Eco-Commercialism: The Selling Of the Green

By Jerome Cramer/Washington

When Evelyn Padham of West Milford, N.J., paid her $45 telephone bill to MCI last month, she did so with the comforting thought that $2.25 was going to help save the environment. Padham switched her phone service from Sprint this summer largely because MCI was offering new customers the opportunity to donate 5% of their monthly telephone bills to any of four major conservation groups: the Nature Conservancy, Ducks Unlimited, the National Audubon Society and the National Wildlife Federation. "I'm not real involved in the environmental movement," says Padham, "but this is something I can do to help."

With polls showing that nearly 90% of American consumers are concerned about the environmental impact of what they buy, many companies are spending big sums to develop an earth-hugging image -- and are naturally looking for something in return. It's a win-win situation for both conservation groups and businesses. "The program lets us support the environmental movement and try to capture the younger demographic audience we are looking for," says Debra Shriver, consumer-markets spokesman for MCI.

, Visa and MasterCard have introduced so-called affinity cards for conservation groups. As in credit-card programs that award frequent-flyer mileage on major airlines, the nonprofit organizations receive a small percentage of the bill charged by each new member customer. The Nature Conservancy has taken in $150,000 from MCI since the program began last February, and expects its take to grow to nearly $400,000 annually in the future.

In the face of a weak economy, corporations are cutting back on their direct donations to nonprofit groups in favor of what they call "cause-related marketing programs." Businesses with products closely tied to the interests of a nonprofit organization can profitably target environmentalists and even help recruit new members for the green organization. These new members in turn can become loyal customers. Orvis, which markets fly-fishing and hunting equipment, donates nearly $500,000 to groups that support wildlife and clean water, ranging from Trout Unlimited to the Ruffed Grouse Society.

Such relationships need not be monogamous. In addition to its tie-in with MCI, the nonprofit Nature Conservancy recently established a partnership with the profit-seeking Nature Co., which sells art, maps and gadgets designed with ecological themes through 60 stores and a catalog with a circulation of 4 million. The National Wildlife Federation has licensed its logo for use on toys, T shirts and stuffed animals at K-Mart, Sears and other stores across the U.S. The N.W.F. also allows American Greetings Co. to sell a series of birthday cards made from recycled paper and sporting pictures of endangered animals.

Small companies that can't afford huge campaigns have banded together to form the Outdoor Industry Conservation Alliance. Started just two years ago, the group has grown from four to 26 companies, which pay dues based on sales volume. The association now donates nearly $200,000 a year to help local citizens fight the destruction of wildlife areas.

The new wave of eco-commercialism has its detractors. Some environmentalists criticize the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation for forming partnerships with beer companies. Loblaws, a Canadian grocery chain, asked the Canadian chapter of the activist group Greenpeace to endorse various products sold in its stores as environmentally safe. Greenpeace refused, and was later vindicated when it was discovered that one of the products, a potting soil, contained pulp-mill sludge. "You have to maintain a clear line with businesses," says Greenpeace media director Peter Dykstra, "or you can end up caught in serious conflicts of interest."