Axis Corporate Annual Report -- 2001

Axis Performance Advisors uses Ralph Estes concept of a Corporate Annual Report as a way to track how socially responsible we are. A corporate annual report, unlike the typical annual report, serves to describe our contributions to all our stakeholders--not just owners/shareholders, but also employees, customers, the community and the environment. The real bottom line is about more than just money. The following report summarizes our contributions to our various stakeholder groups. Since the employees are also owners, we combined those two stakeholder groups.

Clients

For AXIS adding value to our clients' organizations is our primary mission. Here are some highlights of our work in the last year.

• Darcy led a project team to perform a sustainability audit for Portland METRO.
• Marsha worked on another project with Metro helping them to improve cross divisional team effectiveness.
• Marsha provided leadership training to several heads of ministries to Botswana, as well as a cohort of emerging leaders from an Oregon state agency.
• Darcy and Marsha completed a research project for the Oregon Office of Energy and the Portland Office for Sustainable Development on resource conservation and another for the local utilities on green power.
• Darcy and Marsha helped OMSI implement a pilot program on sustainability. In just a couple months, the pilot teams reduced solid waste by 5% and employee commutes by 12% (exceeding DEQ's target).
• We taught a graduate level class on sustainability for the University of Oregon.
• We released the first booklets in the Sustainability Series, a set of how-to booklets designed to help organizations implement sustainability. After doing interviews to assess the effectiveness of the first four, we released several more, some co-authored with others in the field. The following titles are available:

Developing an Implementation Plan

Training Employees on Sustainability

Identifying Environmental Impacts

Establishing Sustainability Metrics and Targets

Greening Your Supply Chain

Making Sense of Sustainability: An Employee Guide (a primer, not a how-to booklet)

Selecting a High-Impact Sustainability Project

Reducing Energy Use and Greenhouse Gases: Doing your part for the climate

• We changed our Team Boosters to an electronic service, reducing environmental impacts and the price. We published seven issues on such topics as accountability, global warming, intention-setting, and trust.
• Marsha facilitated the implementation of site-based management for an elementary school.
• Marsha co-authored a book, The Trust Imperative.
  

Community

In addition to our work with clients, we make a point of adding value in our communities.

• Marsha became a senior examiner for the new Oregon Performance Excellence Award program.
• Marsha facilitated pro bono an annual planning retreat and other meetings for DaVinci Middle School.
• Darcy participated on a committee intended to create a Sustainability Resource Center, which will be located at the Natural Capital Center.
• Marsha served as a mentor in the Sustainable Project Exchange program.
• Darcy helped plan the National Pollution Prevention Roundtable annual conference, which will be held in Portland in 2002.
• Darcy volunteered for the SMART reading program at Rigler Elementary School.
• Darcy created a new listserve to support people in the Pacific Northwest who are interested in sustainability. [To join, send an email to NW-Sustainability-subscribe@yahoogroups.com]
• We continued our free services: the Axis Advisory, a quarterly newsletter and our newsflash service, a monthly summary of interesting articles and books. [To join, send an email to AXIS-Advisory-subscribe@yahoogroups.com or AXIS-newsflash-subscribe@yahoogroups.com respectively.]
• Marsha and Darcy did 16 presentations (most on sustainability). Darcy co-taught a two-day class on building a business case for sustainability for the Oregon Natural Step Network.
• We opened a corporate savings account at Shorebank Pacific, a bank that targets loans toward sustainability-related projects.
• Darcy presented at both The Natural Step conference and the Sustainable Northwest conference.
  

Environment

Though as a consulting service we have low environmental impact, we still feel a responsibility to being good earth stewards.

• We began measuring the number of trips where we used alternative transportation (mass transit, biking or walking.) We began biking or walking to certain client meetings. We've increased our use of alternative transportation methods from near zero to approximately 34%. If we tracked carpooling, this percentage would be higher.
• We switched to water based overhead markers, eliminating the need for isopropyl alcohol for cleaning transparencies.
• Darcy and her husband bought a Toyota Prius (hybrid gas/electric car), which improved their fuel efficiency by 50%; they now average 45-46 mpg.
• Again this year, AXIS is climate neutral. We purchased carbon credits to offset our greenhouse gas emissions for the year; Darcy doubled her purchase of green power blocks to support wind power.
  
  

Employees/Owners

As owner/operators we naturally set business goals for our own development. This year, we focused on deepening our knowledge of environmental issues.

• We purchased newer computers so that we could upgrade our software, allowing better compatibility with clients.
• We exceeded our financial goals for the year, beating last year's performance.
• Darcy attended a 3-day workshop on environmental facilitation and a seminar on green chemistry.
• Marsha attended a number of sustainability-related events including the Sustainable Northwest Conference, the International Association of Sustainability Businesses adn Organizations (IASBO) and workshops by Zero Waste Alliance on stakeholder involvement and sustainable products.
  

Clients we served in 2001

• Bonneville Power Administration
• Cascadia Wild!
• Chapman Elementary
• Children's Eternal Rainforest (Costa Rica)
• Con-way Transportation Services
• DaVinci Middle School
• Oregon Department of Energy/Portland Office of Sustainable Development
• Oregon Employment Dept
• Oregon Museum of Science and Industry
• Oregon Mutual Insurance
• Oregon State University
• Pacific Power
• Portland General Electric
• Portland METRO
• The Performance Center
• University of Oregon
• Washington Dept. of Ecology

PLANS FOR 2002

Sustainability Series -- Once people understand the need to pursue sustainability, they often are stumped. What do we DO? So we plan to continue publishing new Sustainability Series tm booklets and hope to find additional distribution channels for them. Look for...

Building a Business Case for Sustainability

Choosing Greener Products

Developing Effective Systems to Manage your Sustainability Initiative: Creating an EMS-lite

Approaching Zero Waste

Sustainability Tour Services--Since the Pacific Northwest is becoming a mecca for sustainability practices, we're going to investigate the feasiblity of offering tour guide-type services for those who want to come to the area and learn about sustainability.

Newsletters, Newsflashes and a Sustainability Listserve -- We will continue our free quarterly newsletter and periodic newsflash services. (Newsflashes are summaries of interesting articles and books we come across.) We also hope to develop our new NW-Sustainability list so that it becomes the best way for people in the field to know what's going on and to get answers to questions. To sign up for any of these services go to http://www.yahoogroups.com and search for the title of the service you want.