A global network with thousands of businesses and environmental organizations working together to support people and the planet, 1% for the Planet operates on a simple premise: When business and nonprofits collaborate, the world benefits.
Its model mimics an ecosystem, where a community that flows together finds balance and mutual benefit, allowing the system to thrive. As one of the most recognized certifications in the marketplace and with more than 4,000 businesses, 7,000 nonprofits, and almost $1 billion in aggregate giving, 1% for the Planet proves that a model based on balance and community can achieve remarkable outcomes.
In this Q&A, 1% CEO Kate Williams shares why her organization’s model — businesses giving a portion of their total annual sales to support environmental organizations — works so well, and how we all can be part of creating the future we want.
What role do philanthropy, impact business, and nonprofits play in the work toward a regenerative economy? What role does 1% for the Planet hope to play?
Philanthropy, impact business, and nonprofits each play a role in driving impact. Used strategically and effectively, philanthropy funds solutions that exist outside of the marketplace. Well-conceived nonprofits focus on solutions for which there’s no viable market, or not yet a viable market. For example, an endangered species that is critical to an ecosystem may have no “marketplace value,” yet it is immeasurably valuable to preserve it. Allocating philanthropy to that is important.
Understanding and allocating resources where they can drive the most impact indicates we need philanthropy, impact businesses, and impact investment as part of a regenerative economy. Interconnection is key.
Our model is inherently regenerative. For businesses, we provide a mechanism to develop and execute a philanthropy strategy that allocates funds annually to support positive impact for the planet. On the nonprofit side, we create a recurring source of philanthropy income. We’re on track to hit a billion U.S. dollars in total lifetime giving. It’s proof of the regenerative model. If you look at any one of our donations, it won’t be the biggest in the philanthropy space, but what we’re able to do in the aggregate is creating lasting change with momentum at scale.
Why does 1% for the Planet focus on environmental issues?
Only 3% of all philanthropic giving goes to the environment, and that figure has remained the same for years. Even as awareness about the challenges of climate change has grown, and although there are more solutions ready for funding than ever before, we haven’t increased funding.
We mostly know what we need to do to address the environmental crisis. New innovations are always great, but for the most part, we just need to fund the good stuff we already know works. Having the philanthropy and the business sectors aligned toward addressing solutions in the ways they’re best suited presents a monumental opportunity that’s right in front of us. We don’t have to figure out a whole lot; we just need to get the money to the right places.
Scale is a big part of it. One of the powerful aspects of our model is that we have businesses of all sizes and donations of all sizes. Small, local solutions make a critical difference and can serve as a proof of concept for something that could be scaled up. For example, if a community has a critically threatened wetlands area and a business chooses to support its local land trust to protect it, that’s never going to elevate to the level of a global solutions investment. But that wetlands is only going to be saved through local dollars at the right scale caring for it. Global change can happen through a lot of small local investments.
1% for the Planet businesses directly connect with and support 1% nonprofits. Why is that an important part of the ecosystem model?
Right. We’re not a foundation, meaning we don’t take in and distribute money on behalf of our members. We’re partners and advisors to our members, helping them develop their strategy and determine who they want to give to. The companies have direct contact with and give directly to the nonprofits of their choice, so they can also coordinate on storytelling, doing volunteer days together, or whatever kind of partnership emerges. In some cases, a company just wants to write a check and a nonprofit just wants to receive a check, and that’s fine. In other instances, these strong, long-lasting partnerships develop that dramatically impact the company, the nonprofit, and their shared work. That partnership value is huge.
Another thing we think about: In a thriving ecosystem, no one entity is the limiting factor for others. You need the interrelationships for everything to thrive. If we were to be the nexus and have everything pass through us, A) it would no longer be an ecosystem, and B) it would be smaller and less effective, because we would be trying to control the relationships between brands in the community.
Using a natural system as a metaphor for how we operate has served us well. An ecosystem model creates an opportunity for energy and momentum to be created and regenerated, for things to flow without being constrained by a central actor. That doesn’t mean there’s not organization and structure, in the same way natural ecosystems need a certain type of balance built in. But it’s not a top-down hierarchical structure.
People often think about nonprofits as the beneficiaries of this program, but the for-profit companies also benefit. Can you share about that?
Companies that see 1% not as charity but as a business strategy get a huge lift from it.
Companies can make this work part of their employee engagement strategy, brand strategy, customer engagement strategy—the list goes on. Plus, many companies understand the importance of supporting long-term economic resilience. The only way the economy is resilient is if the planet is resilient, and the only way the planet is resilient is if we invest in that.
We hear about the employee retention and engagement piece more and more. I was recently visiting a member in Colorado, and the CFO came in. I always love to learn why CFOs think 1% is valuable. He was very cut and dry. He said 1% for the Planet membership is core to their employee engagement, and employee engagement is core to their business success. That was pretty cool.
The work companies do through 1% for the Planet is also an amazing story generator. Many businesses allocate part of their marketing budget to their 1% budget because it provides all of these incredible content opportunities they can use as a marketing resource.
And finally, our community is awesome. We hear this a lot from members—whether they come to events, get introductions, or use our directory, they feel like they’re in good company. Impact-focused businesses can find it lonely to do this work, because they’re often choosing what feels like the harder path in today’s economy. To feel like they have a peer group of businesses making the same choices is helpful, both in a practical sense and emotionally.
So how do you stay positive when things feel challenging?
The rate of change humans have made to the globe in the 150 years since the Industrial Revolution is unprecedented. The science is clear on that. Being engaged in meaningful work that is cognizant of that feels like the right thing to do. That makes me feel hopeful.
It matters to me to do meaningful work, and it matters to me to be in community with others. I know we’re a small community among 8 billion people on the globe, but it feels like we have a lot of good people trying to do good things. That alone is a big win and I’m going to cast my vote for that.
Every day we live, in some way, we’re living into a future we either hope for or don’t. If we can all live each day to embody what we hope for, that’s how we create the future we want.
What do you wish impact businesses knew about their power to drive change? Nonprofits?
For both, my wish and call to action is this: Don’t get caught up trying to achieve perfection. Take action. By taking action, you get a new vantage point. You build momentum, and all sorts of good things come from that. If you just stand still and do analysis, analysis, analysis to find the perfect solution, you will not serve the world. When you take thoughtful, intentional action and then continue to iterate, you make progress.
Kate Williams is the CEO of 1% for the Planet, where she leads a global movement to mobilize businesses to give 1% of their revenue to environmental solutions so that people and the planet can thrive. A longtime environmental leader and keynote speaker, she shares stories and insights from decades of movement-building to help audiences turn bold ideas into lasting action.
