Social Spotlight: 1% For The Planet

Social Spotlight: 1% For The Planet

Whenever you go to the grocery store you’ll likely see a blue logo that has “1%” in the center. This stamp symbolizes that the company has given one percent of its profits to help slow down climate change. What a great idea, right? This is the idea that started the organization, 1% For The Planet. Understanding that businesses have a huge impact on the way the world works, the organization aims to join businesses together to financially commit to saving our planet. In the past ten years more than $100 million has been invested in positive environmental change by the organization’s member companies.

How does it work?

Member companies donate at least 1% of their sales to the nonprofit partners 1% For The Planet has selected to be in their network. Companies can participate at a variety of levels, from using the entire company (Patagonia) to a brand (Planet Petco) or just a product line (Honest Tea). The nonprofits chosen to be in the 1% For The Planet network are primarily focused on saving land, rivers, forests, and oceans, making agricultural and energy production more sustainable, removing toxins from the environment, and removing plastics from the ocean. Basically, they’re 100% conservation-focused. 1% For The Planet carefully vets each nonprofit for track record, credibility, and impact at the end of each year to verify that members are making their contributions.

What’s the impact?

This process allows us to be more involved in protecting our earth in big ways, despite our limited resources. Bringing it back to the grocery store, you can look for items with the “1%” stamp and try to buy mostly those brands. While your dollars may not go straight to the environment, you can be sure that you’re helping the company donate a bigger amount as they bring in higher sales.

More than 1,200 member companies from 48 different countries give 1% of their sales to the organization. More than 3,300 nonprofits are involved, taking the money and putting it toward effective change to help the environment. Overall, more than $100 million is being raised for the planet.

Check out the organization’s business directory to see which companies you can support. You can even tailor your search based on the environmental and conservation causes you care most about. For example, certain businesses fall under the categories of either pesticides and herbicides or mass transportation and even indigenous rights. This makes the experience much more rewarding for supporters as they can feel like they’re really making a difference in an area that’s important to them—because they really are!