Earth Day 2008: Special Edition Duck Pond

April 2008
communications, environment

In honor of Earth Day, here are five suggestions for greening up your nonprofit’s communications and cutting costs along the way:
  1. Opt for soy inks and recycled papers. Ask the printers you work with to present you with recycled paper options. If you’re not sure how many printed materials you’ll really need, err on the side of printing smaller quantities, too.
  2. Go digital. Consider producing more of your publications in digital format: newsletters, brochures, even annual reports are increasingly moving into HTML and PDF formats online, to minimize the expense of printing and mailing.
  3. Encourage sharing. Instead of laser printing a copy of agendas and other handouts for all participants in meetings, consider asking people to share, or displaying documents on monitors or via projection.
  4. Laser print double-sided. Most printers can print on both sides, which will not only cut your paper consumption in half, it will also save you money on paper and stationery too.
  5. Kill the vampires! Appliances that suck electricity at night are called ‘vampires.’ Reduce your organization’s (and your home’s) electricity bill by shutting down and even unplugging at night. Here’s a handy article that Stanford’s School of Earth Sciences put together that can help. Our very own Kat Sciolto started unplugging all non-vital electronics in her home prior to going to bed and saw an immediate $20 drop in her monthly electricity bill.