waste Management NZ Ltd, the largest waste management and resource recovery service provider in New Zealand and with operations in Australia, has created eco-friendly landfills and introduced innovative resource recovery methods. The company harnesses the gases emitted from its landfills and generates electricity, which is then fed to the national grid. They have successfully demonstrated how waste management companies can not only recover resources and reduce emissions, but also convert waste into an energy source for heating and electrical generation, thus increasing their overall profits. As a result, Waste Management’s landfill gas management skills are utilized by a number of private and territorial authorities in New Zealand, Australia and China.

The story of Hubbard Foods Ltd. of New Zealand represents an innovative approach to Sustainability Reporting (SR). Traditionally, SR is seen as an adjunct, or secondary, reporting process for a company, often performed for external stakeholders and marketed for general public as a means of PR. Hubbard Foods Ltd decided to use their SR process as a means for sustainability implementation – in other words, as a part of their overall change management process. As a result, a new set of Key Performance Area Drivers and Indicators have been devised and integrated into core operations of the company.

A number of major financial institutions have come together to adopt a framework for determining, assessing and managing environmental and social issues in project financing. These global voluntary regulatory guidelines, the “Equator Principles” (EPs), are revolutionizing the way large projects are financed. Banks that adopt the EPs apply them globally to project financing in all industry sectors including mining, oil and gas, and forestry, and they make loans only to those projects whose sponsors aim to be socially responsible and environmentally sound.

The Social Enterprise El Pan de Cada Día (Our Daily Bread) was born in 2003 as the first of its kind in Peru and the only enterprise of its kind to exclusively employ disabled persons (Personas con Discapacidad a/k/a PCD). The company rescues, recuperates and reinserts into society disabled persons of low economic resources that are totally abandoned and that live in extreme poverty in places like the province of Trujillo in La Libertad. The PCD are given dignified living conditions and the opportunity to work regularly for the first time in their lives. The bread and pastry Our Daily Bread produces is sold to approximately 15,000 persons every day in what Peruvians term the "D and E social strata". This segment of the population benefit from the cost and quality of the products created by Our Daily Bread. Working within that poor population the company is fighting against poverty by combining the employment of those at the bottom of the economic pyramid with producing an affordable product for the same.

Among the many rural businesses of post-communist Russia, ALVI Inc. offers a new model of self-reliance and sustainable development. By aligning community interest and business interest, the company has successfully grown into a multi-product organization with high productivity levels and a flourishing community.

Russia, long known as a culture whose people - rich and poor - revere the arts in all its many forms, has also developed a reputation as an emergent economy that is solely driven by immediate profit, if not greed. Since the government provides no tax relief or other incentives for philanthropy, the story of Interros is more noteworthy. Interros has stepped beyond simply giving to providing sustainable development in the area of art, culture and education by supporting long-term social programs in education and culture.

An oil giant, Yukos, is one of the largest Russian-based multi-national corporations and one of the largest CSR actors from the former USSR. Yukos represents one of the most innovative companies in the region when it comes to questions of merging business interests with world benefit. Among the Yukos' particular innovative strategies is its approach to distributing funds for local community development. When most Russian companies provide financial assistance to various organizations in a sporadic, if at all, manner, Yukos organizes an open competition for projects directed towards sustainable community development.

Coca-Cola is the largest private sector employer in Africa, with more than 60,000 employees. It has operated in Africa for more than 75 years and over the last five years has invested more than $600 million in new plants, updated equipments and employee training. Africa has been a profitable region for the company with continuous increase in revenues as well as unit case volume. But this rate of growth is threatened by the prevalence of AIDS/HIV crisis in the continent. The company has launched several initiatives to educate, protect and curb the crisis for its employees, in turn helping the economic growth of the whole region. Through partnerships and collaborations several innovative programs have been institutionalized. The prevention and education within the company cascade down, contributing to the health and development of the whole community.

Miles and Associates/Success by Choice International combines traditional for-profit training and consulting services with the agenda of youth development and HIV/AIDS prevention. The guiding principles of skills transfer, sustainability and community empowerment make this a story of a successful business serving the needs of society.

Electrolux is a company committed to sustainability through its products and its operations. Continually working to reduce energy consumption from its products and factories, the organization has recognized the growing customer base of environmentally friendly products and the urgency of saving the planet and society. They have used this knowledge for excellent product design and seamless implementation.

Swiss Re is internationally recognized for taking a public stand on global warming. This year it has been named to the list of top 20 most sustainable business stocks by SustainableBusiness.com. Swiss Re's latest initiative to raise public awareness about sustainability came in the form of an inspiring TV documentary entitled 'The Great Warming'. Supported by Swiss Re and narrated by Alanis Morissette and Keanu Reeves, the documentary was a three-part series which explored not only the underlying science of climate change but the solutions that will lead to a truly sustainable future. 'The Great Warming' aired on TVB Pearl in March 2005. Swiss Re fosters broad awareness of climate risks. It supports effective measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and provides new (re)insurance and financing solutions in this field. The company shares its know-how through its publications and engages in discussions on emerging issues with various stakeholders at the Swiss Re Centre for Global Dialogue in Rüschlikon.

British Petroleum, like many other fuel and energy producting companies, is always on the hunt for fuel that is in abundant supply and is non-polluting. The company believes that such a fuel may be hydrogen, a chemical element that carries energy and can be stored in either liquid or gaseous form. With an increasing world consciousness toward the impact of human activities on the environment and, specifically, the impact of emissions from urban air pollution to global warming, BP is looking for a cleaner energy supply.

British Petroleum, (BP) is one of the world's largest energy companies, it's origins dating back to May 1901. Despite BP's reputation as an oil and gas giant, it has taken highly innovative steps to move away from fossil fuels and toward the development of alternative energy sources. BP states that, as a global energy business, its aim is clear: to reduce its environmental footprint by producing cleaner products and encouraging customers to use them safely and efficiently

Realizing the urgency of action and leveraging the strength of business for making a difference, Global Ethics Ltd launched a bottled drinking water called ONE. The idea was simple: the profit generated from every bottle of water sold would be channelized toward installation of water pumps in parts of Africa where clean drinking water is almost a luxury. One billion without access to drinking water resulting in 2 million deaths (source: onewater.uk.org; UNICEF and WHO report, 2006) sounds almost ludicrous in today’s world. The magnitude of the problem escapes most of us who take a basic necessity like clean drinking water completely for granted. Unfortunately it is not so in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa, Eastern and Southern Asia. For many of the millions affected, the time that should be devoted to school and agriculture is spent walking miles to collect water.

LocalHarvest stands for building a vibrant community, healthy environment, and a strong and sustainable local economy- all made possible by the vast potential of the internet. Using the simple idea of connecting buyers and sellers virtually through an online catalog, the organization not only provides impetus to the proliferation of organic farming but also broadens the reach of the local farmers to a larger customer base.

The vision Professional Supply Inc. of the company is more than energy efficiency; they are determined to change the way businesses think about energy use. By its innovative patented technologies for air conditioning, heating and ventilation, the organization has helped companies weave in energy conservation into their business strategies proving that green does turn into gold.

Batesville Casket Company’s innovative reforestation program is an exemplar for the sound business strategy of reducing carbon footprint while, in turn, generating higher revenues. The organization realized the growing demand for wooden caskets, and returned to production of wooden in addition to metal caskets around 1970’s. Wood being a renewable resource provided an opportunity for reforestation, positioning it as a chance for a ‘living memorial’ for the deceased through planting a tree sapling. The program has had huge success in terms of preserving the environment as well as increasing the revenues for the organization.

Culture change in an organization can be actuated through multitude of business strategies- redesigning the organization chart, articulating a renewed mission or revamping the human resource practices. But Alberici Corportaion chose to define and communicate its values through what it does best- constructing buildings. By designing a building that is a manifestation of the company’s message of environmental sensitivity, the organization has not only contributed to a greener planet but has accumulated savings for itself and created a productive, healthy and motivated workforce.

Food, Fun and Social Activism - the blinking words flashing across the website of White Dog cafe more than sum up its philosophy- they define the life spirit flowing through the café’s business model. The café does not simply offer its award-winning cuisine but does this with social consciousness through various activities and events organized throughout the year. Through its initiatives to serve the customer, community, earth and each other, the café is a model for small community businesses as levers for social change.

Novelis Inc. has found the perfect convergence of its business objectives with environmental sustainability in the avatar of ‘recycling’. The organization has given novel hues to this term by creating partnerships to procure used aluminum cans that form a principal raw material for its product. In addition to the huge cost savings for the company this strategy has also contributed to saving the environment by decreasing the carbon dioxide off-gassing and the consumption of electricity involved in manufacturing aluminum.

In the times of rising fuel prices attributed to factors like plateaued refinery outputs, increasing demand from developing countries and a weakening US dollar, Biofuel manufacturing companies,like SeQuential provide a ray of hope toward resolution of the crisis and achieving sustainability. This is a company that is truly riding the wave of next generationefuels by choosing to manufacture and market Biodiesel as an alternative to the regular fuel. Biodiesel, a cleaner burning, renewable fuel is manufactured from vegetable oil or animal fats and lives up to all that SeQuential promises as its mission - local, cleaner, better.

Sustainability in architectural design is what fuels the creativity at Ten Directions Design. By employing practices like Not-So-Big House Approach, Sustainable Design, and Indoor Air Quality, the firm lives up to its name, taken from the ten directions of Buddha Land described in one of the principal works of Buddhism, the Lotus Sutra. The name implies multidimensionality and thus refers to the three-dimensional nature of this ‘green’ architectural firm’s work. Combining the analysis of a house with an understanding of the needs of the client, the firm creates a space that is a delight for the client and is friendly to the environment.

When you marry a firm whose products are driven by the unwavering commitment to sustainability with the needs of an organization that is dedicated to reducing its carbon footprints, the outcome can be nothing short of a technological advancement that benefits the planet. This is what transpired when Helmet & Payne, Inc.’s (H & P) client Williams, a natural gas company, wanted a solution for its drilling dilemma - how to address increasing surface disruption and the inefficiencies caused by the nature of the sands in the Piceance Basin where Williams operated. H&P, performing contract drilling for Williams, came up with the answer in the form of a product they call the FlexRig that continues to deliver huge economic and environmental benefits.

Bergey Windpower Co. realized the potential of Wind Power as a source of energy; all the more relevant today with sky–rocketing gas prices. But they took this one step further by creating the wind energy system as a smaller unit apt for individual and business use. Though the small wind turbine has been around for over one hundred years, the unique value offered by the company is in packaging a small wind machine that an individual can understand, buy, and install to satisfy his or her need to have a reliable, economical, and ecologically neutral form of energy generation.

The proverbial ‘war for talent’ is an omnipresent phenomenon in business, irrespective of the industry. It’s the organization that finds a creative answer to the problem that finally is able to prosper by leveraging the potential of the best in the work force. SSM Healthcare is an inspiring example of a solution that nurtures a pool of talented manpower. The fact that this solution stems from a belief in making a positive change in the lives of people ensures that this model is sustainable.

Brooks Sports, Inc. designs and markets a line of high performance running shoes, apparels and accessories in more than 40 countries. Building a strong brand through community support and outreach programs, Brooks encourages healthier minds and bodies, healthier planet and a healthier bottomline. As an organization that is not only committed to encouraging long-term health in people but in providing this impetus through environmentally friendly product innovations, ‘Brooks’ has discovered and successfully implemented the mantra of sustainability.

The ‘ethic of recycling’ at its best may look like the business model of TerraMai- reclaiming wood from demolished buildings, processing it, and selling it to be used in the construction of new structures. Identifying the opportunity created by a demand of the size and type of wood that is fast vanishing from the face of earth, TerraMai is not only flourishing as a business but contributing to the efforts of saving the depleting forests.

TOMS shoes are the harbinger of what has been christened as the ‘one to one movement’- for every shoe a customer buys, TOMS donates a pair to a child in need. Going beyond corporate philanthropy, TOMS has integrated the spirit of positive world impact in the very heart of its business, making it a truly sustainable model.

Building self esteem, securing sustainable future, and creating abundance through the force of business is what defines Economic Development Imports (EDImports). The organization has been instrumental in leveraging the skills of women in the developing world to produce native products that could be sold in the developing world, thereby reducing poverty, insecurity and threat. What makes this different is the scale of the initiative that reaches out to multitude of artisans in the most remote parts of East and West Africa. By being a conduit to the beautiful products made by these women and their huge demand in the markets in the developed world, EDImports has provided the required impetus to pull the artisans and their families out of marginal socioeconomic conditions.

Global Environment Fund (GEF) is an international investment management firm established in 1990 to invest in, and provide management support to, companies that make positive contributions to environmental quality, human health and the sustainable management of natural resources. The Firm’s investments focus primarily on companies whose business operations deliver measurable environmental improvements through deployment of improved environmental infrastructure and “clean” technologies. GEF’s investment objective is to provide superior returns by harnessing the power of technological innovation to promote energy sources and means of production that are cleaner, cheaper, more efficient, and more sustainable.

CoxHealth is a large not-for-profit, integrated health care organization providing healthcare in a twenty-one county area in Southwest Missouri. The organization celebrates its 100th year of providing healthcare in 2006. Currently the system is the largest employer in the region with over 9,000 employees among its three hospitals, long-term care, home health, physician clinics, rural health clinics, full service behavioral health, and multiple other healthcare offerings. The mission of the organization is to “Improve the health of the communities we serve through quality health care, education, and research.” The core values guide and shape the way business is done through compassion, respect, and integrity at CoxHealth. CoxHealth has initiated a program titled Business Associated Student Education (BASE). This program offers a unique learning opportunity for appropriate special education students at risk, yet with untapped potential. The most significant opportunity is to create an easy transition to the real world for these students. They can gain basic life skills to be as independent as possible, to negotiate the world and care for themselves, be employed, and create a productive life for themselves. At the present time there are around seventy students divided among seven jobsites participating in this program. Three of the jobsites are at CoxHealth facilities. Cox was the original business to step out and begin this partnership.

Located unobtrusively on the implicit boundary between the District of Columbia’s well-to-do neighborhoods to the west and the less prosperous ones to the east, City First Bank of D.C. has been on a mission since its inception to make a difference in the communities that most need assistance. City First has found, quite intentionally, an ideal integration of its social concerns and the necessity of maintaining a solid bottom line. They are especially skilled in financing the acquisition and renovation of affordable housing, facilities and working capital for nonprofit and faith-based organizations, and small businesses.

In 1999, Restaurant Nora in the Dupont Circle area of Washington D.C. became the first certified organic restaurant in the nation, a distinction currently shared by only two other establishments. Through her commitment to promoting a healthier society, Austrian born Nora Pouillon has become not only a pioneer in the world of organic cuisine, she has demonstrated that organic foods and the upscale dining experience are eminently compatible. In the late 70’s, when healthy eating was associated with vegetarianism and the alternative culture, she set out to show that seasonal, local, and organic cuisine was well suited to the white-tablecloth dining experience. And she has done so decidedly. Since opening its doors in 1979, Nora’s Restaurant has been lauded in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times Magazine, Gourmet, Vogue, and USA Today, and she has granted a considerable number of interviews, including one for CNN, and with the likes of Madeline Albright, Betty Friedan, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Jane Goodall for the preparation of the PBS documentary, If Women Ruled the World.

Women's World Banking's vision is to expand low-income women's economic participation by giving them greater access to financial information and markets. In doing so they are enabling women to not only keep their families fed but also engage in the community and develop a political voice that could bring about great change worldwide.

A cleaning company that is committed not only to keeping the client’s house clean but also ensuring that environment is equally pristine by adopting and promulgating natural and safe cleaning practices – ‘Green Clean Inc’ is an example of how high quality customer service, productive work environment and a healthier planet are goals that buttress each other. The organization has successfully achieved this via a strong sense of social consciousness, providing safer alternatives to harmful chemicals in cleaning products and educating customers, public and employees on safer cleaning practices.

SunEdison LLC has become North America’s largest provider of solar energy services through an innovative financing model, called a power purchase agreement (PPA) and backed by private equity financing totaling more than $250 million to date. SunEdison sets the industry standard for profitable distribution of solar energy.

Enhancing the physical health, body image and self-esteem of teenage girls is the spirit behind Shift Inc., a club created solely for teenage girls who strive to achieve a healthier life. The objective of helping the members of Shift take action and actuate a behavioral change is manifested through building strong, surrounding community that provides support and encouragement, valuable information that helps teenage girls make wiser decisions toward their health and tools that bring planning and focus in achievement of these goals.

“Partnership with a vision brought about the largest “Steel Winds” energy project on the Great Lakes,” says Keith Nagel, director of environmental affairs and real estate for ArcelorMittal USA. This partnership was born when ArcelorMittal USA’s predecessor company, Mittal Steel USA, assumed liabilities of a massive 1,200-acre Brownfield site during the acquisition of a major integrated steel facility in Lackawanna, N.Y. The blazing wind speeds at the site encouraged Keith to install a meteorological tower in order to record wind patterns. A local university was recruited to understand and evaluate the data. The results confirmed the latent potential the site held for windmill energy generation. With a vivid plan to establish beneficial reuse of this massive Brownfield site ArcelorMittal partnered with BQ Energy, UPC Wind Management LLC and Clipper Windpower, Inc. to start in the Fall of 2006, ‘Steel Winds’- one of the nation’s largest urban wind farms. The project had a “slag breaking” ceremony on September 15, 2006. The first of eight 400-foot state-of-the-art wind mills was put into place in December 2006. The wind farm resides on 160 (of the total 1,200) acres along the eastern shore of Lake Erie proudly visible from the major highway that runs along Lake Erie and through the city of Lackawanna, New York.

Newman’s Own Organics is an organic food manufacturer that focuses on providing the kinds of products people loved as kids, but takes them one step further by using the highest quality of available organic ingredients. Nell Newman, daughter of Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, along with Peter Meehan founded Newman’s Own Organics in 1993. Newman’s Organics has been an innovator of organic food products since its conception, concentrating on developing products with wide consumer appeal, such as pretzels, cookies and popcorn. According to Nell Newman, “Some people have a narrow definition of organic. They see it as heavy and tasteless, being forced to change your eating habits. No way! This is great food that is ultimately better for the environment long, long term.”

Starbucks Coffee Company’s C.A.F.E (Coffee and Farmer Equity) Practices program ensures that Starbucks sources sustainably grown and processed coffee by evaluating the economic, social and environmental aspects of coffee growing along the supply chain. In 2005, Starbucks purchased 76.8 million pounds of coffee from the C.A.F.E Practice providers, which represents 24.6% of all coffee purchased by the company. By improving the environment, economy, and the educational and health services within local communities, Starbucks creates stability for its farmers and, in turn, for the company, according to Cindy Hoots, Senior Specialist at Starbucks in the Corporate Responsibility Office.

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters is one of the top producers of double certified – organic and fair trade - coffee. As such, the company is uniquely positioned to promote ecological restoration while at the same time participating in poverty alleviation. To assure the overall successes of the double certified product like, every year Green Mountain Coffee Roasters takes its employees, customers, and partners for a "trip to the origin". To date, about 20% of the company has taken the trip to learn about the intricate interdependencies of all coffee production processes, "from tree to cup," and to engage with partners at the origins in order to create new mutually beneficial policies, methods, and approaches to coffee production.

As president of Reebok’s Apparel and Retail Products Group, Marilyn Tam realized the soccer ball manufacturing operations in Pakistan were harmful to the children being forced to make the products and detrimental to the local community. By taking a long-term approach, she oversaw a process to correct the situation so that adults would take over the jobs and children would return to their schools.

Because strict religious practices prohibit Muslims from participating or investing in certain types of businesses or financial products that are incompatible with Islamic law, Saturna Capital Corporation created a fund designed to meet the needs of Muslim investors.

Noisette, a property development company, committed to triple bottom line principles, uses an integrated approach to engage community members in its development projects. Their innovative perspective: they see themselves as building sustainable communities, rather than merely developing property investments. Using this model, they have successfully developed an entire island.

Luther Tyson and Jack Corbett developed the first investment fund that enables people to invest in companies that uphold high ethical standards of social responsibility. By giving investors such a choice, the two essentially reevaluated and transformed the role of investors in society.

For corporate law departments and the law firms that serve them, the DuPont Legal Model offers instructive principles and processes that can improve the practice of corporate law. Since 1992, the DuPont Legal Model has given the company a framework for meeting new challenges and guided them through a period of tremendous change. By applying “business discipline” to the practice of law, the Legal Model has focused Dupont’s resources and made strategic partnering, information technology, metrics, diversity and other initiatives the cornerstones of their approach. Through this Legal Model, Du Pont Legal has embraced a diversity agenda. This model makes it a requirement that DuPont’s various law firms meet specified diversity requirements. This strategy has prompted a shift in the legal community to embrace greater diversity.

Hemisphere Development's innovation is an unusual approach to real estate investment: They invest in the worst, most damaged properties imaginable, the ones most investors avoid like dirty laundry. Their approach not only helps to green the environment, it is also profitable. The impact of their work reaches from urban Cleveland to rural Ohio.

Modine Manufacturing, a leader in heat-transfer-component technology, offers an innovative approach to the advancement of fuel cell technology – a popular alternative to fossil fuels. Internally, the company has been committed to the fuel cell research for the last five years. Externally, Modine helps other companies to utilize this technology and realize its commercialization. The effort has already yielded developmental partnership with Ballard, a joint venture of Daimler Chrysler, Ballard Power Systems, and Ford Motor Co. with the mission to develop, manufacture, and commercialize fuel-cell.

A Home for the Holidays, which airs annually on the U.S. network CBS, is the product of Wendy's, the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, and The Children’s Action Network. In 1992, Dave Thomas created the Foundation to promote adoption awareness in the United States. This organization has allowed Wendy's employees to be engaged in the cause of adoption at the local and national levels. The results have touched tens of thousands of families and children.

Chase Home Finance hasn't just paid lip service to diversity; they have invested billions to make it a business necessity. How? Executives realized that reaching into underserved, lower income communities would not only open up a new market. It would also require employees who represented the minority members within those communities. The result: An initial $500 billion investment that is both reshaping community redevelopment efforts across North America, and also changing the company's diversity profile.

Furniture manufacturing is a messy business that produces lots of waste. Yet Herman Miller Inc has made it a goal, not just to reduce waste, but to entirely eliminate it. This commitment is more impressive because it originated as a grass-roots effort. The company consistently develops technological and organizational innovations that should lead to "total footprint elimination."

Procter and Gamble no longer looks at the developing world as a distraction: now they see it as a key to their future. One result of this shift in mindset is PuR, a water-purification treatment system, developed in partnership with The International Council of Nurses (ICN) and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which is already saving many lives by providing clean drinking water. The potential impact for improved health and profitability is high.

The Greyston Bakery, a for-profit business, incorporates the positive societal agenda into its core business practice via hiring individuals “chronically unemployed” due to lack of skills and education, as well as histories of homelessness, drug addiction and incarceration. Furthermore, the bakery sustains the work of its non-profit affiliate, Greyston Mandela. With an overriding mission to reduce human suffering, both organizations are focused on sustainability, community development and empowerment.

Run by The Chef's Garden, Veggie U is the non-profit arm of their Culinary Vegetable Institute. Veggie U innovatively promotes an ‘earth to table’ educational approach for elementary children to learn how better eating leads to better health. Through educational programming, seminars and outreach programs to schools, Veggie U not only promotes good eating practices among children, but also helps to educate them about sustainable agriculture practices.

It is possible for a very small number of committed, enterprising people to make substantive positive change. The development of the Beachland Ballroom & Tavern in Cleveland’s North Collinwood neighborhood has served as an impetus for community redevelopment and urban renewal. Its owners continue to promote the area’s improvement with an eye toward business growth and economic stability that will revitalize the district.

KeyBank has opened a Financial Education Center in an LMI (low- to moderate income) neighborhood in Cleveland. The center offers classes in topics of interest and importance to a population that is often unable and/or unwilling to engage in traditional banking services. This endeavor has been created to educate and empower individuals and, over time, increase business.

PortionPac Chemical Company manufactures and markets highly concentrated, pre-measured cleaning products to large commercial facilities such as schools and correctional facilities. The products are created such that they reduce the resources used throughout the product lifecycle, minimize the adverse effects of chemicals on the environment, and eliminate unsafe and ineffective habits of traditional cleaning procedures.

Nearly 1.6 billion people living in the developing world need reading glasses, but less than 5% have access to affordable options. VisionSpring is broadening global access to reading glasses, creating and training local entrepreneurs, and improving overall quality of life for many. VisionSpring develops markets for reading glasses at the base of the economic pyramid. They select, train, equip and fund local entrepreneurs to establish new businesses that sell reading glasses. They then provide high-quality affordable reading glasses for these distributors, bringing reading glasses and referral services directly to the customer at the village level. So many people in India, El Salvador, and Guatemala have told VisionSpring how much their lives have changed because of VisionSpring's reading glasses. Who would imagine that a simple pair of reading glasses could have such an effect? VisionSpring did because it researched, studied, and tested its programs inside and out. VisionSpring believes its responsibility is to provide a product and service that is truly superior. For too long, the global economy has failed to recognize the power and influence that people living on less than $1 a day can have. VisionSpring is working to change this perception through simple pairs of reading glasses and determined entrepreneurs.

Elaine’s American Maid is more than a cleaning referral service. It’s an enterprise that is built on the passion for helping single mothers who are forced into the workforce to support their children. Equipping women with entrepreneurial skills by helping them open their own cleaning services and providing them the flexibility to be with their children is what makes this organization truly unique in creating a positive impact through business.

Nature’s Bin is a thriving example of a business model that has sustainability as the backbone at both ends of the value chain; what is offered to the customer and how it is made. The inspiration for adopting this focus is manifested through integrating education/training and retail sales. With the capabilities of the parent company, Cornucopia, which is a non-profit providing vocational and skill-based training to people with disabilities, and the business acumen of Nature’s Bin as a fresh foods store, the match between societal need and business benefit is beautifully achieved.

London Cleaners is a dry cleaning company that chose to break the environmentally unfriendly connotations attached to such establishments. By adopting a newer and greener way to clean called the GreenEarth cleaning system; the company has ensured excellent service for its customers, health of its employees, and sustainability for itself.

Enacting a fair trade model that values the farmers, consumers, and the environment, Equal Exchange is an inspiring example of success based on collaboration and honest intentions to do good. Equal Exchange is a co-operative that accurately calls itself a social change organization. It has been built as a company that is controlled by the employees. By collaborating with worker co-operatives around the globe, the organization is successfully providing high quality food to the customer. Additionally, it is also proactively educating consumers about trade issues affecting the farmers bringing positive social change in the community.

Understanding the need for a match between the brownfields market and large-scale investment capital, Brownfields Capital has discovered an innovative way to link ecological flourishing with profitability. Brownfields Capital is a finance/investment management firm that plays the role of intermediary to bring these two themes together. This is done through their innovative financial instrument called ‘Brownfields Value Contract (BVC)’ which provides owners or prospective owners of environmentally challenged land with a fully financed capital structure and business plan, while simultaneously creating opportunity for investors to put their money in an innovative debt instrument.

By building upon a non-invasive, non-drug therapy for correcting ADD, ADHD, dyslexia and other learning disorders Open Pathways To Learning has found true benefits of innovation; developing people in the course of developing a sound business model. The therapy is based on ‘Brain Integration Technique’ that utilizes principles of applied kinesiology and acupressure to help children and adults overcome their learning difficulties.

Curiosity, it is said, can lead to ground-breaking innovations. Considering that children are exemplars of continual curiosity, it is surprising that they have not played a bigger role in conceptualizing products for organizations. ‘By Kids For Kids Co.’ recognized this anomaly and created a business model that not only ensures sustainability by innovation but also maximizes the creative potential in children and helps them develop in multiple ways. Through involving an under-engaged population in the process of economic development the organization aims at ensuring creative thinking and self-reliance in the youth.

Offshore Sakhalin Oblast in the Russian Far East - Exxon Mobil subsidiary Exxon Neftegas Liimited (ENL) - while developing the Chayvo, Odoptu and Arkutun-Dagi oil and gas fields for the Sakhalin-1 consortium, discovered a lack of skilled local labor. To help the local residents obtain employment with Exxon, extensive training programs were set up, including English-language training. Other aspects of the training and community development support the growth of local suppliers and contractors.

One specialty group of medical providers has largely shielded itself from the rising cost of medical-malpractice insurance. Over the past two decades, anesthesiologists have advocated the use of devices that alert doctors to potentially fatal problems in the operating room. Their innovative practices have resulted in lower fatalities and low malpractice premiums.

Daimler Chrysler is putting its sustainable development into practice in many ways, placing its highest priority on the battle against HIV/AIDS faced by many of the workers at its South African plant. Since the early 1990's, Daimler Chrysler South Africa's Workplace Initiative on HIV/AIDS has been working to combat acquired immune deficiency syndrome and for the social integration of HIV-positive persons at its headquarters just outside Pretoria.

A community bakery in an underprivileged area of Curitiba (Brazil) is the result of a partnership between business, community, and a city agency. The bakery benefits the lives of local residents by providing better nutrition, creating employment and educational/skill development opportunities. It is anticipated that the bakery will open a small shop, and eventually supply goods nationally and internationally. Income generated by this activity will be returned to the community.

William McDonough & Partners are architects who design buildings and communities worldwide that tell stories of sun, wind, water that surrounds them and of the people who inhabit them. Using a creative balance of nature and culture, they strive to create a sustainable environment that honors the relationship between the human community and the nature that surrounds them.

Great Lakes Brewing Company (GLBC) is committed to crafting fresh, flavorful, high-quality beer and food while remaining principle-centered, environmentally respectful and socially conscious. They have incorporated a "zero waste initiative" into day-to-day operations and cut operating costs at the same time. The objective is to make full use of the by-products generated from the brewing process.

Whole Foods is the largest organic and natural foods grocer in the United States. Clearing $188 million in profits over the past two years, it has beaten Wal-Mart in overall and comparable store sales growth, while profoundly impacting how Americans eat. The company also prides itself on treating employees in a fair and equitable manner and preventing upper management salaries from skyrocketing out of control. Financial data is released to employees, to help them understand how the company is doing and keep the working environment transparent. Executive pay is limited to 14 times the average frontline worker, while frontline employees qualify for stock options, profit sharing, health insurance for full time employees, and paid time off for volunteer work.

Seventh Generation Inc. articulates its commitment to be beyond solely producing cleaner and greener products; for them it is about cultural change in consumer behavior and business ethics. Living up to its name from the Great Law of Iroquois that prescribes deliberating the impact of each of our actions on the next seven generations, the novel formulas of the company’s household and personal care products ensure that with each use the consumer is making a difference through keeping toxic material out of the environment, saving natural resources and reducing pollution.

Sustainability and social responsibility are at the very core of Seventh Generation's identity as a business. Today the company is the natural products industry leader in the paper products, household cleaning, and baby diaper/wipe market segments. Through its packaging, web site, e-newsletter, booklets and presentations by their CEO, Seventh Generation provides information on its products and answers questions consumer most frequently ask about household products and their impact on the health of both people and the environment.

Interface, a highly regarded eco-conscious company, and one of the largest manufacturers of commercial flooring in the world, has created the industry's first post-consumer recycled polyester commercial fabric. Terratex® is made from 100% recyclable or renewable material, manufactured using increasingly sustainable processes, made to meet or exceed industry standards for quality and performance, and recyclable or compostable at the end of it's useful life. Interface believes Terratex makes an impact, not an imprint, on the environment.

Interface began the QUEST (Quality Utilizing Employee Suggestions and Teamwork) program in 1995 to identify, measure and eliminate waste. Since then, associates have contributed valuable suggestions to improve the efficiency of the equipment and processes. To date, the program has generated significant savings for the company. In 2001, Interface took QUEST a step further by engaging areas of the company, such as Sales, Marketing, Human Resources, that previously had not been as involved. Rather than hold each facility to generic guidelines, individual Interface facilities are encouraged to discover ways to reduce waste that are unique to them. Interface is expanding the breadth of the program and encouraging involvement and accountability at all levels of its operations.

PeaceWorks is a not-only-for-profit specialty food company that manages to combine production of condiments with peace building. Fostering coexistence through business, they unite people traditionally on the opposite sides of conflict via a shared goal. Together with people who are striving to co-exist, Peaceworks creates and delivers unique and exciting specialty foods. PeaceWorks currently does business with Israelis, Palestinians, Egyptians, South Africans, Turks, Indonesians and Sri Lankans.

Scrapile is a furniture company that has created its business model based on the principles of reuse, rediscover, and re-purpose. Wood that is ‘waste’ for other companies is the raw material for scrapile furniture. This has helped in arresting the flow of discarded wood into the landfills while generating innovative products. This benefits Scrapile by allowing them to procure raw materials free of cost for manufacturing furniture, while clients gian from reducing their garbage bill by donating the scrap, and the environment id better off by decreased dumping of waste wood in the landfills.

Freeplay Energy Group of London has found a way to address global needs while making a profit for itself. Combining collaborative research and development with the desire to bring good to those at the bottom of the pyramid, the company grows its revenues while bringing tangible results to people in most remote locations. Freeplay has helped pioneer the windup radio. In 1996, Freeplay designed its first radio charged by cranking a handle so that Africans could listen to public-service broadcasts of health and agriculture information and school lessons. Freeplay has sold 3 million radios. In the West, where they sell for up to $100, they are popular among campers. But they're sold at a discount to aid agencies and governments in poor nations.

Housing Works, a non-profit which provides vital services to homeless New Yorkers living with HIV and AIDS, has transformed from crisis and near extinction to profitability and independence. Housing Works was founded in June 1990 as an outgrowth of the Housing Committee of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP), to address the burgeoning crises of homelessness and AIDS, and to restore the fundamental human rights of homeless people with AIDS and HIV through innovative advocacy and direct service programs. A switch from cost-reimbursement Medicaid contracts to fee for service contracts and the development of four highly profitable businesss took Housing Works from being totally dependent upon external funding and financial aid to being almost totally self-sustaining today.

The Co-operative Bank, whose roots go back to 1872, is a full-service retail player in the United Kingdom commercial banking industry. It offers a full range of banking services, including on-line banking, and is an innovator in the field of sustainability reporting. Using sophisticated financial value analysis methods, the bank reports not only shareholder and stakeholder value created but also an analysis of the direct contributions that ethical and ecological positioning has made to the company's profitability.

Millions of personal computers sit idly on desks and in homes worldwide, but what if they could be linked into a power grid to help address the world's most difficult health and societal problems? IBM asked this question and answered it in 2004 by creating the World Community Grid, a global humanitarian effort to harness unused computing power of individual and business computers and direct that power toward research designed to help unlock genetic codes that underlie diseases like AIDS and Alzheimer's or improve forecasting of natural disasters. Anyone can volunteer to donate the idle and unused time on a computer by dowloading the World Community Grid's free software and registering to participate.

TerraCycle has developed an innovative process for creating organic non-toxic fertilizers - the world’s first consumer product line that is not only made completely from waste but is also packaged in waste. The company follows ecologically sound, chemically-free methods for delivering a product that assures the superior growth of vegetation. In addition, TerraCycle has created innovative opportunities for local communities such as urban community gardens and school-wide recycling events.

Bamboo Hardwoods, founded in 1990, operates a successful and environmentally sustainable company that is working to slow the degradation of natural resources. By using bamboo (which is a grass) as an alternative source material for flooring, the company has demonstrated that deforestation of traditional hardwoods can be prevented. The company values its relationships with employees and suppliers, and actively promotes their well being.

Cummins is a global power leader and family of four inter-related, yet diversified businesses that create or enhance value as a result of doing business with each other or having those relationships. It averages more than $6 billion in annual sales and is a technology leader in the diesel engine market, providing cutting-edge solutions to the increasingly difficult challenge of producing cleaner-running engines. Currently, Cummins clean diesel engines are powering transit buses in Southern China.

Patagonia defines the quality of its company by the degree to which it can reduce its impact on the environment. To that end it has celebrated the cultural histories of the communities it is located in by recycling and restoring existing structures whenever possible. From 1996-1998 the company restored two buildings - one in Reno and one in California - and became more energy efficient with the goal of demonstrating that alternatives to conventional, waste-intensive construction practices and energy generation exist and yield structures that are more sustainable and in harmony with the environment.

In 1993, Patagonia adopted fleece made from post consumer recycled plastic soda bottles into its clothing product line, becoming the first outdoor clothing manufacturer to do so. Known as PCR® clothing, it created a positive step towards a more sustainable system. Today, the company uses PCR® fleece in about 31 products, and has saved some 86 million soda bottles from the trash heap and reports the addition of PCR® filament yarn to some products in its line. PCR® filament yarn contains 30-50% post-consumer feedstock and the remainder is post-industrial feedstock, allowing Patagonia to make both lining and shell out of recyclable materials.

In 1996, Patagonia converted its entire sportswear line to 100% organically grown cotton. This decision followed the findings from an independent research company commissioned by Patagonia to give an environmental impact assessment of four major fibers. The company learned that oil-based polyester and nylon were big energy consumers and sources of pollution, but nowhere near that of cotton. They made a decision in the fall of 1994 to take the cotton sportswear 100% organic by 1996, giving the company eighteen months to make the switch for 66 products – and only four months to line up the fabric.

Equal Exchange is a successful, growing, for-profit, employee-owned, specialty foods company that has helped to pioneer the “Fair Trade” model that improves the market access, income, and commercial opportunities for small-scale farmers in developing countries. In the traditional coffee supply chain, small-scale farmers sell their crop to a chain of intermediaries who eventually export the coffee. Under this arrangement the individual farmers have almost no control; few economic options; carry out only the very least profitable link in the value chain; and receive just a small amount of the export price – which itself is usually too low to provide more than a poverty-level income. In contrast to conventional importing practices Equal Exchange deals directly with democratically run farmer cooperatives in Africa, Asia and South America, and buys their coffee, and other crops, at a guaranteed above-market price. In addition, Equal Exchange works with socially responsible financial institutions in the U.K. and U.S. to provide affordable loans to cooperatives that might otherwise lack access to credit. These Fair Trade practices increase the incomes of the economically disadvantaged growers; helps them to invest in their operations; and fosters broad-based, stable economic growth in rural communities. Fair Trade also helps to foster equality and democracy in countries where corruption is often a problem.

As the oldest and largest for-profit Fair Trade company in the U.S., Equal Exchange trades directly with 28 democratically run farmer co-ops located in 14 countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia. Its mission is to build long-term partnerships that are economically just and environmentally sound, to foster mutually beneficial relations between farmers and consumers and to demonstrate the viability of worker cooperatives and Fair Trade. They strive to build social and economic justice through the marketplace.

In 2005, Mohawk Paper Mills purchased windpower for its newly acquired Beckett Mill in Hamilton, Ohio, making Mohawk the 2nd largest industrial consumer of windpower in the U.S. The family-owned paper manufacturer plans to use 45 million kilowatt hours of pollution-free wind power annually to run its two mills in New York and the new facility in Ohio. The company is the only paper mill in the U.S. to use wind energy to manufacture paper.

Carl Scianna, founder of PolyBrite International, has produced a breakthrough marriage of pre-existing Light-Emitting Diodes (LED) technology and PolyBrite's own clear, durable, biodegradable, and inexpensive polymer as a result of the inspiration he felt at the accidental death of his cousin, a state police officer. The technology has sparked a new industry and is having a transformational environmental impact.

Shorebank uses for-profit commercial banking to focus on inner-city urban development. It now has over $1.5 billion in assets with broad impact on inner-city communities, with $1.7 billion invested cumulatively in priority communities, which are selected communities with less incomes and housing values than the regional or state average.

As an industry leader in the design and manufacture of air conditioners, Lennox International has not been content to rest on its laurels. The company recently came out with the quietest, most energy efficient unit on the market. In addition, this unit uses a refrigerant that does not deplete the ozone. The new unit is actually ahead of the curve in terms of meeting government requirements, while Lennox maintains a healthy bottom line.

KBA, a landscape architecture and environmental design firm, practices “restorative redevelopment.” This holistic approach calls for reclaiming and renewing existing property, and promotes economic development, sustainable design and ecological restoration. The company encourages learning from past practices in order to improve planning and land development.

Deep Water Ventures’ president, Brad Ives, has turned his interests in wood, sailing and ecology into a thriving business. The company is committed to forest stewardship and the method of selective cutting, which preserves a forest’s biodiversity, provides long-term benefits to the local population, and generates profit without adversely affecting the region’s ecosystem. By association with an independent agency that carefully monitors logging operations, the company can assure its customers that the product they are purchasing comes from sustainable forests.

One of Ford Motor Company’s latest innovations is the Rouge Truck Plant, a facility that exemplifies ecological awareness and a commitment to wise use of natural resources. Ford has a history of environmental activism, and the construction of this plant is a great example of a sustainability initiative that works.

Hair Innovations’ owner designs, makes, and fits wigs for cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. The service is provided free of charge, and patients are often served at their location (home, hospital). The business also offers support to local Boys and Girls Clubs, and has become a model for community engagement.

Blast Internet Services (Blast), a web development company, supports environmental issues, sustainable growth, family-friendly policies, and personal empowerment. Its community involvement activities range from sponsorship of an after school program to free web services to area non-profit agencies. Its headquarters has been built in an environmentally friendly building, and its employees embrace and practice the company philosophy of ecological responsibility.

Ten Thousand Villages (TTV) provides vital, fair income to Third World artists and crafts people by marketing their handicrafts and telling their stories in North America. It is a nonprofit, self-supporting alternative trading organization (ATO) - a non-governmental organization designed to benefit artisans, not to maximize profits. They market products from handicraft and agricultural organizations based in low-income countries. They provide consumers around the world with products that have been fairly purchased from sustainable sources. ATOs put fair trade into practice and campaigns for more equitable terms of trade for artisans from low-income countries TTV is a nonprofit fair trade program of Mennonite Central Committee, a relief, service and peace agency of the North American Mennonite and Brethren in Christ churches. To TTV, each village in the world represents a unique, distinctive people... offering extraordinary products born of their rich cultures and traditions.

Edun is a socially conscious clothing company created by Ali Hewson and her rock star husband, U2's Bono, with New York clothing designer Rogan Gregory. Launched in spring 2005, the company aims to bring the issue of sustainable employment to the world of high fashion. EDUN was born as an alternative approach to creating beautiful clothes in a respectful, sustainable manner and to shift the focus away from aid to trade in the developing world, particularly Africa.