Founded in 2002, the Sustainable Business Council -Missoula Area (SBC) is an outgrowth of the "Spirit, Commerce and Sustainability" conference held in September of 2000. The conference hosted several keynote speakers including Paul Hawken, Alan Atkinson, and Janine Benyus. Inspired by their words, business owners, investors, non-profit organizations, employees, and interested citizens continued to meet after the conference and eventually formed an organizing committee for the SBC. The goal was to create a network of sustainable businesses in the Missoula area to encourage more businesses to adopt sustainable business practices and more consumers to support sustainable businesses.
Our organizing committee gathered feedback to gauge the interest and needs of local businesses via a focus group consisting of two-dozen influential Missoula business owners and a survey of 850 randomly selected Missoula-area businesses. Based on this feedback, a vision, a mission, core values statements, and by-laws were developed. Initially we were organized as an autonomous project under the Jeannette Rankin Peace Center’s 501(c)3 charitable nonprofit umbrella.
With the key organizing pieces in place, we held our kick-off meeting on February 28th, 2002. Thirty businesses and two individuals joined the SBC that night and that meeting marked the beginning of our bi-monthly Sustainable Lecture series and member meetings. Between inception and 2007, membership grew to over 100 members solely via word of mouth and the strength of our programs, which have progressively increased in quantity and quality over the years.
Early in 2006, our board initiated an extensive strategic planning process to reassess and clarify our strategic direction and address infrastructure needs to accommodate the growth. The new startegic plan was adopted in February 2007 and includes plans to file for independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit status, hire an executive director, develop a buy local campaign, and strengthen existing programs and operations.
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