Gary Erickson, founder of Clif Bar, works hard to make sure that his business is sustainable; he treats business as an ecosystem and stresses the necessity to balance the fragile nature of the world. Thus the community involvement programs for the company work to make this ideal come true. This means being profitable meanwhile being a good steward to the brand, community, people, and planet.

Clif Bar’s corporate responsibility programs focus mainly on environmental causes. These include fundraising drives for ‘Global Cooling’ and donating 1% of net sales to organic farming as part of the ‘1% For the Planet’ movement. But Clif Bar also supports health related causes: its largest single partnership is with the Breast Cancer Foundation, which it supports with its Luna Bars. Erickson explains that this is not only health-related, but also indirectly tied to the environment because of the impact that environment has on health and disease. Both of these causes are also tied to the health and out-doors focused Clif Bar products.

As part of its support for the environment, Clif Bar also tries its best to minimize its own ecological footprint. It has moved from 0 to 70% organic products in Clif Bars, started using recycled paper products and organic cotton, minimized the environmental impact of its packaging, started purchasing wind energy to offset the office energy usage, and has set the goal of having zero solid waste.

The combination of internal and external support for the environment helps to ensure that philanthropic giving at the company is strategically aligned to company values. In many of these projects, Erickson has let employees take the initiative rather than driving every program. Thus employees themselves have been the inspiration for community involvement at the company and have provided Erickson with an example to look towards.

Clif Bar donates money, product, and employee time to support its community involvement. Financial donations come primarily from the 1% initiative, a hefty promise as it’s 1% of sales rather than profits: ‘Clif Bar is on the hook,’ says Erickson. Employees are also paid to volunteer, totaling more than 2,000 hours per year of paid volunteer time. One advantage to this approach is the ability to promote team volunteering, and bonding within the Clif Bar community.

For Clif Bar, all of these community involvement programs have been ‘win/win’. The company is not only able to build a community for the employees, but it is also able to help maintain its ‘ecosystem,’ and build trust and loyalty among consumers. In turn, Clif Bar increases awareness of the nonprofits and helps to financially support them. Because of the breadth of programs, these causes can be very specific and local as well as national.

For example, it supports many grassroots organizations from different areas, and has one partner that is just ‘a one man band’ working for his cause. Not writing off these small organizations is important for Erickson, as they can often have as much, if not more, impact than national causes. In short, both national and local grassroots organizations have their place, and should be recognized.

The one lesson-learned that Erickson shared about his community involvement experience is to make sure that programs are well thought out and sustainable before initiation. He has had to go backwards and pull donations previously given to nonprofits because he did not do this, and would not wish that experience on anybody else. Even though it has sometimes been difficult, and advantages are not easily quantifiable,

Erickson closes his interview by stressing that benefits are indeed there. The company is stronger and better because of its community involvement and sustainable approach to business.

By Louise Doyle Based on interview with Gary Erickson, founder of Clif Bar, conducted by Susan Hyatt.

More information on Clif Bar can be found at: http://www.clifbar.com/