Maybe you considered risks. Or opportunities. Perchance did you think about issues of social equality? Of child labor or anti-corruption? Or how your organization could sharpen its competitive advantages by working more closely with local communities?

Over the next five to 10 years a certain breed of organizations will complete an impressive double play: They will both embrace sustainability deeper and outperform financially their peers. If we had the benefit of racing ahead a half-decade to reflect on these organizations’ successes, we’d marvel at their ability to evolve with, if not slightly ahead, of sustainability’s twists and turns.

And what would these twists and turns be? While no one has the benefit of a crystal ball that sees the future in HD, the lack of such a crystal ball should not hold one back from making educated guesses either. Here are three changes to your conception of sustainability that your organization should consider today in order to increase the likelihood that it will continue to succeed over the next five to 10 years.

Read more of this article by Eric Lowitt here.

If you’re unable to view the video below, please click here.

Congratulations to our winners: The Taylor Companies, Lube Stop, Laser Plus, Communication Matters, and The Scrap Exchange!

The Institute for Sustainable Development has announced its finalists for the 2011 Green Plus North American Sustainable Enterprise Awards. The Green Plus Awards recognize organizations not only for their environmental efforts, but for their success in balancing strong business, community and environmental practices. Paying attention to business performance and community involvement as well as to minimizing environmental impact is often referred to as triple bottom line sustainability.

The winners will be revealed at the awards ceremony, presented by GlaxoSmithKline, on Friday, February 25 at North Carolina Research Triangle Park Foundation headquarters.

Click here to purchase a ticket to the Green Plus North American Sustainable Enterprise Awards.

In addition to competing in its category, each organization is eligible to win the Green Plus People’s Choice Award.

Click here to vote for one organization to receive the Green Plus People’s Choice Award.

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2011 North American Sustainable Enterprise Awards Finalists

Research Triangle Park Foundation Sustainable Enterprise of the Year

• Counter Culture Coffee
• Irregardless Cafe and Catering
• The Taylor Companies
• TS Designs
• Wenger Feeds

Green Plus Sustainable Enterprise of the Year (50 Or More Employees)

• iContact
• High Construction
• Hughes Pittman & Gupton LLC
• Lube Stop
• The Umstead Hotel & Spa

Wells Fargo/Wachovia Small Business of the Year (3 to 50 employees)

• EcoLogic Solutions
• Environmental Solutions Group
• Laser Plus
• Pantek
• Pharamaceutical Calibration Services (PCI)
• Wingswept
• Yes! Solar Solutions

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Green Plus Sole Proprietor / Home Based Business of the Year

• Abigail Seymour Photography
• Conestoga dpi
• Communication Matters
• jke Marketing & Communications
• Yurich Creative

The Redwoods Group Non-Profit or Social Enterprise of the Year

• Builders of Hope
• Bull City Forward
• Cosmic Bobbins
• Entrepreneurs for Sustainability
• Urban Tree Connection
• The Scrap Exchange

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Purchase Your Ticket to the Awards

The awards ceremony will be on Friday, February 25 from 7:30-9:30am at Research Triangle Park Headquarters in the North Carolina Triangle Region.

About the Institute for Sustainable Development and Green Plus
The Institute for Sustainable Development partners nationwide with the American Chamber of Commerce Executives to bring Green Plus, its business improvement program, to smaller enterprises in the U.S. and Canada. The non-profit was founded in the North Carolina Research Triangle in 2007 by a unique partnership of academic, business and philanthropic leaders. Early partners included Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Chapel Hill-Carrboro and Greater Durham Chambers of Commerce, and the Fenwick Foundation.

Institute founders recognized that while many large companies were integrating sustainability into their operations, saving money and improving their reputations, most Americans were employed by businesses with 50 or fewer people, and these smaller employers had neither the time nor the financial resources to pursue sustainability. In the fall of 2007, the Institute engaged the Center for Sustainable Enterprise at UNC’s Kenan Flagler School of Business to develop a business plan to address this problem. This plan led to the development of Green Plus, a program to educate, network and recognize smaller employers in their efforts to achieve triple bottom line sustainability.

The Institute for Sustainable Development

www.gogreenplus.org

Because sustainability strategies are all about business survival. Like it or not, sustainability offers both threats and opportunities for small businesses. And the potential impact on companies’ long-term success is too great to ignore.

There are many reasons why small businesses should care about sustainability, but here are the top five:

1. Because sooner or later every business will have to pay attention to sustainability in order to stay in business.

2. Because your company can obtain more business through commitments to sustainability.

3. Because you can save on your bottom line.

4. Because you can add to your top line through innovation.

5. Attract, retain and engage talent.

For the complete article by Kathy Miller Perkins from GreenBiz.com, please click here.

The President’s Council of Economic Advisors reports that these health care reforms will benefit small businesses both by lowering their health care costs and by increasing coverage options for small business employees. A study by economist Jonathan Gruber of M.I.T. concluded that health care reform would benefit small businesses by streamlining the purchase of insurance and by lowering administrative expenses associated with insurance policies. Gruber’s statistical analysis concluded that health care reform would save small businesses between $546 and $855 billion over the next decade.

So, health care reform is a friend of small business, right? Unfortunately, the answer is a beautiful shade of gray. Analysts agree that in the short term, the proposed reform will actually cost small businesses $6.5 billion in profits this year alone. As a result of reform, small business profits in the US would not increase until 2013. Amidst an economic recession where many small businesses fail to make any profits, a final decision on a healthcare reform with a component aimed at small businesses will be difficult to make.

To read the full CNN story, click here.

To read more about Gruber?s analysis, click here
To read more small business opinions on the proposed health care reform, click here.

The chain’s new strategy, which will be launched at a handful of stores in its native Seattle, involves a complete overhaul and re-branding of individual stores. One such store, on 15th Avenue, will re-open as 15th Avenue Coffee and Tea. Aprons, paper cups and bags of beans will no longer bear the green logo. Gone will be the standard Starbucks decor; eclectic furniture mixes will be in its place. Beer and wine will be sold alongside the gourmet coffee drinks, and the store will host open mic nights for local musicians and poets in an effort to compete with the locally-owned, independent coffee houses in the area.

The Wall Street Journal and the Chicago Tribune both refer to the new strategy as “stealth,” but Starbucks’ VP of Global Design Tim Pfeiffer sees it as capturing “a community personality.”

What’s interesting about this move is the corporation’s frank attempt to replicate a community feel. What does this indicate? That Starbucks knows their customers appreciate community. It says that there is something different, and special, about frequenting an independent coffee house (or bookstore, or bar, or grocery store, or dry cleaner, or hardware store, or restaurant…). It means that small business occupies an important space in the landscape of business – and also in the landscape of community. Big chains may have slightly lower prices or better selection, but many customers know that there’s no replacement for the feeling of walking into a locally-owned business, greeting the proprietor by name, and running into friends and neighbors on their way out the door. Buying local is one of the best ways to increase the viability of a community economy, and small businesses have a significant role in that process.

Time will tell whether the Starbucks strategy pays off for the company, and whether 15th Avenue Coffee and Tea attracts the customers it wants. But in the meantime, the chain has sent a pretty big message to the small, independent business owners of the world – after all, imitation is still the highest form of flattery.

Via The Seattle Times.

Update, 7/27: joshc has photos on Flickr of the new 15th Avenue Coffee & Tea.

What if small businesses and entrepreneurs could advertise and perform customer service for free and reach more potential clients than multi-thousand dollar marketing plans?  Enter Twitter, a completely free social networking and blogging service that allows users to send and receive posts that are up to 140 characters in length.  Such posts are delivered to the author’s followers and can be received either on the receiver’s profile or via text message.

In June, CNN profiled several small business owners on Twitter’s remarkable utility.  Kris Drey is the Vice President of Product Marketing at Fliqz, an online video-hosting service based in Emeryville, California.  When Drey maxed out the company’s $15,000 marketing budget, he turned to Twitter, posting three to four updates a day as @Fliqz and following the 140 character updates of anyone who seemed at all interested in the online video industry.  Within just a few months, Drey had 1,358 followers and was able to land a $6,000 per year contract because of a lead from Twitter.

Drey is by no means alone in using Twitter as a tool to expand one’s small business.  52Teas, based in Wichita, Kansas, began using Twitter in 2007 to post updates about the company.  In 2007, the company shipped one or two packages every two or three weeks.  Currently, 52Teas has over 3,400 followers on Twitter, and they ship about 52 packages a week.

While Twitter has functioned as a tremendous free marketing and networking tool for small businesses around the country, it is not without its flaws.  For example, Twitter executives are working hard to prevent company-name theft.  Regardless of the potential drawbacks, Twitter offers small businesses a way to increase profits and revenue without paying a dime for marketing and networking.

To read the full CNN story, click here.

To read a related story with tips for using Twitter as a small business, click here.

Follow Green Plus on Twitter at www.twitter.com/greenplus.

Photo courtesy of Greenpeace

Let’s face it – it’s difficult to run a business these days without investing in a significant amount of electronic equipment. Computers, printers, photocopying and fax machines, cell phones and PDAs… they are all crucial pieces in maintaining communication with clients and suppliers, not to mention staying on top of the latest business trends. But as technology improves at an increasingly rapid rate, what do you do with that outdated laptop or cell phone?

Throwing away used electronics poses a number of significant environmental harms. First, there are the nasty substances – like lead, mercury, brominated flame retardants, and in some cases cadmium – that leach from landfills to contaminate groundwater and soil. Second, trashing your ewaste takes plastics and precious metals – such as copper, gold, silver, and palladium – out of circulation. Not only does the waste never resurface as uable material, it also forces the further mining of these substances for the production of new electronics. Incineration is just as bad – it releases all those heavy metals into the air, where they wreak havoc on our lungs and bioaccumulate in our food chain. So, you say to yourself, that vintage computer that still runs Windows 95 – I’ll recycle it. Right?

Not so fast. Ewaste reycling programs are riddled with problems of their own – primarily, the issue that most ewaste is sent overseas to be recycled in countries with weak environmental protections – China, for example, where whole towns face health hazards like air pollution, water contamination, lead poisoning, cancer-causing dioxins, and higher rates of miscarriage. And since the United States has refused to sign onto the Basel Convention, an international treaty designed to reduce the transfer of hazardous waste between nations, the transfer of American ewaste – or the “effluent of the affluent” – to these countries is entirely legal.

So what’s an environmentally and socially responsible business to do? Glad you asked.

• First, commit to not junking your ewaste – it’s illegal in many states to send this waste to the landfill, anyway.
• Second, consider donating your old electronics. Many non-profits are happy to use slightly outdated equipment, and there are plenty of resources out there to help you wipe your computer’s memory and make sure that your proprietory information is kept under wraps. And many women’s shelters welcome the donation of your old cell phones, which can become emergency lines of communication for women in need.
• Third, check into your local ewaste recycling options. The New York Times reported yesterday that the state of Maine, for example, requires that computer and television manufacturers recycle their products for free. The National Center for Electronics Recycling is working to develop national – and safe – electronics recycling infrastructure within the U.S. And the Shelter Alliance can resell or recycle cell phones – with strict environmental commitments – and even offers a revenue-generating option for non-profits who are willing to collect cell phones within their communities. Wherever you recycle your ewaste, make sure to obtain information on their environmental policies and whether or not they ship waste overseas.
• Lastly, support national policies that encourage manufacturers to encorporate design for the environment. Mandatory recycling services, for example, are likely to encourage manufacturers to design their products in a way that faciliatates easy and safe recycling. But piecemeal state policies are hurting manufacturers, who struggle to meet different standards in different states. Federal law could change all that.

More at the U.S. EPA.

On June 15^th, the Small Business Administration began accepting applications for their short-term deferred-payment ARC loan program.  By the end of the first week, however, only four national banks had signed on to the program and only 72 of an estimated 10,000 loans had been approved nationwide, none of which were in North Carolina.  The program has picked up momentum in its second week as information has become more readily available to small businesses as well as lenders.

SBA spokesperson Jonathan Swain is not worried about the slow start, saying “We always knew there would be a ramp-up period. We knew there would be lenders who would need to take some time to look at the loans, the terms, their customers, and — specifically with larger lenders — how it would impact their system.”  The SBA has held in-person and virtual informational sessions in the past two weeks to address lender questions, and say that thousands of lenders have been in attendance.  In addition, they have staffed a call center to field questions about the loan (866.947.8081) to supplement the information available on their website.

In North Carolina, Wachovia and BB&T are currently participating in the ARC loan program.  BB&T is limiting their participation to existing clients.  Those interested in obtaining an ARC loan application through Wachovia should call 800.877.1722.  For an application through BB&T, call 800.562.6228.

Unpacking the Stimulus Package, Vol.2

Small businesses hoping to take advantage of the SBA’s America’s Recovery Capital Loan Program (“ARC”) should be proactive in securing their place in the program, which only allows for about 10,000 loans nationwide, or an average of 200 per state. The SBA anticipates a high demand for these loans, so businesses looking to apply should make sure they have all of their paperwork and supporting documentation ready by the June 15^th launch of the program.

Business owners should first verify that their bank participates in the ARC program. For a list of banks that make SBA loans, click here. Each bank will set its own procedures and timeline for issuing loans. It is likely that applicants will need to provide financial statements (and/or tax returns) for the past two years – showing the business was profitable before the economic downturn and can become profitable again. In general, the business must have been profitable in at least one of the last 3 years to be eligible for the ARC program.

Applicants will also need to provide information about the loans that they intend to pay with ARC funds. Each lender will be limited to 50 loans per week. If a bank makes less than 50 loans, they can carry the unused allocation over to other weeks, but lenders will be capped at a maximum of 1,000 loans through the program’s duration. The ARC loan program is scheduled to run through Sept. 30, 2010, or until its funding runs out, whichever comes first.  Loan proceeds are provided over a six-month period and repayment of the ARC loan principal is deferred for 12 months after the last disbursement of the proceeds.  Repayment can extend up to five years.