Introduction Zero Waste Washington is a 501(c)(3) organization in Seattle, WA that was founded 30 years ago as Washington Citizens for

Resource Conservation. In 2011, the organization went through a strategic planning process where the board decided to change the name of the organization from WCRC to ZWW, and redefine the mission statement. The current mission and vision statement is:
Zero Waste Washington protects people and our natural world by advocating for products designed and produced to be healthy, safe, and continually recycled and reused. We are the publics voice for zero waste. We envision a just and sustainable world where society responsibly produces, consumes, and recycles.

1. A Viable Mission and A compelling vision Since redefining the mission and vision of the organization, the board and staff have found it much easier to define the scope of the organization when talking to donors, funders, and stakeholders. In addition, since the strategic plan and organizational rebranding went into effect, the organization has seen an increase in grant money from a larger variety of funders. The community has also embraced the mission statement. After the rebranding there was concern of a drop off of individual donors, but there has been an increase of membership numbers since the launch. The mission is fresh, current, and topically relevant in the region. When producer responsibility is mentioned in local newspapers or on local TV stations, the story almost always contains a quote from Zero Waste Washingtons program director. The people of Washington know ZWW is their voice for zero waste. 2. A business like board of directors The board of ZWW is comprised of Western Washington based professionals. Each is an expert in their field, from communications, to fundraising, to community outreach and education; all board members have a professional and/or educational background to support their role on the board. Additionally, the board members are all actively engaged; within the agreement that all board members have signed onto is the clause that if one

misses three or more of the monthly board meetings, than he or she may be voted off of the board. The organization has strictly adhered to this arrangement, and has only had to invoke it once in the past five years. The remaining board members quickly had the vacant position filled so they could maintain a quorum and continue with managing the organization. 3. A strong, well-educated staff The staff members that we have are highly talented and brilliant at what they do, but the staff size is very small. Currently there are only two time employees, and an open time fundraising manager. Knowing that this is drastically limiting our organizational capacity, the board has made it the organizations priority to expand the annual fund in the next five years so that we may be able to: 1) Launch a capital campaign to purchase an office space 2) Move all current staff to full time 3) Expand by one additional time employee for administrative support. 4. Technological Savvy Because the organizations mission is focused around reducing waste, the staff and board of ZWW are always looking for ways to integrate technology into their operational and organizational strategy to cut costs, innovate, and reduce waste. For example, 15 years ago, when email was still just finding its way into homes, ZWW launched the option to receive the organizations newsletter online. Currently, over 80% of donors are in paperless communication with the organization. ZWW also has the benefit of being located in arguably the most tech savvy city in the world. Seattle is always on the cutting edge of new tech trends, and ZWW is always looking for new opportunities to reduce the amount of waste. With technology, however, does come the negative externality of ewaste. Because of the growing number of tech items going into landfills, ZWW launched its e-cycle campaign in 2007 which successfully established the first producer-funded ewaste take-back program in the world. Now, residents of Washington can take all used electronics (including batteries)

back to any home electronics stores to have the items e-cycled. With our continued work on this issue, Seattle is set to be the first city in the country that will accept electronics in curbside recycling starting in 2016. This program will be launched by grants from Amazon and Microsoft (both founded in Washington) and maintained by electronics producers through a progressive corporate tax system. 5. Social Entrepreneurism Whereas we of the board like to think we are rebels at heart, our budget and organizational capacity do not allow us to take many risks. The organization certainly takes its stance on issues, and we gladly offer press releases that explain our positions, but at this point we do not do anything that I would label as risky. When we are more financially stable, and not operating grant check to grant check, I know that we would like to make a stand on more controversial issues surrounding producer responsibility, like the overuse of the terms biodegradable and organics, but for now we have to stay to what is clearly within in the mission. At least until we get another wealthy and eccentric benefactor. 6. A bias for marketing With the organizations ever increasing social media presence, I feel that ZWW has gotten much better with marketing. With a recent victory on a county wide medication take-back program as a great example, we have a solid plan in place to announce victories and advertise our success to our supporters and stakeholders. We make sure to always publically announce our success, and automatically release a statement about regrouping, and continued effort to move progressive issues farther after a defeat. The communications specialists on the board of ZWW have also put a great deal of effort into our search engine optimization, making sure that we have an ever increasing web presence. 7. Financial empowerment This is the area in which ZWW needs the greatest improvement. After having a conversation last spring about whether or not we were going to have to shut our doors after we thought we

have failed a grant application, the board and staff are now well aware that we need to put our efforts into becoming financially sustainable. Historically the organization has received the majority of its operating budget from grants and has not placed much emphasis on fundraising. Prior to increase efforts around developing an annual fund program, the majority of ZWW donors had approached the organization about making a donation, not the other way around. Because of the pseudo financial crisis though, the board has accepted that they need to place more emphasis on this issue. 8. Tight controls After the organizations financial wake-up call, the rest of the board and the staff have gotten better about listening to the recommendations of the board treasurer around financial restraint and limiting our case load. Once the organization started to limit its scope on certain programs, the board could clearly see where they had previously been hemorrhaging money. In addition, the board does a wonderful job of adhering to bylaws. Recently, a board member was voted out of office for failure to appear at the required number of board meetings. The former member took the boards decision very well and understood that her dismissal was nothing personal, it was simply business and looking out for the wellbeing of the organization. Moving forward ZWW is a very strong organization in many respects. They have a professional an engaged board, they are well respected in the community, and are well adapted to the 21st century. The primary challenge that is facing the organization at this point is establishing a more diverse source of funding. In order to remain viable, to increase capacity, and to obtain financial sustainability, the organization needs to cast a wider net in its fundraising and beef up its annual

fund and major giving programs. The key players in this will be the Program Director, the Board President, the Fundraising manager, and the Chair of the fundraising committee (ComChair). Once the Fundraising Manager (FM) is brought on to staff, the PM should stop working on annual fund, and should focus on major donors and foundations. With the PMs institutional knowledge, and connections in the community, she is exactly the person to be talking with all $1,000 and above donors. This work should be done with the support of the Board President when backup is needed. The FM and ComChair should come together and develop a stable annual fund plan. They first part of this would be developing an annual fund calendar that contains at least two well organized appeals and follow ups. Currently, there is a haphazard end of the year mailing that is sent out by the Program Manager (PM), but donors are often missed. An annual fund calendar will help to make sure all donors are contacted, and by scheduling out the appeals, donors will start to get used to donating at a specific time of year, turning it into a habit for them, instead of having them donate whenever they happen to remember. Because the FM will be part time, it is important the ComChair support her/him in their role. In addition to developing the annual fund calendar, the FM and ComChair should start to develop some basic segmentations of the donor base so that solicitation letters can be tailored more specifically. At this point the organization has detailer records on which donor has donated to what programs, so the ideal segmentation would be done along program lines. In addition to having these four core members involved in the fundraising effort, the Board President must also work to get the rest of the board engaged in fundraising efforts by having them work their professional and social networks to see who would be a good donor prospect. In order for Zero Waste Washington to succeed, it is important that leadership get involved in all levels of this new fundraising effort.