About Us: Evolutionary Timeline

Sustainable Ventures Evolutionary Timeline—2003 – 2007

Sustainable Ventures Joins the Rising Tide

October, 2003. Theo Ferguson attended SRI in the Rockies in California and joined the Social Investment Forum (SIF). Theo interviewed Social Investment Forum's professional leaders about socially responsible metrics development and learned about the Moskowitz Prize. She realized a complementary Prize Program – a prize program that addressed the public's perspective – could accelerate the acceptance of the Moskowitz Prize's claim that the incorporation of environmental, social, and governance factors does increase companies' financial bottom lines.

December 31, 2003. Theo incorporated Sustainable Ventures (SV) as a citizen advocacy educational NGO. SV's mission: to inspire and educate trust and pension fund beneficial owners to take an active role in their investments as more than 50% of all U.S. investments are assets invested in their names. Thus this huge body of capital that drives U.S. global policy essentially has no oversight!

February – June 2004. SV produced the curriculum, "Owning My Money, Taking Care of Myself and My World" – in collaboration with Resourceful Women in San Francisco. The more SV's founder, Theo Ferguson, considered how to work with her portfolio manager to incorporate integrated performance management principles into the management of her portfolio, the more she realized that the language and presentation formats used in fund management were not readily useable by the public. In order to inspire and educate shareholders and beneficial owners to influence fund managers' decision-making based on an "integrated bottom line," new language and presentation formats beyond those used by professional fund managers – indices, screening, and shareholder activism – would need to be crafted. What do people do everyday? We create. We create relationships and community. We investigate, inquire and educate. We make and buy things. We represent our peers and vote for those we wish to represent us. We become involved in every aspect of our lives – governance, business, art, reverence, health, and the celebration of the vitality of all life.

The "Our Daily Bread Prize Program"—2004-current

Q1-3 2004. SV considered how to frame a prize program to complement the Moskowitz Prize that awarded research and action plans in terms the public could use to make values-based purchasing decisions that protect and restore our world. Similar to businesses electing to produce Sustainability Reports in compliance with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), SV would develop a prize program that would be based on rigorous, systemic thinking focused on the pricing of products and services, that could be used by people to understand the implications of policies and investments, provide the bases upon which to build sustainable businesses, and enable each of us to make purchasing decisions based on our own values.

October, 2004. At SRI in the Rockies, in Colorado, following his presentation of the Moskowitz Prize, Lloyd Kurtz, the Moskowitz Prize's founder and Program Administrator, introduced Theo Ferguson. Theo launched SV's Prize Program, the 2005-06 "Our Daily Bread, What Does It REALLY Cost?" Prize, and called for jurors and sponsors. The Our Daily Bread (ODB) Prize Program awards prizes based on investigating sound criteria for values-based decision-making through the exploration of integrated environmental, social, governance, and financial (IESGF) "true costs" of products and services.

Q4 2004-2006. Because the first ODB Prize focused on a loaf of bread – a grain-based staple most people eat every day – Sustainable Ventures qualified Jurors from research, policy, academia and sustainability advocacy groups involved with the food industry.

October, 2005. At a Satellite Conference facilitated and co-sponsored by SRI in the Rockies in Utah, SV convened the 2005-2006 ODB Prize Program Jurors to consider what constitutes a winning paper and produce the Call for Papers.

November 2005 – August, 2006. SV promoted the Calls for Papers for the ODB Prize Program worldwide.

June 2006. Based on the advice of the ODB Prize Jurors, SV held a Candidates' Forum to ensure that the Prize goals would be met. Qualified candidates – those who had written first drafts approved by the ODB Prize jury – attended the Forum moderated by Dr. Neva Goodwin and Jim Turner, Esq. Findings from the Candidates' Forum were posted on SV's website for use by all potential candidates.

October 2006. At SRI in the Rockies in Colorado, SV announced the 2006 ODB Prize winner, Dr. Murray Rudd.

Evolution of the Prize Program

November 2006 – June 2007:

The Our Daily Bread Leadership Team (ODBLT) was formed. The ODBLT is the Executive Body that frames strategy and policy for the ODB Prize Program. SV serves as their Secretariat. The ODBLT includes the Jurors and Finalists of the 2006 ODB Prize among their members.

The ODBLT produced three tasks to support SMLs by means of the ODBLT Online Forum and monthly Conference Calls:

The strategy to support Sustainability Market Leaders (SMLs) – the market professionals who have stepped up to communicate integrated environmental, social, governance, and financial (IESGF) Best Practices into their organizations' policies and operations and market their goods and services through true cost pricing. This ODBLT supports SMLs as follows:
- Enabling them to work as a body through the moderated SML Online Forum
- Hosting a Sustainability Knowledge Base – an on-line Library of materials related to the use of IESGF Best Practices in organizations, papers and links to how IESGF factors interrelate and are measured, and background documents – for all collaborators and visitors to use to expand the discussion of democratization of decision-making in the market place.
Hosting two Implementation Fora one year apart:
- In Implementation Forum 1, June 9, 2007, SMLs considered essential areas of inquiry that would support them in making the case for sustainable business practices in their organizations and the democratization of decision-making in the market place by framing these areas of inquiry into Calls for Papers, Action Plans, and Case Studies for the 2007-2008 ODB Prizes.
- In Implementation Forum 2, summer 2008, SMLs will reconvene. The ODBLT will present findings from the 2007-2008 ODB Prizes and the IESGF Best Practices Survey in forms useable by SMLs. Collectively the SMLs from nine market sectors could propose a strategy to communicate these findings into the marketplace.
Creating an IESGF Best Practices Survey and alpha testing it with 17 high level survey takers.

January 2007 – June 2007:

Identified a host for Implementation Forum 1, in which SMLs would frame ODB Prizes and consider how to roll out the IESGF Best Practices Survey to support the challenges they have undertaken. Sponsored, facilitated, participated in, and collaborated with the 2nd Environmental Summit hosted by SUNY , sponsored by SUNY Graduate School of Environmental Studies and Forestry.
Facilitated ODB Prize finalists from the 2006 "Our Daily Bread, What Does it REALLY Cost?" Prize Program to make presentations to a group of high level university and institute educators from institutions in the Syracuse vicinity.
Facilitated a panel presentation of ODB Prize finalists from the 2006 ODB Prize Program to both SMLs and 50 participants of the 2nd Environmental Summit.
SV, the ODBLT, and Changing Tastes sponsored and participated in the 2nd Environmental Summit and hosted Implementation Forum 1 (IF1, June 9, 2007) in which SMLs including members of the Our Daily Bread Leadership Team (ODBLT) framed key areas of inquiry as well as another initiative to integrate IESGF Best Practices into their organizations.

Outcomes realized by SMLs in IF1, June 9, 2007:
- Framed 10 areas of inquiry into Calls for Papers, Action Plans, and Case Studies for the 2007-2008 Our Daily Bread Prizes.
- Agreed that SV should propose a collaboration with B Corporation as both organizations had produced an IESGF Best Practices Survey.
- Agreed that SV should seek hosts for the 2007-2008 Our Daily Bread Prizes as the areas of inquiry collectively constitute a body of key issues necessary to create a sustainable future and democratize decision-making in the marketplace.
- Agreed that SV should produce an Online Forum for Sustainability Market Leaders so that SMLs can share knowledge and build on and celebrate successes.
- Agreed that an Online Library of IESGF Best Practices and true cost pricing support materials called the Sustainability Knowledge Base (SKB) should be produced and maintained to support SMLs and expand on the IESGF Best Practices and true cost pricing discussion for the benefit of all visitors.

Current Activities

July – October, 2007:

Theo Ferguson, SV's executive director, published an article in Green Money Journal, Purchase a World that Works for All.
SV's Sustainability Knowledge Base – an on-line library for references related to IESGF Best Practices and true cost pricing – is now live.
On behalf of the ODBLT, SV has proposed a collaboration relating to the IESGF Survey with B Corporation's founders.
SV has reached out to prospective hosts for the 2007-2008 ODB Prizes on behalf of three ODB Prize areas of inquiry.
SV produced a proposal in collaboration with the Berkeley Ecology Center for the UCB Chancellor's Sustainability Committee and the City of Berkeley's Energy and Sustainability Department. This project would develop the language and presentation formats of true cost pricing focused on access to healthy nutrition in conversation with the Berkeley Farmers' Market Community. This proposal was not selected. SV plans to continue to develop this area of support for SMLs and place this conversation on-line in the SML Forum.