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Welcome at our GreenWish site!
GreenWish: support to individuals with a sustainable ideal
Every big change, every extraordinary product once started as an idea of an individual...
Community and citizen initiatives are being recognized as a growing force for sustainable development and social innovation. An increasing number of citizens start the development of their sustainable ideal individually or in their local community. GreenWish supports the development of these ideals. We give practical advice, project support, and connect these individual social entrepreneurs to relevant organizations and individuals supporting them with specific expertise and experience. It starts with a face-to-face open-minded conversation.
GreenWish’s "clients"
- Individual social entrepreneurs: individuals starting up the development and implementation of their own sustainable ideal. If you either consider to take the plunge to develop your idea, or if you encounter problems while developing your idea, you can contact us. GreenWish can support in translating your idea into a detailed concept or project proposal, in finding partners and funding, and in connecting you with other individuals or organizations to support you with their expertise and experience.
- Supporters: people who want to support the development of sustainable ideals with their knowledge and experience. GreenWish developed a database of GreenWish supporters. If you become a GreenWish supporter, your knowledge and ambitions will be the starting point for connecting you to a project. Matches are created in network-meetings and specific project encounters organized by GreenWish.
- Public society and other potential partners in the field of citizens’ initiatives with regard to sustainable and social innovation: GreenWish provides training and support to civil servants of local, regional and national governments and connects civil, private, public and nonprofit sector organizations to citizens’ initiatives. Questions addressed are: “How to stimulate civil initiatives? How to facilitate citizens’ initiatives? What lessons can be learned from working with individual social entrepreneurs?” Four years of experience provide the foundation for various courses and workshops.
Citizens’ initiatives have proven to make a big difference in this world. Nevertheless, to make things happen, it is important for relevant organizations to support citizens in the development of their innovative ideas. GreenWish is creating an expanding network of organizations committed to support citizens’ initiatives and connects them to individual social entrepreneurs of sustainable and social innovation.
GreenWish was founded in 2003. We support 60 to 80 initiatives per year with a team of 6 people. GreenWish is funded for a large part by the ministry of Environmental affairs and the ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food quality.
Success story
In the past years very inspiring individual social entrepreneurs have found their ways to GreenWish and with the support of GreenWish many of their ideas have seen the light of day. One of our success stories is the BagGlobe; an initiative by Caroli Buitenhuis, a young woman from Amsterdam who wanted to create a solution to re-use the plastic bags that you get when shopping for e.g. clothes. Her simple but very effective idea(l) was to create a format where people could donate the plastic bags they gather at home and place this format in local supermarkets, so that one would not have to buy another plastic bag to carry one’s groceries. According to a quick-scan we have let done, this brilliant ideal prevents millions of kilo’s of extra plastic to go round in our environment.
We are very proud to say that this civil initiative has now won the European award: Mission Sustainability 2007!
Contact
Are you intrigued by what we do and do you feel spoken to when you read the part of “GreenWish’s clients”, please contact us.
Niasstraat 1
PO Box 8213
3503 RE Utrecht
Netherlands
tel: +31-30-291 99 10
fax: +31-30-291 99 98
info@greenwish.nl
www.greenwish.nl