Starting a Green Non-Profit

[rogercbryan]

Starting a Green Non-Profit

I’ve made a few posts to a few different threads about my desire to start a non-profit geared towards environment protection. I’ve finally found an Environmental Engineer to help me with this project.

Here is our idea: There is a big push for businesses to go green these days. A lot of businesses are taking advantage of tax incentives to refurbish or build new buildings. Based on my relationships with major non-profits all across the US we have decided to start a non-profit that will focus on helping other non-profits go green.

Example: Goodwill Industries of Greater Washington, DC could call us and have us come out an do an evaluation of their buildings (HQ, Offices, Thrift Stores, and Processing Centers). Once the evaluation was done we will use funds raised through my typical programs to help increase environmental efficiency at their buildings. It could start by simply replacing light bulbs or it could get as advanced as funding whole new buildings.

The goal I have is to find a way to put peoples donated money to REAL use. This means I want a tangible outcome to what we are doing. Many ‘Green’ non-profits are raising money so that they can throw parties or events. While I support their cause of ‘spreading the word’, I would much rather see this money going towards real tangible investments.

This post is not meant to be a business summary, more so an introduction used to create dialogue. I’d like to here from a few people about their ideas. Before I commit myself to this endeavor I want to make sure I’m looking at it from every angle.

What do you all think? Does anyone have expertise they could lend to this organization? Would anyone like to participate?

*This is not a solicitation for donations

[jasaunders]

If you're doing anything with green buildings, you'll want to look to the US Green Building Council (USGBC) and the LEED Program. There are also dozens of other green building programs on the local and national level.