Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Tech Citizenship

Consultants focus on matching the mission

By Rodney H. Brown

Nobody is ever going to criticize a corporation for giving back to its community or making a commitment to sustainability — except perhaps the shareholders, particularly if that giving is not in keeping with the overall mission of the company.

A small handful of technology and sustainability consultants have banded together to help companies make sure that no such disconnect happens to their clients.

ZMR Consulting was launched late last fall by a group including Julianne Zimmerman, a Mass High Tech Women to Watch honoree in 2006, when she was co-founder and director of business development for GreenFuel Technologies Corp., a now defunct company that was trying to use algae to clean smokestack gasses and produce a biofuel.
Zimmerman also has a background in entrepreneurial consulting for tech startups.

“The companies we are talking to, as a group, are ones that have already decided that it’s in their interest to invest in social responsibility programs, such as carbon reduction,” she said of the target market for ZMR.

Joining Zimmerman as one of the letters in ZMR is John Rooks, founder of The SOAP Group (Sustainable Organization Advocacy Partners) company designed to help corporations, NGOs and governments activate sustainability and social justice.

According to Zimmerman, that idea of authenticity starts with determining if your company is even aware of what it is communicating to the world at large.

“The very first thing we would do is say, ‘Is the company itself clear about what the company aims to represent to the world?’” she said.

Once that is clear, ZMR’s “Authenticating REAL” offering would help the company align its social responsibility efforts with its corporate message.

For example, a company that makes educational software might find out that it is better off giving to a global education effort than, say, a local house-building charity organization. By contrast, a large company with many campuses might found out it would get more value out of local food banks in each market than in international hunger relief efforts.

The possibility exists that this could cause some major reshuffling among corporate giving, with some nonprofits seeing their mix of backers fluctuate, but Zimmerman sees the end result as more of a reshuffling of backing, not a net loss for any one organization. Also, she says that ZMR has no stake in recommending any individual nonprofits, just sectors and types of charities that are a better fit with a client’s mission.

One nonprofit executive, Merri Pearson, executive director of Wakefield-based Outdoor Explorations, has seen the service that ZMR is launching, and thinks it is a good idea.
“I think the timing of the program is excellent,” Pearson said. “I think with the recent economic downturn — pitting it mildly — with a lot of foundations not being able to give away much money in the last few years, they are being more thoughtful about who they give money to and I think that’s a good thing.”

The new firm will likely pick up medium to large firm clients in a deliberate, organic way, Zimmerman said.

“In terms of our growth I would love to say in six months that we haven’t staffed quickly enough,” she said. “To be perfectly frank we don’t expect to have that sort of explosive growth.”

Courion employees raise more than $25K for local charities

Courion Corp. of Westborough ended 2010 having raised $27,582 for local charities from such events as their 10th annual employee charity auction and other charity programs. This breaks the record set in the previous year, exceeding the 2009 amount of $18,500. Each year, Courion employees participate in the company’s charity auction which includes a raffle and live and silent auctions. Employees bid on items donated by local businesses, partners, and the employees themselves. Items range from gift cards to sports tickets to weekend getaways. This year’s auction broke previous records by raising $20,782. The company also raised more than $6,500 for the Neely Foundation by participating in the annual Comics Come Home comedy benefit. Courion’s charity auction is part of CourionCares, a company-wide philanthropic program designed to raise cash and non-cash donations for local organizations in need. Other programs within CourionCares include SnackCourier, where proceeds from refreshments go to charities year round; CoatCourier, an annual winter coat drive; a bake sale; a back to school supplies drive; a local food pantry drive; quarterly blood drives and a Holiday gift drive.
 

Schmidt named interim CEO of the Accelerated Cure Project for Multiple Sclerosis

The Accelerated Cure Project for Multiple Sclerosis in Waltham has named Peter Schmidt its interim CEO, as former CEO Carolyn Cronin pursues an opportunity with another MS organization. A 10-year volunteer and former technical advisory board chair for ACP, Schmidt will continue the organization’s effort to unite scientists, nonprofit organizations, MS clinics, and biorepository vendors toward the common goal of finding a cure for the disease. The Accelerated Cure Project for Multiple Sclerosis is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to curing multiple sclerosis by determining its causes and mechanisms. In addition to his entrepreneurial endeavors, Schmidt has held executive management and senior staff positions at Ipanema Technologies, Teradyne and Analog Devices. He has also served continuously in a leadership role with nonprofit and community organizations for the past thirty years. Schmidt earned his bachelor’s degree in computer science and engineering from MIT, and a master’s degree in management is also from MIT, from the Sloan School of Management.