Tips for 'Greening' Your Nonprofit Practices

Environmentally responsible marketing is increasingly important from a social, economic and ethical perspective, Brophy said, and it all starts with greening your mission. This involves:

• adopting sustainable practices that align marketing and fundraising operations with the mission;
• modeling environmentally responsible behavior to donors, prospects, consumers, staff and board members; and
• mitigating the environmental effects of fundraising and development activities.

To help marketers understand and apply environmental considerations throughout the direct-marketing processes, the DMA created an innovative environmental action program that includes educational initiatives and tools. One key tool it offers is the Green 15 Toolkit, a guide that provides strategies in five key areas relating to the direct-marketing process: list hygiene and data management; design and printing; paper procurement and use; packaging; and recycling and pollution reduction.