CONTENTS |  | Letter from the Chair | | Principles | | Endorsers | | Practices | | Actions | | The Building | | Transportation | | Meetings & Conferences | | Money Matters | | | | | Don't allow limited internal capacity to be a deterrent in greening your foundation's office practices. For those foundations that seek outside assistance in the implementation of the practices listed here, EGA and the PAS committee would like to offer additional resources. Several individual consultants as well as consulting organizations can help your foundation streamline office-wide environmental stewardship. Please contact EGA for a list of referrals. Furthermore, if your foundation has worked with someone whom you'd like to recommend to the broader philanthropic community for this type of service, please share this information with EGA. | | Look around you. At the pen in your hand, the paper you were about to write on. The bulb in your lamp. The clock on your desk. Use of any of these items poses both an environmental consequence and opportunity. The pen could be refillable, reducing waste. The paper could be from post-consumer stock, with plans on hand for its reuse and eventual recycling. The lamp could have a compact fluorescent bulb to conserve energy. The batteries in your clock could be recharged, not thrown away. Now extend your awareness to your desk, the room, the foundation offices. What is the measure of your environmental impact, and what options do you have the power to employ? Environmental awareness is not a personal agenda, it is a social responsibility. Acceptance of that responsibility starts with individuals and individual actions. Whatever a particular foundation's programmatic interests, the office operations that support them should be based on an environmental ethic which shoulders this responsibility and acts accordingly. Many environmentally beneficial office practices are simple and easy; others take more time and dedication. And, in the face of confusing or even conflicting data, the best course of action to take is not always clear. However, foundations must assume responsibility for their own actions, consider ways their everyday practices intersect with environmental concerns, and then make educated decisions. We should place the emphasis on re-examining old methodologies and fostering creativity in devising new, more efficient, and non-polluting ways to meet goals. Do not let the seeming enormity of the problems daunt you. Remember that individuals, and individual actions, have turned the tide before. The following list of practices is meant to serve as a guide. It is by no means a mandate nor a limit to your foundation's efforts. Encourage periodicals serving the field of philanthropy, such as Foundation News & Commentary, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, and the Corporate Philanthropy Report, to include information about new environmental practices relevant to foundations. top |
