Five tips to start improving your newsletters

Whether you’re sending daily email blasts, weekly newsletters, or even quarterly reports, communicating with your stakeholders via email is an important skill. Just like any other medium, understanding how your audience engages and digests information via email is crucial to effective newsletters. This is already an audience that trusted you with their email address. They are often a captive and engaged group, so it’s important to provide them real value each time your newsletter lands in their inbox.

Let’s take a look at five tips for newsletters that are simple to pick up to increase reader engagement.

Establish a welcome funnel

A welcome funnel is the email(s) a new subscriber receives when they join your list. This could be as simple as a single, text email welcoming them to the list. When thinking of what to include in your welcome funnel, address common things like: (a) How often users should expect emails from you, (b) what topics are covered in the newsletter, and (c) subscription management options.

Be consistent with the schedule

Probably the worst thing you can do is push out your newsletter on an inconsistent basis. An inconsistent schedule leads to lower levels of engagement and a disconnect between your subscribers and your organization. When followers can expect a consistent flow of information, it helps establish trust and credibility.

Quality not quantity

With the rare exception of a newsletter that is explicitly a collated list of items on a topic, your newsletter should probably be a distillation of the topic, industry, news, etc. The chances a recipient clicks more than three links in your newsletter is basically zero. So, what’s important? Which three things would you actually like them to click? This should be your content. Now give it quality. (My friend Lindsay wrote a great blog on accomplishing this).

This also goes for copy. Quality over quantity. No one is reading paragraphs of an email, but you might entice them enough with a good headline or pull-quote to click, instead of their eyes glazing over. But don’t be click-bait-y (enticing your reader to click without following through on your promise). Be sure your content delivers on what the headline offers.

Mix thought leadership with internal and external news

This one might be a bit subjective, depending on your organization and nature of the newsletter. However, a good rule of thumb, the newsletter should include a nice mix of relevant news about the organization, as well as external information you might want to share with your stakeholders. Yes, the newsletter should celebrate your organization’s news, activities, and staff, but it’s not a sales tactic. It’s information dissemination and sometimes that information comes from another thought leader in the space.

Understand delivery times, mail platforms, data and user interface

Ever notice you might receive multiple list emails right at the same time? It’s probably been deemed an active email time for your part of the world, and many email management platforms offer this insight to users to better engage their audiences.

This is just one example of a type of tool that can be used to improve engagement. Understanding the services and data analytics offered to you, can help increase your effectiveness in communicating with subscribers. Take the time to read through provided documentation and become comfortable with the terminology and layout.

Many of these tips are easy to pick up, but difficult to execute consistently. No single piece will make your newsletter the most effective. It will be a culmination of doing a lot of little things correctly, which result in concise and clear communication that is engaging for your constituents.

Shortly before he died, U.S. Rep. and civil rights icon John Lewis said athletes are the new civil rights warriors.

“They have a great deal of influence,” said Lewis of athletes. “Sometimes history and fate just brings things together. And I think that is happening now.”

For decades, many athletes have started foundations and been active in various philanthropic projects. Recently, several athletes have found another way to make the world a better place: impact investing.

Chris Paul of the Phoenix Suns has been one of the most active impact investors. He was frustrated that his pure philanthropic efforts weren’t making the societal impact he was hoping for. He believes “philanthropy can be frustrating” at times.

Paul is one of several athletes, including tennis star Andre Agassi and basketball Hall of Famer Magic Johnson, who have invested in the Turner Multifamily Impact Fund, a type of private-equity fund focused on preserving affordable housing. Other investors in the fund include hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and actress Eva Longoria.

Paul has also joined fellow athletes Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony in starting The Social Change Fund, which was created to help accelerate social change in communities of color and sustainably build a fair, equitable society. Some significant companies, including Goldman Sachs, are early investors in this fund.

Paul has also joined with fellow NBA players Kyrie Irving and DeAndre Jordan to make significant investments in Beyond Meat, a plant-based food company. Beyond Meat founder and CEO Ethan Brown says Paul’s “willingness to use his platform to make a difference is something that’s been evident to me from the very beginning of our relationship.”

An increasing number of today’s more socially-aware athletes are expecting their investments to lead to meaningful societal progress towards positive environmental, social and governance (ESG) outcomes – and they are willing to help lead the way.

At CoPeace Sport we help athletes (and coaches and sport organizations) maximize their ability to positively impact society. One of the tools we use is VIBE™ (Valuation of Impact Brand Equity), a proprietary tool designed to place a value on an athlete’s positive impact on society (e.g., efforts to address social and environmental problems).

An athlete’s VIBE™ score is only one aspect of his/her brand, but it can significantly impact an athlete’s brand equity as a whole. The VIBE™ score is based on publicly available information regarding an athlete’s socio-cultural and environmental impact on society, for example, ESG investments, impact activities on global/societal issues, philanthropic work, endorsements, athlete-produced content via traditional and social media, etc.

Impact investing has positively impacted the VIBE™ scores of the NBA players mentioned in this blog. The following are the players’ VIBE™ scores and their overall VIBE™ ranking among NBA players:

Paul has embraced impact investing because he likes the idea of positively impacting people and the planet while also earning a competitive financial return.

“That’s the fuel we need to bring in investors and reach even more communities and families,” says Paul. “When you combine a positive financial return with positive social impact, you can make a huge difference for people.”

One of the brightest and most talented people I ever worked with was so smart and quick-minded that she could tell you anything and everything about her business off the top of her head at a high level.  I will call her Elise (not her real name) so as not to disclose her identity.  Elise could drill down into the details in response to the most challenging of questions, generate excitement, and garner true interest from prospective investors, clients, bankers, and other stakeholders.  The business case was strong and Elise as an entrepreneur had all the right stuff.  Then, when asked to follow up with a pitch deck or a plan, she became paralyzed.  Yes, there was tremendous knowledge and experience, and incredible ideas inside Elise’s head, but when asked to put it into a tangible presentation on digital paper (saving trees here!), the momentum stalled.

When investing in a young and growing business, entrepreneurial leadership team is the most important piece of the puzzle.  Company founders are visionaries.  They boot strap their businesses and put it all on the line.  When it comes time to bring in outside funds, family, friends, and trusted advisors validate the founder’s vision with financial support, advice, and make introductions to potential investors, clients, vendors, and other stakeholders.  Much of this can be accomplished on the strength of the entrepreneur’s vision, passion, and personal relationships.  Then, there comes a point when outside help is needed to fuel the growth of the enterprise.

Re-enter Elise.  You can’t help but get excited when you hear Elise talk about her business, the vision, and the pathway to an impactful and important place in her industry.  The challenge was, how do you take that excitement and translate that into something that potential stakeholders will understand, appreciate, and buy in to?  After empathizing with Elise’s angst, she said to me, “it’s all in my head…I just can’t get it out onto [digital] paper!”

An entrepreneur wears many hats and must take on certain tasks and responsibilities outside her core competencies.  Elise knew how to get things done, but she was stuck.  The thing is, while that was hard for Elise to admit and address, she knew she needed help.  Thankfully, I had a lot of experience in this area and was able to take enough “dictation” from Elise, where she could just relax and tell me about her business in detail, and I was able to construct a pitch deck and projections, which she was able to use to tell her story to prospective stakeholders.  Numbers, graphs, flow charts, infographics galore came out of Elise’s stream of consciousness, and she delegated that seemingly insurmountable task to a trusted friend in me to take her vision and translate it into a cohesive set of presentation materials that illustrated her story.  The end of the movie is that Elise went on to raise substantial amounts of capital and built a very successful business with a leadership team that has the necessary skill sets to continue to scale the enterprise profitably.

Why does a business need projections and pitch materials? There are many important reasons:

• In the early stages of a business, investors bet on the founder and the leadership team. The performance of that team will hopefully translate into positive and impactful results.  While one can appreciate and acknowledge a skilled leadership team, the business must translate that vision into numbers and projected future returns to attract investors, particularly when raising capital outside of family and friends.
• The process of creating projections has tremendous value to the founder and the leadership team, and it compels them to look at the business critically to understand their costs, scalability, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It’s a healthy exercise to prepare and update projections periodically as the business model evolves and proves out in practice.  Business and economic conditions always change.  It’s healthy to incorporate this as a periodic team review of what worked, what didn’t work, and where things are headed.
• As a business evolves, projections are also helpful in attracting new investors, vendors, industry partners, clients, banking relationships, and governmental interest on many levels.
• A solid set of projections with clearly articulated assumptions, an engaging pitch deck, and cohesive and consistent company messaging are essential to building the credibility and brand equity for an enterprise.

When I was in graduate school I remember being encouraged to “show not tell” in my writing.  In the case of a growing enterprise, I believe it’s important to do both SHOW and TELL.  Nobody tells the story better than the company founder, like Elise!  But you can do Show and Tell on a whole other level with a well thought out set of projections, pitch deck and other materials that help articulate the story.

The moral of the story is:

• It doesn’t need to be all in your head, let it out!
• Ask for help from trusted sources and take a load off.
• This can turn out to be a case where 1 + 1 is greater than 2.
• Show and Tell is time tested and proven from grade school, to grad school, to building a successful business.

It’s probably fair to say that the past 16 months have changed our lives forever in so many ways. Those of us who were fortunate enough to (so far) survive a global pandemic likely find ourselves with some new perspectives on life and how we live it each day. How do I want to spend my time and with whom? Is my work-life balance sufficient? What do I want to spend my money on? How can I make a positive difference in the world? What should I wear?

Wait. You’re probably wondering about that last one. It seems superficial and shallow, right? Uh…no. Let’s explore what we already know about the garment industry and, more importantly, the one proven way to dig it out of the mud.

The Garment Industry and Mass Pollution

The garment industry is one of the most polluting in the world. According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the fashion industry alone uses 93 billion cubic meters of water every year – enough to meet the consumption needs of 5 million people. Further, it dumps 500,000 tons of plastic microfibers into the ocean annually, spreading into the food chain and unable to be extracted. McKinsey & Company revealed that the industry accounts for 4% of greenhouse gas emissions, with nearly 70% coming from production processes.

Then there’s the volume. The industry’s “fast fashion” operating model dramatically exacerbates the problem with a constant stream of design, production, and distribution. No longer are the days of four fashion seasons, but instead, many retailers stock their shelves with new lines every week with 52 “micro seasons” per year. In 2000, 50 billion new garments were made; nearly 20 years later, that figure has doubled, according to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. This frenzied pace has also accelerated consumption: the average person today buys 60% more clothing than in 2000.

The Dark Secret of Clothing Production: Worker Exploitation

The volume leads to perhaps the darkest secret of the garment industry. Fast fashion companies are forced to find the cheapest labor available, and worker exploitation is rampant. Garment workers are often required to work 16-hour days, 7 days/week for poverty pay. Child labor is a common practice, and firings occur when worker unions initiate labor rights.

Sending Designer Labels Into Landfills

The final chapter of this linear economy is the endpoint of all those garments – they most often end up in landfills across the globe. A small percentage are donated to various charities, but only 10% find a new home through this pipeline, and the remaining is discarded. And according to ThredUp, 9 billion pounds of clothing are hardly worn or are just sitting idle in the consumers’ closets.

Bottom line: We must rethink how we consume and discard clothing.

Repurposing Clothing: Innovation For Good

One silver lining of the past year is that many people are already rethinking consumption and how they discard clothing. For one, we simply bought less clothing while in quarantine. This article from The New York Times references “Sweatpants Forever” and the unraveling of the fashion industry when meetings and working in offices moved virtual. Many of us also realized that we just don’t need excessive clothing to lead productive, fulfilling lives post-pandemic. Living with less not only supports our planet and society, but it provides more space – physically and mentally – to devote our time, energy, and money to elements that add true value to our lives.

Some of the companies making strides in sustainable materials include Everlane, Reformation, Patagonia, Levi’s, Tentree, and Rothy’s. You don’t have to sacrifice the brand name when purchasing an eco-friendly product.

The Social Responsibility of Discarding Used Clothing

So, we’ve identified progress in garment production. Now let’s discuss (and celebrate) a real solution to responsibly discard garments that made huge strides over the past year – a circular business model known as thrifting, resale, re-commerce, or consignment. While consumers bought significantly less apparel, 33 million consumers bought secondhand apparel for the first time in 2020, and 76% of those plan to increase this practice over the next 5 years – YEA!

Shopping Resale as a Sustainability Initiative

Shopping resale is like giving Mother Earth a huge hug in a beautiful cashmere sweater (a thrifted one, of course). An item bought secondhand displaces 17.4 pounds (7.89 kilograms) of CO² emissions, reducing its carbon footprint by 82% on average. Resale uses fewer than 77 gallons of water (1.2 gal vs. 78.5 gal) and 34 kiloWatts of energy (4.8 kWh vs. 38.8 kWh) compared to new items on average.

Thrifting dramatically reduces the human cost of the clothes on our backs by reducing the demand for fast fashion production. As sustainability advocates, we should also rejoice that it reduces energy consumption, air pollution, prevents landfills from filling with perfectly good clothing, and keeps our oceans cleaner.

Younger generations have already caught on. Compared to Boomers, Gen-Z is 33% more likely to own re-sold clothing. Over 40% of Gen-Z and Millennials have shopped secondhand apparel in the past year. Despite the “old dog, new tricks” saying, we can learn, adapt, and join this movement with our younger communities.

Now, I know what you’re thinking, “Thrifting is yucky, garments are outdated, and designer labels are hard to find.” Allow me to introduce you to the new world of resale! This isn’t your grandma’s thrift shop.

Whether you’re a designer-brand fashionista, minimalist with an eye for sustainable materials, an offender of the repeated “groutfit” (that’s the “grey outfit” my husband proudly wears 6 or 7 days a week), or just someone who needs a new pair of jeans…there is a re-commerce site or store for you. Tradesy, ThredUp, PoshMark, The RealReal, and Kidizen are just a few online favorites. Brands like Patagonia and Eileen Fisher have their own resale shops, and your local community likely has some hidden brick-and-mortar gems.

And before you ask, returns are accepted and often free. Some resale sites offer free “clean out your closet” kits – just mail in your old duds and get credit to spend. ThredUp offers e-gift cards to favorite sustainable brands with a 15% bonus for all clothes they accept from your closet. You can even find some brand-new items (with tags still attached).

When practicing sustainability, it’s time to think beyond climate change initiatives, alternative energy, recycling, and organic farming. It’s fascinating to think about the positive impact of advocating for thoughtful clothing and garment production, consumption, and disposal. Every one of us can transform our future when making current-day decisions. I challenge you to reconsider how, where, and why you shop for the clothing for your family and try your next shopping trip at a resale store. Upcycle the clothes you don’t currently wear to a resale site. And spread the word. Together, we can make a difference.

The line between privacy and personalization often gets blurred in the vast space of the internet. If you’re not sure how this affects you… then you’re probably not paying close enough attention. Knowledge is power when it comes to how you approach making decisions about your online presence. Get educated to make informed decisions regarding how you choose to conduct business (and personal work) online.

In 2021, Adults (and many kids) = Online Constantly

31% of U.S. adults are ‘almost constantly’ online, according to 2021 research from Pew Research Center. It’s not surprising; it’s so easily accessible. 85% of adults own a smartphone, spanning a wide range of demographic groups. And about ¾ of U.S. adults own a desktop or laptop computer. As remote work has increased during and post-pandemic life, virtual meetings and schooling are the norm, and lockdowns and social distancing have meant more time in front of screens and less time in face-to-face interactions. According to a recent article in Forbes, global online content consumption doubled in 2020 — raising the average daily time spent online for people in the U.S. to 6 hours and 59 minutes. If that’s the average, think how many people are spending more time online than that.

Are You In Control Of What You See Online?

While you might think you’re in total control of what you see while you’re on the internet, nothing could be farther from the truth. ‘Bots’ are watching your every move, tailoring content to what they think you’ll prefer to keep you glued to your screens for longer and longer periods of time. When you’re watching videos, your preferences are tracked so that the next batch of recommendations feels like it was selected just for you. When you’re shopping online, retailers track what stores, styles, and brands you love — so they can sell you more of what you like — and are likely to buy. Have you noticed how that website you looked at last week starts appearing in ads in all of your feeds? It’s no accident. They’re tracking you.

There are two sides to how this tracking-your-every-move may feel for you. Either it’s scary to think that the algorithms know what you’re doing, or it’s beneficial — because you see personalized ads that are relevant to you, not ads for products and services that are meaningless.

The Social Dilemma

If you didn’t realize the extent of personalized content following you around the internet, watch The 2020 documentary The Social Dilemma. This film makes it abundantly clear how powerful what we see on the internet can be. (And it’s pretty frightening, to be honest.)

The Social Dilemma shows prime examples of the evil side of the internet and how tech companies can affect the public. They didn’t intend for their powers to be used how it has, but alas, it’s too late. According to Wikipedia, the film shows how social media can “nurture addictions, manipulate people and governments, and spread conspiracy theories and misinformation.” Interviews with previous executives of Facebook, Google, Twitter, Mozilla, and YouTube shed new light on their platforms’ power and their experiences working for these companies. They explain how unintentionally — then uncontrollably — many social media channels have caused negative and problematic consequences. Many of them share that they won’t allow their own children to use social media. That alone is… shocking.

But, here’s the thing. For marketers who rely on using ads in social media platforms to reach their audience to build their brands and grow their revenue, targeting specific audiences to sell their products and services is nothing short of a godsend. By sending their marketing messages to people who (they believe) actually want to see them, their ad spend is well justified. And it’s lower than it would be if they were blasting ads to anyone and everyone on the internet, not knowing who would see them.

Cookies — What Are They And Why Should You Care?

Cookies are tiny text files that websites you visit place on your browser. When you visit websites, cookies remember your preferences, login details, products you like, etc. even after you leave the site. This data is used to target advertising to you that you “want” to see. And because targeted ads work (people enjoy personalized experiences when they’re browsing), marketers are mostly supportive of Google’s third-party cookies. (Third-party cookie comes from a domain other than the one you’re visiting.) However, the personalized experience teeters on the line of whether or not it’s too invasive of user privacy, so changes are coming down the pike.

Google’s Cookie Ban Is Coming

In an effort to increase privacy, in 2022, Google is planning to significantly — or entirely — reduce the number of third-party cookies to protect internet users from ads they don’t want to see. Known as the backbone of programmatic advertising for over a decade, the loss of third-party cookies will mean that marketers will need to re-think their strategies. Digital advertisers will have a harder time delivering personalized experiences, relevant content, and trusted human connections, according to Litmus.

What Should Marketers Do Next?

Since reliance on third-party cookies will not be an option next year, focusing on other marketing channels should be a top priority. First-party data — cookies created by the host domain — are still considered good. Email marketing is a channel that delivers a stellar ROI. Email is one of the most effective, high-performing channels because you own your email list — once people subscribe to hear from you, they’ve given you permission to land in their inboxes. You can decide what messages to send them and how often to communicate — without the fear that an algorithm or outside force will affect your strategy — because it never will.

Google’s cookie ban won’t be the only change in how to do business we see in the post-pandemic world. So, over the next 12 months, anyone who uses the internet to find, nurture, and acquire business (cue: everyone!) should consider updating their strategies, build resilience, and take advantage of new opportunities, and think outside the box for growth.

If you’ve never dabbled in the world of investing, even the thought of talking about money, financial returns, and building wealth can be intimidating.

For many people, investing is a foreign concept and one that might even bring doubt and uncertainty. From an early age, we’ve been taught to “save money” whenever possible. Unfortunately, all too often, investment strategies weren’t part of the conversation.

What if there were relatively simple solutions to help us ease into the investment world? Let’s start by asking ourselves, “What’s holding me back?”

I don’t know enough about investing. 

The vast majority of us can relate to this. We didn’t study finance or economics in school. We’re not financial advisors, and we’ve never worked with one. Perhaps our parents or partners have always handled the finances, so we’re not in the trenches in our own budgets. Whatever your situation, it’s never too late to empower your inner investor by educating yourself. Start simple, do basic research. There’s a world of information available on the internet; start by mining through well-known and trusted websites. Talk to people you trust who have investment experience. Formulate a list of questions and seek answers. Consult with a professional advisor.

I can’t afford it.

There was a time in history when this might have been true — when only high-net-worth individuals could get into the investment game. This is no longer the case. There are now a variety of investment vehicles available, including crowdfunding and beginner investment websites. The entry point for investments can be as low as a few dollars!

It’s too risky… I’m scared to lose money.

Talking with a financial advisor will greatly benefit anyone new to investing. During this meeting, your trusted partner will talk with you about risk — they will assess your current financial situation including income, assets, age, and also get a feel for how much risk you are willing/want to take. It’s different for everyone, and you can set yourself up for success with the right plan based on your risk assessment. After you complete a professional risk assessment, you’ll have a much better idea of where to invest and how much money you should invest.

Investment options don’t align with my values.

Investment opportunities have changed for the better. We’re no longer limited to funds that support fossil fuels, tobacco, guns, and companies with unfair labor or trade practices. Driven by factors like sustainability and positive societal impact, mission-based investors can select ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) impact investing — which allows everyone to put their money toward causes they care about, while still earning financial returns.

Don’t let any of these hesitations prevent you from taking the leap into the investment world! As you can see, there are options for everyone.

Until you’ve experienced it, you might not believe that thundersnow exists. When you put these two words together, they sound like a make-believe fairy tale nightmare or a phony phrase created for children’s books.

News flash: Thundersnow is real. And it’s perhaps a cruel metaphor for 2020.

Is it thundersnow, or is it COVID?

During a thundersnow storm, snowfall intensity severely limits visibility, winds atof or above tropical storm force are frequent, frostbite is nearly instant if you’re exposed to the elements, and the positive polarity is associated with greater destructive potential than lightning. So… not only is it something you’d never expect to happen, but you have to stay inside to stay safe. It’s kinda like living through COVID.

If there’s one takeaway from a year that seemed so promising when the ball dropped in Times Square on December 31st, ringing in a decade that we only dreamed about in sci-fi novels — it’s that we are resilient. We harnessed the concept of change agility, learned to be nimble in our (personal and business) goals and actions, and remembered to acknowledge gratitude and hope in a more authentic way than ever before.

Our wish for you

If you’ve experienced personal loss, job loss, illness, or hardship of any kind this year, we’re holding you in our hearts. We wish nothing but strength, healing, and abundance for you in the New Year.

What’s 2021 look like?

Right now, we’re faced with a future that seems to be filled with more questions than answers. We ask ourselves questions like, “Can business really be a force for good?” and “Is it possible to focus on mission-based work and still make a profit?” Challenging the status quo is healthy — after all, our children’s future depends on the decisions we make right now.

Climate change? It’s real. Social inequality? The gap is widening between the rich and the poor. A massive shift in the way companies do business? It’s happening. Goodbye offices, hello Zoom, and welcome to a new trend of outsourcing and utilizing contract work — companies are bringing in experts on a project basis rather than hiring a more robust full-time staff. This strategic move saves businesses money on benefits, training, and supplies. Additionally, it allows for a more flexible work schedule and focuses on areas that a smaller company may need to utilize on an intermittent — or temporary — basis. With the rise of a “gig economy,” or a free market system of employment, this strategy is also appealing and beneficial for contractors based on short-term and temporary contract work.

There are a lot of things that have gone right this year; let’s not forget that. And as we straddle the line of empathy and ambition, we’re here to be the light at the end of the tunnel of 2020. All of the trends we see as this year comes to an end drive our strategic goals for 2021.

We believe in the twinkle of hope that the New Year brings. Onward!

Some people might say energy conservation is a big problem best handled by government and industry.  While this can certainly a significant part of the solution, there are many things that we can do now as individuals to create positive change by incorporating energy conserving practices in our homes or offices!

Why not celebrate Energy Efficiency Day by taking actions that all of us can do?  You can make a difference today by starting new habits and traditions which are both good for the planet and good for your financial wellbeing.  Here are some suggestions that benefit everyone:

1. Use what you need and unplug the rest! Every electrical item doesn’t need to be always on or plugged in.  Adopt a use when needed approach.
   1. • Turn off lights when not necessary
      • Unplug electrical items that are not used regularly
2.  Run the dishwasher and laundry machines during off-peak hours to reduce your utility bills and take a load off your power grid
3. Install energy conserving devices such as thermostats, LED lights, timers, etc., to match peak and off-peak usage levels
4. Choose Energy Star Appliances and Equipment
5. Take a walk or ride a bike more often and drive less
6. Take the stairs instead of an elevator or escalator
7. Consider solar panels for electricity, heat, and hot water to reduce power grid usage.
8. Install water-saving plumbing fixtures, toilets, shower valves, shower heads which ultimately reduces energy consumption.

Energy efficiency is not only good for the world and good business, and it’s great for your wallet too!  Save the world and save money by conserving energy today.  Happy Energy Efficiency Day!

For more energy saving tips please visit the official Energy Efficiency Day website.

After changing from my sleep pants to my “work” sweatpants, and right before jumping on the first of what seems like an endless array of video meetings, I had some time to reflect on our recent household “emergency.” My daughter’s computer charger has stopped working.

I’ll spare you the boring details, but it took two very stressful days of watching the battery percentage helplessly drop before we were able to get a new charger. This was an emergency, since my daughter, like a large portion of the children around the world, is going to school remotely and a working computer is required for school education…a computer! Let that sink in.

School supplies used to be a notebook, a pencil, and a book (and an optional Transformers lunch box …if you were cool).

Through this pandemic we have seen a great push for social equality. It has been a problem for so many years and education sits right smack in its center of the issue. The access and quality of education are just a few of the issues that widen the divide in our society. Internet connectivity, a computer, and even electricity are luxuries a lot of us take for granted, and we only see their true value when they are suddenly gone. If you have kids, just trying shutting off your WiFi for five minutes and see your sweet child instantaneously morph into The Incredible Hulk!

As we try and plan for a better future on the other side, we cannot ignore the lessons we learn during the pandemic. We now know what the future will look like, we now know what the future will require from our children to be successful. So that is where we should invest our money.

We should invest in a future where each child has what they need to succeed. This way we not only become a more fair and just society, but we also become a more successful and prosperous society, where bright minds have the right platform to excel and ideas can flourish. This is not only the right thing to do socially, but the right thing to do financially!

At CoPeace we believe in investing in companies who create those platforms and the type of impact that changes generations. We do so, not by being psychic or pretending we know more than anyone else, but by taking note of the world around us and the direction it is heading toward.