The non-profit Environmental Defense Fund launched a new Innovation Exchange on Monday to provide “practical yet impactful tools and a dynamic online community to help you improve both your company and the planet.” From climate change to food health standards, the Exchange offers corporate leaders access to best practice guidelines and case studies.
A non-profit celebrating practical ways in which corporates can deliver on their environmental commitments is very much a part of philanthrocapitalism – acting as an intermediary, playing across traditional boundaries between charity and business.
A challenge for EDF is to show to the environmental movement that it hasn’t sold out to the corporates. As we have discussed before in this blog, while being willing to create new partnerships to achieve its goals, EDF has also steered clear of conflicts of interest between its campaigning and funding strategies. It will not accept money from companies.
Ultimately, to succeed, philanthrocapitalism needs as much information as possible in the public domain about what non-profits, philanthropists and companies are doing (failures as well as best practices) to address society’s problems. So here’s hoping others follow EDF’s example.
Matthew Bishop is the US Business Editor and New York Bureau Chief of The Economist. Mr. Bishop was previously the magazine's London-based Business Editor.
Michael Green is an economist and writer, based in London. He is an adviser to the