Doing Well by Doing Good : Group Helps Profit and Social Awareness Coexist

Kari Steinberg and Shelli Graff, owners of a Culver City recycling collection company, were looking for donated compost bins for an Arcadia city project.

The pair called all over the country but came up empty-handed, until they dropped a name: Business for Social Responsibility.

The response was immediate. The chief executive of Smith & Hawken, a San Francisco gardening products company, took their call and agreed to provide two dozen free bins to the small firm.

Business for Social Responsibility may be a relative newcomer among business associations, but for its 800 members nationwide, it is a unique resource. Whereas other business groups may organize around an industry, geographic location, employee size or minority allegiance, BSR is based on values. It promotes socially responsible business practices.

That may sound like idealistic, leftover ‘60s jargon, but BSR members Steinberg and Graff say they jumped at the chance a year ago to join a business group that shared their ideals. Since joining they’ve received practical benefits such as the donated compost bins, copies of child-care policies, support for their open-communication management style, and a referral to a manufacturer that makes collection bags for them out of recycled plastic bottles.

“Most of the things BSR does lead to the bottom line,” Graff said.

San Francisco-based BSR began in 1992. It helps businesses operate in an environmentally sound manner and establish community outreach programs, innovative employee policies and business ethics codes. Annual dues range from $150 to $15,000 depending on company size.

Those joining are not screened or tested to make sure they fulfill the organization’s goals, said BSR member Jeff Leifer, owner of Leifer Capital in Santa Monica. The group welcomes companies at all stages of social awareness, he said.

“The true value is in bringing together like-minded companies,” Leifer said, citing the examples of textile companies that may share concerns about the ecological impact of dyes they use or printing companies that may meet to discuss the impact of paper on the environment.

Although BSR’s members include major corporations such as Taco Bell, Time Warner and Honeywell, small firms such as Steinberg and Graff’s Pick Up Artists are joining in increasing numbers, said Richard Foos, owner of Rhino Records and co-founder of BSR’s 1-year-old Southern California chapter.

For small companies, BSR also serves as an information source, said Leifer. BSR employment manuals and policies save small firms time and the expense of labor attorneys or consultants, he said.

Steinberg, 36, and Graff, 35, said they are counting on BSR to help them expand by evaluating their game plan and by providing referrals to venture capitalists and to candidates for a company chief executive and board of directors.

The small company began six years ago after Steinberg and Graff decided to rid their apartments of bottles, cans and newspapers but couldn’t find a company that would come to their homes and cart away the trash.

So they hatched Pick Up Artists. They concentrated on small businesses with five to 50 employees, typically too small for recycling programs operated by giant waste-removal firms. Pick Up Artists now has 400 clients, six employees and revenue of $350,000 a year. The co-owners also work as recycling consultants.

But Graff, a former attorney, and Steinberg, a former advertising executive, said it wasn’t easy carving out a new service in an unfamiliar industry.

Steinberg laughs about the day when, dressed in her expensive suit and high heels, she climbed on board a garbage-filled, flatbed truck to sort paper from bottles so the recycler would accept the load.

Or the day when, desperate to fulfill promises to pick up customers’ recyclables and unable to drive a truck, she rented the biggest car she could find--an emerald green Lincoln Town Car--and stuffed it full of trash.

Their struggles made them realize they had little in common with executives from large waste-removal companies, the two said. Joining BSR helped them broaden their vision of how to operate their company.

“It’s a great support to have BSR standing behind us,” Steinberg said.

Business for Social Responsibility can be reached in Los Angeles at (310) 826-5057.