In the winter of 2007-08, I decided to write an essay for the Dodge Biennial Report on the concept of sustainability.  I was struck by the increasingly widespread use of the word among our grantees and even within our own staff, and I wanted to know exactly what we meant by it.

In the process of researching and thinking about this idea, I sat down with ten leaders of non-profit organizations that Dodge supports to find out what they were thinking about sustainability, and what actions they were taking in its name. 

I was able to include some, but not all, of what seven of them told me in the final essay, which is available for download here.

We are pleased in addition to present here some excerpts from all ten interviews, with links to the organizations these exceptional leaders represent.  We hope that you, too, will be intrigued by the question of what sustainability means to you and you will add your own definition or explanation to this ongoing conversation by posting a comment to our new blog.  If you are interested in concrete actions you can take in addition to what you may already be doing, please visit our sustainability resources page for ideas from the Dodge staff.

 

Photograph by Barbara Beirne