We all want to save the planet, but where on earth do you start?

Recently, I attended an event run by Glen Carlson of DENT. DENT is a training company for start-up enterprises and businesses keen to kick into a higher gear. This was training of a different flavour – how to contribute to the Global Goals, help save the world, AND do better business.

The Global Goals are the 17 objectives for sustainable development listed by the United Nations in 2015. They follow the successful Millennium Goals from the previous 15 years, which had a significant impact on reducing global poverty, and increasing education, clean water and better health for millions on the planet, among others.

Why stop half way?

Here is a brilliant video that asks us ‘why stop half way?’ It reveals how successful the initial goals were.

The goals are politically, socially, and philosophically neutral – you can align to those that best suit your business.

Doing good for better business

In 2012, I published a book Clans, Supercharge your Business. Its thesis was aligning to a cause that sparked a different conversation with clients, and in doing so would build community. So it was inspiring to see this concept of business for good being good for business in action.

Inspirational accounting helping families in need

At the event Harvee Pene, explained how he had implemented the idea for their once ‘beige’ accounting firm Inspire, transforming the company into a dynamic, colourful, and successful business.

Inspire had a big, hairy audacious goal – to save small business owners $1m in tax by June 30.

For every dollar of tax they saved a small business, Inspire helps a family in need for a day – they call it Day for a Dollar.

Buy One, Give One

Working with BIGI (Buy One Give One), Inspire has given three million days of access to life changing food, water, hygiene and sanitation services, across 16 countries (as of December 2017).

BIGI engages with hundreds of grassroot organisations around the world involved in educating and housing adults and children, providing clean water and medical supplies, and a host of other vital humanitarian services.

It can qualify exactly what your money does – a day of clean drinking water for a child, a week’s schooling, a vaccination.

You can select the project you want to support by its alignment to your personal and business values and goals.  Clever hey?

Just as I imagined was possible in my book, Inspire Accounting engages their clients in a mutual conversation about what their saved tax dollars achieve.

They can now select their clients on the basis of purpose and value, while showing exactly how this has increased their return on investment.

CreateCare Global

In the work we do for CreateCare Global, we continually find examples of people doing extraordinary work to boost the lives of orphaned, abused, and vulnerable children.

Now I want to find and share more stories of small businesses like Inspire making a dent in the world, by working toward the Global Goals.

We can all become Goalkeepers and contribute toward helping others and saving our planet. If we do, we need to share uplifting stories as an inspiration to others.

Global Goals. The Lazy Person’s Guide to Saving the Planet

In the meantime, I’ve found the Global Goals’ ‘Lazy Person’s Guide to Saving the Planet.

 It’ll be fun to share some of them as stories, which will make them more easy to recall and create an achievable challenge linked to the Global Goals’ aims.

It’s all about spreading uplifting stories, both yours and those of the Global Goals. If you’ve got a story, please share it with me in the next Uplifting Story free-flowing informal gathering.