Embedding social responsibility into your start-up business
If 2020 has taught us anything it's that we have to start taking the planet seriously. Everytime I watch David Attenborough and his amazing documentaries I remember how I must do more for the environment. Then the next day it's back to the grind (not doing enough).
I'm sure we can all agree, we live in a pretty special place. So far, although we know it is highly probable that there are other habitable planets out there, we have yet to find Earth 2.0 which we could colonise and start again should the worst happen (cue Wall-e meets Avatar). However, whilst looking for similar planets should be a priority, it is even more important that we spend time taking care of the one one we have. THIS IS NOT A DRILL!
When I started Glo-Ed, the socially responsible school travel company in 2017, I wanted to prove that profitability and social responsibility were not mutually exclusive. I wanted the kids who went on school trips with us to respect us as a company and understand that yes we were a travel company and thus booked flights which contributed to carbon emissions globally, but also that we were at least trying to do something about it
The trickiest thing is that right now it seems that everyone loves the idea of giving back, but much like the first paragraph, when push comes to shove familiarity and money talk. I ended up adding carbon offsetting options into all our travel packages, but also passing the cost onto the client schools as optional extras. Very few schools actually paid the extra £20pp and took it.
My business simply could not afford to subsidise these carbon offsetting costs for every group, and we had to pass the costs on to the clients to let them choose and render ourselves competitive against the industry competition. However what I could do, whether clients (schools) chose to include carbon offsetting on their trips or not, was ensure that everything I controlled in the day to day running of my business was carbon neutral, ideally negative, and that we were giving back an appropriate percentage of our profits to the causes that needed it most.
A great place to start is 1% for the Planet. 1% was started by Yvon Chouinard, the founder of Patagonia, and the idea is simple. If everyone just contributed 1% of their revenues to environmental causes, then the world would be a better place. I don't think anyone can disagree with that. Just 1%.
Now 1% of sales revenue maybe 10% of your gross profit margin for example if your gross profit margin is just 10%. But a business with a gross profit margin of say 50%, that's just 2% of your gross profit margin. So every business should look at this on a case by case basis
Another thing you can do is join forces with a carbon offsetting charity, where the idea is you reduce what you can, and effectively pay to offset what you can't. So, having remote workers, working on laptops that cycle to get about - your company overhead emissions are already low. However for the heat and energy used, you can use a carbon calculator to figure out your carbon footprint and then pay to offset that through a distributing charity like carbonfund. You can even choose which environmental charity you want your contribution to go to.
Finally, you could take a look at becoming a certified BCorp. This one is a bit more of a commitment, but is something I could help you with should you decide to go down that route.
There are plenty of other ways of giving back, from ad hoc contributions, to company foundations and everything in between. I have experience in all these areas and am passionate about helping start-ups embed green, and more established small businesses get green.
Drop me a message for more info and how I can help get your business to become more socially responsible without becoming less profitable. The future's bright. The future's green.
