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5 Simple Ways Your Board Can Help the Environment this Earth Day
By BoardPaq, April 19, 2019
More and more every day, our customers at BoardPaq are talking about our company’s annual mission to plant 3,000 trees around the world. As news spread that we were going above and beyond to give back with our paperless Board Management Software, we started to be seen as more than just a modern solution to streamline your board meetings - we started to be seen as a company that was making a DIFFERENCE. With the 49th anniversary of Earth Day taking place on April 22nd, 2019, we thought it would be fun to give you and your board a simple guide to help make a difference with us.
Aside from signing up for your FREE BoardPaq demo here (we plant a tree for EVERY demo we conduct!), your board can make a positive impact this Earth Day in the following ways:
#1 - Plan a Board Volunteer Event
Volunteering isn’t just a great way to give back, it’s also a powerful way to enhance board culture and morale. Just as employees want to work for companies that give back, board members want to serve on boards that make an impact as well. Getting your members out of the conference room and into the world to do good, is a simple way to motivate your members, while engaging in a unique team building exercise at the same time. Volunteering can also improve the health of your members by strengthening their bodies, improving their moods, and lessening their stress.
Every Earth Day, there is an endless amount of volunteer opportunities in every major city. Whether it’s picking up trash with a local recycling nonprofit, planting trees at a local nursery (our favorite), or even something out of the box like volunteering at your local Zoo, there are plenty of ways for your board to make an impact as a team.
At BoardPaq, we’re planting trees this Earth Day with our nonprofit partner, One Tree Planted, and we couldn’t be more excited about it. If you want to find a unique volunteer opportunity for your board this Earth Day, you can use online volunteer search providers like VolunteerMatch and Americorps.
#2 - Vote to Make Office Water Conservation a Priority at Your Organization
We all know that conserving water is important, and you may be doing your best to use less water at home. However, at the workplace, we tend to be focused on getting our work done and not much else (well, hopefully at least), but reducing water use at the office is one of the easiest ways to decrease your organization’s environmental impact. Did you know the average daily water consumption for a single employee can range between 20 and 35 gallons?! It’s true. And with roughly 158 million full-time employees in the U.S., A LOT of water is being used every day.
So what can your board do to reduce water usage at your organization’s office? Lots actually. However, we found the most effective way to conserve water at the office isn’t forcing strict rules on employees, it’s educating them on how to be more mindful of their own water consumption. For instance, by simply posting an easy-to-read flyer around the office that shows staggering statistics like the ones above, you’re empowering your employees to make the change, and not forcing it. This empowerment is a great way to implement positive change when it comes to your organization’s water usage.
#3 - Give Your Board Members Branded Reusable Water Bottles
Let’s face it, single use plastic water bottles are a staple of most board meetings. Having them available for members during the meetings, or even sitting on the board table when they arrive, is a great way to let members know you’re being considerate of their needs. Although these water bottles are beneficial in meetings, they are incredibly harmful to our environment.
Giving your board members a reusable water bottle, with the organization’s logo on it, is a fantastic way to help the environment and give your members a thoughtful gift at the same time. Using these bottles outside the conference room is also a cost-effective way for members to represent the organization’s brand in public. It’s a huge win/win!
In 2014, Tim Cook gave every Apple employee a branded reusable water bottle with the intention of saving 22 tons of plastic waste per year (that’s 44,000 pounds!). With the average board in the U.S. only having 8 members, the impact of your board member’s reusable bottles will obviously be a bit smaller. But if Tim Cook thinks it’s a good idea, it’s probably worth looking into.
#4 - Hold a Virtual Meeting
As we mentioned in #1, getting your board members out of the conference room is a wonderful way to boost morale and can keep meetings from becoming stale. By holding a virtual meeting in lieu of an in-person meeting, you get these same perks while helping our planet simultaneously. How so? When members don’t have to drive to the office for a meeting, it reduces greenhouse gas emissions by keeping their cars off the road. It may reduce water usage as well if they don’t feel the need to shower now that they don’t have to leave the house for the meeting. This is another win/win solution!
#5 - Make Your Board Meetings Paperless with BoardPaq
We all know that using less paper is good for the environment, but it’s easier said than done - especially when it comes to your board meetings. That being said, if there was a cost-effective, paperless solution that could streamline your board meetings, you would jump for joy, right?
Well, today is your lucky day, because BoardPaq provides just that, and MORE. BoardPaq offers easy-to-use Board of Directors Cloud Services and Apps that encourage effective member communication and collaboration before, during and after meetings. Our modern, paperless solution also centralizes all board documents and information, making it the next generation Board Portal for you and your organization.
Plant a Tree TODAY by Scheduling a FREE Demo with BoardPaq!
By far, the quickest way for you to make a positive impact on the environment is to schedule your free BoardPaq demo. For every demo we conduct, we plant a tree through our partner, One Tree Planted. We do all the work, and you get to see just how powerful and effective our paperless solution is for your board. You can schedule your FREE demo right here.
Whichever environmental efforts you and your board choose to make this Earth Day, know that every little bit helps. Our world is a fragile place, but with the steps above, and the help of the paperless solution we offer at BoardPaq, we can all make a difference together.
Happy Earth Day, friends!
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BoardPaq is an affordable, easy-to-use, secure portal on iPad, Windows and Web devices for planning, running and managing paperless board, leadership and committee meetings. BoardPaq's board portal solution is used in small-medium enterprises including for-profit, nonprofit, education and government organizations.
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