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INSIDE:
Investing in Lasting Change Through Organic Research
FEATURING: Our
ALSO:
Clif Bar & Company 2020 Annual Report
Journey to Zero Waste
Clif Family Foundation Celebrates 15 Years of Giving
Our Five Aspirations Are Moving the World BUSI NESS
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We measure our success based on 5 bottom lines: sustaining our People, Community, Planet, Business, and Brands.
BORN ON A BIKE, FAMILY AND EMPLOYEE OWNED 2
A Different Kind of Company
1 1.28 BILLION 1,050 #
1 5 1% 168,901 $60 MILLION 18 90%+ 320,000 #
NUTRITION BAR COMPANY 1
POUNDS ORGANIC purchased since 2003 EMPLOYEE OWNERS
PRIVATE FUNDER OF ORGANIC RESEARCH IN U.S. BOTTOM LINES built into articles of incorporation OF NET SALES DONATED to support nonprofits HOURS COMMUNITY SERVICE since 2001 CASH DONATED TO DO GOOD since 2000 YEARS CLIMATE-NEUTRAL business operations WASTE DIVERSION from landfill at our bakeries TREES PLANTED to date 1. IRI POS scan dollar sales, Total US-MULO+Conv, 52 weeks ending 6/13/21
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LOOKING BACK WITH GRATITUDE: Notes from Gary and Kit As we approach Clif Bar’s 30th anniversary, we reflect on the foundation of friendships and values, and the commitment to turn ideas into action that have brought us here today. Gary: Jay and I met in high school on a ski trip, two students obsessed with challenging (and sometimes not-so-smart) outdoor adventures. We put in the miles together. It was our trusted, timeworn, trail-weary relationship that led to the epiphany moment in November of 1990 that changed both our lives forever. It was Jay’s idea to ride 125 miles (oops...175) in one day, tackling the hills in Northern California. It was my idea to bring along six energy bars (what was available at the time) as our sole source of fuel. The rest is history: Jay went on to become a doctor, starting his junior-college-to-med-school journey at age 35. It was my idea to create a better-tasting energy bar, with no money in the bank. Would Jay have become an emergency room doctor, and would I have created Clif Bar without our long-term friendship? Those adventures taught us how to dream, set goals, and never give up—and led to that moment in 1990 at the top of Mt. Hamilton where two friends miscalculated the length of the ride, but didn’t freak out because of the many moments like that we’d experienced before. The trust built from our earlier adventures all led to that epiphany moment, the three seconds that changed the course of my life forever. Kit: From the moment I stepped through the doors at Clif in 2000, I knew I’d found my tribe: a company that prioritizes good food, people, and the environment, and that can create lasting, positive change. We started our sustainability journey with a commitment to organic food and farming. Back in 2001 Clif had sourced zero (zilch, nada) pounds of organic. Today we’ve sourced over a billion pounds; 78% of everything we purchased in 2020 was organic. This means that thousands and thousands of acres of land are not treated with highly toxic chemicals that threaten the health of farmers, farmworkers, and rural communities. On top of that, we’ve funded organic research for more than a decade, sponsoring graduate students studying organic systems across the country and endowing chairs in organic research at public universities that benefit organic agriculture into perpetuity. Kit + Gary: We’re excited to introduce Sally Grimes, our new CEO, who is leading the next leg of Clif Bar’s journey and brings her whole heart into running a Five Aspirations business. We offer a warm welcome to Sally and are grateful for her leadership.
Kit and Gary, Owners and Founder, Clif Bar & Company
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LOOKING FORWARD WITH HOPE: Redesigning the business of food for health, equity, and earth When I joined Clif Bar as CEO in June of 2020, the pandemic had turned the world upside down. While our headquarters worked remotely and all travel was halted, I was welcomed to this incredible company on video. At the same time, our essential bakery teams worked tirelessly to continue safely baking millions of CLIF Bars.
Despite the unprecedented challenges we faced around the world, I entered 2021 filled with hope. Hope for the future of Clif Bar, our people and communities, and for the future of food. The year 2020 forced many of us to reflect on our values and articulate how we want to contribute to the world, including Clif Bar. Building on the legacy of Clif Bar’s past 30 years, we found the words to capture our purpose as a company. What we do: We make good food fit for the movement ahead— to provide energy for moving our bodies and our society forward. How we do it: We blaze a Five Aspirations trail—when we clear a new path, we are guided by our aspirations and map the route for others to confidently follow. And, most importantly, why: We will redesign the business of food for health, equity, and Earth. How can we work together to reimagine a food system that will serve the future of humanity? Clif Bar has set bold goals for the journey ahead. We plan to multiply our positive impact on the world by doubling the size of our company. Our growth will be driven by innovation across our Five Aspirations as we work to disrupt the status quo. We know that we are one single company. We also know that positive energy can change the world, and that one small movement can spark the movement of many—creating a ripple effect for the benefit of all. Upward,
Sally Grimes, CEO, Clif Bar & Company
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BRANDS
Creating brands with integrity, quality, and authenticity
Whether you’re finding your edge or finding your purpose, CLIF has a full range of delicious, organic, and sustainable products that give you the energy to keep moving.
NEW CLIF BAR® THINS 3 flavors: Chocolate Peanut Brownie, Chocolate Chip, and White Chocolate Macadamia Nut flavor
NEW CLIF BAR® DUOS 3 flavors: Chocolate Brownie + Crunchy Peanut Butter, Cool Mint Chocolate® + Chocolate Chip, and Chocolate Brownie + White Chocolate Macadamia Nut flavor
NEW CLIF KID® FLAVORS 3 flavors: Cinnamon Crunch, Cookies ’n Creme, and Cinnamon Roll
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2 THINS, 100 CALORIES, 5G SUGAR PER PACK Crispy, crunchy, and made with organic rolled oats, CLIF BAR Thins are perfect for snack time or any time. • Plant-based ingredients • Non-GMO • No high fructose corn syrup or artificial flavors
2 CLASSIC FLAVORS, ONE SMALLER ENERGY BAR • • • • • •
6–7g of plant-based protein Made with organic oats 190 calories or less 11g of sugar Non-GMO No high fructose corn syrup or artificial flavors
When choosing bars for kids, parents rate taste (91%) and balanced nutrition (85%) as most important. Organic is also seen as increasingly imperative, and has grown +12 pts since 2019 with 68% of parents now rating it as important. Source: CB&C, Brands Health U.S., Dec. 2020
LET’S MOVE THE WORLD Taking on the world takes energy. So whether you’re running a race or chasing your dreams, we’re here to fuel you with purposefully crafted, delicious food that gives you the energy to keep moving. Because when you move, the world moves with you.
Meet Clif Bar & Company Athlete
SKY BROWN “I can do anything, and you can too/ There isn’t anything you can’t do/ We can be gritty and shake up the world/ We can do anything/We are GIRLS!” –From Sky’s first musical single, GIRL
Thirteen-year-old pro skateboarder and surfer Sky Brown loves to inspire other young women athletes. She started skating and surfing at age two, competed in her first professional competition at seven, and turned pro at ten, making her the youngest professional skateboarder in the world. Sky was also the youngest girl ever to compete in the Vans U.S. Open Pro Series in 2016. Over the course of her career, Sky has managed to break more than records; she’s also broken over 100 skateboards. Besides Iced Oatmeal Cookie, Sky loves CLIF Chocolate Chip and Chocolate Chip Peanut Crunch.
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BRANDS
DANIEL ROMANCHUK “At age 5, I ditched walking with braces and crutches— it was way too slow, and I had things to do. My wheelchair is freedom; I’m not bound to it or confined by it, and it’s taken me around the world. To me, that’s what sport is about—being free to push yourself past where you or others think you can go!” Daniel is a 2019 World Champion (in both the Men’s Wheelchair 800M and Marathon distances), a two-time World Record Holder (800M and 5000M), and, at 20 years old, he was the youngest ever to win a Major Marathon Grand Slam—Boston, London, Chicago, and New York. Daniel's favorites:
Clif Bar & Company athletes helped us donate 7 million bars as part of our Feed the Fight campaign. Athletes donated over 400,000 bars to frontline healthcare workers, first responders, senior service centers, and food banks at 70 locations across the country. Daniel Romanchuk made the extra effort to be onsite when 10,000 bars were delivered to Baltimore’s Kennedy Krieger Institute where he started his adaptive sports journey.
You Eat, We Plant: Restoring Threatened Forest Ecosystems for People and Planet 8
We’re partnering with American Forests to plant 1 million trees by 2025, and every sale from CLIF BAR seasonal flavors helps support these efforts. American Forests works with local organizations to restore healthy forest ecosystems under stress from climate change, and to build movements that drive policy to conserve forests on a large scale. One current campaign focuses on the whitebark pine, a rugged, high-altitude tree that’s essential to other plants and animals. Dozens of species depend on its large seeds
KAI LIGHTNER In 2020, Kai Lightner launched Climbing For Change to empower new young climbers, expand opportunities for them to start climbing, and promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in the climbing community. Of his new nonprofit, Kai says, “I find myself fulfilling my purpose and feeling happiest when I’m helping other people. To anticipate the smiles of the kids that we’re going to be working with and the people I can be helping in my community, it just makes me really excited and happy.” Kai is a two-time SCS (Sport Climbing Series) National Championship Titles winner and a three-time Pan American Champion. Kai’s favorites:
for food, and the trees help protect local water supplies, too, by preventing snow from melting too quickly. Unfortunately this essential species is vanishing due to disease and climate change; there are now more dead whitebark pines in the U.S. than living. To turn things around, American Forests has teamed up with other
nonprofits to create an innovative national restoration strategy that’s supported by local tribal members, skiers, and government agencies. Healthy trees can live up to 500 years and sometimes over 1,000 years. To date, Clif has helped American Forests plant more than 250,000 different trees across the U.S.
This whitebark pine in Glacier National Park shows the characteristic red needles of a blister rust fungus infection. Photo: National Park Service
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BRANDS
ENERGY TO MOVE THE WORLD • Energy & nutrition from plants
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• Responsibly sourced ingredients • Sustainably made When we move, we can move the world. That’s why we’re making plant-based energy foods with ingredients that are sustainably grown and responsibly sourced—like USDA certified-organic oats—to energize our bodies and the change we want to see in the world. (Learn more: www.clifbar.com/who-we-are/food-values)
1. CLIF Whey Protein and ZBar Protein made with whey and nonfat dry milk
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PEOPLE
Working side by side, encouraging each other, our company is our people
Thanks to Our Bakers,
14 MILLION BARS DONATED to Frontline Responders & Communities in Need Clif bakers worked safely and continuously through the pandemic and, thanks to their efforts, we were able to distribute 7 million bars to frontline healthcare workers and first responders in the first half of 2020; a few months later, we donated 7 million additional bars to people facing hunger or food scarcity. “Thank you so much for offering your awesome Clif bars to healthcare workers. The stress they are under personally & professionally is overwhelming. Your generosity is beautiful. Bless You from the bottom of our Texas Hearts!!” –Pamela B., Director of Food and Nutrition “This is an incredibly generous donation and just the sort of thing we need for our frontline workers right now. We really appreciate you thinking of Children's Minnesota, and for all of the work you're doing to help others during this tough time. Take care!” –Allie K., Development Associate “I wanted to thank you, your staff and Clif Bar for sending up the bars to VCFD. The bars are perfect size and great flavors to throw in our packs so that we can always have a bar with us, especially when we are out fighting fires. Thank you.” –Jack N., Fire Department Captain
BAKED WITH LOVE. SENT WITH GRATITUDE. 12
GIVING BACK LOCALLY THROUGH OUR COMMUNITY KITCHEN Clif doubled down to keep our employees safe during the pandemic so that they could take care of their families. In turn, Clifsters were able to give back to local communities and help get bars to people across the country. During the pandemic, food insecurity increased 200% across the country. Our own East Bay neighborhood of Oakland was hit hard. In response, Clif volunteers used our headquarters’ employee café (aka Kali’s) to prepare freshcooked meals to support the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) and the East Oakland community. Each week, Clif people delivered 450 meals to OUSD staff and volunteers who were distributing food to students at 24 sites (in recyclable packaging, of course)!
“We know that a huge percentage of our students depend on us to provide healthy meals, and that for many students, we are their primary source for healthy food and nutrition. Since the first week of the shelter in place, we’ve provided more than 15 million meals and other food and supplies to our students and families. We could not have done all of that without the generous support of our community partners. Clif Bar stepped up in a big way to support Oakland’s children and families by providing their healthy and delicious products across all 24 of our summer food distribution sites. This is no surprise knowing the values of Clif Bar and its people. This support has had a profound impact on our community.” –Dr. Kyla Johnson-Trammell, OUSD Superintendent
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Equity 2020 WAS A WATERSHED YEAR FOR RACIAL EQUITY We took a close look in the mirror and realized we had room for improvement. Like many other companies, we acknowledged our past commitment to inclusion, diversity, and equity was not strong enough, and we’re working to correct that with strategic action and commitment.
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IDE pyramid designed by Christian L., Clif’s IDE Coordinator
In 2020, we laid out a three-year framework for Clif Bar to embed inclusion, diversity, and equity in our culture and create a sense of belonging for all employees:
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Achieve and maintain equity for all employees across different identities. Create a more inclusive culture; ensure psychological safety for all employees and high trust in leadership. Build cultural awareness and self-awareness to authentically connect with our fellow employees, consumers, and communities. Increase ethnic diversity across all levels with a focus on leadership through hiring, retention, development, and promotion practices. Increase the representation of women at our bakeries through hiring, retention, development, and promotion practices.
PROGRESS ON OUR IDE JOURNEY Our commitment to IDE, along with the events of 2020, informed and inspired us to take the following actions: Created the Equity Advisory Council, a group of Clif employees that meets weekly with the vision and commitment to eradicate inequities so that everyone at Clif is seen and valued, and has equal access to resources and opportunities. Launched Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), voluntary, employee-led groups that leverage individual differences to fuel growth and insights for our business and community. At our bakery in Twin Falls, our first two ERGs launched in 2020, one for LBGTQ+ employees and one for multicultural employees. Celebrated Juneteenth: We closed the lines in our bakeries and cancelled all meetings in the office to offer employees our first-ever day of
reflection and learning in honor of Juneteenth, the annual celebration of Emancipation. We asked employees to grow a deeper understanding of the complex history of oppression, pain, and, also, the joy that the Black community has experienced in the U.S. Expanded our support for grassroots partners working on racial equity: Among the multiple nonprofits we were honored to fund in 2020 is the African People’s Education and Defense Fund, which used our $70,000 donation to advance economic development during the pandemic. Rolled out racial equity training: We made it a requirement for company leaders, and invited everyone to attend. We also set our sights on concrete commitments to make leaders into more effective allies.
EVERY FULL-TIME EMPLOYEE AT CLIF IS ALSO AN OWNER, thanks to our Employee Stock Ownership Plan.* *after one year of full-time employment
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BUSINESS
Building a resilient company, investing for the long term
REDESIGNING THE BUSINESS OF FOOD FOR
HEALTH, EQUITY, AND EARTH MAKING HISTORY AS A RESPONSIBLE BUSINESS IN CALIFORNIA How we made multiple bottom lines part of Clif’s reason for being In 2010, Clif’s then General Counsel Bruce Lymburn was charged with making our commitment to socially responsible business into a legally binding part of our company. The problem? California law didn’t allow businesses to claim that kind of purpose. Bruce met with his former corporate law professor at UC Berkeley to brainstorm about options. Over the next few weeks, the two studied the California Corporations Code and unearthed a promising exception: no statement of purpose “except by way of limitation” (think of it as a kind of double negative). Could Clif’s Five Aspirations business
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model be a limitation that required the company to deliver value on multiple bottom lines? Bruce filed a request. The state declined. Bruce persisted. Eventually he prevailed, pioneering a legal precedent. The following year, the nonprofit B Lab helped make benefit corporations part of state law. Today, we’re happy to see and support the growing benefit corporations movement that’s challenging businesses to address social and environmental responsibility. That includes calling on corporate boards of directors to consider the larger interests of stakeholders.
“We’re working to run a different kind of company: the kind of place we’d want to work, that makes the kind of food we’d like to eat, and that strives for a healthier, more sustainable world—the kind of world we’d like to pass on to our children.” KIT CRAWFORD, Owner
Investing in organic agriculture—through our purchasing and research funding—creates lasting positive change for people and the planet. Organic farming promotes economic, environmental, and social benefits; delivers value across all five of our aspirations; and reduces dependence on fossil fuels and toxic pesticides.
ORGANIC FARMING BENEFITS PEOPLE, CLIMATE, AND BIODIVERSITY
10 Years of Our ESOP In 2010 we offered an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) to our employees to receive ownership in the company and help them save for retirement. Since our ESOP's inception, the company's enterprise value has grown more than three times and our annual benefit to employees has averaged 25% of eligible compensation. It also has allowed the company to stay private. This ownership mindset is a major factor driving our Five Aspirations and strengthening our culture.
Is organic agriculture regenerative? Yes! In many ways, it’s the original regenerative practice. Organic farming eliminates highly toxic persistent pesticides, conserves and restores biodiversity, and stores carbon in the soil (where it increases soil fertility) instead of releasing it to the atmosphere. Consumer demand has driven organic growth for decades. It’s now a $62 billion industry in the U.S. alone—organic farming continues to grow more quickly than the total packaged-food market. Who’s buying? Everybody! The Hartman Group survey shows that 82% of consumers use organic “at least monthly or occasionally” and over a quarter of consumers report using organics at least weekly.1 Hartman identifies the core users as the most knowledgeable and active purchasers, and who are they? Primarily millennials, Gen X, and people of color. 1. Hartman Group, Organic and Beyond 2020, p. 15–17
In 2020, Clif sourced 125 million lbs. of organic ingredients, about 78% of our total ingredients for the year.
CLIF HAS SOURCED MORE THAN 1.28 BILLION LBS. OF ORGANIC TO DATE
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BUSINESS
As #1 Private Funder of Organic Research,
CLIF INVESTS IN LASTING CHANGE In spite of being the fastest-growing sector of the food industry, organic has not received its fair share of research funding at the USDA nor in our public universities. Research is essential to farmers to improve their success and the sustainability and long-term resilience of their farms. Clif Bar & Company and Clif Family Foundation have taken action to address this inequity; here’s what we’ve accomplished by working together with others: Permanent funding for organic research in the Farm Bill, 2018. Clif Bar & Company supported the organic community’s longterm goal for the Farm Bill: to set aside $50 million a year for organic research, an amount that triggers a program to be “baseline,” meaning it doesn’t have to be justified and fought for every year. After years of work, in 2018 the Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative increased from $20 million to $50 million each year, the largest-ever increase in organic funding. Five endowed chairs in organic research at our public universities, 2015–present. Clif Bar’s commitment to fund five endowed chairs at U.S. land grant universities ensures a positive impact on organic research in perpetuity. Stable, long-term funding will enable research that makes organic food and farming more successful and accessible for all. Clif Bar’s third endowment (see Houston Wilson, page 19) has an especially broad reach, creating a research center that serves the entire UC system in California, the state with the highest number of certified-organic farms in the country. First graduate student fellowships in organic research. Since 2013, Clif Family Foundation has invested $1.5 million to fund 18 grad student fellowships in organic plant breeding across the country. The results are promising: Seed Matters Fellows are stepping into key roles in the public and private sectors, on farms and in universities, and creating lasting change in the food system through their research, service, and leadership (see Dylan Wann, page 19).
Public University Endowments
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University of Wisconsin-Madison.
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Washington State University Bread Lab.
In 2015, the Clif Bar and Organic Valley Chair in Plant Breeding for Organic Agriculture was presented to Professor William F. Tracy.
In 2018, the Clif Bar & King Arthur Flour Endowed Chair in Organic Grain Breeding & Innovation was awarded to Stephen Jones, Ph.D.
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University of California. In 2019, the endowment was awarded to the university’s Agriculture and Natural Resource division to launch the UC system’s first organic research center; in 2020, Dr. Houston Wilson was appointed director.
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University of Wisconsin-Madison.
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A historic Black college or university,
In 2021, the Clif Bar Endowed Chair in Organic Agriculture and Outreach was awarded to one of the first land-grant universities to create a research and extension position specifically serving the needs of organic farmers.
to be awarded in 2022. Black farmers are underrepresented in agriculture due to historical inequities at the USDA and our public universities. The gap for organic is even greater at a 14-fold difference,1 which hampers Black farmers from accessing organic markets that can offer greater profitability,2 resilience, and potential for growth.3 We hope this endowment will contribute to the growth of organic acreage and increased opportunities for Black farmers to reap the benefits of organic certification.
1. The 2012 Census of Agriculture found that less than 0.05% of Black-owned farms are certified organic, compared to 0.7% of all farms, a 14-fold difference. 2. https://news.wsu.edu/2015/06/01/organic-agriculture-more-profitable-to-farmers/ 3. https://ota.com/resources/market-analysis
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Meet Houston Wilson, Director of UC’s First Organic Research Center
“Our goal is to see a world where, one day, these practices are so common that ‘organic’ becomes ‘conventional.’ ” – Houston Wilson When asked why conventional agricultural yields are traditionally higher than organic, Houston Wilson likes to point out that the so-called yield gap—estimated at 20%—is really more of a knowledge gap. Given that 99% of public funding for agricultural research has been spent on conventional farming, isn’t it surprising that it performs only 20% above organic? And given the escalating impacts of climate change, organic systems are increasingly critical. Houston is excited about Clif’s investment in the Organic Agriculture Institute—the UC system’s first center for organic research and education— and about building a collaborative research network that expands on the exceptional work that’s already been done by California’s broad organic community. California is the leading state for organic in terms of acres, total number of farms, and total crop value. It has more than twice the impact of the second-placed state. So why has there been so little funding? Clif’s third public university endowment allows Houston to address a wide range of issues, including a pressing environmental-justice concern: how increasing organic efficiency and productivity will help make organic food more affordable and accessible.
We first met Dylan Wann when he was one of Clif Family Foundation’s Seed Matters Fellows studying organic farming systems at Texas Tech. Today, Dylan directs International Peanut Group’s variety development operations in the U.S., Central and South America, Europe, and Africa. His research helps growers stay ahead of climate change and create consistent supplies of peanuts across diverse growing areas, from dry Texas and wet Georgia to diverse conditions abroad. Recently, Clif Bar & Company’s Ingredient Supply Manager, Frieda P., talked with Dylan about the wonders of peanuts. Here, in a nutshell, are a few highlights. Peanuts are: • Affordable, filled with good fat (monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids), and fast growing (five months or less from planting to harvest) • The common person’s protein (they have more protein than other nuts + all 20 amino acids1) • A water-use-efficient, nitrogen-fixing legume that benefits almost every part of the agricultural ecosystem, whether as a form of pest control or by regenerating the soil • Good at fostering “close communities with strong relationships (and feedback loops) [which] supports accurate traceability” 1. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
Seed Matters’ Fellow Dylan Wann helps build agricultural resilience, now and for the future
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COMMUNITY
Creating healthy, sustainable communities, local and global
FIGHT FOR FARMWORKERS LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON THEM (IT DOES)
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Too often we don’t think about the men and women who labor on farms, ranches, and dairies, but our collective food security and health are inextricably linked to the well-being of these laborers and their families. Megafires and hotter days in California have placed these workers under even greater risk. The food system cannot function without farmworkers and yet, as a society, we’ve failed to consider them adequately in business practices, and also in policy decisions around COVID-19 and the ensuing health and economic fallout.
GIVING BACK
As we, collectively, face the racial injustice that occurs in our communities, we must also look to the racial components of our failure to act to ensure protection and respect for the primarily Black, indigenous, and Latinx farmworkers who plant and harvest our food. The solution to an efficient food system and vibrant family farms cannot be built on an equation of inequity and vulnerability. As we choose to acknowledge this inequity, we also choose to take new steps to address it, and to treat others as we would wish to be treated.
A few weeks into California’s shelter-in-place order, Clif took action to alleviate some of the risk and strain being put on the people who help grow the country’s food.
We donated over $300,000 to six nonprofits serving farmworkers: • • • • • •
The Migrant Clinicians Network La Cooperativa Campesina de California United Farm Workers Foundation Farmworker Justice Lideres Campesinas Salud Para La Gente
Collectively, these groups distributed 55,000 pieces of personal protective equipment directly to farmworkers throughout California, from garlic and lemon fields in Salinas to grape fields near Arvin, and from Yolo County to Fresno, Dunnigan, Delano, and Modesto.
Close to 100 volunteers from the Food Recovery Network (FRN)—including 50 people from Clif Bar!—recovered specialty foods from the Fancy Food show in January, which FRN then donated to San Francisco’s Delancey Street Foundation. Natalia O. spearheaded Clif’s effort: “I’m passionate about food waste and food justice and fighting hunger. This very much aligned with our Five Aspirations, just providing to the community some food and fighting food waste for the planet…. I started inviting people from my team—I’m on the Food Safety Team and it felt so important to me to bring people with that knowledge, and then spreading it out to others within our company to participate.”
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BREWING UP BETTER DAYS FOR ORGANIC COFFEE FARMERS
We are excited to partner with the families of the Federación Campesina del Cauca (FCC) farmer association in Colombia who grow the coffee beans for our CLIF Coffee Collection. These families are committed to fair-trade, shade-grown, certified-organic practices that contribute to the long-run resilience of their farms and their community. We are supporting a three-year training project with FCC, and one year in—in spite of COVID-19—the farmers have done a lot:
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Progress at Federación Campesina del Cauca
Women’s representation in the program Young farmers in the program
From June to December 2020, as part of the Clifsupported project, FCC extension agents conducted: • 252 technical-assistance visits to growers’ farms • 62 virtual or telephone consultations • 24 group workshops with 5–10 attendees each Trainings covered productionfocused topics such as soil and compost management, pest and disease management, coffee tree renovation, and shade management, as well as economic and food sovereignty topics such as farm management, establishing a home garden, and seed saving. The comprehensive set of trainings ensures that farmers are not just growing high-quality, sustainable coffee, but also that they are investing in the well-being of their families.
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PLANET
Conserving and restoring our natural resources; growing a business in harmony with nature
GROWING A BUSINESS THAT
THINKS LIKE A TREE A tree runs on renewable energy, recycles all waste, and sustains and improves the place it grows. At Clif Bar we’re following nature’s lead to create a holistic program that connects the dots between climate action, zero waste, and regenerative practices. In 2020, we made concrete progress in all these areas.
World’s First LEED Zero Waste Bakery In 2020, our bakery in Twin Falls, Idaho, achieved two firsts: • The first TRUE Zero Waste certified facility in Idaho • The first food manufacturing plant in the world to be recognized as LEED Zero Waste LEED Zero Waste is only awarded to LEED-certified green buildings that also achieve zero waste certification at the Platinum level. That’s a double win for sustainability. It means building green to start and then running that facility sustainably and demonstrating best practices in waste prevention, reduction, and diversion. In Twin Falls, our bakers kept close to 4,000 tons of materials out of landfills over the course of the year. Our Indianapolis bakery, already certified LEED Silver, is working toward zero waste certification in 2021.
Did you know that getting to zero waste is a critical part of climate action? Waste creates greenhouse gas emissions and pollution along every step of the value chain. We love all kinds of circular systems. In Twin Falls, Idaho, we use furry lawnmowers to manage the natural vegetation and landscaping surrounding our bakery.
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Net Positive on Climate by 2030 In 2020, we set a Science-Based Target (SBT) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across our company and supply chain. Our commitment is to cut our emissions in half by 2030 over a 2018 baseline year. This target is in line with what the latest climate science says is necessary to limit global warming to below 1.5°C. To reach net positive, we’re also working on nature-based climate solutions that capture and store carbon, such as reforestation and the expansion of organic, regenerative farming practices.
100% Sustainable Packaging by 2025 We pledged to make 100% of our packaging reusable, recyclable, or compostable by 2025. To meet this goal, we’re challenging ourselves to bring a compostable wrapper to market for our iconic CLIF BAR. As a food company, we understand how important healthy soil is and we’re working hard to create a wrapper that can simply be composted back to the earth. We’re evaluating different films and running them through mini marathons of trials and lab testing to make sure they meet our rigorous standards. Good news! Our new CLIF cereal is our first product that comes in 100% recyclable packaging. Designed to deliver lasting energy, all four flavors are crafted with 30–40% less sugar than other leading brands. It’s made with organic grain flakes and oats and packed in a recycle-ready (in-store drop-off where available) bag inside a recyclable box.
WORKING TOGETHER TO CUT FOOD WASTE IN HALF
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Clif has joined the 10x20x30 initiative to cut food loss and waste in half by 2030. Spearheaded by the World Resources Institute, 10 of the world’s largest food retailers are working with 20 of their suppliers to cut their food waste in half.
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PLANET
PROTECTING PUBLIC LANDS FOR EVERYONE Standing Up for the Great American Outdoors Act National parks and monuments are our American heritage and treasures for everyone. That’s why we’ve partnered with groups like the Conservation Alliance for more than a decade and why, in 2020, we rolled up our sleeves and joined together with other nonprofits and companies to influence conservation at scale. We met face-to-face with our legislators and public leaders to advocate for the protection of these natural wonders. Our collective good efforts paid off on August 4th, 2020, when the Great American Outdoors Act was signed into law with overwhelming bipartisan support. The once-in-a-generation legislation provides billions of dollars in funding for trails and parks, and access to public lands and waters that benefit every county in every state in the U.S. It also protects our iconic public lands, in perpetuity, for everyone.
Half Dome, 1983: Clif founder Gary Erickson striving for work-life balance.
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15 Years of Partnership with the Conservation Alliance Clif is honored to have partnered with the Conservation Alliance since 2006. Since its inception in 1989, the Alliance has contributed more than $25 million to grassroots conservation groups throughout North America with the following impacts: • Helped save 73 million+ acres of wildlands • Protected 3,576 miles of rivers • Stopped or removed 36 dams • Designated 5 marine reserves • Purchased 18 climbing areas
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Celebrating Award-winning Products and Practices Clif Family works to craft unique, regional wine and foods using practices that care for the earth; support growers who use sustainable, organic farming methods; and contribute to a more vibrant and healthy food community. All 90 acres of Clif Family estate vineyards and farm are certified organic and certified Napa Green, a “soil-to-bottle” sustainability program.
2019 Rosé of Grenache, 92 points, Editors’ Choice, Wine Enthusiast Magazine
• We’re energized by our partnership with a chef-turnedbeekeeper who produces honey from hives placed next to solar arrays interplanted with flowering native plants. It’s a win-win-win collaboration to conserve biodiversity, generate solar energy, and grow income for beekeepers and farmers. You can try our Solar Grown™ Honey in three new flavors (cinnamon, ginger, cacao) and sample delicious foods inspired by this sweet gift from the pollinators at our Bruschetteria food truck in St. Helena. • Clif Family Organic Strawberry Pepper Jam took the silver medal in the 2020 Specialty Food Association’s sofi™ Awards’ fruit spreads, jams and jellies category. • This year we launched Organic Dark Chocolate Toffee Crunch, an irresistible new flavor made from handcrafted buttery toffee wrapped in creamy dark chocolate! And all our organic Dark Chocolates now come in eco-friendly Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) packaging, too!
Recognized with Sustainable Winegrowing Leadership’s Green Medal for Community We were honored to receive the California Green Medal for Community, which is awarded to the “vineyard or winery that is a Good Neighbor & Employer using the most innovative practices that enhance relations with employees, neighbors and/or communities.”
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What Is White Road Investments? Inspired investing is at the heart of what we do. Launched in 2010, White Road Investments strives to identify and invest in the best emerging, values-driven businesses. Our focus is on partners creating innovative consumer products that meet real needs. We look for companies that align with our Five Aspirations ideals and are committed to sustaining and restoring the planet, treating people with respect, and being good neighbors who give back to their communities.
Meet the brands we’ve invested in over the past decade. We’re really proud of this team!
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CELEBRATING We created the Foundation in 2006 to help unleash the potential of grassroots groups that excel as changemakers. We’re honored to consistently fund their efforts to strengthen our food system, enhance community health, and safeguard the natural environment. Meet three inspiring groups:
Brown Girl Surf is building a more diverse, environmentally aware, and joyful women’s surf culture by increasing access to surfing, amplifying the voices of surfers who are women of color, and caring for the earth. To date, the Oakland-based group has reached more than 120 participants, 83% being girls and women of color, and delivered more than 3,000 hours of participant programming. GRANTEE SINCE 2016 www.browngirlsurf.com
Clif Bar’s Chelseah J. recommended Brown Girl Surf to the Foundation after learning about it from her 11-year-old daughter. “They visited her school to recruit interested girls and she came home stoked with a flyer in hand and big plans. I want to learn how to surf! It was heartwarming and super encouraging to see such a large group of girls and women of color teaching, learning, and supporting one another in the spirit of exploration, athleticism, and adventure. I brought it to Clif because I wanted to make sure that their program stayed alive and that they had the backing they needed to be okay. And they’re still here, so it’s working.”
To date, we’ve awarded more than 4,000 grants 30
15 YEARS OF GIVING The Indiana Youth Group creates safer
Post-Landfill Action Network (PLAN)
spaces to foster community and provides programming that empowers LGBTQ+ youth. The group’s Basic Needs program supports LGBTQ+ youth experiencing homelessness and a lack of essential resources by ensuring that their most basic needs are met. Its pantry provides food, nutritional information, and simple recipes. The program also facilitates access to transportation, clothing, and hot water for basic hygiene.
educates students about the waste crisis, and equips them with skills and resources to implement solutions in their campus communities. It started back in 2011 when students at the University of New Hampshire (UNH) launched a pilot program in which they collected furniture and other essentials that students discarded when they moved out in the spring, stored those items for the summer, and resold them at affordable prices over move-in weekend the following fall. This became the first student-led, self-sustaining program of its kind in the country.
GRANTEE SINCE 2019 www.indianayouthgroup.org The Foundation was introduced to Indiana Youth Group by Clif’s Dave T.: “These kids sometimes have nothing, nowhere else to go…the families disowned them. They kicked them out. As I did some research, it happens to 25%, one in four kids. For Pride month a couple years ago, we made a donation of some product and went over and learned about them. They have laundry service, they have a food pantry, they offer to find housing…so seeing that was pretty impactful…. We’re in a non-affirming LGBTQ state overall…so having a safe haven where these kids can go and get support and help them navigate through that was very important to me.”
Among the UNH students was Alex Freid who, two years later, founded PLAN—to provide materials, analysis, and training to support student leaders and university administrators interested in launching similar programs on other campuses, and to sustain student-led, zero waste projects. With the help of Clif Family Foundation’s Expansion Grant, PLAN projects that it will double its number of campus networks, increase full-time staff by 60%, and grow earned income by over 50%. GRANTEE SINCE 2013 www.postlandfill.org
totaling $38 million to 1,150 trailblazing nonprofits. 31
What goes into a CLIF BAR ? ®
Family- and employee-owned Living wage at Clif bakeries
Climate-neutral business operations 100% renewable electricity
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Sustainable packaging goals
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Plant-based food
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from solar energy and renewable energy credits
Commitment to inclusion, diversity, equity
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Organic ingredients (of course, no GMOs!)
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LEED-certified zero waste bakeries Community service
Investing in organic research 1% of net sales donated to doing good
Sally Grimes, CEO | Gary Erickson & Kit Crawford, Founder and Owners | Elysa Hammond & Thao Pham, Co-editors Mija Riedel, Managing Editor | John Marin, Senior Creative Director | Bill Ribar/Formative, Design | Sandy Biagi, Print Management Kent Daane, Glacier National Park Service, Mark Gregory, Anne Hamersky, Brian Lemoine, Nancy Wright, Contributing Photographers Special thanks to our contributors: Gregg Bagni, Val Bisharat, Rich Boragno, Louisa Brown, Sabrina Bunch, Pat Bush, Sarah Ciccarello, Veronica Cipto, Deven Clemens, Chris Crowther, Cassie Cyphers, Liza Darnell, Dai Deh, Shannon DiDonato, Matthew Dillon, Ruth Dimmick, Rada Dogandjieva, Scott Erickson, Lucas Euser, Ryan Fant, Linzi Gay, Sheraine Gordon, Rebecca Guba, Brittany Hoskins, Samira Huemmer, Chelseah Joachim, Jennifer Kao, Christian LaRosa, Diego LaTorre, Carolina Leonhardt, Casey Lewis, Bruce Lymburn, Sarah Lynam, Michelle McDonald, Terry Mock, John Monteleone, Adrianne Mooney, Samantha Newman, Amy Norris, Lisa Novak, Natalia Owens, Frieda Park, Shannon Pedroni, Sandy Pfaff, Monica Pomeranz, Susan Marie Potucek, Khorshid Rahmaninejad, Allen Rosenfeld, Joe Shaughnessy, Bobby Sowalsky, Dave Tintelnot, Valerie Van Arkel, Carrie Walle, Dylan Wann, Houston Wilson, Melinda Winter, Blaire Woloz, and the Equity Advisory Council.
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