720 SW Washington St., Ste. 660 503-478-0889 mmarx@corporateethics.org
2007 BEN Annual Conference: Executive Summary
October 16-18, 2007, Oakland, CA
“How do we now create business niches that are able to work through the laws of justice and the laws of sustainability?” Keynoter Vandana Shiva, Navdanya
The Annual Business Ethics Network (BEN) Conference is where we bring together leading corporate campaign activists to improve skills, network, explore collaborations, celebrate victories, discuss the future of our movement, and consider best strategies for success. The 2007 BEN Conference, our third annual, was our most successful yet, bringing together 200 marketplace campaigners and supporters for three intensive days of trainings, panels, plenary discussions, and the annual BENNY Awards. (Please see complete list of sessions and participating groups later in this report.) The three keynoters for the Conference, Peter Barnes, David Korten, and Vandana Shiva, challenged us to address critical questions about corporate transformation. How do we design our campaigns so they feed into a movement that gives communities greater power? How do we expand the commons so that our resources are managed and conserved for current and future generations? How do we restore greater equity through wealth re-distribution? At the same time they inspired us, by recognizing that there are many outside our movement who share our values, and that today’s crises provide a rare opportunity for system-wide change. . Key Ideas Discussed at the 2007 Conference: We need to have a more united, pro-active citizens’ movement that addresses the deeper issues and the excessive and growing amount of corporate power. We need to build continuity across our campaigns by incorporating common frameworks that advance a new and compelling vision of the role of corporations. We need to take corporate campaigns to the next evolutionary level, building partnerships and joint ventures, and even buying and building companies that can re-direct the marketplace. (Continued on next page)
2007 Individual Achievement Award
Lois Gibbs
2007 BENNY Awards Recognizing significant victories and achievements in the past year of corporate campaigning, selected by the BEN Membership: 1st Prize, $15,000: The Greening of Harry Potter Campaign 2nd Prize,$10,000: Campaign for Safe Cosmetics 3rd Prize, $5,000: No Dirty Gold Campaign
“Look at the larger picture that polling data reveal and we find that Americans want a world that puts people ahead of profits...And I bet that some of us came in here thinking that we were members of a fringe minority. We are in fact the leading edge of a new national super-majority and it is time for bold action to realize our shared vision.” Keynoter David Korten, Positive Futures Network Key Ideas Discussed at the 2007 BEN Conference, continued: We need to anticipate a corporate and legislative backlash to our campaigns and our organizations and seize the opportunity, in the way of Aikido, to use the backlash to our advantage. 2007 Path to Victory Awards Recognizing significant achievement on the way to victory:
We need to be more collaborative and bring more groups together, across issues, across strategies—to make a stronger business case to funders for the change our st 1 Prize, campaigns will create. PVC Consumer We need to hold ourselves and the larger, consultative NGOs to a higher standard Campaign of accountability so that targeted corporations are not able to compromise on low 2nd Prize, bar solutions. Exxpose Exxon Campaign . “There are these moments that come once, maybe twice, per century 3rd Prize, three-way where a lot of change happens in a short period of time...We are going tie: to use these moments to install serious changes --system upgrades Fairness in Flowers, that will endure beyond the political opportunity.” Kleercut, Keynoter Peter Barnes, Co-Founder Working Assets Long Distance and Stop Firestone Campaigns Requested New Roles for BEN: The Conference provides opportunities, through the full-Conference Stakeholders and the Senior Campaigners Discussion, for activists to say what they would like BEN to provide or explore in the coming year. Hear are some of the ideas from the 2007 Conference. Follow up on the BEN plan, reviewed by senior campaigners at the Conference, for creating accountability standards across the corporate campaign movement, to increase successful collaboration and prevent campaigns undercutting each other in important works. Provide wiki resources for BEN Members Provide more opportunities to debate competing ideas on strategy within our movement Provide more trainings on: o Online strategies o More on going entrepreneurial, with case studies on NGOs starting businesses o Shareholder campaigns/proxy aggregation o Joint training with media reform conference o Shareholder campaigns/proxy aggregation Explore how the political blogosphere and campaigns can synergize Explore a corporate campaign complement to land use benefits analysis
Executive Summary prepared by Anne Pernick, BEN Coordinator. For more information, please contact Anne at (503) 478-0892 or apernick@corporateethics.org
2007 BEN Conference
Sessions, Presenters, and Participating Organizations
Plenaries and Presenters
Beyond CSR David Korten of the Positive Futures Network Michael Marx, Business Ethics Network Kirsten Moller, Global Exchange Randy Hayes, International Forum on Globalization Capitalizing on Crises Michelle Chan, Friends of the Earth Teresa Conrow, Labor Organizer and Educator Randy Hayes, International Forum on Globalization Vandana Shiva, Navdanya
Keynoters
David Korten of the Positive Futures Network Vandana Shiva of Navdanya Peter Barnes Co-Founder Working Assets Long Distance
Training for Newer Campaigners Presenters
Andy Banks, Teamsters Liz Butler, ForestEthics Teresa Conrow, Labor Organizer and Educator Michael Marx, Business Ethics Network Phil Mattera, Good Jobs First David Taylor, Radical Designs
Discussions and Facilitators
Draft Accountability Plan Discussion for Senior Campaigners Michael Marx, Business Ethics Network BEN Stakeholders Meeting Anne Pernick, Business Ethics Network
Panels and Presenters
Framing 2.0: Identifying the Best Emerging Frames Lori Dorfman, Berkeley Media Studies Group George Lakoff Rockridge Institute NGOs Create Global Governance: Building Certification Systems Hank Cauley, Pew Charitable Trusts Michael Conroy, Colibri’ Consulting: Certification for Sustainable Development Scott Nova, Worker Rights Consortium Payal Sampat, EARTHWORKS Media Wars: How to Battle Front Groups and Slanted Media Shawnee Hoover, Exxpose Exxon John Stauber, Center for Media and Democracy Playing the Financial Card: How to Target Banks and Investors Jonas Kron, Attorney Leslie Lowe, Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility Becky Tarbotton, Rainforest Action Network Jason Ward, SEIU Capital Stewardship Program The Funders Roundtable: Advice for Corporate Campaign Organizations Hank Cauley, Pew Charitable Trusts Michael Conroy, former Program Officer with Rockefeller Brothers Fund Daniel Katz, Overbrook Foundation Going Entrepreneurial: Making, Buying, Partnering with Corporations Gary Cohen, Environmental Health Fund and Health Care Without Harm Jeff Mendelsohn, New Leaf Paper Woody Tasch, Investors’ Circle What Works?: Campaign Advice from Corporate Insiders Ken Larson, Ken Larson Consulting and former CSR Director at Hewlett-Packard Larry Rogero, former Managing Director of Sustainability/Environmentl Affairs, FedEx Kinko’s (Continued on next page)
Panels and Presenters continued
Allying with Labor: New Partnerships for a New Century Andy Banks, Teamsters Lisa Hoyos, Western Region AFL-CIO Amaha Kassa, East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy Image Aikido: How to Defend, Strengthen, and Rebuild Our Brands Shannon Coughlin, Rainforest Action Network Stephanie Downs, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals The Legislative Imperative: Our Campaigns Can and Must Drive Legislation Charlie Cray, Center for Corporate Policy Stacey Folsom, Corporate Accountability International Steve Kretzman, Oil Change International The Next Generation: Activating Youth to Strengthen Our Campaigns Nupur Modi, Ruckus Society Joshua Kahn Russell, Students for a Democratic Society and Rainforest Action Network Morgan Simon, Responsible Endowment Coalition Visuals that Work: Using Pictures and Video to Win Campaigns Celia Alario, PR for People and the Planet Peter Walbridge, Big Think Studios Bridging Local and National Work: Better Coordinating Our Efforts Ronnie Cummins, Organic Consumers Association Peter Ferenbach, Friends of the River
From 2007 ConferenceGoers: “Framing 2.0 was informative, embracing, and perspectiveshifting. Same for Going Entrepreneurial.”
Conference Attendees work with the following organizations:
AFL-CIO Western Region, Amazon Watch, Arundel Networking, As You Sow, Berkeley Media Studies Group, Big Box Collaborative, Big Think Studios, Breast Cancer Fund, Business Ethics Network, Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, Care2, Center for Corporate Policy, Center for Environmental Health, Center for Health, Environment, and Justice, Center for Media and Democracy, Center for the Working Poor, Coalition of Immokalee Workers, Colibri’ Consulting: Certification for Sustainable Development, , Computer TakeBack Campaign, Corporate Accountability International, Corporate Ethics International, Corporate Research Project of Good Jobs First, CorpWatch, Dogwood Alliance, Dogwood Initiative, EARTHWORKS, East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy (EBASE), Environmental Health Fund, Environmental Investigation Agency, Exxpose Exxon, Fair Workplace Council, Farm Labor Organizing Committee, Food and Water Watch, ForestEthics, Friends of the Earth, Friends of the River, Future 500, GAIA, General Service Foundation, Global Exchange, Green Corps, Green Harvest Technologies, Greenpeace, Gulf Restoration Network, Health Care Without Harm, Interfaith Council on Corporate Responsibility, International Forum on Globalization, International Labor Rights Fund, International Rivers Network, Justice from Bean to Cup, Ken Larson Consulting, Marin Institute, National Farm Worker Ministry, New Leaf Paper, Oceans and Communities, Oil Change International, Organic Consumers Association, Overbrook Foundation, Pacific Environment, Pacific Institute, International, Panta Rhea Foundation, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Pew Charitable Trusts, PR for the People and the Planet, Radical Designs, Rainforest Action Network, Responsible Endowments Coalition, Rockridge Institute, Rockwood Leadership Program, Ruckus Society, SEIU Capital Stewardship Program, Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, SourceWatch, Teamsters, Teamsters Joint Council 7, Teamsters Local 912, True Food Network/Center for Food Safety, U.S. Public Interest Research Groups (U.S. PIRGs), U.C. Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education, Wallace Foundation, Wal-Mart Watch, Women’s Economic and Development Organization (WEDO), Worker Rights Consortium, Writing for Community Success, www.boycott.biz
“From Activating Youth I pulled out two gems about how to think about my work with students in a way that will further engage them in the movement.”
“I learned so much and was simultaneously impressed, depressed, terrified, hopeful and determined to help. How many conferences make you feel that way? I credit BEN for helping make corporate campaigning about creating systemic change rather than just about sticking it to the man.”