ASU to host first GreenBiz U Forum

February 6, 2014

ASU community invited to learn current sustainability business trends

For the first time, the annual GreenBiz Forum, a hallmark conference hosted by GreenBiz Group, is coming to Arizona State University as a shadow conference for students, faculty and staff, called GreenBiz U. Presentations at GreenBiz Forum, set to take place Feb. 18-20 in Scottsdale, will be simulcast for free on ASU’s Tempe campus during GreenBiz U. Download Full Image

GreenBiz Forum, which happens twice a year in various locations around the country, provides an in-depth look at today’s sustainable business challenges and opportunities.

"GreenBiz Forum brings together sustainability leaders from the world’s biggest corporations to discuss key trends and best practices,” says Joel Makower, chairman and executive editor of GreenBiz Group. “We’re excited to bring this wealth of insight and inspiration to the larger ASU community, which includes tomorrow’s business leaders.”

The Forum is a premier partner of the inaugural Sustainability Solutions Festival, a week of events organized by ASU’s Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiatives that takes place concurrently with GreenBiz Forum. GreenLight Solutions, an ASU student-based sustainability consulting organization, is coordinating GreenBiz U in partnership with GreenBiz Group and the Sustainability Solutions Festival.

“Like GreenBiz says, sustainable business is too big to go at it alone,” says Tara Briscoe, founding member of GreenLight Solutions. “To maximize the knowledge gained at the GreenBiz Forum, we wanted to include ASU's students, faculty and leaders who can apply what they learned within the local community.”

During GreenBiz U, the ASU community will learn from corporate sustainability influencers like The Sustainability Consortium’s Kara Hurst, The Nature Conservancy’s Mark Tercek and Jessica Alba, actress and founder of The Honest Company. On-site workshops will complement the presentations.

GreenBiz U will welcome additional speakers like Phil Radford, Executive Director of Greenpeace USA; John Malian, a sustainability engineer for CISCO; Courtney Klein, co-founder and CEO of SEED SPOT; and a special guest panel discussion on Spiritual Perspectives on Sustainability.

More information on GreenBiz U can be found at sustainabilityfestival.asu.edu/calendar-of-events/greenbiz-u/. GreenBiz U participants are also encouraged to attend additional events during the week-long Sustainability Solutions Festival. A full schedule of events can be found at sustainabilityfestival.asu.edu/calendar-of-events/.

Media contact:
Jason Franz, Jason.Franz@asu.edu
Strategic Marketing and Communications
ASU Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiatives
480-727-4072

Update: Due to scheduling conflicts, Tom Szaky and Kimber Lanning are unable to attend.

ASU Lodestar Center updates online nonprofit report

The ASU Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation recently released the latest edition of the Scope of the Arizona Nonprofit Sector report.

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ASU Lodestar Center updates online nonprofit report

February 6, 2014

The Arizona State University Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation recently released the latest edition of the Scope of the Arizona Nonprofit Sector report. This report is available via a highly-interactive website, and features an online knowledge repository and research tool that reports on nonprofit organizations across Arizona, including charitable giving and volunteering and the nonprofit sector’s contribution to the Arizona economy. This site has quickly emerged as the "go-to" resource for statistics, research, financials and economic information about Arizona’s nonprofit sector.

Arizona is home to a vibrant nonprofit sector comprising over 20,000 registered tax-exempt organizations. The Scope of the Arizona Nonprofit Sector (Scope) website delves deeper into Arizona’s nonprofit sector and features numerous interactive charts that allow the user to search nonprofit organizations by county (within Arizona) and subsector (arts, education, etc.). The website is divided into several areas of significant research, including: Download Full Image

Nonprofit sector profile: Includes data on the number and types of Arizona nonprofit organizations, including assets, revenues and expenditures.

Grantmaking report: Includes grants and assets of two specific types of organizations: grantmakers, which make grants to several different nonprofits; and single-support organizations, which make grants to a single predefined organization.

Giving and volunteering: Contains the latest research and data on charitable giving and volunteering of Arizona residents, including volunteer hours and the value of contributed time.

Economic Contribution: This section details the economic contribution and growth of the nonprofit sector to Arizona’s economy, and provides information on nonprofit employment.

“Our ‘Scope’ report is a highly sought-after knowledge platform that reveals the characteristics and dimensions of Arizona’s nonprofit and philanthropic sector,” says Robert Ashcraft, executive director of ASU’s Lodestar Center and professor of nonprofit studies in the School of Community Resources and Development, part of the College of Public Programs. “As a ‘go-to’ source of knowledge and tools to understand and advance the social sector, our center is responding to many requests for information that are answered through this dynamic knowledge platform,” he adds.

"What a tremendous resource for the nonprofit community. Thank you," said Michael McDonald, president and CEO of the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona.

“The site can be used to research nonprofit services provided in a particular area, find organizations that award grant funding or to learn about charitable giving and volunteering in our state,” says Stephanie La Loggia, manager of knowledge resources at the ASU Lodestar Center for Philanthropy & Nonprofit Innovation. “It also details the importance of nonprofit organizations to our state’s economy.”

This winter update to the Scope report features the most accurate and up-to-date information on the revenue, expenses and assets of Arizona’s nonprofit organizations, as well as updated statistics on volunteering in Arizona, including how many Arizonans volunteered, the total number of hours donated and the estimated dollar value of contributed labor. The site also details the contribution Arizona’s nonprofit sector makes to the state’s economy, and includes statistics on employment in Arizona nonprofits.

Additional updates to the Scope will continue to take place over the coming months, including information on Arizona’s grantmaking public charities and foundations.

To read the Scope of the Arizona Nonprofit Sector, visit lodestar.asu.edu/scope. For additional information regarding any of the ASU Lodestar Center’s programs, visit lodestar.asu.edu.

Written by Nicole Almond Anderson, 602-496-0185, nicole.almondanderson@asu.edu