Here at Trust & Will we care deeply about sustainability and having a positive impact on our planet. This starts with our founders setting early goals for our company, applies internally to everyone on our team, and extends to our members, partners, and everyone a part of our online estate planning community.
Cody Barbo, Trust & Will’s CEO, says “We have come a long way since starting Trust & Will and I believe we’ve already made a sizable positive impact in our community and across the country. From our non-profit partnerships to our reduced carbon footprint, there’s still a long way to go before we can be proud of our difference. We plan to use our annual impact report to track our impact and will revisit it every year to monitor our growth.”
Our Efforts
The biggest way we achieve our goals is by partnering with Ecologi. With their help, we’ve been able to offset our carbon footprint, plant trees worldwide, and support conservation efforts around the globe. Since partnering with Ecologi,
Over three thousand trees have been planted on our behalf all around the world, in places like Madagascar and Mozambique;
Trust & Will celebrated 1 year (and counting!) as a climate positive workforce;
We have offset over 350 tonnes of CO2e, which is the equivalent to over a thousand meters of sea ice saved or over 900,000 miles driven in a car;
Our funding has supported projects like onshore wind generation in Taiwan and forest protection in North Zimbabwe, just this month.
Another big move for us was making the switch to using FSC certified sustainable paper for all of our estate planning documents and packaging. The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is a non-profit organization that sets high standards to ensure that forestry is practiced in a sustainable manner.
An FSC certification is considered the “gold standard” designation for wood harvested from forests that are responsibly managed, socially beneficial, environmentally conscious, and economically viable. Since we ship thousands of estate planning documents across the country on a weekly basis, we’ve prioritized using paper products that have been harvested responsibly.
Trust & Will is also proud to partner with 1% for the Planet, an organization that connects dollars and doers to accelerate smart environmental giving. We commit to giving 1% of our gross sales each year to their nonprofit partners, such as the National Forest Foundation, the Wildlife Conservation Society, Fair Trade Certified, and many more. This also means that from co-founders to members of our team, we are committed to giving our team paid time off to go volunteer at various non-profits and charities that they are passionate about.
While we are proud of the things we have done as a company, we also recognize that there are still many ways we can improve. This is why by the end of 2021, we have set a goal to become B Corp certified, to meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose. This goal won’t be easy to accomplish, but we believe that it’s the best way to become an industry leader in sustainability.
We also encourage sustainability efforts in other ways, such as educational outreach here in our online learn center and internally with our employees.
A Team Effort
While it’s been a hard year for all of us who have adapted to working from home, members of our team still do their best to have a positive impact on the earth. Here are just a few ways that our team lives sustainably, according to a recent poll:
85% of our team frequently recycles.
85% of our team opts for using a reusable water bottle instead of single-use plastic.
57% of our team has donated to an organization that has a positive impact on the environment within the past year.
71% of our team brings reusable bags to use when shopping.
This Earth Day, we encourage you to think about the small changes you can make to have a positive impact on our world. We have linked some resources below so we can all continue to grow together.
If you’re a non-profit who would like to partner with us or simply someone with other ideas on ways we can continue to make positive impacts on the community, reach out to us at hello@trustandwill.com.
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