The Offset Project (TOP) provides knowledge, resources, and hands-on support to help businesses and communities unite social, environmental, and financial growth — the triple bottom line.

Triple bottom line (abbreviated as TBL or 3BL) incorporates the notion of sustainability into business decisions. The TBL is an accounting framework with three dimensions: social, environmental (or ecological) and financial. The TBL dimensions are also commonly called the three Ps: people, planet and profits and are referred to as the “three pillars of sustainability.” Interest in triple bottom line accounting has been growing in both for-profit, nonprofit and government sectors. Many organizations have adopted the TBL framework to evaluate their performance in a broader context. (Slaper, Timothy F. and Hall, Tanya J. (2011). “The Triple Bottom Line: What Is It and How Does It Work?” Indiana Business Review. Spring 2011, Volume 86, No. 1.)

The Triple Bottom Line in Action

  • At the Big Sur Marathon with over 10,000 runners running along the coastline, the event generated TWO bags of trash. This helped reduce litter issues, hauling fees and created a community story to share with other local events.
  • At the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro Am, 93% of the event materials were repurposed in the local community. Through community partnership with local thrift stores and food banks, the event was able to create jobs and income for local charities.
  • At-risk youth groups were invited to act as the Zero Waste Team educators during many events. This experience gave kids the opportunity to work as a team and build communication skills in the community.  These types of relationships offer an event ways to give back to the community.
  • Reducing energy use and improving transportation, saves money.
  • Building food donation programs to the local food bank saves money in waste hauling fees. Most food bank will come and pick up food for free.

Tips for Businesses

The Offset Project provides an on-the-ground approach to corporate social responsibility that is both realistic and sustainable.  Businesses not only need sustainability in their boardrooms, but also need to bring the message to the customers through event and community initiatives.

The Offset Project consults with local business and event companies to meet the goals of:

  • Creating social responsibility programs
  • Developing training and curriculum support
  • Creating Green Tag Programs
  • Greening Events
  • Developing sustainable management systems

Cost Saving 

  • Recycling is a free service in most cities – i.e. the more you can put in a recycling bin, the less you have to pay in trash fees
  • Buying reusable and/or bulk items is less expensive
  • Using creative approaches, like the green tag program means which adds an optional $1 to a room night fee with all proceeds going to fund one environmental project, helps subsidzize costs for environmental programs.

Marketing 

  • Social Responsibility, or engaging wit