#86 – How Just One Percent Makes a Difference
with Kate Williams, CEO of 1% for the Planet
In 2002, Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia, and Craig Mathews, founder of Blue Ribbon Flies, created 1% for the Planet, starting a global movement to inspire organizations and individuals to support environmental nonprofit solutions through an annual membership and everyday actions.
Member companies pledge to give 1% of their total annual sales to environmental nonprofit partners. In 2019 alone, more than 3,000 members of the 1% for the Planet community spread amongst 40+ countries gave over $27 million.
For the past five years, today’s guest Kate Williams has been the CEO of 1% for the Planet.
See our full video interview with Kate Williams, CEO of 1% for the Planet (above)
In our chat, we discussed the strengths and opportunities of cross-sector collaboration, as the community is such a successful case study of this in action right now. We also dive into Kate’s philosophies and understandings of leadership and her thoughts and beliefs behind organizing people to come together to make impactful, positive change, as all of these businesses and nonprofits are doing in this fight to protect our home planet.
It’s been such a pleasure to be a 1% for the Planet member for over a year, where we, like so many others, have made the pledge to give 1% of our total sales to environmental organizations who are doing exceptional work of preserving our natural lands, fighting against climate change, and raising awareness to encourage others to do the same.
Being a part of this impressive global network has been incredibly powerful and has only inspired us to take further action.
Want more episodes on the movements protecting our planet? Listen to:
- #84 – How Businesses Can Go Plastic Neutral with CEO & Co-Founder of rePurpose, Svanika Balasubramanian
- #66 – The Fight for Carbon Neutrality: Reducing the Global Carbon Footprint One Company at a Time with Austin Whitman, Founder & CEO of Climate Neutral
- #51 – Leveraging Marketing Dollars for Social Good with Doug Lessing, Founder of Phin
CEO Kate Williams with founder Yvon Chouinard at the 2019 1% Global Summit.
“Recognize we all have a 1%. That may be financial, time, or energy, but if everyone thinks about how they can give their 1% every day, we are the most unstoppable force. You put all those 1%s together, and it makes a whole lot.” -Kate Williams
Topics Discussed:
- 1% for the Planet’s history
- How just 1% truly is creating global change
- How businesses and nonprofits find success through powerful partnerships
- How Kate sees her role as CEO and leader
- The importance of storytelling to raise awareness and inspiration
Links from the Episode:
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