The establishment of Seattle’s first-ever Affordable Middle-Income Housing Advisory Council was announced by Mayor Jenny Durkan in January, as the city seeks to address the growing need to help middle-income families find affordable homes.

Green Canopy CEO Aaron Fairchild serves as a council member, as the group seeks to close market gaps through investment tools and strategies, along with attracting capital investment to create more affordable homes for Seattle’s middle-income earners. 

 “I’m honored to continue advancing Green Canopy’s mission working alongside such an amazing brain trust assembled by our Mayor Jenny Durkan,” says Fairchild.

Market Review & Outlook

As a residential developer hyper-focused on the urban infill markets of Seattle and Portland, Green Canopy continuously evaluates, and buys and sells property. The company also keeps a finger on the pulse of housing research and media reports. Combining boots on the ground with a bird’s eye view, Green Canopy’s team compiled a 2019 Market Review and Outlook in offering a unique perspective on the transitioning regional housing market.  

Following three years of outsized growth, Seattle and Portland single family residential (SFR) home values peaked in May 2018. As home price growth overshot per capita income growth and interest rates ticked slightly higher, more sellers entered the market, but some buyers hit the pause button. Homes sales volume subsequently slowed, listing inventory rose and a sharp but fairly shallow price correction pushed regional home values back toward market equilibrium. Slower sales volumes persisted over the remainder of 2018 and sellers were increasingly forced to reduce prices to complete sales. As the dust settled, Seattle and Portland median home values finished the year a few percentage points higher compared to 2017.

Looking forward, strong local economic and demographic fundamentals support the case for low to moderate home appreciation rates throughout 2019 for the Seattle and Portland housing markets. Key supporting factors include:

• Continued regional net population growth

• Low unemployment, healthy per capita income levels and payroll growth

• Persistent multi-year constrained supply of home listings and new SFR housing starts

• Moderating acquisition and construction costs for homebuilders

Green Canopy is honored to be selected to the inaugural Real Leaders 100 Top Impact Companies! The Real Leaders 100 Top Impact Companies, in collaboration with Big Path Capital and B Lab, is the first ranking of positive impact companies.

“We were very impressed with the quality of applicants who were subjected to a rigorous review process for this first-ever 100 Top Impact Companies awards” said Mark Van Ness, Founder, Real Leaders.

The 100 winners will be celebrated at a formal event on April 4th and 5th at the Momentum (MO) Summit in Asheville, North Carolina.

The MO Summit is an invitation-only event convening with C-suite leaders who are scaling high-growth, positive-impact companies by using the power of creativity for business.

“The Real Leaders 100 list is the first ranking of positive impact companies in North America and leverages the engine of capitalism for great profit and great good,” said Michael Whelchel, Managing Partner, Big Path Capital. “Because of high demand, we are expanding the list globally in 2020,” added Whelchel.

The ranking is based on the formula for force – that is mass times acceleration:
Three-year growth rate (acceleration) x Revenue (mass) x B Impact assessment score = A Company’s Force for Good score.

About Real Leaders:

Real Leaders magazine has been in circulation since 2010 and is the world’s first sustainable business & leadership publication. It aims to inspire better leaders for a better world.

About Big Path Capital:

Big Path Capital has been called “Impact Investing’s investment bank” and works with the top sustainable and impact companies and funds.

About B Lab:

B Lab is a nonprofit that serves a global movement of People Using Business as a Force for Good. Its vision is that one day all companies compete not only to be the best in the world, but the Best for the World® and as a result society will enjoy a more shared and durable prosperity.

See how our organization ranked among 99 other companies that are a Force For Good below.

Green Canopy builds homes, relationships, and businesses that help regenerate communities and environments.

Green Canopy is pleased to announce a new mission statement that has developed from much thought and collaboration.

“Mission statement” is one of the first terms inside startup guides, marketing courses and business plans. It can feel like fluff on an entrepreneur’s checklist of a million-and-one things to manage — a checklist that also includes terms like revenue and retention rate.

And a mission can become fluff that has little real impact internally or externally. Aaron Fairchild, CEO of Green Canopy says, “Where intention and attention go, energy flows.” A mission statement helps set intention and attention, ensures stakeholder alignment, guides strategy, and helps differentiate — creating a sustained competitive advantage and supporting the long-term success of an organization. This has been Green Canopy’s process:

Schedule Space to Review Annually

A mission statement can start to fall flat as company and client needs evolve. To address this, create space with your leadership team to ask questions like:

• Does our mission statement still compel us to go to work in the morning?

• Does our mission statement still encompass all of our current and future plans, is it relevant?

• Does it reflect the organization’s theory of change? 

Generate Ideas with the Board and/or a Small Group of Long-Time Stakeholders

If the answers to the questions above reveal some necessary revising, bring your responses to these questions to your Board of Directors or small group of stakeholders who are invested in the future of your company. Enlisting the consulting services of LIFT Economy to facilitate this process helped Green Canopy ensure all group members had equal opportunity to participate:

1.  LIFT began by surveying the Board and a group of Stakeholders, identifying words and aspects that feel stale or missing

2. LIFT crafted test mission statements based on survey results to rotate around and generate ideas

3. Leadership came together with a group of board members and stakeholders to review, revise and create about three new test mission statements

Take These new Mission Statements to the Entire Team

Every January, the entire Green Canopy gathers together for an entire day to reflect on our mission and values — we call it our “Mission, Vision, Values Retreat.” Getting the whole team’s buy-in on the mission and values helps everyone speak the same language and take ownership of their work and the company. McCarthyConsulting helped facilitate this process so that everyone on our team has equal opportunity to participate.

1. Started with an ice-breaker game to get everyone loosened up and thinking creatively

2. Put up the new mission statements on the wall from the small group brainstorming

3. Gave everyone about five small sticky notes with 10 minutes to place their tags on the words or phrases from each that resonated with them, creating a heat map

4. Took 15 minutes to break up into about five groups (for a company staff of 30+) to write five new mission statements based on the heat map

5. Put the five new statements on the wall and gave everyone 10 more minutes to each place five more sticky notes on the statements and words that resonated with them the most

6. Collected the top three new mission statements based on the heat map

Circle Back with the Board and/or Stakeholders

1. Shared the top three new mission statements with the Board and Stakeholder group 

2. Discussed if one or a combination stands out among the rest based on the theory of change and the direction the company is heading

3. Gave everyone about 15 minutes and paper if needed to individually try out combinations

4. Came together to share and craft the final version (a whiteboard works well for this)

5. Shared with Green Canopy shareholders to vote on and ratify the new mission statement

Share with Staff and Stakeholders

Sharing the final results with staff and stakeholders gives an opportunity to buy-in to the direction of the company once again and fosters a new sense of pride and ownership in the work and company. 

Read more about our process for developing our theory of change, which greatly influenced this process and gave us clarity in our purpose and strategies. We also used a truncated version of this process at our “Mission, Vision, Values Retreat” to re-establish our corporate values for the year and how we want to operate as a team.

By Aaron Fairchild

I recently spent a couple of days at SOCAP18. After the conference, I had the opportunity to screen a soon-to-be-released Australian documentary called, 2040. 2040 is a beautiful “future-fit”, utopian depiction of a potential future made possible by incorporating carbon drawdown methods and technologies. 
 
The week before the screening a new environmental philosopher friend shared a concept she has written about extensively — the Precautionary Principle. She explained this by saying, “One can’t use uncertainty as a justification for inaction. One must use precaution to mitigate harmful outcomes even in the face of uncertainty.”
 
Appling this to positive impact investors could translate to: “Investors and their financial fiduciaries can’t use financial uncertainty as a justification for inaction. Given the urgency of our social and environmental challenges, investors must use precaution to mitigate harmful financial outcomes — And still identify ways to invest in positive social and environmental opportunities even in the face of financial uncertainty.”
 
Unfortunately, in the face of our pressing social and environmental problems, the Precautionary Principle is often used as a reason not to invest in opportunities that generate positive impact outcomes. Even given our good intentions, the traditional structures of finance don’t legally allow moral social and environmental convictions to negatively influence financial outcomes. If the financial outcome is uncertain, but the social and environmental outcomes are clear and measurable — the existing legal frameworks and institutional structures justify inaction in the face of uncertainty.
 
As my mental turntable plays the paradoxical precautionary blues, I see images of the amazing people in the theater moving to a rhythm of positive change, but are we a little off the beat? 
 
How many times have you heard, “In order to attract more capital, the social and environmental enterprise must prove its ability to create market-rate returns. We need proven strategies.”? This thinking may lead to a slip-and-slide of marginalized outcomes in the pursuit of “market-rate” returns. Furthermore, the Precautionary Principle can create a disincentive to invest in positive social and environmental outcomes in uncertain market cycles or in investments labeled “concessionary.” In uncertain markets or uncertain categories, investors may justify putting the pursuit of positive outcomes on the shelf in favor of “proven” and more certain downside protection investment strategies.
 
According to Paul Hawken in the film 2040, 80% of the world’s agriculture is grown by small farm holders. However, in 2018 small farm holder investments are flat to down. Unfortunately, this is not an anomaly. Small to medium enterprise investments are flat to down, and renewable energy investments globally are flat to down as well. I recently learned of these alarming statistics on the Impact Alpha podcast, Getting to Yes. The decline observed in this podcast may be a result of investor’s growing uncertainty in the financial markets. Are we employing the Precautionary Principle? This may forecast a potential disturbing trend for urgently-needed investments in social and environmental solutions as the US economy advances into a market cycle already long in the tooth.
 
Understanding how we may be employing the Precautionary Principle helps clarify that even as we face urgent need to invest in social and environmental solutions, our desire for positive social and environmental outcomes often are left waiting on the side in the face of financial uncertainty. It is a difficult paradoxical dance to pull off. If true, I have three recommendations:

1. Engage and collaborate with the impact entrepreneurs.When the social and environmental outcomes are clear, measurable and convincing, but the financial outcomes are uncertain — engage! Offer to work directly with the social entrepreneur or fund manager to help craft precautionary strategies within the investment opportunity that mitigate potentially harmful financial outcomes. Assess the investment opportunity thoroughly, do your due diligence and collaborate to mitigate harmful financial performance while maintaining the positive social and environmental outcomes. 

2. Change the legal framework of professional financial organizations to align to the Benefit Corporation structure. Benefit Corporations structurally embed expanded fiduciary obligations to include social and environmental considerations.

3. Work with a separate advisory committee or due diligence team. As an individual investor that is not constrained by the fiduciary obligations of professional wealth management, consider working with a separate advisory committee or due diligence team or conduct personal due diligence on impact investments.

 
After the 2040 film screening, I left the theater in a crowd full of optimism and inspiration. Even with the Precautionary Principle burrowed deep within the financial structures and investment psyche of America, I am optimistic that by becoming more aware of how and why we make decisions— and the structures within which we make them— we will continue to learn how to better align capital to the future we envision. 

Read about NODE Madrona Series in Dwell

Every year since 2013, Green Canopy has hosted the Green Genius Broker Awards at the Built Green Conference. The awards honor Real Estate Brokers who have excelled in marketing and selling certified Built Green homes in the Snohomish and King Counties. The Green Genius Awards judging panel is made up of experts in the building and real estate industries who look at both quantitative and qualitative data on the brokers including:

- The number of certified Built Green homes sold on the Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS)
- The number of Built Green homes with the certification documents uploaded to the NWMLS
- The number of Built Green home benefits included in the marketing remarks on the NWMLS
- The level of knowledge and focus on Built Green building displayed in external marketing platforms like the broker website and social media

This year, there were four awards given: 2018 Listing Agent of the Year Award, 2018 Listing Office of the Year Award, 2018 Selling Agent of the Year, 2018 Selling Office of the Year. This year's winners:
​
GREG STAMOLIS | LISTING AGENT OF THE YEAR

Greg Stamolis, Managing Broker at Windermere Ballard, sold 16 certified Built Green homes with all listings including the certification documents on the NWMLS. Greg is a Seattle native, has been a licensed Real Estate Agent since 1990, has a business degree from Central Washington, continually gives back and helps expose the benefits of green building and lifestyle practices on his website. Outside of selling homes, Greg enjoys climbing mountains, is a husband, a parent and nature-lover.

WINDERMERE CAPITOL HILL | LISTING OFFICE OF THE YEAR

The Windermere Capitol Hill Office sold 36 certified Built Green homes the past year, three with the certification documents uploaded to the NWMLS. Owner, Pat Grimm says,"I see green building and sustainability as an extension of the values that I hold dear and do my best to promote in the office... another consistent, reoccurring theme as to how my values show up is respect. I love the respect that green building and sustainability demonstrates to our community and future generations."

TUSHAR GARG | SELLING AGENT OF THE YEAR

Tushar Garg, Owner and Broker at Flyhomes, sold eight certified Built Green homes, two with the certification documents uploaded to the NWMLS. Tushar is excited about sustainability and green homebuilding as he fell in love with Seattle because of the surrounding nature. His business, Flyhomes, is unique in that the brokers and team members come from all different backgrounds helping to find different solutions and generate new ideas.

REDFIN SEATTLE | SELLING OFFICE OF THE YEAR

The Redfin Seattle office sold 24 certified Built Green homes this past year, with all 24 NWMLS listings including the certification documents. Redfin continues to move the needle forward both in their business model and in green real estate. They've blogged about "The top 10 Neighborhoods for Green Homes" and continue to highlight the benefits of Built Green homebuilding.

Congratulations to all of the 2018 Green Genius Award Winners!

The 2018 Green Genius Awards were presented and made possible by:

For Immediate Release

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON & PORTLAND, OREGON (October 4, 2018) – Green Canopy Inc., a deep green urban residential developer, general contractor and fund manager, today announced the first closing of Cedar Fund providing $12 million in development capacity. Cedar Fund is the Company’s fourth single-family real estate fund designed to build resilient net zero ready micro-communities in Seattle, WA and Portland, OR. With the first close complete, Cedar Fund intends to acquire three initial properties currently in pre-development, and construct 25 homes.

As a mission-driven Certified B Corp, Green Canopy is compelled to create market-driven solutions to the challenges facing the high-growth cities of Seattle and Portland, including resource scarcity and global warming, urban sprawl, and limited access to neighborhoods of opportunity. In response, Cedar Fund will acquire, develop, manage and market third-party certified green built, net zero ready residential homes over the course of a 5-year fund cycle.

Cedar Fund will focus on efficient land use through infill development, multiplying the number of homes in established, walkable neighborhoods. With an emphasis on access to essential services including schools, grocery stores and transportation. By building more resource efficient homes on less land, Cedar Fund will help preserve the Pacific Northwest identity which is interwoven with farms, forests, wild lands, and salmon streams.

“I am excited and inspired by the commitment of our initial 18 Cedar Fund Limited Partners who have expressed deep faith in our mission and potential to transform the real estate market towards more regenerative and inclusive communities and environments,” says Aaron Fairchild, CEO.  

About Green Canopy
Green Canopy, Inc. and wholly owned subsidiaries Green Canopy Homes, LLC and Green Canopy Capital, LLC have offices and teams in Seattle and Portland. Green Canopy Homes began building in 2009 and has successfully sold over 140 third-party certified, green homes earning over $100 million in gross revenues.

Green Canopy has successfully developed a disruptive and specialized business model for urban infill homebuilding at scale. Development projects are built on small, medium and large, non-contiguous lots in walkable urban neighborhoods. The Company has an integrated process and established systems for feasibility, design, estimating, construction project management, sales, owner services and fund management. Since inception the Green Canopy Team has focused on creating an authentic, disruptive and widely recognized brand. 

The Company’s mission is to build homes, relationships and businesses that help regenerate communities and environments. By committing to the deep work of its mission, Green Canopy believes a future is possible where net zero energy homes are the norm, these good homes are affordable, wildlands are preserved, communities are resilient and vibrant because they are inclusive, and people who want to invest in that future earn profits.

For more information contact: 
Susan Fairchild, Director, Investor Relations & Impact
206.792.7280
susan@greencanopy.com

Green Canopy had the pleasure of being a part of the 2018 Annual Starbucks Sustainability Fair. This year’s fair was an opportunity to introduce the 6,000+ Partners working at the Starbucks Support Center to community resources aligned to the Partners For Sustainability mission: to educate, engage and empower Starbucks Partners to make sustainable change. Here are a few Partners we got to meet at the Green Canopy booth:

"I’m a bit of an eco-enthusiast... I was intrigued in talking about the ways that architecture impacts home temperature and how the local climate, the lot and the orientation of the structure on the lot can be leveraged to reduce a home’s carbon footprint." — Brian L.

"I'm a project manager for Starbucks in the Design & Construction Services.  I love the idea of a zero energy home, especially in our region of the US.  When utility bills can vary so hugely, it's nice to know that not only would I be keeping them steadier for our month-to-month energy costs, I would be helping to sustain resources and working against a large ecological footprint." — Nicole M.

The Green Canopy Crew enjoyed meeting so many thoughtful Starbucks Partners while finding new and old friends who are using business as a force for good in the world. Here is just a snapshot of those we met:

• Washington Wild

• International Living Future Institute

• Be Zero

• Zero Hour Seattle

• Carriage Houses

• Seattle Zero Waste

• Lime Bike

• The Works Seattle

• Washington Green Schools

• Seattle EcoWomen

The physical beauty of our Pacific Northwest region combined with a booming tech industry continues to draw people to our high-growth cities of Seattle and Portland. Daily, we feel and see this change with more traffic on the roads, more cranes on the skyline, homeless encampments in what seems like every nook and cranny, and an overflow of cars at our favorite trailheads.

Green Canopy launched in 2009 to combat and lessen the negative impacts of climate change and resource scarcity through in-city homebuilding. Nearly 10 years later, we find ourselves in the epicenter of rapid change. As a mission-driven Certified B Corp Company, Green Canopy inherently feels a responsibility to lean in further to the challenges we are experiencing in our high-growth cities: resource scarcity and global warming, urban sprawl, and housing crisis of affordability and access.

The Company recently paused to examine the broader purpose of our work as an urban infill residential developer and fund manager — going through a process to define our Theory of Change. A Theory of Change is a visual road map to creating the change we want to see in the world and provides a target to which we align our strategies, outcomes, and goals. We began this process with guidance from Jane Reisman, a Social Impact Advisor with over 29 years of experience in strategy and evaluation. The benefits to developing Green Canopy’s Theory of Change became clear early on and continue to bring stakeholder alignment, shared language, and metric alignment.

Green Canopy’s Theory of Change was recognized as a model for transformation in the impact investing community through a case study funded by the Rockefeller Foundation: “The case study provides an illuminating example of how investors can adapt Theory of Change to serve their impact management needs. By demonstrating the relevance and transferability of this tool for articulating, measuring, and managing impact, the hope is that this case study can contribute to strengthening other investors’ approaches, in turn contributing to building the evidence base for the “impact” of impact investments.”

The 2017 Green Canopy Impact Report takes the first step towards aligning our current metrics to our Theory of Change. Our intent for the coming year is to reassess and refresh the metrics to ensure we continue to make progress towards achieving our Theory of Change as well as to further align with common industry standards.

We believe in a better future and the Green Canopy Team — with our partners and communities — is doing the deep work to help us achieve this vision.

Thank you for being an integral part of our
community!

Susan Fairchild
Director of Investor Relations & Impact

The book Drawdown maps, measures and models the 100 most substantive, existing solutions to reverse global warming. The analysis identifies clear opportunities for the building sector to help play a role in drawing down carbon from the atmosphere (Rooftop Solar #10, Electric Vehicle #26, LED Lighting #33, Heat Pumps #42, Walkable Cities #54, Net Zero Energy #79). The Seattle Master Builders Association’s Built Green Program demonstrated this potential in the 2017 report, which found Built Green 4-Star and 5-Star homes were 33% and 40% more efficient respectively than comparable code-built homes.

2017 marks an important pivot point for Green Canopy as the company completed our first Net Zero Energy Home. Net zero energy homes produce enough energy to offset their energy consumption needs over the course of a year through solar energy and ultra-efficient systems. This represents the future of the Company as we rotate our entire pipeline to build only Net Zero Energy Homes in the coming months and years ahead.

“Our Net Zero Energy program is the result of a culmination of 10 years of system, process and team development... This is not the end of our sustainability journey, but it is a very important next step.” — Sam Lai, Cofounder

​FIRST NET ZERO ENERGY HOME COMPLETED | 100+ IN PRODUCTION | 728,112 POUNDS OF CARBON MITIGATED IN 2017

Green Canopy builds good homes that are affordable by utilizing best-in-class materials and construction methods. Our homes use non-toxic materials and finishes, fresh air ventilation systems, and Blueskin technology to provide a weatherproof structure with high air quality. In 2017, all Green Canopy’s homes were certified to Built Green or Earth Advantage standards.

In addition, the Company reviewed and assessed the “Red List” of commonly used harmful building materials. Of the 65 materials listed by Miller Hull and the Living Future Institute, Green Canopy identified 30 materials the Company was already compliant with, and immediately removed 12 additional materials in our supply chain. We are working to find alternatives for the final 27 materials.

Green Canopy’s program with the Washington State Housing Finance Commission (WSHFC) has allowed the Company to sell 11% of its total sales at more affordable and accessible prices compared to standard market rate homes. In 2017, Green Canopy built an average of 5 homes for each project site, where there typically was one — offering more homes at a lower price-point in urban communities and adding walkability to schools, parks, transportation and amenities.

In 2017 Green Canopy developed its fourth fund offering, Cedar Fund, which provides greater access and affordability to families earning 80% of area median income.

“The Cedar Fund puts us in a unique position to not only draw down carbon, but to also lift up our communities.” Aaron Fairchild, Chief Executive Officer

100% CERTIFIED BUILT GREEN OR EARTH ADVANTAGE | 6 AFFORDABLE HOMES IN PRODUCTION WITH WSHFC

Our Pacific Northwest identity is interwoven with our farms, forests, wild lands, and salmon streams. Green Canopy believes honing the ability to develop density in our urban infill walkable communities is essential to reduce sprawl and preserve our wild lands. Green Canopy has created the skill to selectively develop unique lots in our high-growth cities while consistently containing costs, providing a model for residential developers nationwide. For each project site, Green Canopy responsibly deconstructs and recycles the majority of the existing structure and replaces one home with an average of 5.

Green Canopy continuously strives to keep as much of the deconstructed home out of the landfill as possible. In addition to recycling and reusing, Green Canopy developed a partnership with 118 Design, a program that offers job skills to former gang members and recently incarcerated men from the 98118 zip-code. The 118 Design team salvages lumber from the deconstructed homes and repurposes the wood into urban-inspired furniture and wood-clad walls inside Green Canopy’s homes.

“My environmental ethic formed through hours and hours of playtime as a child in our Pacific Northwest mountains and forests. I am motivated to preserve these spaces so my daughters acquire the same sense of connection to our planet.” — Andy Wolverton | Chief Financial Officer
​
​90% OF ONSITE CONSTRUCTION WASTE RECYCLED | 95% OF DECONSTRUCTION WASTE RECYCLED

In addition to reducing operating costs and providing a healthier, livable space, a net zero energy home is generally more resilient. The shift to develop all Net Zero Energy Homes combined with efforts to transform the real estate market towards more sustainable and resilient housing will provide critical built environment infrastructure improvements.

Cities with strong social networks and social inclusion have also been shown to bolster resilience. Green Canopy is working to increase access and inclusivity to highly desirable neighborhoods through efforts including increasing density, partnering with the Washington State Housing Finance Commission to increase affordability, by launching the Cedar Fund and authentically engaging neighbors in Community Meetings. Before acquiring a property, Green Canopy invites surrounding neighbors to a Community Meeting to engage in an authentic dialogue around Green Canopy’s mission and the project design.

The Company also bolsters the resilience of high-growth cities through job creation. In addition to the 27 high quality jobs provided within the company, on average 95 jobs across the trades are utilized for every project site.

“I appreciate that you offer community meetings and a seemingly genuine interest in what matters to the neighborhood.” — Green Canopy Property

95 JOBS CREATED FOR EACH HOME BUILT | OVER 10 MEETINGS WITH POLICYMAKERS AND EDUCATIONAL TALKS GIVEN IN 2017

Impact investing is a rapidly growing industry powered by investors who are determined to generate social and environmental impact as well as financial returns. Green Canopy is an experienced fund manager and has earned a strong reputation for being engaged and transparent. The Company has successfully managed three real estate funds totaling around $45M AUM with over 100 investor accounts. Green Canopy routinely achieves financial and impact returns aligned with investor expectations. The third fund, the Birch Fund, has returned a total of $2.8 million to Green Canopy investors, with a realized annual return of 11.19% through Quarter 4 of 2017.

Green Canopy’s sophisticated approach to creating new financial vehicles for the impact investor is highlighted in its fourth fund offering — the Cedar Fund. The Cedar Fund was developed in response to the current challenges in our high-growth communities, bringing net zero energy homes to market alongside greater affordability and inclusivity for families earning 80% area median income.

“I’ve been happy with the reliable returns I’ve received with Green Canopy’s fund offerings. They’ve been a win-win: solid returns paired with environmental outcomes I value.” — Kathy Washienko | Investor

$2.8 MILLION RETURNED TO BIRCH INVESTORS IN 2017 | RAISING CAPITAL FOR 4TH FUND OFFERING — CEDAR

Deep work refers to the ability to focus, quickly master complicated information, and produce better results in less time. While Green Canopy hones this skill across all channels there are four areas of practice where the Company shines:

• Courageously innovating in the built environment: We are bringing net zero energy homes to market and creating greater inclusivity by integrating more affordable housing. Optimizing systems of cost control and vertical integration allows us to lean further into our mission and aspiration to build regenerative structures. 

• Creating new financial vehicles: Green Canopy creates investment opportunities that provide impact investors with a balance of social, environmental and financial returns. 

• Curating a culture of personal growth and peak performance: All Green Canopy team members participate in monthly leadership trainings to develop the necessary skills for building trust, authentic communication and deliberate engagement with other team members and key stakeholders. Team members are also peer-reviewed biannually through the lens of Green Canopy’s values — Cultivating Community, Authentic Communication and Excellence.

• Engaging, Educating, and Inspiring Stakeholders: Change and transformation only occurs when it is discussed. Using a holistic ecosystem approach, Green Canopy engages its many stakeholders in a variety of ways such as the real estate broker Green Genius Education and Award Program, multi-stakeholder Empower Happy Hours, Neighborhood Community Meetings, and the Green Canopy Subcontractor Loyalty Program.

“Green Canopy’s monthly Leadership Training has been instrumental in fostering a culture of engaged employees who are actively working toward maximizing their potential." — Ami Nieto 

8 PROFESSIONAL LEADERSHIP TRAINING SESSIONS GIVEN TO ALL EMPLOYEES | 63 BROKERS GIVEN GREEN BUILDING TRAINING

In the 2018 summer issue, Green Canopy CEO, Aaron Fairchild, was named to "Fast Company's Most Creative People in Business." 

"Your inclusion on the list is an acknowledgment of your innovative and impactful work. You join 99 other remarkable leaders striving to solve global and societal problems in novel ways," states Fast Company Editor-in-chief, Stephanie Mehta.

Fairchild responds, "I am grateful to be recognized by such an esteemed publication as Fast Company, focused on revolutionizing the current business paradigm and to be listed among leaders and businesses using innovation to catalyze the next economy — one that is more regenerative and inclusive."

The Green Canopy Team is honored to have a leader who inspires us to continue doing the deep work necessary to realize the future we believe in.

Green Canopy introduced the Company’s first Net Zero Energy Homes in Portland by holding a class with valued partners in the movement. New construction “Net zero” or “zero energy” homes are highly-efficient home powered by the sun and typically built to a higher certification standard — in this case Earth Advantage Platinum. With less than 10 ever transacting on the Portland Regional Multiple Listing Service in the last 20 years, zero energy homes are very unique. Real Estate Brokers and buyers are learning more about what zero energy is apart from the apparent solar panels. Benefits like: healthier, allergen-free air quality; comfortable, evenly-distributed heating and cooling; and smart, cost-saving technology.
 
The event was held in one of the two Green Canopy Net Zero Energy Homes. Introductions were given by Debbie Chase of First American Title who welcomed brokers with bites from Elephants Delicatessen. Green Canopy Cofounder, Sam Lai, explained the mission of the company and the desired outcome of regenerative communities. And Chris Dawkins and Brian Schmidt of Lightbox Portland shared stories about their lessons learned from building their zero energy project that sold last month in Northeast Portland.
 
To begin the class on zero energy, Peter Brown of Earth Advantage — green building certifier — divulged details on what makes up a zero energy home. For this certified Earth Advantage Platinum Zero Energy project, Earth Advantage visits the project site several times to audit the quality of building — something that is not done for code-built homes. It is tested on a range of performance metrics like efficient water and lighting fixtures, structural integrity, and the energy consumption versus production. Brown also explained that the performance of zero energy homes is dependent on the lifestyle of the occupant — a household of 8 would likely consume more energy than a household of 2. A lively discussion ensued about the accuracy of energy certifications when home occupants have significant impact on the energy consumption of the homes. One remark was how a car’s Miles Per Gallon may not precisely reflect a car’s performance due to user differences like the number of passengers in the car or a different driving styles.
 
Green Canopy Construction Program Manager, Ryan Nieto, answered questions on the home the group was sitting in. Brokers remarked on the simple design qualities that they appreciated like the high windows allowing natural light in while providing privacy from the street. Nieto discussed how living in a net zero or zero energy home is not a sacrifice for sustainability but rather a convenience and the way of the future: “Net Zero Energy is a lifestyle choice. We’ve built high quality, energy efficient, and healthy homes that empower homeowners to embark on their personal journey towards Zero Energy, without sacrifice comfort or livability while adding durability and value.” 
 
The class adjourned and attendees were invited to walk through the home with the green building experts. Interactive “tags” were placed near distinctive features for attendees to learn about the features and their respective benefits for homebuyers.

Green Canopy CEO, Aaron Fairchild, was recently featured on the Next Economy Now podcast by Lift Economy in the episode "Aaron Fairchild: Rooting Into Perennial Impact Under One Green Canopy." 

The podcast "highlights the leaders who are taking a regenerative, bio-regional, democratic, transparent, and whole-systems approach to using business as a force for good." Green Canopy is continually inspired by Lift Economy's work to benefit all life.

Listen to this episode to hear more from Aaron about how Green Canopy is influencing the existing construction paradigm while deliberately, methodically and incrementally addressing some of society’s most difficult challenges as we collectively work to create a more resilient and regenerative future.

Aaron offers Green Canopy’s past, present and future outlook, thoughts on culture and management, the phases of the company's growth and the importance of inclusive building for a more enriching world.

For more information on Green Canopy's approach to the current construction industry, listen to "Money is a Means to an End: Scaling Your Business with Aaron Fairchild" by The Construction Leading Edge.

At Green Canopy, we believe living in a net zero energy home goes hand in hand with a zero waste lifestyle. Partnering with Seattle Zero Waste, Zero Waste Washington, Eco Collective Seattle and Seattle EcoWomen in welcoming zero waste activist, Bea Johnson, to Seattle was an honor. 
 
According to research outlined in Drawdown: 100 Solutions to Reverse Global Warming, “Over the course of a century, methane has 34 times the greenhouse effect of carbon dioxide. Landfills are a top source of methane emissions, releasing 12 percent of the world’s total.”
 
The Zero Waste Movement has been an important piece in the pursuit of greater sustainability and reducing our landfills. In 2002, The Zero Waste International Alliance was formed to tackle waste management issues globally from the front end and defines zero waste as, “designing and managing products and processes to systematically avoid and eliminate the volume and toxicity of waste and materials, conserve and recover all resources, and not burn or bury them.” They believe that by “implementing Zero Waste we will eliminate all discharges to land, water or air that are a threat to planetary, human, animal or plant health.”
 
Bea Johnson — a French native living in California as a mother of two — took this concept, and applied it to her everyday life and decisions. Johnson’s blog, Zero Waste Home, that she started in 2008, shows how to create less waste in a practical and cost-saving way.
 
Since 2008, her family of four has only been producing enough trash to fill one small jar every year. In the process, she’s found that a zero waste home has simplified her lifestyle and afforded her family more time together, with a priority on creating experiences and memories together.  Bea has inspired a global community of Zero Waste bloggers and lifestyle adopters. Her bestselling book, Zero Waste Home named after the blog, has been translated in 20 languages, she’s given 200+ speeches in 30+ countries and been featured in publications and TV Shows around the world. The New York Times, the Today Show, BBC Breakfast.

Johnson spoke to a sold-out crowd of about 200, centered around her 5 Rs:
 
Refuse
Refuse what you absolutely do not need — and especially disposables or plastics.
 
Reduce
Reduce what you do have. Look at what you have and ask yourself, “Can I do with less?” Can I donate this or give it to someone else that needs it more?”
 
Reuse
Whatever you cannot refuse or reduce then you reuse. Make the things that you do purchase, long-lasting re-usables and not single-use items. This can also look like reusing the compostables you’ve bought as many times as possible as Johnson will freeze the discarded pieces of vegetables from cooking to make vegetable stock. 
 
Recycle
Whatever you cannot refuse, whatever you cannot reduce, whatever you cannot reuse — then you recycle. Sending back the products and materials that wear out to the initial supplier or a local recycler to be turned into something else. If you absolutely cannot refuse using a laptop and it breaks, recycle it at a local business or mail it in if needed.
 
Rot
Whatever you cannot refuse, reduce, reuse or recycle, then you allow to rot in the compost. This is the last of her R’s because it is the last resort and typically a very small amount leftover after going through the first four Rs.
 
The most impactful part of Bea Johnson’s talk for me, was hearing how implementing a zero waste lifestyle has shifted her family’s focus towards giving gifts of experience instead of things, allowing for more memories and bonds to be made. Instead of new toys for Christmas, her son got to go skydiving for the first time and still talks about it.
 
After the presentation, Green Canopy’s Director of Investor Relations and Impact, Susan Fairchild and Zero Waste Washington’s Heather Trim, kicked off happy hour by asking, “what is the next step you want to take in living zero waste and how can you make it happen?”

By Kyle Mylius | Director of Investor Relations and Strategy | Green Canopy

Part one of this two-part series highlighted the residential real estate market opportunity in Seattle and Portland. 
 
Why is now the time to use business as a force for good? The region’s economic growth and prosperity have fueled urgent social and environmental challenges. If we fail to mitigate these unintended consequences, the costs to do so in the future might very well swamp the near-term benefits and wealth our robust local economy generates today. Instead, we can respond now to the observed market signals and feedback loops by investing some of the capital generated into thoughtful, holistic and practical solutions to those social and environmental issues.
 
At Green Canopy, we embrace the Chinese dictum, “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second-best time is now.” As a for-profit company backed by shareholders, we seek to make money and create long-term company value through various verticals in real estate. But we are also driven to create real estate projects and financing models that allow us to live into the world we envision as manifested within our Theory of Change. This compels us to use a portion of the company’s resources to create vitally important social and environmental value for our shareholders, homeowners and neighbors who collectively make up the fabric of the communities in which we live, work and play.
 
We do this by running toward these challenges and recognizing them as opportunities. For example, we help mitigate global warming by building net zero energy homes. In so doing, we create value in new homes — value that home buyers, renters, banks and appraisers will increasingly recognize.  In time, more and more home builders and will want to capture that value and build to a net zero energy standard, making meaningful progress toward slowing our local impact on global climate change.
 
Beyond this very practical business imperative, lies an awareness within Green Canopy that our built environment has tremendous impact on the natural environment. We recognize that we have a responsibility as a real estate developer to change the ways homes are built and perform. Therefore, we endeavor to design homes to have increasingly less impact on the Earth compared to typical “code built” homes. And aspire to ultimately design and build homes as carbon sinks and regenerative structures that help reverse global warming.
 
We need to find ways to alter humanity’s relationship with the environment, and have the courage to execute those new ideas. I’ve come to believe that each person should shoulder some of the responsibility for not only adhering to environmental best practices but for creating new, practical models for protecting our world. We owe the world our physical labour and our earnest brain power.
-Dan O’Brien, Food for Thought: How a buffalo herd taught me to be a responsible capitalist, Beside magazine Vol 2
 
We cannot succeed in our goals if we serve only the wealthy. Net zero energy homes should be accessible to all homeowners and renters, including the 35 million Americans who spend an inordinate amount of their income on energy bills. Accordingly, Green Canopy is expanding inclusivity in the urban neighborhoods we serve. We are doing this by creating investment structures that attract like-minded investors, enabling us to scale our work and build more affordable homes within desirable urban neighborhoods.

We are often asked, “Why?” Or even, “We get that environmental sustainability, and features like net zero energy can also be financially profitable. But can’t you just let non-profits and public agencies tackle housing affordability?”  Our answer is a resounding, “No.” As systems thinking has taught us, social and environmental problem sets are inextricably linked. Solving for one without considering the other would be an inefficient and potentially even counterproductive use of capital.
 
Traditional urban residential development approaches and financing tools perpetuate multi-generational and systemic exclusion and inequality. The magnitude of the challenge demands a multi-pronged solution, as expanded on in the Seattle Times and and the New York Times. We are driven by more than a sense of moral obligation, more than an opportunity to both make money and do good. We do this work because we and our stakeholders enjoy power and privilege that — absent of taking a different approach — will only perpetuate and expand social injustice and environmental degradation in the place we all call home.
 
As long as we participate in social systems, we don’t get to choose whether to be involved in the consequences they produce. As such, we can only choose how to be involved, whether to just be part of the problem, or also to be part of the solution. That’s where our power lies, and also our responsibility. 
-Allan G. Johnson, Privilege, Power and Difference
 
Another question we get is, “So what is the cost for doing this work?” We have calculated the costs and it’s not as much as most assume, whether measured in profit margin to the developer or financial returns to investors. And what is often underappreciated, in part because it is harder to measure and quantify, are the benefits of reduced risks to the developer’s brand, the costs of obtaining permits and entitlements, and the ability to sell homes and differentiate value in a competitive market, to name just a few. Similarly, investors who back our work are taking a long-term perspective in seeking sustainable value creation and financial returns that do not extract value at the expense of others and the environment.
 
The stakeholders of Green Canopy work in earnest to use our time, talent and capital to harness the economic growth and prosperity of our region for the benefit of all. We acknowledge now is the time to engage and use business as a force for good, with more inclusive and less extractive approaches and business models than before — recognizing our power and privilege must be used responsibly and ethically. The time to plant the proverbial tree is now.

By Susan Fairchild | Director, Investor Relations and Impact | Green Canopy Homes

The Rockefeller Foundation strives to “promote the well-being of humanity throughout the world” by scaling transformative innovations, creating unlikely partnerships spanning sectors, and taking risks others cannot. To catalyze cross-sector pollinization from the social sector to impact investing, the Rockefeller Foundation recently released a case study on Green Canopy’s theory of change - “Putting Impact at the Center of Impact Investing: A Case Study of how Green Canopy Designed its Impact Thesis.”

"The case study provides an illuminating example of how investors can adapt theory of change to serve their impact management needs. By demonstrating the relevance and transferability of this tool for articulating, measuring, and managing impact, the hope is that this case study can contribute to strengthening other investors’ approaches, in turn contributing to building the evidence base for the “impact” of impact investments."

We encourage impact investors and impact enterprises to similarly consider integrating this tool into their organizations.  You can read more about Green Canopy’s theory of change and send any questions to susan@greencanopy.com.

By Kyle Mylius | Director of Investor Relations and Strategy | Green Canopy

Part one of this two-part series highlighted why now is the time to use business as a force for good?

In the last several months, investors have asked about the prudence of investing in a “hot” Pacific Northwest real estate market — a market that has experienced significant home price appreciation since 2013, with Seattle seeing an average 20% increase in the last year alone.
 
Green Canopy's response is emphatic. A multi-faceted housing crisis has created a compelling financial, environmental and social investment opportunity. Not just now, but for several years to follow. Understanding the market fundamentals and deciding how best to manage the inevitable risks is essential to any sound investment strategy — as a developer, as an investor, and as community leaders.
 
"It’s essential for investment success that we recognize the condition of the market and decide on our actions accordingly." — Howard Marks, The Most Important Thing: Uncommon Sense for the Thoughtful Investor

Howard Marks is one of the most successful investors of our generation, known for being an astute observer and risk assessor. Marks strategizes with the understanding that regardless of the economic cycle, there will always be risks with investing — and pockets of opportunity are also ever present. Those who take a contrarian view, seeking out less-obvious and more-manageable risk exposures, with smart and flexible investment structures, are rewarded by opportunities unforeseen and even derided by most.
 
“The trend is your friend” is a common investor phrase and useful tool for evaluating where to invest, or not. A visible trend in the Pacific Northwest is that the inventory of homes for sale remains at an all-time low while demand continues to be high. This is evidenced in several ways including the number of days homes are on the market before being sold and the persistent growth in home prices throughout our region.

At the same time, the Pacific Northwest continues to attract more highly-paid workers looking to relocate. This isn’t just the Amazonians, but many of the major Silicon Valley companies whose employees can sell their homes for a high price in California and buy at a lower price in the PNW. While Seattle’s median home price exceeded $750,000 recently, the market is a relative bargain compared to median home prices in neighboring West Coast cities: San Francisco ($1,200,000) and Vancouver B.C. (US $2,400,000). Portland has also experienced significant appreciation over the last five years, though the median home price is substantially lower,  $440,000 according to Redfin.
 
If demand growth begins to slow, there are a number of factors that will cause gross demand for homes to continue outpacing gross supply. For example, home supply tends to lag behind demand as it typically takes 12–15 months to acquire, build, and sell residential development projects. And in Seattle, the number of new construction home sales has not come close to the number in demand, even with the amount of population growth multi-family apartments and condos are absorbing.

Data Source: NWMLS and U.S.Census Data 
Public agencies are working to adjust policies and support the high volume of new construction permitting requests, but bottlenecks still remain. Lenders continue to be conservative in extending credit against real estate. The construction industry across the U.S. has only recovered half of the skilled labor lost during the great recession — and many homeowners in the PNW are unwilling to sell. Despite having substantial home equity, PNW homeowners are not motivated enough to sell when they will be faced with the high costs to switch and the lack of options to upgrade.
 
The regional housing market imbalance of supply and demand may not be able to achieve equilibrium in the next year, or two or three. But it will eventually. Investment and development strategies focused on the single-family residential market must be structured to nimbly capitalize on the near term upward pricing trend and well-positioned to respond to inevitable cyclical shifts further down the road.

By Susan Fairchild | Director of Investor Relations & Impact | Green Canopy

Those who visit the Green Canopy Headquarters will find, in our entryway, a reminder handed down by our CEO’s father. It’s a framed quote by the baseball legend Yogi Berra, reading— “If you aim for nothing, you’ll hit it.”

At Green Canopy, we’re always looking to identify and clearly articulate the direction we’re headed. By doing this, our team and stakeholders come to a shared understanding of goals. We can all take ownership of these goals, and then create a plan of action to make them happen. One way we’ve done this in the past year, is by mapping out our specific “Theory of Change”. A Theory of Change provides a visual roadmap to creating the change we want to see in the world, and provides a target through which we align our strategies, outcomes, and goals.

Green Canopy began this process with the guidance from Jane Reisman, a Social Impact Advisor with over 29 years of experience in strategy and evaluation. Jane has dedicated her life to empowering non-profits, foundations, and systems thinkers with the tools to significantly increase the probability of achieving their desired impact.
​
As we embraced doing the deep work* with Jane, the benefits to engaging in the process of developing Green Canopy’s Theory of Change became quite clear:

• Impact Alignment: Key stakeholders buy into and align towards our shared purpose and desired impact.

• Shared Language: Shared language enables key stakeholders – employees, board members, investors, vendors, homeowners, and others to speak with a common voice.

• Metric Alignment: Provides additional structure to which we can align our impact metrics to measure our progress, and learn from both our successes and shortcomings.

​
We are pleased to share Green Canopy’s Theory of Change publicly for the first time. We believe in a better future. We invite you to be a part of it. 

Aaron Fairchild, Green Canopy’s CEO recently detailed the Theory of Change at an Empower Happy Hour. Watch Aaron’s presentation here. 

​*“Deep Work” is a concept written about by Cal Newport that he describes as the ability to focus without distraction, master complicated information and produce better results in less time— providing the sense of true fulfillment that comes from craftmanship. 

by Aaron Fairchild

Imagine gathering over 200 business leaders in the middle of a massive continent, where humans have lived for tens of thousands of years. The purpose? To advance a nascent movement, using business as a force for good to positively change the world. The location of this gathering? The very birthplace of our oldest instruments. There — in the deep, red earth — in the heart of an arid land, water reaches to the surface forming natural springs. The combination of water and music has charged the region with deep communal and rhythmic energy. It is hard to imagine a better place to come together. That place is Alice Springs, Australia — the location of the first ever, 2017 Australian B Corps Champions Retreat.
 
B Corporations are for-profit companies, certified by the nonprofit B Lab to meet rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. Behind the Australian B Corps Champions Retreat was a team with a leader — a visionary, validator, an organizer. A master engineer, who understands the elements needed to launch a movement from the ground and elevate it in the uplifting thermals.
 
I had the chance to find this person and talk with her a number of weeks ago and have been dying to write about her ever since. Alicia Darvall was the first Executive Director of B Lab Australia & New Zealand. When she was hired by the Small Giants team in 2014 to head up B Lab Australia, there were 13 certified B Corps in the country. After three short years, the Australian & New Zealand B Corps community has grown to over 230 certified companies. Alicia came to B Lab from, not surprisingly, a background in working with entrepreneurs and organizing festivals. She has over 15-years’ experience in senior roles at fast-growing, high-profile businesses and organizations, such as Moonlight Cinema, Melbourne Fringe Festival and Melbourne Fashion Festival. As ED for Australia & New Zealand B Lab, Alicia provided strategic support to entrepreneurs; coached them to build on their values, engage within their community and stakeholders, and measure their impact.

When I asked Alicia how she was able to grow the Australian B Corps Community so rapidly, her response was simply, “I followed flow without inserting my personal agenda.” Every movement needs its first follower, and Alicia is the ideal first follower. She is creatively inspired and wise enough to remove her ego in the effort to help others thrive. It is no wonder why B Lab elevated her. At the top of 2018, Alicia handed off the Australia & New Zealand B Lab reins to the talented Andrea De Almeida, and accepted the role of Executive Director of Global Partners. Her stated mission at B Lab Global is, “to nurture a creative manner required to build a movement that lasts.” Wow… To do this, she identifies and works with emerging B Lab regions to help them channel their unique cultural flow of energy to create movement and community.
 
In addition to helping new regions progress, Alicia works with B Lab’s network of networks, the B Lab Global Governance Council. In this effort, she helps the Council follow energy flows required to grow and develop, and then sustain their efforts through implementing earned income strategies.
 
After meeting with Alicia, I walked along the sidewalk in a shower of rain. I didn’t try and dodge the raindrops — it had been hot and humid for days and the rain refreshed my skin and soul. I couldn’t help but make the connection between the refreshing rain and our conversation. Alicia is a rare and rejuvenating leader who is tuned into the energy of others and understands that by following flow and not adding ego, amazing things happen. As a member of the B Corps community, Green Canopy is grateful that she is a leader in our network, helping to make our work lasting and transformative. Thanks Alicia!

“As impact investing grows exponentially, the IA 50 has remained a leading and trusted resource for impact investors of all experience levels,” said Jed Emerson, ImpactAssets Senior Fellow, and IA 50 Review Committee Chair.  “Our consistent and objective evaluation of impact fund managers is providing financial advisors and their clients with a starting place to make informed investment decisions.  And we are helping to catalyze the growth of impact investing by creating a centralized information source in a fragmented field.”

Green Canopy is honored to be featured on the 2018 IA 50 List as one of nine managers in the Real Assets category, one of 13 in Housing, and one of the 12 Certified B Corporations. See the press release here.