Conscious Business Profile: Give Something Back

When Sean Marx and Mike Hannigan decided to combine their savings and business skills they had a conscious business in mind; they wanted to offer high-quality business supplies for low prices, while also including green products and giving back to the greater community in a very large way. In 1991 they opened ‘Give Something Back Business Products’.

Give Something Back Business Products (GSB) begins with a sound business strategy: offering superstore prices on high-quality, brand name and green office supplies, furniture and printing. GSB even offers a low price guarantee: they will beat the price of any authorized dealer offering the same product. In addition, they offer free-next day delivery on items $50 or more, and are known for their outstanding customer service. This has propelled them to being the largest independent office supply house on the West Coast, with corporate offices in three cities and 40 distribution centers nationwide.

While this is a solid foundation for a business supply company, this is the least of their offerings. To GSB, being a conscious business means more than offering personal service, offering 5,000 green products, and following a green business model, it means protecting the environment and supporting the community. To date over half of their profits have been given to the community - nearly $4 million.

Green Business Practices & Protecting the Environment

GSB’s commitment to protecting the environment involves striving to reduce their carbon footprint in every way imaginable. The GSB corporate headquarters uses a 50,000 watt solar farm on their roof, as well as low-flow toilets, high efficiency lighting fixtures, environmentally-friendly printing techniques, and recycle programs for their paper, cardboard, aluminum cans, toner cartridges and batteries.

GSB offers their customers paperless billing, and their products are packaged and delivered in recycled boxes. They also have two programs in place, ‘Box Take-Back Program’, a service that allows GSB to pick up cardboard boxes to reuse in their shipments, and the ‘Hewlett Packard Planet Partner Program’, which helps customers recycle their empty printer cartridges at no extra cost, while earning purchasing points for their effort.

They are currently testing bio-diesel fuel in their delivery fleet, and are also currently working on a program that will allow them to help customers dispose of unwanted and obsolete electronics, and collect monitors, printers, cell phones, CPU’s, TV’s, LCD’s, modems and fax machines for safe disposal.

GSB’s list of green business practices is too extensive to list. In addition, GSB has passed rigorous green standards to earn their green business certification, certified by the Alameda County Green Business Program.

Green Business Products

Give Something Back Business Products offers their customers over 5,000 recycled and green offerings in nearly every product category. Many of their products have been verified by certifiers such as Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), Green Seal, and Scientific Certifications Systems (SCS). When customers place an order, the GBS ordering system highlights green alternatives to the purchase, helping to educate customers on their environmentally friendly options.

GSB employs transparency as well, offering green classifications to allow their customers to know even more about their green products. Insignias represent various degrees of third party certifiers to educate customers about products which are safe for people, the planet, and the community.

MyGreenPeople signifies products which are non-toxic, contain reduced chemicals, contain low VOCs, and are manufactured using methods that are not harmful to human health. MyGreenPlanet signifies products that are rechargeable, biodegradable, compostable, reusable, and conserve natural resources or energy. MyGreenCommunity showcases manufacturers that support non-profit organizations, diversity, socially and environmentally sustainable practices, and otherwise are supportive to communities.

Supporting the Community

The largest, most innovative way that GSB gives back to the community is by donating over half of their after-tax profits to Community Based Organizations (CBOs). Ranked as one of Northern California’s largest corporate donors, they give more than 68 times the national average. Their donations are currently around $4 million dollars, dispersed among health, environmental, education, art and culture, and human services organizations.

To make the process of choosing charitable causes a fair one and to allow their customers to have a clear vote in where there money is being allocated, they showcase an annual balloting process that allows staff members and customers to nominate new organizations and vote on their favorite non-profits that improve quality of life in their communities. Some of their most recent donations have gone to Girls Inc., Today’s Youth Matter, PAWS, Loaves & Fishes, Sierra Adoption Services, and Challenged Athletes Foundation.

Conscious Business Practices

When it comes to being a conscious business, GSB knows that offering environmentally products at unparalleled prices, protecting the environment, educating customers on green issues, and giving vital support to the greater community are the ways in which to be successful and help change a standard business into a thriving, sustainable, conscious business. They hope to serve as a model for other companies who are on the forward path.

Information Links:

Visit Give Something Back Business Products Online at:

http://www.givesomethingback.com

Watch a video tutorial about MyGSB Web Storefront:

http://www.givesomethingback.com/MyGSB_video.php

Learn about MyGreenGSB, a trusted resource center for individuals and businesses interested in reducing their office footprint:

http://www.givesomethingback.com/MyGreenGSB.php

To learn more about GSB’s competitive employee benefits packages, visit:

http://www.givesomethingback.com/benefits.php

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