Responsabilidad Social Empresarial

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Community of Responsible Enterprises

Your source for news about responsible business, sustainability, and technology, as well as to access the ifPeople Newsletter.

Bioneers Southeast Forum in Atlanta

The Bioneers S.E. FORUM is a region-wide town hall meeting and progressive summit of innovative and socially responsible programs, art, media and ideas along with a showcase of sustainable products, services and planned developments. Using World Café and appreciative inquiry formats, this progressive summit brings together progressive voices from across a wide spectrum of industries, disciplines, interests and backgrounds.

Values And Profits: (Entertaining) Insights on how they go together

Starting entrepreneurs, mid-size business owners and all those interested in establishing a socially responsible - values-driven- business now count on a new source of expertise. Ben Cohen and Mal Warwick –pioneers in the field- present Values-Driven Business: How to Change the World, Make Money, and Have Fun; the first of the Social Venture Network (SVN) book series.

Upcoming events: 2007

ifPeople provides a central place for information about upcoming events related to responsible enterprise, systems thinking, sustainability, and technology. Check back for updates.

The need and challenge of reporting on CSR

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a phenomenon a largepart of journalists and society in general are cynical about. Peopleoften distrust the intentions that lead companies to take part in socialactions. One of the main factors contributing to this distrust is thelack of existing information and specific knowledge about CSR.

ifPeople Sponors Bioneers Southeast Forum

ifPeople is a sponsor for the Bioneers Southeast Forum being held on October 28-30, 2005 in Atlanta, Georgia. ifPeople has worked with Bioneers's Atlanta organizing group on numerous occasions to support the movement for solutions contributing to a better future and bringing the event to the southeast.

Toxic 100 vs Global 100: Diverging Views of Corporate Sustainability

The “Toxic 100” is a report on the top corporate air polluters in the United States, created by the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (PERI). The recently released report features DuPont, US Steel, ConocoPhillips, GE, and Eastman Kodak as the US companies topping the list. Surprisingly, some of the companies with higher releases of toxic chemicals were also included in the “Global 100” list that supposedly features the most sustainable world corporations. We felt this deserved more attention and that the public needs to put attention on the “list makers”.

Hyde Farm means open space and culture for our community

Hyde Farm is a 120 acre plot on the banks of the Chattahoochee River. It is one of the last contiguous parcels of undeveloped land continually farmed since the early 19th Century. The farm has cultural and environmental value for the community, and ifPeople supports the preservation of the farm both for its value to the community as well as part of our efforts to support smart action regarding climate change. We hope you will consider supporting the effort to preserve this open space also!

BiD Challenge 2006: Working at the intersection of poverty and entrepreneurship?

After a successful first 2005 edition, the international competition BiD Challenge is once again offering organizations and individuals the opportunity to finance their business plans aiming at poverty reduction in developing countries. The competition is sponsored by Business in Development, an organization from the Dutch National Committee for International Cooperation and Sustainable Development (NCDO), the main civil in Holland that seeks to reduce poverty through market-oriented initiatives. In line with the committee’s goals, participating projects should contribute to the achievement of the Millennium Goals at comply with some requirements such as consisting in the creation or enlargement of an existing business, call for a start-up investment of €500-500,000 and Generate profits in a three-year period.

Georgia's Common Ground conference features sustainable enterprise leaders

This conference, scheduled for September 9, 2005 in Atlanta, GA will bring some great leaders to town (Paul Hawken and Amory Lovins) as well as our local heroes in sustainable enterprise (including Ray Anderson). The Governor will be opening the conference, which has tracks covering air, water, land, quality growth, and sustainable business.

Sustainable Business Day in Georgia: renewed commitment and 2006 perspectives

For the third consecutive year, Sustainable Business Day will bring together government officials, congressmen and Georgian businesses committed to sustainable practices. ifPeople will once again attend the event to be held at the Georgia Capitol on Wednesday, January 25 from 8:30 am to 1 pm and join the over 15 innovative businesses that contribute to both the state’s economic growth and its environmental protection.

GRI Guidelines applicability and G3 launching

Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), recognized as a collaborating center for the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), has recently released an updated draft of their guidelines and indicator protocols. This third reviewed version, known as G3 and elaborated on the basis of the previous 2000 and 2003 versions, can be downloaded from the Web site of the organization and is available for comments up to March 31, 2006. The final improved version of the G3 guidelines will be launched on October 5, 2006 at an international event in the city of Amsterdam.

ifPeople launches new site functionaility and content for Red Puentes

In its continued work with the international network Red Puentes to promote Corporate Social Responsibility in Latin America, ifPeople has released a new set of features and content for the network's Web site RedPuentes.org. These include an English implementation of the site, a secure member area, a CSR document library, and in interactive area on CSR Tools.

FairSource: Responsible Enterprise Development Through Trade in Services

This paper is the second FairSource paper produced by ifPeople (July 2005) and presented at the Entrepreneurship and Human Rights Conference at Fordham University. The paper introduces the concept of FairSource, its relation to Fair Trade, and the standard. It also presents case studies of ifPeople's use of FairSource in Latin America and one of the FairSource provider companies (Except).

FairSource: Sustainable Livelihoods through Trade in Services

Global trade in services is growing at a tremendous pace. Trade in services has the potential to contribute to a more just and sustainable world through economic development and access to opportunity. However, like globalization in the commodities market, trade in services can also lead to the destabilization of prices and the exploitation of labor. FairSource is a sustainable business model and a standard for trade in services. The standards codifies a commitment to responsible business practices, long-term relationships, and professional development. The goals of FairSource are to empower responsible enterprises that are unable to access or maintain IT expertise with powerful and appropriate technology tools, while supporting sustainable livelihoods and quality of life through micro-enterprise development, greater access to opportunity, and secure employment.