Net Impact Orlando Sustainability-Enabler Member




Overview

Net Impact Orlando looks to inspire, educate, and enable individuals to work sustainability on their jobs in their companies and in their communities. The chapter also looks to engage individuals that are business experts in their fields or discipline (project management, new product development, marketing, etc.), as well as individuals that work for companies that support other companies taking sustainability action through their products, services, and expertise. Both these business and sustainability experts coach and support individual members that want to take on sustainability action within their company or the community.

 

A Sustainability-Enabler Member is a crucial part of Net Impact Orlando membership because they are the expert coaches and/or resources to individual members and their management teams for seeing the value of specific sustainability action steps (even if baby steps) to their business and the overall environment. In Central Florida, there is not the sustainability momentum of many other places across the country. That’s OK. By promoting the businesses, governments, and institutions taking sustainability action and the suppliers/vendors enabling those projects, initiatives, implementations, we help to build local action and momentum. For people to change, a key element is to set the change and results in local frame, successes right here in Central Florida.

 

Don’t misunderstand, Net Impact Orlando, doesn’t sell or allow direct selling of its sustainability-enabler members’ products and services to other members or in community outreach. We promote the action and who some of the leaders are in getting sustainability action done. We promote their expertise to help accelerate more sustainability action.

 

The major focus for Sustainability-Enabler Members of Net Impact Orlando members is to share their expertise, coach and support individual members on projects they want to join or initiate in their companies. Sustainability-Enabler members also provide the key resource to produce the 3 page mini-case studies (Local Sustainability Action Examples) of successful implementations with their customers. They contribute expert blogs, articles, best practices, Sector Sustainability Best Practices, and leadership both with members and in community outreach. Many are Net Impact Orlando speakers for various community venues.

 

Please note that we do not restrict membership to one member per sustainability sector, e.g., solar, waste management, green cleaning, etc. We find real power and expect collaboration among competing companies. We believe it takes all these companies to build the momentum for sustainability and particularly with the existing buildings market, there is more than enough opportunity for all. Please also note that any opportunities Net Impact Orlando makes or hears about are made known to all Net Impact Orlando members. There are no referral fees or financial remuneration allowed with the Net Impact Orlando non-profit or with Net Impact Orlando distributing among members. Another however, Net Impact Orlando, due to its mission to accelerate sustainability, will promote the sustainability action our members have implemented or can provide with contact information to encourage and enable others to take action.

 

 

Member Benefits (Value for You)

Free PR and Promotion

  • Local Sustainability Action Examples (3 page mini-business case(s) of a sustainability action(s) one or more of your customers implemented) that we post on our Web site and send to members, member companies, and others considering that action. Both you and your customer are highlighted for a successful sustainability implementation here in Central Florida.

Job and Career

  • Expand and enhance the value and reach for new business opportunities and sales

  • Learn and use new ways to build relationships with existing and new customers that help them on the path to more and more sustainability action

  • Utilize other expertise to add value for existing customers and for target potential customers in a non-sales mode

  • Participate in venues, whether training, awareness, or talks in a non-sales mode

  • Expand and enhance your career development, opportunities, and marketability, increase your job, personal and employment value

  • Network with local business, government, and other leaders by impacting their business and lowering their environmental footprint

  • Work with other expert business and sustainability coaches for collaboration and partnering opportunities

Energize Yourself

  • Engage with enthusiastic, giving, and energized people taking clear action and having impact

  • Integrate into your mental model through experience that it is a systems dynamics fallacy to think one person can’t have an impact

  • Broaden your impact on environmental and social issues beyond your own capability to get across the importance of sustainability action; more feet on the street for you and your business

Learning

  • Zero to no cost way to learn more about business sustainability, options for action, the multitude of things going on nationally and locally, e.g., workshops, key articles, member discussion and lessons learned, project updates, etc.

  • Learn The Natural Step Sustainability Framework, the basics of Systems Dynamics, Lean and Six Sigma Quality Management practices, How to engage adults and children, etc.

  • Learn how to live a more sustainable work life and create a more sustainable work place for yourself, if you haven’t already done so as a Sustainability-Enabler.

  • Have access to all kinds of ideas and support for initial projects from the very simple to more complex.

Community Service

  • View community service volunteering differently, by directing your time to accelerating sustainability action through others whether related to your specific sustainability solutions or not.

  • Connect your desire to do community service to the work you do and, as a Sustainability-Enabler are likely passionate about.

 

 

  Member Expectations

The Net Impact Orlando Chapter is an action-oriented set of sub teams. Although issue discussion and learning are key elements of our chapter, visible and measurable action is what we are about. We have quite a lot going on and need resource support in every aspect. For a Sustainability-Enabler members, we strongly encourage reviewing and learning about our programs and projects and working on how you and your company can support and enhance them. We highly encourage you to involve another member to work with you on developing local sustainability action examples on two or more of your customers to promote both your company and your customer, but more importantly to provide a straightforward sustainability action any business can take.

 

We are a very flexible, open to all and to anything kind of team. Don’t be scared off by our member expectations. Our intent is to ensure that the time you, we, spend working with Net Impact has a significant impact, makes a measurable and visible contribution.

 

We strongly recommend that members:

  • Regularly attend our 2nd and 4th Tuesday Team Meetings and RSVP for each meeting.

  • Read two, easy read books to set your foundation both in a sustainability framework and systems thinking/systems dynamics. Please see our required reading menu for the two life changing books we recommend.

 

We expect Sustainability-Enabler members within 45 to 60 days of their first meeting to have:

  • Identified a Sustainability Action Example to work with an individual member (3 page mini-business case summary of a sustainability action that highlights the problem/opportunity, the action, the company that took the action and the supplier(s) that enabled the action, as well as before and after quantified results and lessons learned).

  • Identified a key Central Florida Business Sector to write a Sector Sustainability Best Practices Summary OR 3 or more commercial and institutional buildings to sign-up for the Central Florida community-wide challenge, the Kilowatt Crackdown, aimed at reducing CF energy use 30% by 2012.

  • Selected a LEED Profile to develop for completed LEED certified building in Central Florida.

  • Defined a chapter work package to support or an individual member’s on the job (Impact at Work) project to to support with coaching and expertise.

 

Member Dues

  • To be a member of Net Impact Orlando, you must be a member of Net Impact Central.

  • Annual dues for Net Impact Central are $55 currently to be paid at www.netimpact.org. Please be sure to show your primary chapter affiliation as the Orlando Net Impact Chapter.

  • Net Impact Orlando annual dues for Sustainability-Enabler Members are $100 paid by check and handed to our CFO at a meeting until we can get this payment and the Net Impact Central dues payment online on the Net Impact Orlando site.

  • Total Annual dues are $155.

  • Unemployed, retired, and student members are exempt from Net Impact Orlando dues and, upon the discretion of the management team can be exempted from Net Impact Central dues. If exempted from Net Impact Central dues, the individual does not appear as a national Net Impact member.

 

 

Member Process

  • Joining Net Impact Orlando is very simple.

  • You are welcome to attend as many meetings as you like.

  • Upon paying the Net Impact $55 annual dues and the $100 Net Impact Orlando annual dues, you are an official member of Net Impact and our Chapter and can participate in our programs. You cannot participate or use our program information and direction on CFEEA/KWCC, LEED Profile, and Local Sustainability Action Examples until all dues are paid.

  • Upon or even before joining, a new member overview of the Chapter and its programs is scheduled regularly prior to 2nd and 4th Wednesday team meetings, i.e., starting at 5:30pm and/or various members meet one on one with new members to help them understand our programs and projects and how to participate.

  • New Sustainability-Enabler Members can take advantage of the materials provided on our Web site under About Us, Programs and Projects, as well as under Resources, immediately upon dues payment. We do this on the honor system, since we want Sustainability-Enabler Members and visitors to our site to understand our programs, projects, how they can benefit them, and the work completed to date in each area. We expect Sustainability-Enablers not to use our programs, strategies or approaches until they have paid the national and chapter dues.

 

First Steps for New Member

  • Make it a point to regularly be at meetings.

  • Even as a Sustainability-Enabler Member, you may need to work on your personal work life and work space sustainability. See the Net Impact Orlando Mission Zero Tips Project description and checklist.

  • Read the two recommended books over the next month or so, i.e., The Natural Step: Seeding A Quiet Revolution and Systems Thinking A Primer.

  • Under Programs and Projects, review their descriptions.

  • Under Resources read the basic sustainability readings and access the work already developed and posted by program or project.

  • Talk and meet with members offline. Develop relationships to help you identify and define an initiative and/or your involvement that supports your purpose or passion and/or your business objectives.

  • Get involved with a LEED Profile or Local Sustainability Action Example and either a Business Sector Sustainability Best Practice Summary or signing up buildings for the Kilowatt Crackdown within 30 days. No later than 60 days, submit the project or initiative that you will be acting as a coach for and supporting OR a work package you want to work from the Chapter work package listing.