Connecting Non-Profits

Co-chairs:
Christopher Hart - chris {at} hartofthe6thward(.)com
Larry Marks - lmarks18 {at} yahoo(.)com

If you want to become an active member of this Task Group or would like more info about the projects, please contact the co-chairs.

There are 758 tax exempt, non-profit organizations within the City of Evanston that, collectively, have over $14 billion dollars in total assets. Our non-profit communities represent a significant untapped resource in the fight to manage the changing effects of our global climate. In Evanston, our non-profits have the deepest reach into the passions and energy of our citizens…as membership organizations, employers, and service providers.

Over the course of the next year, we will be asking Evanston’s non-profit community to formally join our efforts to reduce Evanston’s carbon footprint.

Our task will be to extend the invitation and help our non-profits evolve their thinking and practices.

Working closely with the Connecting Business task force, our challenge will be to create tools that help all organizations to join the cause.

The Non-Profit Action Plan

The daily pressures on our non-profits are enormous. We will work creatively and arrive at new solutions in order to build an efficient pathway for non-profit involvement.

Action #1
Invite community non-profits to simply take a step forward (“small beginnings”) and actively share their sustainability initiatives.

Action #2
Build and disseminate toolkits that provide tangible, affordable, and accessible resources for “green practices” that can make a difference.

Action #3
Create and maintain a non-profit database to segment and categorize organizations for appropriate messaging and allocation of resources.

2,012 Small Beginnings

The most important knowledge is not announced with fanfare. It is discovered…realized…and one day feels as if it has always been a part of our lives and our awareness.

Thousands of small beginnings…not random beginnings…but a careful quiet plan to embed the tactics of our Climate Action Plan into the daily workings of our community and the daily working lives of our people…to have the sustainable practices be so unobtrusively pervasive that almost without noticing, they are guiding the important decisions that people are making every day.

Visit our map of the small beginnings being taken by businesses and non-profits in the Evanston community.

View CGE Connecting Non-Profits and Businesses in a larger map