Green Offshoots

A small but growing number of environmental nonprofit organizations are establishing for-profit businesses to pursue their agendas and build a green-economy work force. Commercial ventures such as SmartRoofs, a spin-off of the nonprofit group Sustainable South Bronx, also generate revenue for the parent organizations, potentially reducing their dependence on foundations, individual donors, and government grants. Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins of Green for All, a national group working to develop environmentally friendly economic opportunities in poor areas, called such enterprises “early adopters” that are “paving the way for mainstream business to integrate the concept of green jobs into everyday practices.”

Full-text post by Liz Galst is available via The New York Times, 10/28/09.