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BetterWorld was happy to speak last week at ASBC’s outreach event about the important role that businesses can play to support a just and sustainable economy. Sponsored by BetterWorld, CAMEO, AquaBella, and the Green Chamber of Commerce at New Resource Bank, the gathering attracted many Bay Area sustainable leaders, including many BetterWorld customers and partners.

American Sustainable Business Council runs public information campaigns that educate and inform the public and policy makers about specific opportunities to create a more vibrant, just and sustainable economy. Another branch is the American Sustainable Business Council Action Fund, organized under IRS code 501(c)(4), which focusses on legislative and regulatory advocacy. The Council spans a growing network of over 60 business associations across the United States, representing over 165,000 businesses and 300,000 business executives, owners, investors, and others.

Recent campaigns include the Marketplace Fairness Act , supporting the Go Farm Act, opposing the Keystone XL pipeline. For more information about joining or supporting ASBC, check out asbccouncil.org.

Computer skills in today’s world are not optional, in fact, even those seeking help and training are often hampered by resources designed for them that exist online.

Lack of training and lack of access to technology mean seniors, non-english speaking communities, and those earning less than $25K a year often are not able to access vital resources online.

Community Technology Network is an umbrella organization based in San Francisco that connects volunteers and organizations to increase digital literacy through hands-on training for disadvantaged communities. CTN is part of a larger “digital inclusion” effort to bridge the digital divide in the Bay Area.

CTN Staff & Volunteers

Tackling the digital divide is part of our focus here at BetterWorld Telecom. From enabling broadband access and job training programs in the Virgin Islands to providing discounted services for organizations supporting disadvantaged communities, we’re passionate about moving society beyond the digital divide. So it was a natural progression for BetterWorld’s President Matt Bauer to step up in supporting this local organization, as a recent board member of Community Technology Network.

CTN Co-founder Kami Griffiths was previously at TechSoup Global, a nonprofit technology distributor, and knows the landscape of nonprofits tackling digital literacy in detail. With thousands of volunteer digital literacy training hours administered over the last few years, CTN is making a tangible impact to make technology accessible for everyone.

Check out Community Technology Network to learn more or donate.

It’s that time of year again, time to reflect back at the last twelve months and take a big picture view of what lies ahead, in 2013. There were lots of great numbers in 2012:

• First up - donations! BetterWorld passed $90K in donated goods and services for nonprofits through our VoIP service and donation program with TechSoup Global. We are thrilled to have passed this important milestone, making telecom easy and accessible for nonprofits of all kinds, who are working to make the world a better place.
• Next, further evidence of the ever exploding mobile trend and impending transformation of the workplace: According to IDC, an global provider of IT market research, mobile workers will make up more than a third of the work force by the end of 2012.
• And lastly, proof that VoIP is transforming into a well-known and used tool: According to a survey by Rebtel, 35% of adults have a VoIP app on their smartphones or tablets.

But there is one customer of ours in particular that deserves highlighting for their accomplishments in the past year.

Goodwill has been making radical, positive change in the areas of job training, reuse and waste diversion, and economic renewal for the last century.

In the Bay Area specifically, Goodwill has bucked the trend of the economic downturn and continues to have double digit growth. 2012 was a year for fine-tuning Goodwill’s appeal for fashion oriented shoppers and was highlighted by the opening of an upscale and trendy new store in Pacifica.

Founded in 1902, Goodwill has steadily grown to a $4 billion non-profit organization with over 2,600 stores across the U.S.

Goodwill is unique in that is an organization driven by purpose, solving a multitude of unique societal challenges with a single business operation. They are not only creating jobs, providing routes to employment for those with barriers, and advancing sustainability, but also infusing our larger culture with a norm of donating unneeded items and an expectation of shopping for reused items as a positive and adventurous experience.

They are also not legacy nonprofit sitting back on their reputation either, but actively evolving and moving along with the rest of the retail industry, expanding their operations to include a comprehensive online presence and optimizing their stores to reach a more discerning audience.

We’ve been a proud supporter of Goodwill for some time now, as a preferred purchasing partner for Goodwill Industries International and are happy to support their mission with a donation of 3% back for all revenues from our Goodwill customers back to Goodwill Industries.

What about you? With tax season fast approaching, why not consider donating some of your unneeded items to Goodwill in 2013 - or even dropping by your local Goodwill for a day of shopping?

Either way, please join us in giving a salute to Goodwill for making their numbers count  in 2012!

The Bay Area is famous for a high number of both technology companies and nonprofits working on causes all over the world. But there is one new customer we’re thrilled to welcome aboard that does both, Benetech harnesses technology in the service of humanity.

Benetech supports programs addressing a range of social and environmental needs including Bookshare, Route 66 Literacy, Human Rights, and Environmental Conservation.
Bookshare - provides the world’s largest digital library of scanned materials for people with vision and reading disabilities.
Route 66 Literacy - provides a web-based program for anyone to tutor teenagers and adults in reading.
Human Rights - is a program supporting human rights advocates with technology and science.
Environmental Conservation - is a project management tool for practitioners to more effectively meet their conservation goals.

Benetech is run like a technology start-up, and based in Silicon Valley. The senior management team assesses opportunities where technology could have a significant impact and the organization proceeds to build those practical solutions.

Celebrating 20 years, Benetech is a non-profit unlike any other, bringing technological expertise to some of humanity’s most pressing issues. Originally inspired by the work of Arkenstone, a world leader in reading machines for the blind, Founder Jim Fruchterman saw the value in providing affordable tools to empower the reading disabled. Fruchterman went on to found Benetech, a business that measures return based on the number of lives impacted. They call this return on humanity.

We’re proud to support an organization making such a tangible difference on key issues like human rights, literacy, access for the disabled, and conservation.

We were inspired and touched recently at the annual Ella’s awards ceremony put together by the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights (a BetterWorld customer).

Founded in 1996 by Van Jones and Diana Frappier, the Ella Baker Center unlocks the power of low-income people, people of color, and their allies using grassroots organizing, direct action, media advocacy and legal service. Two examples of their successes include the Books Not Bars campaign and the launch of the Oakland Green Jobs Corps.

The 2012 Ellas were awarded to the following heroes:

Father Greg Boyle, Founder of Homeboy Industries, the largest gang intervention organization in the nation. Serving at-risk and gang involved youth with a continuum of services and programs, Homeboy Industries also runs four businesses that serve as job-training sites.  Father Greg has been an advocate for at-risk and gang-involved youth in Los Angeles, and around the world, for over 25 years.

Rinku Sen, President and Executive Director of Applied Research Center, a racial justice think tank and home for media and activism.  ARC is built on rigorous research and creative use of new technology, with a goal of popularizing the need for racial justice and preparing people to fight for it. Rinku is a leading figure in the racial justice movement, combining journalism and activism to make social change.

Mujeres Unidas y Activas.  MUA is a grassroots organization of Latina immigrant women with a double mission of promoting personal transformation and building community power for social and economic justice. Since 1989, they have have helped hundreds of women get out of domestic violence, become strong leaders and take an active role in the movement for immigrant’s rights and social and economic justice.

The Hub is a worldwide network of over 25 collaborative work spaces that provide a creative environment as well as a professional infrastructure to work, meet, learn and connect. As their credo declares, “The Hub is designed to facilitate the creation of sustainable impact through collaboration.”

Hub Bay Area has two work spaces, one in Berkeley at the David Brower Center, and the Hub SoMa, which is in the San Francisco Chronicle building and part of the 5M Project and steps away from the TechShop and Intersection for the Arts, and Square. The Hub is a vibrant community of individuals working to make a difference, and many members are social entrepreneurs, creating new business models to create positive social change through the lever of business.

We’re proud to serve some of these inspiring organizations housed at the Hub, as well as the Hub Bay Area itself. We’re also happy to be members as well of this change-making community.

Here’s what the Hub community had to say to the question - What Change Does the World Need Most?

BetterWorld was out supporting locally made industry and products yesterday at SFMade’s Ramp It Up celebration at SpeakEasy Brewery in San Francisco.

Established in 2012 and headquartered in San Francisco, SFMade is the only organization of its kind focused on building San Francisco’s economic base by developing the local manufacturing sector.

SFMade’s works to build and support a vibrant manufacturing sector in San Francisco,  sustaining companies producing locally-made products, encouraging entrepreneurship and innovation, and creating employment opportunities for a diverse local workforce.

Along the way, we ran into a few great BetterWorld customers including Dharma Merchant Services and New Resource Bank.

 

Matt Bauer on the Wendel Forum

BetterWorld ’s Matt Bauer recently visited The Wendel Forum, a radio show dedicated to focusing on the legal side of the green economy.

Interviewed by Bill Acevedo, The Green Business Practice Leader at Wendel Rosen, Bauer spoke of BetterWorld’s journey as a company, bringing purpose and mission to an industry traditionally not involved in the green economy and sustainability efforts.

The Wendel Forum is a collaborative effort of Wendel Rosen’s Green Business Practice Group to bring compelling stories and practical explanations of what’s happening in green business to listeners and runs each Saturday morning at 11:30 a.m. during The Green Morning line up on Green 960 AM.  You can hear recent shows on The Green Morning website.

Among the topics discussed in the interview: BetterWork (how to lower costs and carbon emissions, while increasing profits and employee morale through telecommuting, video, web conferencing and other communication tools), the current legislative and economic trends which have created opportunities for small businesses to succeed, net neutrality and regulatory structures necessary to insure an even playing field for carriers, and the pros and cons for crowd funding and Direct Public Offerings (DPOs), two non-traditional capital-raising options for small businesses.

Listen to the full interview for Episode 45 of The Wendel Forum - BetterWorld Telecom’s Name Reveals Its Mission (27:34 mins; mp3)

The Wendel Forum highlights professionals with experience from many different disciplines to address issues of interest throughout the green economy.

We were thrilled to receive this review from one of our newest TechSoup Global nonprofit customers, FishWise:

FishWise provides innovative market-based tools to the seafood industry, enabling consumers and grocery retailers to support marine conservation through their seafood purchasing decisions.

Letter from Fishwise:

I was hired to organize a growing non-profit office of eight. They had only two phone lines from AT&T, and an inexpensive 2-line phone with 8 cordless extensions. Only two calls could happen at once, and one shared voice mail in box. They needed a new communication solution!

Well-informed friends also told me to give VoIP a fair chance because technology, and faster Internet speeds might have made it a viable solution.

My further study made me realize that VoIP might not merely be an acceptable alternative; it might bring some advantages.  Not one to make long-term technology decisions (or spending decisions) lightly, I did my homework.  I spent three months once or twice a week reading as many reviews as I could find about all the various VoIP/virtual PBX providers, I found a confusing mix of raves and rants for virtually every company.  (I soon confirmed that moving on trying to find the company with no negative reviews was futile, and that, probably, they did not reflect a consensus; I also noted that many complaints had to do with high-call-volume users, and our small non-profit has light phone traffic.)

Once I decided VoIP was the answer, I began searching for Cisco phones because I believe they are the best. I looked for refurbished phones, and second hand phones on craigslist, but then remembered TechSoup also had hardware deals, and voila! I found BetterWorld! Not only did they work with Cisco phones, but the were FREE through TechSoup!!! We also applied for the CA Teleconnect Fund (CTF) financial assistance which will reduce our monthly bill in half, and are waiting for acceptance. Suddenly VoIP was going save us money, as well as be a better flexible solution for communication.

Understanding the technology is key for successful transition to VoIP.  I recommend anyone that is going to use a hosted PBX solution for your business to analyze there broadband needs prior to implementing any internet based phone solution.  Bandwidth is key, and if you have lots of PCs and Phones on the same network you could at any time saturate the network causing packet loss which will result in poor call quality.  We already had a fast internet connection, but all of our iMacs were connected wirelessly.

In preparation for the new phones, I had the office wired with CAT6, two lines going to every station, one for data (iMac), and one for voice (VoIP). I also added a 24-port Gigabit switch with QoS, giving the VoIP ports priority over the data. Running the new cable was the biggest cost, but it was a one time expense, and added to the functionality of the office beyond the phones. Plus, we saved so much on the FREE Cisco phones, the cost was somewhat deferred.

BetterWorld made the transition seamless. We are amazed with the features and flexibility, but customer service has been the strongest advantage. I am not an IT professional, just willing to make mistakes, and ask for help. Ali’s assistance with training, porting our old number, and fielding my questions was impeccable. BetterWorld did an outstanding job, but understanding the needs of a VoIP system is key in allowing them to do their best work.

We are very surprised with the call quality, its actually better than our old land lines.  We now all have our own extensions, so, we can pick up the phone, and make calls whenever we want! Having voice mail for every employee seems like such a luxury. We love being able to transfer calls to any phone, and to use follow-me settings to receive calls anywhere. The ability to forward voice mails via email to another coworker is so super-geeky cool!

A huge THANK YOU to BetterWorld for bringing this office up to speed.

Cheers!

A Happy BetterWorld Customer

Volunteering
BetterWorld’s Salem Kimble was out dressed as an elf volunteer recently, face painting students at a holiday fundraising event for St. Leo the Great School in Oakland, CA. “It’s such a great experience to give back to the local community,” Salem said, “it’s wonderful to work at a company that values giving back too.”

To our BetterWorld Family
With holidays coming up, we’re lucky here at BetterWorld Telecom to have much to be thankful for, from our partners and affiliates to all of our wonderful customers. We wanted to take a moment to give a shout out to a few folks we’re thankful for this year.

Many thanks to our dedicated and talented network partners that allow us to offer the best quality service to our customers and the latest, greatest technology.

Thanks to our skilled and generous partners at TechSoup Global, who have worked with us to make high quality telecom services affordable and accessible for all non-profits.

Thanks to the many businesses and nonprofits over the last year who have taken the time to green their supply chain, dig into the paperwork and help us to revolutionize what the telecom industry stands for and supports, welcome to the BetterWorld family!

And last, but not least, thank you to all our loyal customers who have been with BetterWorld for years, you are the reason we exist.

Happy Holidays!

- The BetterWorld Team