Business for Sustainable Development (BSD), a non-profit organization in the Philippines that promotes sustainable development, has introduced a new membership program that is as outstanding as ever. The new program provides more adaptable membership options and innovative new features and tools for its members.
The membership program has been in effect since 1992 when the organization was founded by a diverse group of business professionals under the name Philippine Business for the Environment (PBE). The membership program primarily aims to encourage businesses in taking actions toward environmental concerns and responsibilities.
In the past years, the membership only had a basic feature which only included guaranteed slots on events and training, speaking engagements, and access to discounts in BSD advisory services. The new membership program, on the other hand, will provide members with the opportunity to learn about and participate in a wide variety of opportunities that BSD has planned for them in the years to come.
“We have tailored fit reasonable membership plans for companies, particularly for MSMEs, to be presented by these concepts to prepare them as we gear up towards sustainability,” said Business Development and Membership Manager of BSD Raelanie Loyola.
“It is critical that, even though these are startup businesses, they are already adhering to the standards of sustainable business practices with proper guidance and intel from our organization,” she added.
Reconnecting
Last year on December 7, 2023, the organization conducted a webinar entitled ‘Membership Q&A’ which primarily focuses on answering questions about the new membership program.
Raelanie Loyola, manager of business development and membership for BSD, led a discussion on the membership changeover process for existing members.
“We really want our members to understand that it is worthwhile to be a member of BSD, particularly with our current members. We want to establish the organization as a brand that companies would want to be associated with because of our credibility towards sustainability and associated with the global network of WBCSD.” she explained.
Raelanie emphasized throughout the webinar that current BSD members no longer need to reapply and pay the joining fee. According to her, the transition will occur automatically, unless members choose to upgrade their membership.
Along with the BSD members, the webinar was also attended by Palafox Associate founder and CEO Architect Palafox Jr., and Energy Development Corporation President Ricky Tantoco, who are also board members of the organization.
In the coming months, BSD intends to reconnect with its members and maintain a close relationship with them, consequently, the organization will hold a monthly membership meeting for its members to stay in touch and learn about their most recent sustainability initiatives.
Continue growing
After more than three decades of actively supporting and promoting sustainability, BSD’s membership program has grown a lot with more than 40 active members.
New members who are Ampersand Design Think Lab, Komunidad Global, and SoilMate Collective Inc, also happen to be their membership partners too that have made significant contributions to BSD’s newly improved membership program.
“We want to establish a membership program in which the businesses also have the opportunity to share the causes they support and ideals they uphold,” Loyola said. “To that end, we allowed our own members to become our partners so that we can enable them to make contributions and provide other members with the opportunity to try out their own sustainable business ventures,” she added.