SeedLA: Empowering Environmental Nonprofits

Waterways

Exposure to air toxins

Healthcare access

Local water

Resilient communities

SeedLA will make Los Angeles the best place to LIVE by enhancing the impact of local environmental nonprofits and fostering the next generation of sustainable leaders.

As Los Angeles progresses towards a more sustainable future, environmental nonprofit organizations will continue to play an integral part in pioneering a healthier and more sustainable Los Angeles. Unfortunately, many of these organizations operate within a resource limited sector. Only 3% of all charitable giving in 2015 went towards environmental causes. SeedLA solves this gap by pairing LA’s most influential environmental organizations with our best and brightest young minds to collectively solve local environmental challenges.

HIGH IMPACT PROJECTS

Over the next year, SeedLA will host 12 projects with environmental nonprofits working on local sustainability initiatives that directly support the advancement of LA 2050’s LIVE metrics. Each of our dedicated project teams will donate a total of 400 hours over a 10 week period. The best way to understand what each project will do, is to take a look at what we have already done:

- Developed marketing strategies for Prop 67 (Plastic Bag Ban) with The Surfrider Foundation.

- Planned the transition of 1,200 City of Los Angeles vehicles from gas to electric

- Created the first draft of LA’s ‘Building Resilience’ guide with the US Green Building Council

Our consultants stem from a wide range of industries and academic disciplines (Caltech Astrophysics PhDs, SpaceX Engineers, and Fox marketing analysts) to offer unique perspectives on solving LA’s toughest environmental issues. We believe our consultant diversity not only provides more valuable support to our partners but also develops sustainability ambassadors across every industry.

TOMORROW'S ENVIRONMENTAL LEADERS

SeedLA provides an engaging volunteer opportunity for Angelenos who want to leverage their academic and industry experiences for environmental causes. Each member gets an intimate understanding about a particular environmental issue, feels a deep connection to the city of Los Angeles, and serves to make a tangible impact on his or her community.

In order to meet LA 2050 goals, our generation has an obligation to transition our existing economy into one that can sustain itself over the coming decades. That change will not happen by accident. We need leaders throughout the economy who will advocate for the LA 2050 we envision. We view SeedLA as an incubator that transforms LA’s high achieving outliers into those environmentally conscious leaders. Ultimately, SeedLA makes LA the best place to live by fostering a stronger culture of sustainability and strengthening our environmental organizations.

SeedLA defines the success of our project based on the tangible environmental impacts our work has on Los Angeles. We will measure our success by tracking the number of hours donated and establishing custom metrics for each of our 12 partner projects. The process outlined below is how the impact of our partner projects is tracked and measured.

Prior to starting a project we will establish a statement of work with our partners outlining their expectations and goals. Each project manager is responsible for tracking the week to week progress towards these goal. An experienced senior advisor is dedicated to each team to provide advice and oversee quality control.

After the completion of the midterm and final deliverables, the SeedLA chapter president will check in with each partner to ensure projects are on track and exceeding expectations. Once the project has ended the president will follow up 4-6 months later to determine the tangible impact resulting from the project. This is how we ultimately define the success of our project. At SeedLA we serve to make an impact, not a report.

Money

Volunteers

Network/relationship support

Quality improvement research

Meeting spaces