GOLD2024

Alliance For Sustainability

Sustainability, Health, Equity and Kindness

aka Alliance For Sustainability   |   Minneapolis, MN   |  www.afors.org

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Mission

Visionary leaders from around the world founded the Alliance for Sustainability 40 years ago with a mission to co-create sustainability on a personal, organizational and planetary level. We envision a healthy, just, equitable, thriving, kind and peaceful world that works for everyone, fulfills their fundamental needs and realizes our greatest dreams of sustainability.

Notes from the nonprofit

We are a small nonprofit Since our founding, the Alliance has worked with a diverse network of nonprofits, businesses, policymakers and community members on diverse aspects of sustainability. Our first act was to help pass the toughest organic standards in the US, followed by landmark groundwater protection legislation, the banning of hazardous pesticides, and the successful Dirty Dozen Campaign, plus the publication of several books. In the wake of the Exxon Valdez oil disaster, we partnered with leading environmental groups, socially responsible investors, religious institutions, organized labor and the pension funds for the City of New York and State of California to create the CERES Principles, the first-ever corporate environmental responsibility agreement. We signed the first company, Aveda, followed by many major corporations, who then changed their practices. Perhaps our greatest accomplishment was to work with more than 100 NGOs to get all 179 countries attending the 1992 U

Ruling year info

1983

President

Terry Gips

Main address

2801 21St Ave S Ste 100

Minneapolis, MN 55407 USA

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EIN

41-1451709

NTEE code info

Management & Technical Assistance (C02)

Alliance/Advocacy Organizations (S01)

Alliance/Advocacy Organizations (Y01)

IRS filing requirement

This organization is required to file an IRS Form 990-N.

Sign in or create an account to view Form(s) 990 for 2021, 2020 and 2020.
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Communication

Blog

Programs and results

What we aim to solve

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Our programs

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?

Campaign for Sustainability, Health, Equity and Kindness (S.H.E. Kindness)

In response to the ongoing, horrific murders of George Floyd and other people of color, the climate crisis, global pandemic and the anti-democracy movement, ​​the Alliance re-evaluated our work in 2020 and developed our comprehensive Campaign for Sustainability, Health, Equity and Kindness (S.H.E. Kindness).

The Campaign seeks to bring about fundamental systems change through personal and organizational transformation and impactful public policies. Our strategy is to support and amplify the work of aligned groups to build a diverse, inclusive alliance of more than one million people and organizations working together to shift systems in three critical institutions: education, business and government. Consequently, we developed three S.H.E. Kindness Programs building upon our past work: Youth & Schools, Business and Public Policy.

Population(s) Served
Adults

Given how important young people are to addressing our current challenges and having a thriving future, the Alliance developed the groundbreaking, scaleable S.H.E. Kindness Youth & School Program. The purpose of the Program is to develop youth leadership, promote healthy, sustainable lifestyles, build community and help young people overcome hopelessness and eco-anxiety through engaging and empowering them to take action and create a world of sustainability, health, equity and kindness.

Our strategy is to engage young people in middle and high school nationwide with informative, impactful and inspiring resources to motivate and engage them to shift their lifestyles, become leaders and make a difference in their schools, groups and communities. More than half of the students will be from under-served communities. We have created an entertaining, transformational S.H.E. Kindness Youth & School eBook and 40-minute presentation with exciting opportunities to take action.

Population(s) Served
Children and youth
Families
Ethnic and racial groups
Economically disadvantaged people
Children and youth
Families
Ethnic and racial groups
Economically disadvantaged people

Our Public Policy Program informs our members, social media followers and the public about key issues regarding all aspects of sustainability, health, equity and kindness. It seeks to engage them in using their voices in Taking Action to support a shift by elected officials so that they will enact impactful public policy at the local, state and national level.

Each week our newsletter and social media feature one key strategic issue for taking action, including climate, environment, chemicals, equity, environmental justice, democracy, gun violence, and reproductive, LGBTQ+, voting and other fundamental rights.

We strategize and partner with aligned groups to support and amplify their work to leverage and scale fundamental systems change.

Population(s) Served
Adolescents
Ethnic and racial groups
Families
Religious groups

Our Program supports business in shifting the way they do business through Sustainability Partnerships, trainings and consulting, while also calling out greenwashing.

We’ve developed an informative, inspiring and engaging presentation that we can deliver in-person or virtually with the business case for sustainability, innovative examples, simple actions that employees can take at work, home and in their community and practical steps that the business can take to integrate sustainability, health, equity and kindness. In addition, we lead trainings on the Natural Step and its innovative process for the business to do a self-assessment, create a vision and develop and implement a sustainability action plan.

Population(s) Served
Adults
Adults

Where we work

How we listen

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.

done We shared information about our current feedback practices.

  • How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?

    To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals

  • Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?

    We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We share the feedback we received with the people we serve, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback, We ask the people who gave us feedback how well they think we responded

  • What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?

    It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback, It is difficult to find the ongoing funding to support feedback collection

Financials

Alliance For Sustainability
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Operations

The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.

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Connect with nonprofit leaders

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lock

Connect with nonprofit leaders

Subscribe

Build relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.

  • Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
  • Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
  • Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations

Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.

Alliance For Sustainability

Board of directors
as of 09/03/2024
SOURCE: Self-reported by organization
Board co-chair

Collie Graddick

MN Department of Agriculture


Board co-chair

Mr. Terry Gips

Board President, Alliance for Sustainability, Owner - Sustainability Associates

Brady Johnson

Hub Culture

Brian Zakem

Retired Psychologist

Thritha Anand

Yale University Graduate School of Public Health

Helen Glover

Smith College Student

Lori Myren-Manbeck

Inclusivi-tee

Gillian Ramirez

UC San Diego student

Avonna Starck

Clean Water Action MN

Board leadership practices

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.

  • Board orientation and education
    Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes
  • CEO oversight
    Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? No
  • Ethics and transparency
    Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes
  • Board composition
    Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes
  • Board performance
    Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? No

Organizational demographics

SOURCE: Self-reported; last updated 8/3/2023
info Candid has made improvements to the race and ethnicity options.

Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.

Leadership

The organization's leader identifies as:

Race & ethnicity
White/Caucasian/European
Gender identity
Male, Not transgender
Sexual orientation
Heterosexual or Straight
Disability status
Person without a disability

Race & ethnicity

Gender identity

Transgender Identity

Sexual orientation

Disability

No data

We do not display disability information for organizations with fewer than 15 staff.

Equity strategies

Last updated: 08/03/2023

GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more

Data
  • We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
  • We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
  • We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
  • We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
  • We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
  • We disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured.
  • We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
Policies and processes
  • We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
  • We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
  • We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
  • We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
  • We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
  • We measure and then disaggregate job satisfaction and retention data by race, function, level, and/or team.
  • We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.