The following is part of a series by our friends at CSRHub (a 3p sponsor) – offering free sustainability and corporate social responsibility ratings on over 5,000 of the world’s largest publicly traded companies. 3p readers get 40% off CSRHub’s professional subscriptions with promo code “TP40″ By Bahar Gidwani Slow Money is a national movement that [...]

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An outdoor snuggie for the homeless.

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By Lorna Li If you want to discover what corporate responsibility really looks like, interview 100 of the top CEOs in the world and ask them what they’re doing about our planet’s social and environmental problems. That’s what Nikki Pava did as a marketing and communications professional for many years, working with corporations in Bangkok, [...]

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Launch is a one-of-a-kind public-private partnership between NASA, USAID, US State Department, and Nike to use the “power of prizes” to encourage startups to develop an innovative solution that addresses the needs of the developing world. Next up: waste issues.

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Last month at the White House’s Science, Technology, and Innovation Summit for Global Development, UnderSecretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property David Kappos launched a novel program created by the USPTO called the Patents for Humanity Challenge.

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What’s life like for female entrepreneurs in the male-dominated tech industry? Find out, in our report from a SXSW panel moderated by Kara Swisher.

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By Brian Back To capture the mix of hope and hype at South by South West last week, one needed look no further than a turntable interview between Steve Case and Tim O’Shaughnessy. Case, AOL co-founder turned sustainability focused investor with Revolution, and O’Shaughnessy, founder of LivingSocial, took to an Austin Convention Center stage March [...]

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Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, you know that “collaborative consumption” is all the rage. Housing, transportation, service, or old clothing — they’ve all got peer-to-peer marketplaces. What challenges is the industry facing? What problems do you have to solve to be successful?

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The Fisker Karma, a high performance luxury plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, broke down in the parking lot of Consumer Reports before they could conduct quality tests on it.

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A recent editorial in The Economist would have us believe that of all the problems facing the oceans—acidification, plastics pollution, decline of habitat—overfishing is the easy win, the simple fix. Really, the article argues, this whole overfishing mess is the fault of fishermen. If fishers would just wise-up to the long-term environmental consequences of taking too much, they would make the well-informed and uncomplicated choice to just simply catch fewer fish. This naive finger-pointing exercise is about as helpful and logical as driving past an unemployment line and yelling out the window, “Get a job!”

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Post ads to let Massachusetts citizens express their dismay about recent votes to gut the Clean Air Act. The importance of fundraising as an element of any social marketing campaign is a consideration that should not be overlooked. Many social marketing campaigns are developed by nonprofits and governmental organizations that recognize the value of the [...]

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Design strategy and Innovation are preparing businesses for survival. Many aspects contribute to a business succeeding. I believe these include intuition, speed, and agility.

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The following post is part of the course work for “Live Exchange” the foundational course on communication for The MBA Design Strategy Program at California College of the Arts. The rest of the posts are presented here. By Sarah Anne White Why we should run screaming in the other direction from “Gala” or “Gift” Economics How many [...]

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Crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter and IndieGoGo give social entrepreneurs a way to test product and service ideas, reach new audiences and generate marketing buzz with minimal risk and upfront investment.

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In a store in my hometown of Ahmedabad, India, I was immediately charmed by the colorful display of intricate handcrafted embroidery on pillow covers, decorative wall-hangings and silk kurtas. The needlework was simple, yet elegant, distinctive – and yes, expensive. At first I hesitated over whether to spend so much on an embroidered piece I really liked. Then I read the price tag a bit more carefully and noticed that 65 percent of the proceeds went directly to the artisans, and the store itself was affiliated with SEWA, the Self-Employed Women’s Association.

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Have you ever shared a car ride, lent someone a book, made a mix tape, or traded clothing? Then you’re part of the WEconomy, a new economic model where communities of consumers share, swap or rent goods as opposed to owning them.

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Credit union membership continues to surge after the successful ‘Move Your Money’ campaign. The opportunity now exists to better articulate the connection between credit unions as cooperative businesses owned by the members and the need for them to invest more heavily in the growing cooperative business sector.

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Staxxon, a development-stage start-up based in Montclair, NJ, has developed a vertical folding container. The Staxxon system allows a standard 20-foot container to fold flat into a mere wisp of its usual footprint. It folds into itself much like those white cardboard packing boxes used for storage and on moving day.

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By Ashok Kamal For decades, it has been clear that a better understanding of sustainability is necessary to ensure humanity’s survival. Now the green imperative has expanded from environmental activists to boardroom executives. The business community is confronting both a call to action and stark ultimatum: embrace sustainability or risk becoming obsolete. The evidence in [...]

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This article outlines the 3 stages of recycling and argues for a closed-loop recycling system that protects the environment and promotes a greener economy.

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Mobile is unlocking possibilities for local lifestyles that could very well redefine consumption as we know it. Location based micro-economies are emerging with increasing levels of sophistication – micro-economies operated by you and I. Now, anyone with a smartphone and something to offer can be a friendly neighbourhood retailer. Every day, mobile startups are creatively making this easier and more enjoyable in the name of collaborative consumption, the groundswell movement within which true sustainability may finally be achieved.

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What is Conscious Capitalism and how does it apply to business?

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In the emerging Conscious Capitalism economy, making money requires more that focusing on making money.

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The reporting on Detroit seems to be shifting away from the narrative of the once great American City disintegrating into a burned out warzone-like state as citizens flee to greener, safer, more vibrant locales.

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Increasingly my world is filled with overachievers who feel like underachievers. Are we the FOMO Generation? Is ‘Fear OF Missing Out’ destroying happiness. In past generations people tryied to keep up with the Joneses, their neighbors with a nicer yard, cuter kids, or a better car. But now thanks to LinkedIn and Facebook we have to keep up with the Joneses and the Shahs, Lees, Carters, Smiths, Levys and our hundreds of other acquaintances online.

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The State of Oregon Department of Corrections, partnering with several other sponsors, has promoted a different paradigm for inmates in its Coffee Creek Correctional Facility. MercyCorps of the Northwest (MCNW) is spearheading an effort there to teach self-employment and microenterprise development skills to women in prison who are up for parole within 18-24 months. LIFE [...]

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The 2011 Pipeline Fund Fellowship Pitch Summit had eleven woman-owned, for-profit, socially responsible businesses presenting their business plans, hoping to raise money from a group of ten women learning to become angel investors.   During a break in the pitches, Nithya Das, an associate at the law firm Goodwin Procter presented the keynote.  She represents and [...]

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By Matt Evans Aron Jakab runs Fruit of Care, a social enterprise selling high quality design home decor like fruit scented candles produced by people with disabilities employed in workshops across Hungary. Aron is a savvy entrepreneur now, but a few years ago, the talented designer had no knowledge and expertise in business management, finance [...]

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The glass ceiling is alive and well, especially for start-up entrepreneurs. According to American Express Open 29% of all US businesses are owned by women and their numbers are growing by 1 and a half times the national average.  “There are over 8.1 million women-owned businesses in the United States, generating nearly $1.3 trillion in [...]

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Congratulations on being ahead of the business curve by having a sustainably themed business!  There are still too many old-school businesses that haven’t seen the light.  But, being environmentally or socially responsible doesn’t mean you can ignore the bottom-line.  You need to have profits to support your mission.   I can’t even begin to count the [...]

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