Vancouver, British Columbia - June 24, 2009 - Industry and professional associations now have a new tool to help promote sustainability and corporate social responsibility to their members - and through them, to the larger business community. The Sustainability/CSR Roadmap for Associations provides ten steps to help associations increase focus and action on sustainability within their memberships. The Roadmap was developed by leading sustainability entrepreneur and coach, Coro Strandberg in collaboration with Five Winds International and funded by Industry Canada. Because it equips associations to educate and activate their broad memberships, the Roadmap can be a tipping-point tool to further sustainability.

"The Roadmap provides guidance to associations that want to help their members develop best practices in sustainability while meeting societal expectations and increasing business opportunities," explains Coro Strandberg. "This tool covers all stops along the way from developing the business case, to getting your house in order, to establishing goals and targets for an industry or sector."

The Sustainability/CSR Roadmap will benefit small and large associations with diverse memberships. In addition, it works internationally. Therefore it is also an excellent tool for industry associations with multi-national corporations in their memberships.

The Canadian Society for Association Executives (CSAE), advised on the development of the CSR/Sustainability Roadmap and will introduce the tool to its members through a new sustainability education and resources section of its website. "This is the kind of business-enhancing tool we like to offer our members," said Bob Hamp, Director, Communications and Advocacy, CSAE. "Each of our association members represents many organizations; so by equipping them with the Roadmap, we can help spread sustainability awareness and action throughout the marketplace."

The Mining Association of Canada (MAC) has supported its members with a sustainability program for several years and has benchmarked its program against the best practices of other industry associations. "We built our approach to sustainability before it became common," said Julie Gelfand, Vice President, Sustainable Development, MAC. "While it would have been helpful to have the Roadmap as we developed the business case for member participation, it is still a very useful checklist. It helps confirm our good practices and highlights areas that need attention."

Many industry and professional associations, in their efforts to advance sustainably, are balancing the difficult task of both leading and learning from their members. Regardless of where an organization is on the sustainability path, the Roadmap is an excellent discussion and planning tool for association boards of directors and executives to help build sustainability programs for industries, sectors and individual businesses and organizations.

The Sustainability/CSR Roadmap for Associations and the companion article, CSAE Members Lead the Way: Integrating Sustainability into their Organizations, are available free of charge at http://www.corostrandberg.com

About Strandberg Consulting
Strandberg Consulting provides strategic counsel and support to businesses, governments and non-profits interested in advancing sustainability through the marketplace. Coro Strandberg draws from her global network to help organizations make the connections they need. Her strategies integrate social and environmental values with clear, measurable business goals to create opportunities, deliver results and inspire solutions for a sustainable world.

About Five Winds International
Five Winds International is a management consulting firm that helps organizations create value through the integration of environmental and social considerations into their strategy and core business processes. The firm has offices in Canada, the United States and Germany.

Strandberg Consulting

Strandberg Consulting

Strandberg Consulting provides strategic advice and support to organizations integrating social and environmental considerations into business operations and strategy and the marketplace. Services include strategy and policy development, facilitation, research, coaching, training, keynoting and writing.

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