Connect the Dots is Greening Nonprofits: An Interview with Founding Director Maikhanh Nguyen

Environmental sustainability is important for every organization, but not everyone knows where to start or how to make it happen. For non-profits focusing on a specific social mission with limited time and funds, it can be a challenge.Connect the Dots, a Bay Area nonprofit exclusively serving the nonprofit community, disseminates environmental sustainability practices to nonprofit organizations to help them meet their social missions in an environmentally responsible manner.

They have a 3-part goal:

• Action - make immediate, measurable environmental impacts for organizations
• Autonomy - provide the proper framework, planning, tools, and support structure for organizations to adopt self-sustaining, action-based approaches towards environmental sustainability
• Diversity – empower people of diverse backgrounds take part in environmental sustainability

Artfulchange and the Jay Trainer Band will be part of the 2^nd Annual Connect the Dots Benefit Concert on March 5 at San Francisco’s Root Division. We invite you to come celebrate with a magical night of music, visual art, and all things about “greening nonprofits” while learning more about their work to diminish the ecological footprint of the nonprofit community.

I had the chance to interview Maikhanh Nguyen, Founding Director of Connect the Dots, about the philosophy, goals and accomplishments of Connect the Dots.

Me: Why should non-profits think about their environmental impact when there are so many issues to think about? 

Maikhanh: There are many issues, aren’t there?  All these issues are interrelated.  In a recent article with SF Chronicle, Ian Kim at the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights in Oakland said, “there are at least three ways poor people are disproportionately affected by climate change: environmental health, job opportunities and cost of living.”  If a nonprofit motivated for social change don’t consider the environmental impact of its operations, they are contributing to the conditions that aversely affect the very same community they serve.  

Where does environmental responsibility fit into the big picture for non-profits that are focused on a non-environmentally related issue?

We see environmental responsibility as integrated in the make-up of nonprofits operations as fiscal responsibility, equal employment opportunities, fair wages, etc.  It’s a necessary part existence and definitely not “nice to have” activities.

Does an organization need to know a lot about “green” issues to start working with you? 

They only need to recognize it as an issue and have the desire to do something about it.  Even then, the financial savings generated from our work can convince even those most skeptical of environmental efforts. 

What are the biggest challenges non-profits face in trying to “green” their operations? 

The same challenges nonprofits always face:  lack of funding and staff time.  Staff time is needed to research the topic and implement changes as an organization-wide.  For example, it takes time to keep up with various energy-efficiency programs to leverage the full set of incentives to help subsidize the cost for retrofit projects.  Then time needs to be set aside to get bids from contracts, asking the right questions.  It’s difficult to find the free time outside of their regular job responsibilities to truly make this be systemic.  Even when all hurdles are cleared, they need that financial capital to invest in the upgrade. 

What were you able to accomplish in 2009?
 

In 2009, we helped 15 nonprofit organizations across 31 facilities that provide community services and supportive housing to vulnerable populations to annually:

• conserve 2.9 million gallons of water
• divert 356,000 pounds of waste from the landfill
• reduce 94,035 kWh

They expect to save $187,540 within the first year with projected accrued savings of $788,141 in five years.

What’s difficult to communicate is the energy from the community meetings with residents and staff about a specific environmental issue, for example, why recycle and compost.  People get it, and they care.  They want to engage. 

What are some other actionable examples of ways you help non-profits green what they do?

In analyzing utility bills to track the effectiveness of our work, we have discovered numerous opportunities for financial savings from activities not traditionally related to “greening” efforts. We see significant value in pursuing them as they preserve the much needed funding for other activities. For example, we have found overlooked discount programs, alternate energy rate schedule, billing oversight, and unused services. A story to exemplify such savings:  one client is able to save about $375 each month by rolling their waste bins to the curb themselves rather than incur the “distance service” from the waste company. Another example is that we enrolled a nonprofit facility on the PG&E CARE program to cut their energy bill by 20% discount. We helped another remove a $178 per month “key charge” from their waste bill after seeing that the locks were not used.

We recognize that we enjoy the luxury to not be overwhelmed with other operational responsibilities and emergencies to concentrate efforts in energy efficiency, water conservation, waste diversion, and responsible purchasing.  Also, we have access to utility bills across multiple facilities which enable us to identify these savings opportunities to spread from one organization to another.

How important are planning and tracking in the process of turning passion into practice? 

Remember that sustainability is a journey, not a destination.  So planning is crucial to keep everyone coordinated.  And if passion were limitless and ubiquitous, then we would have less need for tracking.  We would take action from the pure joy it brings us.  Since not everyone shares the same passion nor can most of us sustain the same level of intensity over time, the discipline to monitor helps keep everyone motivated and engaged as well as informed about the effectiveness of their actions.    

Do you work with many organizations where there is one or maybe two people in an organization of many who are passionate about environmental responsibility to help build awareness internally? 

We are a small organization launched in an extremely difficult economy.  The best impact of our time is to work with those who understand, but aren’t necessarily passionate, about the pressing issue facing our generation and generations after. We enable these individuals to let their facilities and operations be examples for their peers and the communities they serve.

What is your background and how did you get started working with Connect the Dots? 

I was trained in management information technology, matching information technologies to mission statements. I oversaw the development of technology programs for large enterprises in the financial, service, and manufacturing sectors. In 2004 I established my own consultancy to offer technology implementation to those organizations whose mission statements are aligned with social progress.

In 2008, I founded Connect the Dots after seeing wasteful practices at the soup kitchen where I volunteered. I believed that organizations could be much defter and spare about their resource consumption, so I launched Connect the Dots to help nonprofit organizations successfully use practices in environmental sustainability to make do with even less.  

I draw on my upbringing as a refugee immigrant from Vietnam, having experienced the severe shortages of basics (water, sanitation, etc.).  Like most immigrants, I learned from my parents’ unconscious teaching to make do with less as they rebuilt their lives in a new country. I also rely on my career in the technology field to help me understand the critical factors for success in implementing organization-wide change.   In my experience, the best programs incite subtle and daily action from all levels of organization.

What is the most rewarding thing for you working with non-profits toward environmental responsibility? 

When they adopt sustainability as part of the organization culture and keep going after we’re finished.  Like a personal trainer who gets excited when their clients get motivated and continue to make health an integral, permanent part of their lifestyles, I get infused with energy when I see nonprofits adopting their own policies and actions to be green. Think about it, they’re delivering their missions -- poverty eradication, human services, arts, education and so on – in an environmentally responsible manner.  Getting goosebumps?  I am!  It’s not easy and KUDOS to the nonprofit staff who continually works to achieve a little at a time.  Anyone who thinks it’s easy, please volunteer with us.  We need your skills.

How should organizations get in contact with you? 

Our contact information for the SF, East Bay and Silicon Valley offices is on our website (www.connectthedotsnetwork.org), but a simple email to maikhanh@connectthedotsnetwork.org or call to 415.830.5858 will do the trick.

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