Green Mountain Coffee is one our favorite examples of a company who’s success is shaped by a commitment to responsible choices. Free trade is just the beginning, as the company works to “brew a better world,” with a range of initiatives such as its “Changing Climate Change” competition- four grants of $200K each to support work that reduces climate change- and the state’s largest solar array. The latest project is an online competition to find and help fund creative solutions for motivating local citizens to strengthen communities across New England and New York.
Green Mountain Coffee has teamed with Ashoka’s Changemakers, an organization with over three decades of finding, funding, and expanding the work of social entrepreneurs across the globe, to launch Revelation to Action. GMC explains the partnership on its site: “With its long history of supporting the work of social entrepreneurs, Ashoka is the perfect partner for Green Mountain Coffee as we explore and celebrate ways to strengthen communities across the Northeastern U.S.”
The “Revelation to Action Your Place. Your Idea. Your Change.” competition will “discover promising initiatives, explore fresh ideas, and encourage collaboration on the best ways to inspire community action. Ideas could include rallying a regional group to support a local food bank, helping a community address its carbon footprint, establishing a program to incentivize recycling, or mobilizing a neighborhood to do an annual river clean-up.”
Community members are invited to nominate individuals and organizations with community solutions, discuss and share ideas and success stories, comment on proposals, and vote for finalists. Winners will be judged on innovation, social impact, and long-term sustainability. The best innovations will be awarded prizes totaling $50,000.
“This competition demonstrates that simple ideas can transform a street, neighborhood, or community, and that solutions can come from anyone, whether it’s someone with a passion to give back, or a seasoned local advocate,” said Michael Dupee, Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility at Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. “With its long history of supporting the work of social entrepreneurs, Ashoka is the perfect partner for Green Mountain Coffee as we explore and celebrate ways to strengthen communities across the Northeastern U.S.”
“This is an exciting opportunity to focus the power of the global Changemakers community, as well as community members themselves, on creating solutions that spark local community action,” said Charlie Brown, Changemakers’ Executive Director. “Green Mountain Coffee is a natural partner to do this because of its emphasis on empowering its customers, employees, and other stakeholders to make a difference in local and global communities.”
Competition entries may be submitted to www.Changemakers.com/Revelation through April 21, 2010. Early entries, received by March 24, are eligible for an extra prize drawing. Each submission will be available for public review, comment, and expressions of support. Between June 9 and June 30, finalists will be announced and the public will have the opportunity to vote for the best entries. The three finalists with the most votes will be selected as winners and announced during the week of July 12, 2010. For complete rules and regulations of this competition, visit www.Changemakers.com/Revelation and click on “Eligibility, Criteria and Prizes.”
You can follow the action on Green Mountain Coffee’s Twitter and Facebook.
