Press Release - RSF Social Finance

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RSF is a pioneering nonprofit financial services organization dedicated to using the tools of business to bring about positive, real-world change. Our goal is not just to make money available to progressive and innovative projects; its to fundamentally change the way the world works with money.Founded in 1936 as the Rudolf Steiner Foundation, RSF Social Finance began making loans to Steiner-inspired organizations in 1984. In the late 1990s, RSFs mission expanded to serve a broader range of clients whose intentions and values are compatible with Steiners insights on associative economics and social renewal.Since 1984, RSF has made over $200 million in loans and over $90 million in grants, placing us in the top tier of social finance organizations worldwide. For 25 years, we have consistently provided a positive return on investment for our clients.Today, RSF offers investing, lending, and giving services to individuals and enterprises committed to improving society and the environment. We currently have over one thousand clients who are creating enormous positive impact by helping us redirect the flow of money from global capital markets to local ones.Together, were creating a shift from financial transactions that are complex, opaque, and anonymous to those that are direct, transparent, and personal. Every decision we make is based on long-term relationships, not short-term outcomes.Inspired by the work of Rudolf Steiner, we believe that money has a deeply spiritual dimension. In our view, money is a form of energy that connects one person to another and strengthens the bonds of community. Our innovative financial products not only meet the constantly shifting needs of the market, but also encourage meaningful and direct relationships among investors and social entrepreneurs, donors and grantees.

RSF Grantee RugMark Receives Award from Green America

Mar 10, 2010 5:26 AM CST

(Justmeans.com / CSR News) - RSF grantee RugMark was recently awarded with the Building Economic Alternatives (BEA) Award, given by Green America (another RSF grantee) to recognize groups or individuals that are leading the movement to use the economy as a tool for building a more just and sustainable society. RugMark was chosen for this award in recognition of its work through the GoodWeave™ certification program to end illegal child labor in the carpet industry while offering educational opportunities to increase opportunities for children in South Asia. RSF borrower Odegard, Inc., which produces and imports uniquely designed hand-knotted carpets, was the first U.S. company to join RugMark and certifies every one of their carpets with the GoodWeave label. Since RugMark began in 1994, illegal child labor in the handmade carpet industry of South Asia has decreased by 75 percent, from an estimated one million to 250,000 child workers.

The GoodWeave certification standard will soon include green benchmarks to reduce water and air pollution related to rug washing and dyeing, along with living wages and improved working conditions for of-age workers. RugMark also recently announced the launch of a customized carbon offsetting program in partnership with Carbon Clear. The carbon calculator will help RugMark’s North American member companies offset the carbon dioxide that is unavoidably emitted in the process of shipping their GoodWeave certified rugs made in India and Nepal. RugMark estimates that more than 1,900 tons of carbon dioxide could be offset through its member importers alone – equivalent to the electricity usage of more than 900 homes over the course of a year or the use of more than 725,000 gallons of gasoline. The amounts paid for offsetting will fund development projects, including two textile projects in India.

To find out more about RugMark and the GoodWeave certification program, visit www.goodweave.org.

SOURCE RSF Social Finance