Session Description

Green revolving funds (GRFs) are a growing trend in the field of sustainability. GRFs serve as a financing mechanism that helps institutions reduce operating expenses and greenhouse gas emissions, while creating regenerating funds for future projects. GRFs invest in energy efficiency, waste reduction and resource management projects to reduce energy consumption on campus and reinvest the money saved in future projects.

The webinar will provide an introduction to GRFs and discuss seed funding opportunities, project selection, collaboration with leadership and administration, the committee formation process, and provide a few case studies.

GRFs not only streamline the financing and cost-saving tracking process of energy-efficiency projects, but also provide a perpetual financing source to capitalize them. Ultimately, GRFs make sense economically and socially; they have robust ROIs and improve overall human health.

Learning Objectives

• Analyze the importance of energy efficiency, resource use reduction, and waste management practices to create a safer, cleaner environment and improve public health.
• Assess a successful financial instrument to support energy efficiency projects: The Green Revolving Fund.
• Compare and contrast the green revolving fund vehicle to traditional operating budget structural allocations.
• Examine successful green revolving fund case studies and distinguish how to implement a customized green revolving fund that fits your particular institution.

Presenters

Mark Orlowski, Founder, Executive Director, Sustainable Endowments Institute
Mark Orlowski is founder and executive director of the Sustainable Endowments Institute, a Cambridge-based special project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. Mark leads the Institute's research and outreach efforts on college sustainability initiatives including the College Sustainability Report Card and the Billion Dollar Green Challenge.

Mark has worked with students, administrators, and board members at more than 100 colleges and other nonprofit institutions. He has spoken at dozens of conferences as well as at the United Nations and at more than 80 colleges in over 30 states.

Along with widespread coverage by campus newspapers, numerous reports on the Institute's work have appeared in the national and business press. Media coverage includes articles in the Boston Globe, Bloomberg, CNN Money, Forbes, Chronicle of Higher Education, New York Times, and USA Today. Mark has also been profiled in BusinessWeek and the Chronicle of Philanthropy as a social entrepreneur.

A graduate of Williams College, Mark chaired the Campus Environmental Advisory Committee and served on Williams' Advisory Committee on Shareholder Responsibility. He also attended Berkshire Community College and earned a master's degree in management at Harvard University.

Max Storto, Senior Research Fellow, Sustainable Endowments Institute
Max Storto is a Senior Research Fellow at the Sustainable Endowments Institute. Max works with hospitals and universities to implement energy-efficiency and resource-use reduction projects.

Serving as the Program Coordinator of the LEEF Network, a New England based program of the Institute, Max consults with multiple sectors on the implementation and development of green revolving funds.

Max graduated from Harvard College with a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Science and Public Policy. Before joining the SEI team, Max worked with municipal government of Buenos Aires at the Environmental Protection Agency.

Pricing 

Member: $0  Non-member: $29