EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

Evolution Marketing is a Wisconsin based women-owned Certified B Corporation® specializing in the area of global sustainability consulting and storytelling, environmentally responsible creative design and ethical marketing. We offer a variety of consulting and business advising services within the fields of sustainability, supply chain,agriculture, green buildings and third-party responsible business certifications. Evolution Marketing has been adopting innovative sustainable business strategies for over a decade and they are now able to offer their professional services in a carbon neutral manner, since they joined the Carbonfree® Small Business Program in June of 2019. Evolution Marketing is ONE of 100 businesses worldwide that can proudly state we are a “B1”. We are using the power of both the Certified B Corp™ and 1% for the Planet programs to drive the change we want to see in the world, through the course of DOING BUSINESS! Learn more at: www.GreenMkting.com 

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BARRIERS ADDRESSED FOR THE COMMUNITY:

When Evolution Marketing, llc was founded in 2007, we made the strategic decision to operate our business in a triple bottom line manner (i.e taking into account the social impact that the business would have on stakeholders - customers, community members and subcontractors, the environmental impact we would have on the natural world, and that our business would be economically viable). Evolution Marketing’s purpose from the beginning was to “lead by example,” demonstrating that a small business could offer high-quality cost-effective sustainability consulting and marketing communications services while also operating the business in an environmentally and socially responsible manner. We are considered innovative because we not only help our clients to be better social and environmental stewards through the adoption of sustainable business strategies, but we actually practice (i.e. are practitioners of) low carbon business strategies. We have created lasting beneficial impacts in WI by: (1) demonstrating the “do-ability” of our business model (i.e. we have shared in a transparent manner with other businesses, real world examples of actions, strategies, projects completed) and (2) through outreach education (i.e. in the B2B space, as well as with both college and high school students).

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NOTABLE SUSTAINABLE GOALS AND STRATEGIES USED:

At Evolution Marketing our mission is simple: “live responsibly, work by example, lead by design and educate through action.” Over the last thirteen years, our mission has enabled our small firm to literally “lead by example” in Wisconsin and the Midwest via providing award winning environmental communications and responsible business advising.

 

The work that we are doing at Evolution Marketing is in an emerging field of business (i.e. consulting at the intersection of sustainability, corporate social responsibility, and environmental marketing communications) and as such it requires expert knowledge of sustainability, ecology and the social sciences.

 

We created lasting impacts in WI by: (1) demonstrating the “do-ability” of our business model (i.e. we share in a transparent manner real world examples of practical and pragmatic sustainability solutions, used in our operations) with the public, through outreach engagement. (2) Being vocal public advocates for a low carbon economy. Evolution Marketing has been publicly talking about and advising clients on how to address climate change and carbon within their operations for thirteen years (learn more at https://greenmkting.com/carbon ). In 2019 Evolution Marketing joined the Carbonfree® Small Business Partner program, and based on our 2018 carbon footprint we can now share that our services are being offered in a carbon neutral manner. In 2019, Evolution Marketing was also asked to join the Certified B Corps™ Climate Collective (https://www.bcorpclimatecollective.org/net-zero-2030) that would be pledging publicly at COP25 to be NetZero by 2030 (scopes 1-3). We were the only Wisconsin based Certified B Corp™ to be part of the NetZero by 2030 pledge. We also presented several educational talks in 2019 about carbon, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the important role that business can play in addressing climate.

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Following the 10th anniversary of Evolution Marketing back in 2017, we have worked hard to establish reputable third party credentials, that are audited and publicly demonstrate our environmental and social impacts. Since 2017, on a yearly basis Evolution Marketing has donated at least 1% of our total profits directly back to nonprofit environmental organizations. We have also donated time and professional services to Wisconsin based environmental organizations, because we believe that it is important to support our local region! In 2019, we donated 2% of our sales to environmental nonprofits and members of our team donated 78 hours of time to Wisconsin based environmental nonprofits (USGBC WI and WI Sustainable Business Council.) (more at: https://directories.onepercentfortheplanet.org/business-members/evolution-marketing-llc )

 

In 2018, Evolution Marketing became the 7th Certified B Corporation® in Wisconsin with an incredibly high Community Impact score of 43.1 (https://bcorporation.net/directory/evolution-marketing). In 2019, members of our team worked hand-in-hand with the teachers leading Oconomowoc High School’s new “Global Sustainability” class to introduce the students to 20 + business professionals from the Certified B Corp™ community, helping the students to understand the myriad of ways a business can create beneficial impacts.

 

In 2019, Evolution Marketing became a Carbonfree® Small Business Partner, we measure and publicly share our carbon footprint each year (scopes 1-3) and are now voluntarily neutralizing more carbon emissions than our business creates on an annual basis. (More info at: https://carbonfund.org/partners/evolution-marketing-llc/) As a small business it is important for us to implement sustainability strategies across the organization in a manner that is realistic, “do-able” and replicable on an ongoing basis. Since joining each of the programs listed above, we have modified our operations, tracking, and decision making in order to ensure that continuous improvement is met.

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CHALLENGES NOMINEE FACED AND ADDRESSED:

We have been working with Oconomowoc High School (OHS) teachers for years, in an advisory capacity, the teachers call us a “community partner.” In this role we would present educational content tied to sustainability to the students in a variety of classes (i.e. AP Environmental Science, Marketing, Spanish, Business). Based on these interactions, two innovative teachers decided to start a “Global Sustainability” course that would be built around the SDG’s. We spent time working with the teachers on the proposal, fast forward several years and the bilingual course debuted in Fall 2019.

 

The biggest challenge we faced in working with this new course was not having enough time in the day to help the teachers the way we wanted. We ended up spending nights and weekends connecting the teachers to colleagues and clients, providing introductions and sharing timely and relevant content with the students/class. We helped to connect the students with one of our nonprofit clients (Citizen Utility Board of WI) and it was an incredibly learning opportunity for everyone!! The students translated all of the energy saving tips, energy efficiency information into Spanish. We updated the materials and they are being used as educational materials for “utility bill clinics” in undeserved communities presented by the students.