Executive Director: Leanne Krueger-Braneky
300 Members

What's Unique About SBN Philly?

The Philadelphia region is abuzz with social and economic activity, with all the challenges and opportunities of a major metropolitan area. The Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia continues to grow as an organization uniquely suited to bringing together the city's diverse constituencies under one roof, building a local living economy in Philadelphia.

Through the Buy Local Philly Campaign, its Social Venture Institute, annual conference, and general membership recruiting activities, SBN Philly works to ensure that their network accurately reflects the demographic of the city and region.

The recent Buy Local Philly campaign provided a great opportunity to get SBN's local living economies message across in low-income communities, communities of color, and immigrant communities and to small businesses that are just trying to stay afloat in this age of corporate domination.

SBN Philadelphia partners with active businesses and organizations already working in areas crucial to any local living economy, and in many cases look to these entities as building block leaders. In this way, the network can work with other reputable organizations to be most effective in areas of sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, green building, independent media, sustainable landscapes, small business development, and fair trade.

These partnerships allow SBN Philadelphia to focus on supporting independent businesses in general as opposed to trying to drive progress in any one segment of the local economy. One way the network does this is by creating forums where business owners and non-profit leaders can come together to learn about the interdependence of all of these building blocks in a local living economy. They also organize seminars and conferences to educate business owners and conscious consumers about how to vote with their dollars for the kind of local economy they want to live in.

Accomplishments

Since its first formal meeting in Judy Wicks's living room in November 2001, SBN Philly has been working hard to build a local living economy in the Philadelphia region. In the last couple of years, SBN:

• Organized the first New Profiteer Business Plan Competition, which awarded cash, prizes, and equity financing to locally owned socially and environmentally responsible start-up companies
• Trained more than a hundred entrepreneurs at its third Social Venture Institute
• Recruited 73 new members, increasing membership by 63 percent
• Printed its first member directory
• Organized seven bi-monthly seminars that attracted 458 attendees
• Kicked off Buy Local Philly, its campaign to support and promote local independent businesses
• Hosted its second annual conference, with 160 attendees and speakers including Randy Hayes, Michael Shuman, Julius Walls Jr., and Amy Goodman.

• Expanded its Buy Local Philly Campaign toward a citywide campaign.

In 2006, we were thrilled to announce that after a five-year incubation period the Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia was ready to incorporate as a separate nonprofit organization.  Since it became a formal project in 2002, SBN has operated as a program of White Dog Cafe Foundation (WDCF).

To find out more about SBN Philadelphia and its programs, visit www.sbnphiladelphia.org