Interview with 1% for the Planet
Keeping Mother Earth green is an important topic that rightfully garners a lot of attention from companies and athletes. To help learn more about environmental awareness, TrailsEdge caught up with a company with a wicked cool way to provide money.
The 1% for the Planet group is a coalition of non-profit groups and companies that want to make sure environmental organizations are able to receive funding and additional structure so they can reach maximum efficiency.
Interview with 1% for the Planet’s Gaelan Brown, Marketing Director
TrailsEdge: What is the purpose of 1% for the Planet and its goals to help the environment?
Gaelan Brown of 1%: 1% for the Planet exists to build and support an alliance of businesses financially committed to creating a healthy planet through collaboration and support of leading environmental-focused non-profits globally.
TE: There are multiple organizations and charities looking to help the environment. Why should readers follow 1% for the Planet?
1%: 1% is a unique alliance of businesses and non-profits dedicated to supporting the environment. With its authentic roots and market-based approach, 1% is well equipped to bridge boundaries that have traditionally made it hard for the environmental projects and organizations to get financial support (less than 2% of non-profit funding is for environmental causes and less than 4% of corporate philanthropy goes to environmental organizations).
1% supports all legitimate environmental non-profits by connecting corporate donors to them and by encouraging more corporate giving to this sector globally.
Learning how collected monetary donations are used is important for myself and others that donate to charities. 1% wanted to make sure readers understand what happens to money received from corporate partners in the program.
TE: How are collected funds distributed to charities?
1%: 1% members give at least 1% of their revenues (top line sales) directly to non-profit organizations in the 1% partner-network who are focused on issues of sustainability. Member companies donate directly to their desired nonprofits—not through 1% FTP. We do this to encourage independent, personal relationships between member companies and the groups they support. These relationships are a real positive for businesses, enabling them to get involved and affect change firsthand, and 1% works to facilitate these relationships as much as possible.
TE: How important is it to involve kids, teenagers and young adults in the effort to make a difference?
1%: Not to be cliché but the kids of today are the future. It’s fundamentally important, not just to 1%, but in a worldwide sense to get kids educated about and involved in environmental stewardship. Frankly, we’ve got a heavy task at hand and without the buy-in of future generations we’re all in trouble.
TE: How can athletes help get involved?
1%: That’s the beauty of 1%. We’re an alliance of businesses across many spectrums. Our members include athletes, activists, hunters, fisherman, technologists, fashionistas and more traditional companies who are all committed to giving back. That said, given their frequent contact with media, athletes are often times in a unique position to help spread the word not just about 1% but regarding sustainability in general.
TE: What does 1% for the Planet have planned for the rest of 2011?
1%: We are building a 1% for the Planet ambassador program that we hope to launch in the next four to six weeks. The vision is to create a powerful platform that enlists a more diverse set of voices and builds a broader base of support for the planet.
TrailsEdge would like to thank Brown and 1% for the Planet for taking the time to answer a few of our questions. Also of note, pro surfer Daniel Ross is one of the newest members of the ambassador program that will help the group reach out to new sources.
