GRANT PARTNER IMPACT STORY
Berkeley Center for Green Chemistry TRAINING THE NEXT GENERATION OF GREEN CHEMISTRY LEADERS CIRCLE: ENVIRONMENT
THE ISSUE
THE RESULTS
Despite their prevalence in consumer products and the environment, the health and environmental impacts of tens of thousands of industrial chemicals are largely unknown, according to the University of California.
With the help of Full Circle Fund’s Members, BCGC successfully built a consortium of seven partners that served as a vehicle for mobilizing business, nonprofit, and government stakeholders to advance green chemistry in California through education and research. Additionally, Members assisted BCGC with critical day-to-day operations including marketing, finance, and partnership-building, in order to increase the nascent center’s reach.
UC researchers estimate that in 2008, chemical and pollution-related diseases among children and workers in California cost the state $2.6 billion. Chemists at UC Berkeley wanted to establish a center focusing on green chemistry, in order to offer a solutions-oriented approach to this problem. Their aim was to inform the selection of safer materials and design safety into new chemicals from the outset. However, they needed help getting started.
THE MISSION Berkeley Center for Green Chemistry (BCGC) advances green chemistry through research, teaching, and engagement in three interdisciplinary areas: new chemistries, health and environment, and policy and economy. BCGC trains the next generation of synthetic chemists, engineers, business leaders, and policymakers to design products and make decisions that are better for the environment and human health.
THE PARTNERSHIP Full Circle Fund helped BCGC develop their business case and design a clean-tech to market curriculum in green chemistry technologies within Haas School of Business. The UC Berkeley faculty leveraged the Full Circle team’s startup expertise to develop its organizational structure, define their mission, and build a consortium of early adopters and stakeholders to evangelize its efforts.
Members worked with BCGC directors to create their website and program brochure, helping to launch the organization’s first national conference: Green Chemistry: Collaborative Approaches & New Solutions. The sold-out program featured expert speakers discussing the role of green chemistry in addressing society's most pressing health, environmental and economic problems.
SNAPSHOT GRANT TERM:
2010-11
"Full Circle Fund’s team brought a kind of expertise that is hard to come by in the academic setting, but that is indispensable in establishing a new center. We're grateful for their energy and insight!" - Megan Schwarzman Associate Director of Health & Environment Berkeley Center for Green Chemistry
AFTER FULL CIRCLE FUND’S INVOLVEMENT, BCGC SECURED
$3.4M IN FOLLOW-ON FUNDING FROM THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION (NSF)
1,500 UC BERKELEY UNDERGRADUATES ARE NOW PERFORMING GREEN CHEMISTRY EXPERIMENTS YEARLY
GREEN CHEMISTRY
HAS
BECOME A CORE COURSE FOR GRADUATE STUDENTS IN THE FUNDED TRAINING PROGRAM
NSF-
Full Circle Fund is an engaged philanthropy organization cultivating the next generation of community leaders and driving lasting social change in the Bay Area. We recruit top leaders from the private, public, and nonprofit sectors, and empower them to leverage their experience, connections, and financial resources to benefit innovative social entrepreneurs and organizations. www.fullcirclefund.org