A Message from the Founder of GreenAroundYou.orgWhat's Unique about GreenAroundYou?
- YOU: We're grassroots — we're supported by individuals like you, not governments or corporations. You are central to our focus, both in funding and in educating others. We are based on — we RELY on — your contributions and you spreading the word by displaying the Green Tip Bar, retweeting tips, and otherwise spreading the word. Without you there is no GreenAroundYou.
- Your Choice: You choose where your funds go when you contribute. You directly steer GreenAroundYou's activities through your choices of which areas you allocate your contribution to. You can even suggest new programs for us to fund. Because our goal is to fund operations in all aspects of sustainability, we're a sort of "one stop shop" where you can allocate your contributions to those activities that most interest you. You can decide the percentage allocated to each if you like.
- We're Technology-based: GreenAroundYou's focus is on spreading the word via technology — educating others on the web how they can help save the planet directly through your assistance, such as the Green Tip Bar you display, retweeting our tips on Twitter, or your collaboration in adding or discussing new tips. GreenAroundYou is a web 2.0 entity: Without "you" Greening Around the Internet in this manner we simply don't exist. We also believe strongly in the ability of technology and research to help solve our most difficult problems. Lastly, GreenAroundYou itself is a technology-based entity — we're an Internet-based non-profit organization, not a traditional brick&mortar non-profit that happens to have a presence on the net. Technology is not just a tool we use, GreenAroundYou itself was founded by applying technology to an idea and creating a nonprofit organization as a result.
- Efficiency: Our purpose is to maximize efficiency when we decide how to implement the choices you made of where we direct funds. For example, we buy carbon credits for the lowest price we can find, rather than from a single provider. A survey by Eco Business Links found a wide range in prices charged by other sites selling carbon offset credits. Other sites also have fixed pricing, yet the actual price for carbon offset credits is market based (such as via the government-recognized Chicago Climate Exchange) and can vary widely over time. Our goal is to maximize the impact of your dollars.
- Philosophy: Our core philosophy is that you and other individuals like you can magnify your positive impact by spreading green around you, not just living green yourself. That is, by living green you help save the planet by "X" amount; but you increase that by orders of magnitude — 2X, 10X, 100X — when you also spread the word to help educate others or contribute funds to cover the behaviors of others.
- Broad Coverage: Our focus is on any and all activities that increase sustainability. GreenAroundYou is not just carbon offset credits; not just planting trees; but everything we can find a way to support: This includes funding research, supporting other green organizations, and launching our own programs. If it relates to improving the sustainability of the planet we hope we can help with it. (And once again, you decide by your allocation which directions we focus on.)
- Simplicity:
We keep this simple. For example,
if you want to offset carbon,
we don't require that you go through a complex, time-consuming
carbon offset calculator
(though you can if you're interested). We're not trying to guilt you
into donating more than you're able, because we recognize that some people
can't donate as much as may be required to completely offset their carbon
footprint — and that isn't our purpose. We're grateful for your
contribution
no matter how small. (And by small we do mean
small. No kidding. Check that link.) We want you to feel good about
your part in helping save the planet, not guilty you can't do more.
(On the flip side, we hope
you might choose to offset other people's carbon usage also if
you're able.)
Further, since GreenAroundYou is about much more than carbon offsets, having you work through a complex process like a carbon calculator to determine how much you should donate doesn't make sense; there are many other aspects to being green that you can choose to support.
Thus, we focus simply on you contributing what you can, then spreading the word.
- Low overhead: We have no large organization to support. We leverage technology in everything we do to keep our costs low. We're web-based. We use the lowest overhead payment processor we can (Paypal) so as much of your contribution goes directly to funded activities, not overhead. We even use their micropayment system to minimize our transaction costs on small transactions. If we find another lower cost payment processor we'll switch in an instant. We don't have corporate retreats. We're about you holding events, not us holding Hollywood balls. We don't have an office: We telecommute and conference.
- We're Collaborative: We're about you sharing new green tips and discussing the existing green tips. We're not about pronouncements from on high. We're about you spreading the memes everywhere you can shoe-horn them in. This collaboration is fundamental to GreenAroundYou's operation and very existence.
And Back to "You"
