Corporate Social Responsibility, Sustainability, and Cause Marketing News.

3BL Media announced today it has completed the acquisition of Justmeans, an established CSR news distribution platform and online community of sustainable business practitioners.  The combination of these two services  will result in unrivaled distribution and syndication of CSR blogs, press releases, videos, reports and other content.  In conjunction with advanced CSR social media management and measurement tools and an influential network of sustainable business practitioners, the company will offer unparalleled exposure for CSR, sustainability and cause news and content. 

Founded in 2008, Justmeans’ early success came from having built the largest online community of sustainable business practitioners worldwide.  Its focus on technology development has resulted in a platform that enables the dissemination and sharing of a variety of CSR and sustainability messages with comprehensive analytics. 

Martin Smith, 3BL Media’s newly appointed Chairman stated, “As the CSR and sustainability market space is maturing, it is natural for consolidation to occur. This acquisition is one of a number of partnership and acquisitions that 3BL Media will be announcing.” Mr. Smith is also the Founder of StartingBloc, a social enterprise that educates and connects emerging leaders to drive social innovation across sectors. 

3BL Media, founded in 2009 by former executive management from press release distribution company CSRwire, provides a platform and service for organizations to better reach and engage with stakeholders.   

“The advent of social media and Web 2.0 provided new challenges to traditional distribution services.  3BL Media’s model of unlimited distribution of blogs, press releases, videos and other content, through both traditional and social media channels provides the best opportunity for impact, influence and reach,” says Greg Schneider, CEO of 3BL Media.   

Some highlights from the combined company include: 

• More than 200,000 email news subscribers

• Integration with affiliates, aggregators, research databases and news portals

• Social media management, distribution and measurement tools

• Comparative, quantitative, and influence analytics 

The increase in the number of organizations reporting about CSR and sustainability initiatives and performance has resulted in the rapid growth of CSR and sustainability-focused content.   The acquisition of Justmeans by 3BL Media will provide companies and organizations with the most advanced tools to strategically package, distribute and measure their CSR news and content.  

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3BL Media, the leading distributor of corporate social responsibility, sustainability and cause marketing news and content and Triple Pundit (3P) the leading online conversation on sustainable business announced a new distribution service and partnership to provide greater exposure to CSR press releases, news and content.

Podium, created by Triple Pundit, provides organizations with an opportunity to bring exposure to their press releases, blogs, multimedia and other content through presentation to the Triple Pundit audience of over 160,000 sustainability decision makers on TriplePundit.com and through components of 3BL Media’s distribution network. The service is designed for organizations with periodic CSR messaging that are looking for an alternative to traditional press release distribution services. Existing and new 3BL Media and Triple Pundit users will also benefit from this partnership and additional exposure it provides.

Corporate Social Responsibility News: Maclean's and Jantzi-Sustainalytics Present "50 Top Socially Responsible Corporations in Canada" List; Just Cause Awards Given Out at Promax BDA Summit.

This CSR Minute is brought to you by Media Impact. Empowering communities worldwide to inspire enduring change through creative storytelling. For more information visit: http://mediaimpact.org/

Watch this and other CSR Minute podcasts: http://3blmedia.com/3bltv

Inspired by our Green Watching campaign, our friends SustainU Clothing created a powerful video to help motivate consumers to raise their voices and demand more climate action from the companies making our t-shirts. 

Check out the video and send a message to Gap saying: “Hey @Gap I’m #Green, I’m Watching & I think @ClimateCounts! http://bit.ly/eCNVWq #climate, @SustainU @USChamber, @350” Or visit www.climatecounts.org to send an e-mail directly to Gap. Those who tweet will be in the running for a Climate Counts WEADDUP t-shirt.

Green Watching teams up with the iMatter March

We know climate change will affect everyone, but Generation Y will be affected most. That’s why our Green Watching campaign is teaming up 16-year-old Alec Loorz on his iMatter March to tell toy and apparel companies, “I think @ClimateCounts & I’ll be @GreenWatching on the @iMatter_Marchhttp://on.fb.me/eR59tK - May 7-14!”

Climate Ride this spring or fall with Climate Counts!   

We're recruiting team members to join us on an amazing 300-mile, 5-day adventure on two wheels. Come along on this awe-inspiring 5-day ride! Join or sponsor our team on spring (East Coast) and/orfall (West Coast) rides and help us spread the word! Have a friend who might be interested in this email? Send it their way!

Is your campus part of the Carbon Nation?

Our friends at Carbon Nation just finished a nation-wide screening of their film on campuses across the country. Afterwards, viewers interacted with the director of the film on Skype and downloaded the free Climate Counts iPhone app! Want to bring Carbon Nation to your campus or community? Send an e-mail to info@crowdstarter.com and tell them we sent you!

1. What strides has Volcom taken in response to the growing movement of eco-conscious consumerism? Can you tell us about your relationship with The Ecology Center of San Juan?

Our most recent stride is the recently formed Department of Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility. It’s being headed by a 14+ year company veteran, Derek Sabori, and we’re behind it one hundred percent. We know how important Sustainability is on so many levels, and we’ve got a laundry list of things we’re going to tackle and launch.

We’ve been partners with The Ecology Center from their inception. Evan Marks, the Founder and Executive Director, came to us with the concept, and the blueprints and it was love at first sight! We’re so happy with the progress they’ve made and are energized by the programming and outreach they’re doing in the community. Financially, we continue to support them by way of our 1% for the Planet membership.

2. Are there any specific social issues that Volcom holds near and dear to it’s heart?

We have our Give Back Series which is focused on supporting People-focused initiatives. It’s a nice balance to the V.Co-logical and 1% for the Planet side of the program and we’ve been privileged to build relationships with Talk About Curing Autism (TACA), Boarding for Breast Cancer (B4BC), Boys & Girls Club of Hawaii, Mauli Ola, Krochet Kids international, Pipeline to a Cure and now Life Rolls On.

The program is one where we team up with a non-profit organization, doing great work in the community, and offer co-branded/marketed product with a portion of the proceeds going directly to them. Our aim is to advocate for them, bring awareness to the work they’re doing and to contribute financially to them.

3. Can you tell us a little bit about your Featured Artists Series and how it was started?

Volcom has been running the Featured Artist Series since 1995 with the intention of exposing relatively unknown artists, as well as working with established artist, for the sake of providing interesting product to people who can appreciate creative diversity.

4. What charity does the earnings of Coco Ho’s boardshort go to and what’s the story behind it?

Coco was adamant about Giving Back with her V.Co-Operative short and we were happy to help make that happen. Coco’s passionate about helping kids and so it was an easy call to have Coco’s boardshort benefit Boys & Girls Club of Hawaii. While a portion of the proceeds are going directly to the program there, Coco is dedicating 50 hours of her time to one of the local clubhouses there. There’s a great blog post on her first visits there here ataliamanubgch.blogspot.com

This week, in preparation for the Climate Counts open dialogue with McDonald’s March 16^th at noon, Climate Counts is asking Green Watchers to send @McDonalds a tweet: “I’m #green, I’m watching & I think @ClimateCounts http://on.fb.me/eR59tK! #climate.”

In the framework of the National Strategies Meeting, Grupo Financiero Banorte awarded the first “Premio Ingenio Banorte a la Innovación 2010” (2010 Award to Banorte’s Ingenuity for Innovation), with the purpose of fostering a culture of continuous innovation amongst its associates; by giving recognition to creative ideas with a significant impact on savings, revenues and quality of customer service, which, at the same time, have repercussions in the initiatives that generate social and environmental value. 

Out of the 126 ideas proposed and implemented in 2010, ten were selected as the winners. The first prize was awarded to “Banorte Móvil”, contributing with great benefits to clients. The second prize was “Círculo PyME” (small and medium-size companies circle). The objective of this initiative is to advise and foster the development of small and medium size companies in Mexico, besides providing guidance and promoting awareness amongst those companies regarding Corporate Social Responsibility.
 
Additionally, we awarded nine ideas that produced a visible impact in the operation’s key indicators, which were easy to replicate by other colleagues. One that stands out as a Social Responsibility Initiative is the “Oficina Verde” (“green office”), consisting of electronic postcards for the employees with suggestions for environmental protection measures in their daily activities.
 
Finally, those awarded with the Culture of Innovation were the ideas that contributed with great revenues and relevant savings.
 
The awards were presented by the General Director of Grupo Financiero Banorte, Dr. Alejandro Valenzuela, and by our guest of honor, the Mexican scientist, Dr. Mario Molina, Chemistry Nobel laureate, who looked back at the outcome of his research studies and analysis regarding climate change.
 
Therefore, to innovate does not only mean improving the quality of products or services, it also means, cost savings that can turn into environmental benefits, recognition to the efforts of employees who give their best, a behavioral change that otherwise could not be sustainable in the short and medium terms. To innovate allows us to be better and more consistent with our objectives. That is why, at Banorte, our ingenuity is to continue innovating!

Read this communication in espanol

With News from: RecycleMatch, Business Civic Leadership Center(BCLC), Addison, and GE.

Read more: http://3blmedia.com/news-alerts/alert-2011-02-16.html

With News from: UPS, Trend Micro, Climate Counts, and the Global Reporting Initiative

Read more at: http://3bl.me/a5rv8d