We recently renewed our 1% for the Planet certification, and it’s exciting to see this global alliance of businesses that give one percent of their yearly revenues to environmental nonprofits continue to grow: when we joined in early 2010 total giving (2002 to 2009) had just surpassed $50 million; now it’s surpassed $100 million.

We loved the idea of 1% for the Planet from the moment we found out about it. We wanted to give to environmental organizations and thought that we should; the opportunity to join a movement at the same time was irresistible. Why?

Becoming a 1% for the Planet member holds us to our commitment—the yearly certification requirement (members have to submit tax documents and proof of donations) ensures that we act on our good intentions. Just as important, it allows us to make a public statement, along with fellow members, that businesses should make a contribution to preserving and restoring the resources that contribute to our success. Just as important, it shows they can afford to do so—regardless of their size.

Size is something we considered with our donation—we wanted to give to a smaller organization so our support would feel meaningful. We also wanted to give to an organization working in our community and doing advocacy work that challenges the status quo. San Francisco Baykeeper, a scrappy organization that makes an outsized impact with a lean budget, fit our criteria so well we’ve been happy to support them year after year. (See more on our selection process here.)

Naturally, we also thought we might get a marketing boost from adding the blue 1% globe to our website and other materials. We wanted to gain a slight edge with prospective clients in our sustainability-focused target market, make current clients feel that much better about working with us and attract creative people to work for us.

Honestly, though, our greatest hope is that so many other businesses join the 1% alliance that the logo ceases to be a differentiator. That would mean we’re making real progress on achieving the 1% for the Planet call to action: “Keep earth in business.”

Does being green give companies a competitive advantage?

Look no further than WalMart, Clorox, Kimberly Clark, P&G, Ford or any other corporation that has developed green product lines or made investments in major sustainability initiatives.

And many companies with sustainability baked into their mission have had enormous growth despite a lousy economy—just see B Corporation’s Rockstars of the New Economy.

And research by the MIT Sloan Management Review and Boston Consulting Group provides direct evidence that sustainability delivers in measurable ways.

According to The Innovation Bottom Line report’s fourth annual survey of 4,000 executives and managers, 37 percent of respondents say sustainability added to profits, up 23 percent from the last survey. Direct benefits include:

• Improved brand reputation
• Better innovation of products and services
• Improved perception of how the company is managed
• Increased competitive advantage
• Reduced costs from efficiencies in energy, waste, and materials
• Better innovation of business models and processes

But to obtain these benefits, companies must make a commitment to sustainability. The survey researchers found that companies need to develop a business case for sustainability, and those that are most successful change their business model or have sustainability engrained in the company from the start. More than half of companies that changed their business model say customer demand for sustainability led to changes.

This is no surprise to us. Just see Zipcar, Method, Patagonia, the B Corp Rockstars and many others.

What about the other 63 percent of respondents? Many companies struggle with justifying sustainability initiatives, and 37 percent say sustainability conflicts with other priorities. One finding reveals that investors are a “challenging” stakeholder group because their horizon for profit is short.

In reviewing the successful companies, the survey researchers identified the following practices for sustainability success:

1. Be prepared to change business models. Deep and engrained change is a clear indicator of whether sustainability initiatives will boost success.
2. Lead from the top and integrate efforts. Executives must set goals and integrate sustainability into the business.
3. Measure and track goals and performance. This one is a no-brainer.
4. Understand what your customers think about sustainability and what they are willing to pay for it. They’re not always willing to pay more; you need to know.
5. Collaborate with people, customers, and organizations beyond the organization. Sustainability efforts offer a real opportunity to know customers better, and many companies form advisory groups to guide these efforts.

Ultimately, what companies do matters if we are to create a better world that sustains us all—the research doesn’t examine altruistic motives. I’m not sure it needs to; good intentions aren’t going to build the next economy. And it’s clear that sustainability has become a business imperative. Sixty percent of The Innovation Bottom Line survey respondents say sustainability strategies are necessary to be competitive right now, and another 31 percent believe they will be in the future.

We’ll keep an eye on how businesses can achieve and maintain their sustainability advantage, and report back in future posts.

“When we talk about sustainability we’re not talking about fixing problems. We’re talking about the system. The system is the problem. … One way or another, the system will become sustainable—by default or by design.”

That was Paul Hawken speaking at this morning’s Sustainable Industries Economic Forum in San Francisco. From audience conversations afterward, it seemed like a point that stuck. New Resource Bank President and CEO Vince Siciliano referenced the choice between default and design in a breakaway session with RSF Social Finance President and CEO Don Shaffer on trends in social finance. (Full disclosure: both organizations are Thinkshift clients.)

Both Shaffer and Siciliano talked about the need to change not only how we use our money (though it’s certainly true that we’re all voting with our dollars), but also how we think about money and how our financial system operates. Siciliano noted that our financial decision-making process tends to disregard enormous future benefits—say, a livable environment for our children and grandchildren—in favor of relatively minor short-term benefits (the discount rate problem—explained entertainingly on NPR’s Planet Money).

Shaffer pointed out that our financial system should serve people and businesses, not the other way around (our current situation). That turnabout can happen at least partly because, as Shaffer observed, “The culture of money we live in is complex, opaque and anonymous.” RSF is trying to model just the opposite system, he said, with initiatives such as its collaboratively set interest rate, RSF Prime, which brings borrowers, investors, and staff together to discuss a fair rate of return for all.

That brought me back around to Hawken’s point—will we face the challenges posed by climate change by thinking creatively and developing new, better systems? Or will we passively accept whatever happens? Bringing it to the personal level, it’s worth asking yourself (or at any rate, I’m asking myself): Am I a designer or a defaulter?