The Council would welcome a joint proposal. However, if one of the parties is a for profit organization, they would not be able to use any of the funds that the Council will transfer to the selected entity. All funds currently held by Cool Choices for the WI Sustainable Business Council carry with them a permanent non-profit designation. They were donated to a non-profit, and can only be transferred and used by a non-profit (which includes educational institutions).

2017 was an exception to the statement in the Background section. For the first time, the Council was required to pick up the entire cost of the Executive Director and the Green Masters Program director (2 separate positions). Previously, a portion of the costs of the Executive Director was covered by the contract for teaching that Tom had from the UW. This is fully explained in the spreadsheets that are available for the last 4 years.

2017 costs were impacted by an agreement between the Council and Kohler whereby the Council agreed to contribute $10,000 toward the full costs of the conference. In addition, attendance numbers that were less than planned for. Other than the addition of the $10,000 agreement (which was not unprecedented), the remaining costs of the conference were comparable to the previous year.

The Board of the WI Sustainable Business Council asked this same question. You will see elements of the contract that empower the Board to enforce the contract. In essence, any enforcement by the Board of elements of the Contract would be governed by the Contract. The selected entity must agree to these elements of the contract for the transfer of “the Council” to move forward.

This is a great question. The only thing that should be read into the “Purpose of the Council” section of the RFP is that the Board will not support an effort to create a lobbying organization. Our use of the term “advocacy” is meant solely to cover lobbying. We agree that the continuing purpose of the Council is to encourage and enable businesses to become more sustainable. Nothing is meant to be changed in that purpose as the Council finds a new host.

We have created the impression that a more sophisticated software platform is beneath the Green Masters Program than ultimately exists. We use Qualtrics, which is a well-regarded survey software program. Every year we update the survey by changing some questions, deleting some questions and adding some questions. Qualtrics maintains the questionnaire and all of the raw data for every year that the program has existed. There is currently no cost for this as Qualtrics is the official survey software of UW Madison. There is no programming involved and all security (data and applicant) is provided by Qualtrics. No applicant can see any other applicant’s data. The majority of the workload with respect to the questionnaire is between December and the end of January when the program is updated.

The attached contract requires a conference be held each calendar year. However, when the conference is held is up to the selected applicant. The conference has been held early December for 10 years and has created an expectation for a conference at that time. To move the conference would require more work, and perhaps significantly more work, to establish a new time. In addition, the annual meeting with the board is to follow the conference by a quarter, enabling a report out on the overall success of the successful applicant’s efforts. If the date of the conference is changed, a new meeting time with the Council may need to be established. However, this would be done through an amendment to the Contract.

You are correct in that the majority of revenue flows into the Council late in the year. Even after drawing on the revenue provided by the Council each year pursuant to the Contract, the successful applicant may need to front some money until late in the year. This could be addressed by changing when the Board would be asked to provide their sponsorship dollars. All Proposals should explain how cash flow will be handled both during the first year, and then in the second and subsequent years. This is currently a requirement of the RFP.

All case studies have been prepared by students, generally interns over the summer. No case studies have been prepared in the last 3 summers. In total, we have more than 30 case studies.

The Council has been supported by the UW since it's inception in 2009 in that my appointment with the UW has included a service component which I have met by serving as the Executive Director of the Council. In addition, the relationship with the UW goes deeper in that the Council supports a grad student (as a Project Assistant) to serve as the Director of the Green Masters Program. In addition, students from my fall semester class plan and direct the annual WI Sustainable Business Conference and students from my spring semester class prepare the annual State of Wisconsin Sustainability Report. We would expect whatever organization is selected as a result of the upcoming Request for Proposal to commit to continuing to present an annual conference, commit to continuing to run and adapt the Green Masters Program and continue to prepare a State Sustainability Report. How these obligations are met is up to the selected organization. I will note that with my leaving, there is no additional internal capacity of the Council. Kevin Banas, the current PA, will be graduating in May, 2019, so he also will be unavailable. There is currently a board of 12 advisers, representing a cross-section of businesses from around the state. Whether they continue on will be at the discretion of the selected organization, but they are advisers only. Thus, the short answer to your question is the selected organization would be taking full responsibility for running the events and programs and producing the reports.

The model as it currently exists works to do this. But, it will take a unique person to make that model work going forward. First, we hold our costs way down. We have never paid for a venue to have a 400 person conference. This year, Kohler is donating the space. In past years, Lands End, American Family Insurance, Harley Davidson, Miron Construction and Empire Screen Printing have donated the space. You'll need someone that's able to sell large businesses on the benefits of hosting the annual conference. Second, our advisers each agree to provide $5,000 as sponsors of the conference. Some work with the advisers and recrafting expectations would need to be done. Third, we take in somewhere around $30k from attendees of the conference (some years its more, some years its less). Fourth, we continue to experiment with monetizing the Green Masters Program. More work can be done with this. The simple answer is the right person with the right incentives to offer should be able to continue to generate sufficient revenue to make this model work. But, we'll be looking for a commitment to making it work in case you don't find that right person.

With this Request for Expressions of Interest, WSBC is soliciting organizations or institutions that will agree to assume responsibility for running the WI Sustainable Business Council. While it is true that the Council has been run for the last 10 years as revenue positive (revenue exceeds costs), this is directly a result of Tom's decision to take no salary for his role as Executive Director. Going forward, the Board does not believe that the Executive Director position should be uncompensated. Upon factoring in a reasonable cost for an Executive Director, WSBC will require additional revenue. How that revenue is obtained will depend upon the next Executive Director. WSBC has never sought or accepted grants. WSBC has never provided consulting services to businesses (there have been many asks). WSBC has never charged for webinars or developed additional revenue-generating events. All are possible new revenue sources for a new Executive Director. As mentioned in the Request for Expressions of Interest and in the answers below, there are several sources of current revenue. If a new Executive Director fully realized all possible revenue from existing sources (maximized return from future conferences, fully developed a spring symposium and awards and solicited additional businesses for sponsorship support) and continued to minimize costs (mostly through finding host institutions for events that would assume the cost for hosting the fall conference and spring symposium), it is possible that little additional financial support would be required. However, the Board desires to secure at least a 3 year financial commitment from the selected institution and will leave it to the selected host to work through how they will meet that commitment.

The Executive Director is an uncompensated part-time position. The Project Assistant is a 1/3rd time Project Assistant position (through the UW).

Over the course of a year, Tom averages 10+ hours/week, with much higher totals in the 2 months leading up to the December conference. The Project Assistant averages 12 – 15 hours per week.

The Executive Director spends 20% of his time on administrative issues and oversite related to the Project Assistant (PA), 25% of his time on development and oversite of the conference, 25% of his time on developing strategy and promoting the Council and its programs, 15% of his time interacting with the Board and soliciting new board members, and 15% of his time answering requests or questions about Council activities. The PA spends 100% of his time administering and promoting the Green Masters Program and maintaining the Council website.

I don’t know that I fully understand the question, but it would be up to the new Executive Director, the current board and the hosting organization to develop appropriate policies or other considerations.

This would be up to the host organization and the board.

Housing the organization is viewed as adopting the organization and bringing it entirely in-house. This would be akin to a buyout in the private sector. The brand “WI Sustainable Business Council” would continue to exist, but there would be no independent organization any longer. The current board would probably no longer exist. Hosting the organization implies that the organization still independently exists, and still would seek guidance and direction from the current board. It would exist as an independent part of the hosting organization (much like the current arrangement with the Nelson Institute at the UW).

The UW Foundation accepts and processes all gifts to the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In the case of gifts from the WI Sustainable Business Council, donations are made specifically to support the Program Assistant that runs the Green Masters Program. In addition, for part of 2016 and all of 2017, the Council was asked to support Tom Eggert. The support of Tom Eggert ended at the end of 2017, and in 2018, the Council is only supporting the Program Assistant. In 2017 $100k; in 2016 $50k, and in 2015 $25K went to UW Foundation - what specifically was this for? See above. The Council provided complete support for Tom and the Program Assistant in 2017, and for half of 2016. I understand that in 2017 $100K was allotted to pay Tom’s salary and that of the Program Assistant. As there is no salary listed for either, should I assume that the $100k paid to UW Foundation in 2017 was to then pay these two salaries? The money donated in 2017 was to cover the costs of both the Executive Director and the Program Assistant What was the specific allotment to you and the intern? The total cost for Tom was roughly $72,000, leaving $28,000 for the Program Assistant. Will this continue in 2018? The only support that is continuing in 2018 is that for the Program Assistant. We are committed to supporting the person in that role through Spring, 2019. In the FAQs, it is stated that the roles are uncompensated. Which is it? The Executive Director position was never designed to be a compensated position. Tom founded and served as the Executive Director of the Council as part of his UW contract. That contract lapsed, as described above, but is now back in force. The Program Assistant was always a compensated position.

These are the costs to the Council of having Cool Choices function as our fiscal agent.

We do not maintain separate books from those of Cool Choices, so the accounting fees are rolled into the fees paid by Cool Choices.

The website is hosted on GoDaddy and is designed in WIX.

The Green Masters Program is currently hosted on Qualtrics, but could be hosted on any survey software. According to this page, https://www.capterra.com/p/72396/Qualtrics-Insight-Platform/ starting costs is $299/year. But, according to this page, https://www.quora.com/What-is-Qualtrics-cost, “the basic package which includes Research Suite (the survey builder) costs around $5,000 a year.” With whatever option is chosen, a non-profit should be entitled to a reduced rate.

There are no additional services or benefits being provided by UW Madison or Cool Choices.

The category Conference, Conventions and Meetings contains the numbers reference above. In 2017 a couple of unique bookkeeping things were done. The American Club billed the Council for the entire costs of the conference and then Kohler paid for $20,000 of the costs. Thus, there is a $20,000 entry under “Corporate Contributions” which does not exist in any other year. This then offsets $20,000 of conference costs, recorded in the Conference, Conventions and Meeting category. Combine this with the extraordinary agreement to provide $10,000 to Kohler for the costs of the 2017 conference, and the cost of the conference in 2017 was just under $10,000 – which is in line with past years.

Each of the Advisors to the WI Sustainable Business Council is asked to provide $5,000 annually as a sponsorship commitment for the Conference. In addition, we solicit limited additional sponsorships of $5,000.

All advisors are asked to pay the same amount. In some cases, we accept services in lieu of payment. As stated above, the extra sponsorship money comes from a select group of other sponsors. All sponsors are offered an opportunity to display at the conference, offered 5 free tickets to the conference, and a generous package of publicity.

See above. For bookkeeping purposes, we treated Kohler’s payment of $20,000 of the costs at the American Club as an in-kind contribution, so our books both reflect revenue and costs that balance out.

This is beyond our ability to answer and you would need to consult with your accountant.

The Program Assistant is currently managing this program as part of his on-going responsibilities for the Green Masters Program. There are no additional costs. Time requirements to date have been minimal (less than an hour on average per week).

The Skype conference call is currently scheduled for April 24th.

As stated in the Generic Contract, attached to the RFP: “As of the Effective Date, the Council will transfer control of all the Council’s assets (“Assets”) to an account jointly managed by the Board and the Host. All withdrawals from this account will require both parties to sign-off on the withdrawal. Except as otherwise provided in this Agreement and in compliance with Section E below, the Host may only use the Assets in furtherance of the Requirements of this Agreement, as outlined under Section A above. The Host shall provide quarterly updates to the Board on revenue earned, costs incurred and the Assets. E. Initial Funds. The Council will have liquid assets included in the Assets exceeding one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) on the Effective Date (“Initial Funds”). The Host may not access the Initial Funds except as provided in this Section E. Following the Effective Date, the Host shall have immediate access and may use one-fifth (1/5) of the Initial Funds. On each annual anniversary of the Effective Date, the Host shall gain access and may use another one-fifth (1/5) of the Initial Funds. On the fourth annual anniversary of the Effective Date, the Host shall be permitted to utilize the full amount of the Initial Funds. If this Agreement is terminated prior to an annual anniversary date, access by the Host to any remaining Funds under this Section E shall be prohibited.” In summary, the successful respondent will have immediate access to 1/5th of the assets available on the effective day of the contract, and access to an additional 1/5th on each subsequent anniversary of the contract until the “Initial Funds” are gone.

We anticipate another transfer of $25,000 to the UW Foundation during calendar year 2018 to cover the costs of the Program Assistant for the 2018-2019 academic year. There are no other additional transfers anticipated. As for guessing on how much money will be available at the end of 2018, we have no way of justifying a guess. We do not have a venue selected for the conference yet, and thus we have no idea on how to estimate the costs. And, of course, we have no idea about the revenue from the conference. We are comfortable standing behind the language in the contract attached to the RFP which states “The Council will have liquid assets included in the Assets exceeding one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) on the Effective Date (“Initial Funds”).”

The website for the conference is hosted on GoDaddy. Qualtrics is the historic survey software that we have used for the Green Masters Program, but any survey software could be used for the Green Masters Program. The costs for Qualtrics for a non-profit should be less than for the general public. I have seen estimates between $299/year and $5,000/year.

Because of the late date of the Skype conference, we are extending the due date to May 4th.

The Council would welcome a joint proposal. However, if one of the parties is a for profit organization, they would not be able to use any of the funds that the Council will transfer to the selected entity. All funds currently held by Cool Choices for the WI Sustainable Business Council carry with them a permanent non-profit designation. They were donated to a non-profit, and can only be transferred and used by a non-profit (which includes educational institutions).

2017 was an exception to the statement in the Background section. For the first time, the Council was required to pick up the entire cost of the Executive Director and the Green Masters Program director (2 separate positions). Previously, a portion of the costs of the Executive Director was covered by the contract for teaching that Tom had from the UW. This is fully explained in the spreadsheets that are available for the last 4 years.

2017 costs were impacted by an agreement between the Council and Kohler whereby the Council agreed to contribute $10,000 toward the full costs of the conference. In addition, attendance numbers that were less than planned for. Other than the addition of the $10,000 agreement (which was not unprecedented), the remaining costs of the conference were comparable to the previous year.

The Board of the WI Sustainable Business Council asked this same question. You will see elements of the contract that empower the Board to enforce the contract. In essence, any enforcement by the Board of elements of the Contract would be governed by the Contract. The selected entity must agree to these elements of the contract for the transfer of “the Council” to move forward.

This is a great question. The only thing that should be read into the “Purpose of the Council” section of the RFP is that the Board will not support an effort to create a lobbying organization. Our use of the term “advocacy” is meant solely to cover lobbying. We agree that the continuing purpose of the Council is to encourage and enable businesses to become more sustainable. Nothing is meant to be changed in that purpose as the Council finds a new host.

We have created the impression that a more sophisticated software platform is beneath the Green Masters Program than ultimately exists. We use Qualtrics, which is a well-regarded survey software program. Every year we update the survey by changing some questions, deleting some questions and adding some questions. Qualtrics maintains the questionnaire and all of the raw data for every year that the program has existed. There is currently no cost for this as Qualtrics is the official survey software of UW Madison. There is no programming involved and all security (data and applicant) is provided by Qualtrics. No applicant can see any other applicant’s data. The majority of the workload with respect to the questionnaire is between December and the end of January when the program is updated.

The attached contract requires a conference be held each calendar year. However, when the conference is held is up to the selected applicant. The conference has been held early December for 10 years and has created an expectation for a conference at that time. To move the conference would require more work, and perhaps significantly more work, to establish a new time. In addition, the annual meeting with the board is to follow the conference by a quarter, enabling a report out on the overall success of the successful applicant’s efforts. If the date of the conference is changed, a new meeting time with the Council may need to be established. However, this would be done through an amendment to the Contract.

You are correct in that the majority of revenue flows into the Council late in the year. Even after drawing on the revenue provided by the Council each year pursuant to the Contract, the successful applicant may need to front some money until late in the year. This could be addressed by changing when the Board would be asked to provide their sponsorship dollars. All Proposals should explain how cash flow will be handled both during the first year, and then in the second and subsequent years. This is currently a requirement of the RFP.

All case studies have been prepared by students, generally interns over the summer. No case studies have been prepared in the last 3 summers. In total, we have more than 30 case studies.

The Council has been supported by the UW since it's inception in 2009 in that my appointment with the UW has included a service component which I have met by serving as the Executive Director of the Council. In addition, the relationship with the UW goes deeper in that the Council supports a grad student (as a Project Assistant) to serve as the Director of the Green Masters Program. In addition, students from my fall semester class plan and direct the annual WI Sustainable Business Conference and students from my spring semester class prepare the annual State of Wisconsin Sustainability Report. We would expect whatever organization is selected as a result of the upcoming Request for Proposal to commit to continuing to present an annual conference, commit to continuing to run and adapt the Green Masters Program and continue to prepare a State Sustainability Report. How these obligations are met is up to the selected organization. I will note that with my leaving, there is no additional internal capacity of the Council. Kevin Banas, the current PA, will be graduating in May, 2019, so he also will be unavailable. There is currently a board of 12 advisers, representing a cross-section of businesses from around the state. Whether they continue on will be at the discretion of the selected organization, but they are advisers only. Thus, the short answer to your question is the selected organization would be taking full responsibility for running the events and programs and producing the reports.

The model as it currently exists works to do this. But, it will take a unique person to make that model work going forward. First, we hold our costs way down. We have never paid for a venue to have a 400 person conference. This year, Kohler is donating the space. In past years, Lands End, American Family Insurance, Harley Davidson, Miron Construction and Empire Screen Printing have donated the space. You'll need someone that's able to sell large businesses on the benefits of hosting the annual conference. Second, our advisers each agree to provide $5,000 as sponsors of the conference. Some work with the advisers and recrafting expectations would need to be done. Third, we take in somewhere around $30k from attendees of the conference (some years its more, some years its less). Fourth, we continue to experiment with monetizing the Green Masters Program. More work can be done with this. The simple answer is the right person with the right incentives to offer should be able to continue to generate sufficient revenue to make this model work. But, we'll be looking for a commitment to making it work in case you don't find that right person.

With this Request for Expressions of Interest, WSBC is soliciting organizations or institutions that will agree to assume responsibility for running the WI Sustainable Business Council. While it is true that the Council has been run for the last 10 years as revenue positive (revenue exceeds costs), this is directly a result of Tom's decision to take no salary for his role as Executive Director. Going forward, the Board does not believe that the Executive Director position should be uncompensated. Upon factoring in a reasonable cost for an Executive Director, WSBC will require additional revenue. How that revenue is obtained will depend upon the next Executive Director. WSBC has never sought or accepted grants. WSBC has never provided consulting services to businesses (there have been many asks). WSBC has never charged for webinars or developed additional revenue-generating events. All are possible new revenue sources for a new Executive Director. As mentioned in the Request for Expressions of Interest and in the answers below, there are several sources of current revenue. If a new Executive Director fully realized all possible revenue from existing sources (maximized return from future conferences, fully developed a spring symposium and awards and solicited additional businesses for sponsorship support) and continued to minimize costs (mostly through finding host institutions for events that would assume the cost for hosting the fall conference and spring symposium), it is possible that little additional financial support would be required. However, the Board desires to secure at least a 3 year financial commitment from the selected institution and will leave it to the selected host to work through how they will meet that commitment.

The Executive Director is an uncompensated part-time position. The Project Assistant is a 1/3rd time Project Assistant position (through the UW).

Over the course of a year, Tom averages 10+ hours/week, with much higher totals in the 2 months leading up to the December conference. The Project Assistant averages 12 – 15 hours per week.

The Executive Director spends 20% of his time on administrative issues and oversite related to the Project Assistant (PA), 25% of his time on development and oversite of the conference, 25% of his time on developing strategy and promoting the Council and its programs, 15% of his time interacting with the Board and soliciting new board members, and 15% of his time answering requests or questions about Council activities. The PA spends 100% of his time administering and promoting the Green Masters Program and maintaining the Council website.

I don’t know that I fully understand the question, but it would be up to the new Executive Director, the current board and the hosting organization to develop appropriate policies or other considerations.

This would be up to the host organization and the board.

Housing the organization is viewed as adopting the organization and bringing it entirely in-house. This would be akin to a buyout in the private sector. The brand “WI Sustainable Business Council” would continue to exist, but there would be no independent organization any longer. The current board would probably no longer exist. Hosting the organization implies that the organization still independently exists, and still would seek guidance and direction from the current board. It would exist as an independent part of the hosting organization (much like the current arrangement with the Nelson Institute at the UW).

The UW Foundation accepts and processes all gifts to the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In the case of gifts from the WI Sustainable Business Council, donations are made specifically to support the Program Assistant that runs the Green Masters Program. In addition, for part of 2016 and all of 2017, the Council was asked to support Tom Eggert. The support of Tom Eggert ended at the end of 2017, and in 2018, the Council is only supporting the Program Assistant. In 2017 $100k; in 2016 $50k, and in 2015 $25K went to UW Foundation - what specifically was this for? See above. The Council provided complete support for Tom and the Program Assistant in 2017, and for half of 2016. I understand that in 2017 $100K was allotted to pay Tom’s salary and that of the Program Assistant. As there is no salary listed for either, should I assume that the $100k paid to UW Foundation in 2017 was to then pay these two salaries? The money donated in 2017 was to cover the costs of both the Executive Director and the Program Assistant What was the specific allotment to you and the intern? The total cost for Tom was roughly $72,000, leaving $28,000 for the Program Assistant. Will this continue in 2018? The only support that is continuing in 2018 is that for the Program Assistant. We are committed to supporting the person in that role through Spring, 2019. In the FAQs, it is stated that the roles are uncompensated. Which is it? The Executive Director position was never designed to be a compensated position. Tom founded and served as the Executive Director of the Council as part of his UW contract. That contract lapsed, as described above, but is now back in force. The Program Assistant was always a compensated position.

These are the costs to the Council of having Cool Choices function as our fiscal agent.

We do not maintain separate books from those of Cool Choices, so the accounting fees are rolled into the fees paid by Cool Choices.

The website is hosted on GoDaddy and is designed in WIX.

The Green Masters Program is currently hosted on Qualtrics, but could be hosted on any survey software. According to this page, https://www.capterra.com/p/72396/Qualtrics-Insight-Platform/ starting costs is $299/year. But, according to this page, https://www.quora.com/What-is-Qualtrics-cost, “the basic package which includes Research Suite (the survey builder) costs around $5,000 a year.” With whatever option is chosen, a non-profit should be entitled to a reduced rate.

There are no additional services or benefits being provided by UW Madison or Cool Choices.

The category Conference, Conventions and Meetings contains the numbers reference above. In 2017 a couple of unique bookkeeping things were done. The American Club billed the Council for the entire costs of the conference and then Kohler paid for $20,000 of the costs. Thus, there is a $20,000 entry under “Corporate Contributions” which does not exist in any other year. This then offsets $20,000 of conference costs, recorded in the Conference, Conventions and Meeting category. Combine this with the extraordinary agreement to provide $10,000 to Kohler for the costs of the 2017 conference, and the cost of the conference in 2017 was just under $10,000 – which is in line with past years.

Each of the Advisors to the WI Sustainable Business Council is asked to provide $5,000 annually as a sponsorship commitment for the Conference. In addition, we solicit limited additional sponsorships of $5,000.

All advisors are asked to pay the same amount. In some cases, we accept services in lieu of payment. As stated above, the extra sponsorship money comes from a select group of other sponsors. All sponsors are offered an opportunity to display at the conference, offered 5 free tickets to the conference, and a generous package of publicity.

See above. For bookkeeping purposes, we treated Kohler’s payment of $20,000 of the costs at the American Club as an in-kind contribution, so our books both reflect revenue and costs that balance out.

This is beyond our ability to answer and you would need to consult with your accountant.

The Program Assistant is currently managing this program as part of his on-going responsibilities for the Green Masters Program. There are no additional costs. Time requirements to date have been minimal (less than an hour on average per week).

The Skype conference call is currently scheduled for April 24th.

As stated in the Generic Contract, attached to the RFP: “As of the Effective Date, the Council will transfer control of all the Council’s assets (“Assets”) to an account jointly managed by the Board and the Host. All withdrawals from this account will require both parties to sign-off on the withdrawal. Except as otherwise provided in this Agreement and in compliance with Section E below, the Host may only use the Assets in furtherance of the Requirements of this Agreement, as outlined under Section A above. The Host shall provide quarterly updates to the Board on revenue earned, costs incurred and the Assets. E. Initial Funds. The Council will have liquid assets included in the Assets exceeding one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) on the Effective Date (“Initial Funds”). The Host may not access the Initial Funds except as provided in this Section E. Following the Effective Date, the Host shall have immediate access and may use one-fifth (1/5) of the Initial Funds. On each annual anniversary of the Effective Date, the Host shall gain access and may use another one-fifth (1/5) of the Initial Funds. On the fourth annual anniversary of the Effective Date, the Host shall be permitted to utilize the full amount of the Initial Funds. If this Agreement is terminated prior to an annual anniversary date, access by the Host to any remaining Funds under this Section E shall be prohibited.” In summary, the successful respondent will have immediate access to 1/5th of the assets available on the effective day of the contract, and access to an additional 1/5th on each subsequent anniversary of the contract until the “Initial Funds” are gone.

We anticipate another transfer of $25,000 to the UW Foundation during calendar year 2018 to cover the costs of the Program Assistant for the 2018-2019 academic year. There are no other additional transfers anticipated. As for guessing on how much money will be available at the end of 2018, we have no way of justifying a guess. We do not have a venue selected for the conference yet, and thus we have no idea on how to estimate the costs. And, of course, we have no idea about the revenue from the conference. We are comfortable standing behind the language in the contract attached to the RFP which states “The Council will have liquid assets included in the Assets exceeding one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) on the Effective Date (“Initial Funds”).”

The website for the conference is hosted on GoDaddy. Qualtrics is the historic survey software that we have used for the Green Masters Program, but any survey software could be used for the Green Masters Program. The costs for Qualtrics for a non-profit should be less than for the general public. I have seen estimates between $299/year and $5,000/year.

Because of the late date of the Skype conference, we are extending the due date to May 4th.

The Council would welcome a joint proposal. However, if one of the parties is a for profit organization, they would not be able to use any of the funds that the Council will transfer to the selected entity. All funds currently held by Cool Choices for the WI Sustainable Business Council carry with them a permanent non-profit designation. They were donated to a non-profit, and can only be transferred and used by a non-profit (which includes educational institutions).

2017 was an exception to the statement in the Background section. For the first time, the Council was required to pick up the entire cost of the Executive Director and the Green Masters Program director (2 separate positions). Previously, a portion of the costs of the Executive Director was covered by the contract for teaching that Tom had from the UW. This is fully explained in the spreadsheets that are available for the last 4 years.

2017 costs were impacted by an agreement between the Council and Kohler whereby the Council agreed to contribute $10,000 toward the full costs of the conference. In addition, attendance numbers that were less than planned for. Other than the addition of the $10,000 agreement (which was not unprecedented), the remaining costs of the conference were comparable to the previous year.

The Board of the WI Sustainable Business Council asked this same question. You will see elements of the contract that empower the Board to enforce the contract. In essence, any enforcement by the Board of elements of the Contract would be governed by the Contract. The selected entity must agree to these elements of the contract for the transfer of “the Council” to move forward.

This is a great question. The only thing that should be read into the “Purpose of the Council” section of the RFP is that the Board will not support an effort to create a lobbying organization. Our use of the term “advocacy” is meant solely to cover lobbying. We agree that the continuing purpose of the Council is to encourage and enable businesses to become more sustainable. Nothing is meant to be changed in that purpose as the Council finds a new host.

We have created the impression that a more sophisticated software platform is beneath the Green Masters Program than ultimately exists. We use Qualtrics, which is a well-regarded survey software program. Every year we update the survey by changing some questions, deleting some questions and adding some questions. Qualtrics maintains the questionnaire and all of the raw data for every year that the program has existed. There is currently no cost for this as Qualtrics is the official survey software of UW Madison. There is no programming involved and all security (data and applicant) is provided by Qualtrics. No applicant can see any other applicant’s data. The majority of the workload with respect to the questionnaire is between December and the end of January when the program is updated.

The attached contract requires a conference be held each calendar year. However, when the conference is held is up to the selected applicant. The conference has been held early December for 10 years and has created an expectation for a conference at that time. To move the conference would require more work, and perhaps significantly more work, to establish a new time. In addition, the annual meeting with the board is to follow the conference by a quarter, enabling a report out on the overall success of the successful applicant’s efforts. If the date of the conference is changed, a new meeting time with the Council may need to be established. However, this would be done through an amendment to the Contract.

You are correct in that the majority of revenue flows into the Council late in the year. Even after drawing on the revenue provided by the Council each year pursuant to the Contract, the successful applicant may need to front some money until late in the year. This could be addressed by changing when the Board would be asked to provide their sponsorship dollars. All Proposals should explain how cash flow will be handled both during the first year, and then in the second and subsequent years. This is currently a requirement of the RFP.

All case studies have been prepared by students, generally interns over the summer. No case studies have been prepared in the last 3 summers. In total, we have more than 30 case studies.

The Council has been supported by the UW since it's inception in 2009 in that my appointment with the UW has included a service component which I have met by serving as the Executive Director of the Council. In addition, the relationship with the UW goes deeper in that the Council supports a grad student (as a Project Assistant) to serve as the Director of the Green Masters Program. In addition, students from my fall semester class plan and direct the annual WI Sustainable Business Conference and students from my spring semester class prepare the annual State of Wisconsin Sustainability Report. We would expect whatever organization is selected as a result of the upcoming Request for Proposal to commit to continuing to present an annual conference, commit to continuing to run and adapt the Green Masters Program and continue to prepare a State Sustainability Report. How these obligations are met is up to the selected organization. I will note that with my leaving, there is no additional internal capacity of the Council. Kevin Banas, the current PA, will be graduating in May, 2019, so he also will be unavailable. There is currently a board of 12 advisers, representing a cross-section of businesses from around the state. Whether they continue on will be at the discretion of the selected organization, but they are advisers only. Thus, the short answer to your question is the selected organization would be taking full responsibility for running the events and programs and producing the reports.

The model as it currently exists works to do this. But, it will take a unique person to make that model work going forward. First, we hold our costs way down. We have never paid for a venue to have a 400 person conference. This year, Kohler is donating the space. In past years, Lands End, American Family Insurance, Harley Davidson, Miron Construction and Empire Screen Printing have donated the space. You'll need someone that's able to sell large businesses on the benefits of hosting the annual conference. Second, our advisers each agree to provide $5,000 as sponsors of the conference. Some work with the advisers and recrafting expectations would need to be done. Third, we take in somewhere around $30k from attendees of the conference (some years its more, some years its less). Fourth, we continue to experiment with monetizing the Green Masters Program. More work can be done with this. The simple answer is the right person with the right incentives to offer should be able to continue to generate sufficient revenue to make this model work. But, we'll be looking for a commitment to making it work in case you don't find that right person.

With this Request for Expressions of Interest, WSBC is soliciting organizations or institutions that will agree to assume responsibility for running the WI Sustainable Business Council. While it is true that the Council has been run for the last 10 years as revenue positive (revenue exceeds costs), this is directly a result of Tom's decision to take no salary for his role as Executive Director. Going forward, the Board does not believe that the Executive Director position should be uncompensated. Upon factoring in a reasonable cost for an Executive Director, WSBC will require additional revenue. How that revenue is obtained will depend upon the next Executive Director. WSBC has never sought or accepted grants. WSBC has never provided consulting services to businesses (there have been many asks). WSBC has never charged for webinars or developed additional revenue-generating events. All are possible new revenue sources for a new Executive Director. As mentioned in the Request for Expressions of Interest and in the answers below, there are several sources of current revenue. If a new Executive Director fully realized all possible revenue from existing sources (maximized return from future conferences, fully developed a spring symposium and awards and solicited additional businesses for sponsorship support) and continued to minimize costs (mostly through finding host institutions for events that would assume the cost for hosting the fall conference and spring symposium), it is possible that little additional financial support would be required. However, the Board desires to secure at least a 3 year financial commitment from the selected institution and will leave it to the selected host to work through how they will meet that commitment.

The Executive Director is an uncompensated part-time position. The Project Assistant is a 1/3rd time Project Assistant position (through the UW).

Over the course of a year, Tom averages 10+ hours/week, with much higher totals in the 2 months leading up to the December conference. The Project Assistant averages 12 – 15 hours per week.

The Executive Director spends 20% of his time on administrative issues and oversite related to the Project Assistant (PA), 25% of his time on development and oversite of the conference, 25% of his time on developing strategy and promoting the Council and its programs, 15% of his time interacting with the Board and soliciting new board members, and 15% of his time answering requests or questions about Council activities. The PA spends 100% of his time administering and promoting the Green Masters Program and maintaining the Council website.

I don’t know that I fully understand the question, but it would be up to the new Executive Director, the current board and the hosting organization to develop appropriate policies or other considerations.

This would be up to the host organization and the board.

Housing the organization is viewed as adopting the organization and bringing it entirely in-house. This would be akin to a buyout in the private sector. The brand “WI Sustainable Business Council” would continue to exist, but there would be no independent organization any longer. The current board would probably no longer exist. Hosting the organization implies that the organization still independently exists, and still would seek guidance and direction from the current board. It would exist as an independent part of the hosting organization (much like the current arrangement with the Nelson Institute at the UW).

The UW Foundation accepts and processes all gifts to the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In the case of gifts from the WI Sustainable Business Council, donations are made specifically to support the Program Assistant that runs the Green Masters Program. In addition, for part of 2016 and all of 2017, the Council was asked to support Tom Eggert. The support of Tom Eggert ended at the end of 2017, and in 2018, the Council is only supporting the Program Assistant. In 2017 $100k; in 2016 $50k, and in 2015 $25K went to UW Foundation - what specifically was this for? See above. The Council provided complete support for Tom and the Program Assistant in 2017, and for half of 2016. I understand that in 2017 $100K was allotted to pay Tom’s salary and that of the Program Assistant. As there is no salary listed for either, should I assume that the $100k paid to UW Foundation in 2017 was to then pay these two salaries? The money donated in 2017 was to cover the costs of both the Executive Director and the Program Assistant What was the specific allotment to you and the intern? The total cost for Tom was roughly $72,000, leaving $28,000 for the Program Assistant. Will this continue in 2018? The only support that is continuing in 2018 is that for the Program Assistant. We are committed to supporting the person in that role through Spring, 2019. In the FAQs, it is stated that the roles are uncompensated. Which is it? The Executive Director position was never designed to be a compensated position. Tom founded and served as the Executive Director of the Council as part of his UW contract. That contract lapsed, as described above, but is now back in force. The Program Assistant was always a compensated position.

These are the costs to the Council of having Cool Choices function as our fiscal agent.

We do not maintain separate books from those of Cool Choices, so the accounting fees are rolled into the fees paid by Cool Choices.

The website is hosted on GoDaddy and is designed in WIX.

The Green Masters Program is currently hosted on Qualtrics, but could be hosted on any survey software. According to this page, https://www.capterra.com/p/72396/Qualtrics-Insight-Platform/ starting costs is $299/year. But, according to this page, https://www.quora.com/What-is-Qualtrics-cost, “the basic package which includes Research Suite (the survey builder) costs around $5,000 a year.” With whatever option is chosen, a non-profit should be entitled to a reduced rate.

There are no additional services or benefits being provided by UW Madison or Cool Choices.

The category Conference, Conventions and Meetings contains the numbers reference above. In 2017 a couple of unique bookkeeping things were done. The American Club billed the Council for the entire costs of the conference and then Kohler paid for $20,000 of the costs. Thus, there is a $20,000 entry under “Corporate Contributions” which does not exist in any other year. This then offsets $20,000 of conference costs, recorded in the Conference, Conventions and Meeting category. Combine this with the extraordinary agreement to provide $10,000 to Kohler for the costs of the 2017 conference, and the cost of the conference in 2017 was just under $10,000 – which is in line with past years.

Each of the Advisors to the WI Sustainable Business Council is asked to provide $5,000 annually as a sponsorship commitment for the Conference. In addition, we solicit limited additional sponsorships of $5,000.

All advisors are asked to pay the same amount. In some cases, we accept services in lieu of payment. As stated above, the extra sponsorship money comes from a select group of other sponsors. All sponsors are offered an opportunity to display at the conference, offered 5 free tickets to the conference, and a generous package of publicity.

See above. For bookkeeping purposes, we treated Kohler’s payment of $20,000 of the costs at the American Club as an in-kind contribution, so our books both reflect revenue and costs that balance out.

This is beyond our ability to answer and you would need to consult with your accountant.

The Program Assistant is currently managing this program as part of his on-going responsibilities for the Green Masters Program. There are no additional costs. Time requirements to date have been minimal (less than an hour on average per week).

The Skype conference call is currently scheduled for April 24th.

As stated in the Generic Contract, attached to the RFP: “As of the Effective Date, the Council will transfer control of all the Council’s assets (“Assets”) to an account jointly managed by the Board and the Host. All withdrawals from this account will require both parties to sign-off on the withdrawal. Except as otherwise provided in this Agreement and in compliance with Section E below, the Host may only use the Assets in furtherance of the Requirements of this Agreement, as outlined under Section A above. The Host shall provide quarterly updates to the Board on revenue earned, costs incurred and the Assets. E. Initial Funds. The Council will have liquid assets included in the Assets exceeding one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) on the Effective Date (“Initial Funds”). The Host may not access the Initial Funds except as provided in this Section E. Following the Effective Date, the Host shall have immediate access and may use one-fifth (1/5) of the Initial Funds. On each annual anniversary of the Effective Date, the Host shall gain access and may use another one-fifth (1/5) of the Initial Funds. On the fourth annual anniversary of the Effective Date, the Host shall be permitted to utilize the full amount of the Initial Funds. If this Agreement is terminated prior to an annual anniversary date, access by the Host to any remaining Funds under this Section E shall be prohibited.” In summary, the successful respondent will have immediate access to 1/5th of the assets available on the effective day of the contract, and access to an additional 1/5th on each subsequent anniversary of the contract until the “Initial Funds” are gone.

We anticipate another transfer of $25,000 to the UW Foundation during calendar year 2018 to cover the costs of the Program Assistant for the 2018-2019 academic year. There are no other additional transfers anticipated. As for guessing on how much money will be available at the end of 2018, we have no way of justifying a guess. We do not have a venue selected for the conference yet, and thus we have no idea on how to estimate the costs. And, of course, we have no idea about the revenue from the conference. We are comfortable standing behind the language in the contract attached to the RFP which states “The Council will have liquid assets included in the Assets exceeding one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) on the Effective Date (“Initial Funds”).”

The website for the conference is hosted on GoDaddy. Qualtrics is the historic survey software that we have used for the Green Masters Program, but any survey software could be used for the Green Masters Program. The costs for Qualtrics for a non-profit should be less than for the general public. I have seen estimates between $299/year and $5,000/year.

Because of the late date of the Skype conference, we are extending the due date to May 4th.

The Council would welcome a joint proposal. However, if one of the parties is a for profit organization, they would not be able to use any of the funds that the Council will transfer to the selected entity. All funds currently held by Cool Choices for the WI Sustainable Business Council carry with them a permanent non-profit designation. They were donated to a non-profit, and can only be transferred and used by a non-profit (which includes educational institutions).

2017 was an exception to the statement in the Background section. For the first time, the Council was required to pick up the entire cost of the Executive Director and the Green Masters Program director (2 separate positions). Previously, a portion of the costs of the Executive Director was covered by the contract for teaching that Tom had from the UW. This is fully explained in the spreadsheets that are available for the last 4 years.

2017 costs were impacted by an agreement between the Council and Kohler whereby the Council agreed to contribute $10,000 toward the full costs of the conference. In addition, attendance numbers that were less than planned for. Other than the addition of the $10,000 agreement (which was not unprecedented), the remaining costs of the conference were comparable to the previous year.

The Board of the WI Sustainable Business Council asked this same question. You will see elements of the contract that empower the Board to enforce the contract. In essence, any enforcement by the Board of elements of the Contract would be governed by the Contract. The selected entity must agree to these elements of the contract for the transfer of “the Council” to move forward.

This is a great question. The only thing that should be read into the “Purpose of the Council” section of the RFP is that the Board will not support an effort to create a lobbying organization. Our use of the term “advocacy” is meant solely to cover lobbying. We agree that the continuing purpose of the Council is to encourage and enable businesses to become more sustainable. Nothing is meant to be changed in that purpose as the Council finds a new host.

We have created the impression that a more sophisticated software platform is beneath the Green Masters Program than ultimately exists. We use Qualtrics, which is a well-regarded survey software program. Every year we update the survey by changing some questions, deleting some questions and adding some questions. Qualtrics maintains the questionnaire and all of the raw data for every year that the program has existed. There is currently no cost for this as Qualtrics is the official survey software of UW Madison. There is no programming involved and all security (data and applicant) is provided by Qualtrics. No applicant can see any other applicant’s data. The majority of the workload with respect to the questionnaire is between December and the end of January when the program is updated.

The attached contract requires a conference be held each calendar year. However, when the conference is held is up to the selected applicant. The conference has been held early December for 10 years and has created an expectation for a conference at that time. To move the conference would require more work, and perhaps significantly more work, to establish a new time. In addition, the annual meeting with the board is to follow the conference by a quarter, enabling a report out on the overall success of the successful applicant’s efforts. If the date of the conference is changed, a new meeting time with the Council may need to be established. However, this would be done through an amendment to the Contract.

You are correct in that the majority of revenue flows into the Council late in the year. Even after drawing on the revenue provided by the Council each year pursuant to the Contract, the successful applicant may need to front some money until late in the year. This could be addressed by changing when the Board would be asked to provide their sponsorship dollars. All Proposals should explain how cash flow will be handled both during the first year, and then in the second and subsequent years. This is currently a requirement of the RFP.

All case studies have been prepared by students, generally interns over the summer. No case studies have been prepared in the last 3 summers. In total, we have more than 30 case studies.

The Council has been supported by the UW since it's inception in 2009 in that my appointment with the UW has included a service component which I have met by serving as the Executive Director of the Council. In addition, the relationship with the UW goes deeper in that the Council supports a grad student (as a Project Assistant) to serve as the Director of the Green Masters Program. In addition, students from my fall semester class plan and direct the annual WI Sustainable Business Conference and students from my spring semester class prepare the annual State of Wisconsin Sustainability Report. We would expect whatever organization is selected as a result of the upcoming Request for Proposal to commit to continuing to present an annual conference, commit to continuing to run and adapt the Green Masters Program and continue to prepare a State Sustainability Report. How these obligations are met is up to the selected organization. I will note that with my leaving, there is no additional internal capacity of the Council. Kevin Banas, the current PA, will be graduating in May, 2019, so he also will be unavailable. There is currently a board of 12 advisers, representing a cross-section of businesses from around the state. Whether they continue on will be at the discretion of the selected organization, but they are advisers only. Thus, the short answer to your question is the selected organization would be taking full responsibility for running the events and programs and producing the reports.

The model as it currently exists works to do this. But, it will take a unique person to make that model work going forward. First, we hold our costs way down. We have never paid for a venue to have a 400 person conference. This year, Kohler is donating the space. In past years, Lands End, American Family Insurance, Harley Davidson, Miron Construction and Empire Screen Printing have donated the space. You'll need someone that's able to sell large businesses on the benefits of hosting the annual conference. Second, our advisers each agree to provide $5,000 as sponsors of the conference. Some work with the advisers and recrafting expectations would need to be done. Third, we take in somewhere around $30k from attendees of the conference (some years its more, some years its less). Fourth, we continue to experiment with monetizing the Green Masters Program. More work can be done with this. The simple answer is the right person with the right incentives to offer should be able to continue to generate sufficient revenue to make this model work. But, we'll be looking for a commitment to making it work in case you don't find that right person.

With this Request for Expressions of Interest, WSBC is soliciting organizations or institutions that will agree to assume responsibility for running the WI Sustainable Business Council. While it is true that the Council has been run for the last 10 years as revenue positive (revenue exceeds costs), this is directly a result of Tom's decision to take no salary for his role as Executive Director. Going forward, the Board does not believe that the Executive Director position should be uncompensated. Upon factoring in a reasonable cost for an Executive Director, WSBC will require additional revenue. How that revenue is obtained will depend upon the next Executive Director. WSBC has never sought or accepted grants. WSBC has never provided consulting services to businesses (there have been many asks). WSBC has never charged for webinars or developed additional revenue-generating events. All are possible new revenue sources for a new Executive Director. As mentioned in the Request for Expressions of Interest and in the answers below, there are several sources of current revenue. If a new Executive Director fully realized all possible revenue from existing sources (maximized return from future conferences, fully developed a spring symposium and awards and solicited additional businesses for sponsorship support) and continued to minimize costs (mostly through finding host institutions for events that would assume the cost for hosting the fall conference and spring symposium), it is possible that little additional financial support would be required. However, the Board desires to secure at least a 3 year financial commitment from the selected institution and will leave it to the selected host to work through how they will meet that commitment.

The Executive Director is an uncompensated part-time position. The Project Assistant is a 1/3rd time Project Assistant position (through the UW).

Over the course of a year, Tom averages 10+ hours/week, with much higher totals in the 2 months leading up to the December conference. The Project Assistant averages 12 – 15 hours per week.

The Executive Director spends 20% of his time on administrative issues and oversite related to the Project Assistant (PA), 25% of his time on development and oversite of the conference, 25% of his time on developing strategy and promoting the Council and its programs, 15% of his time interacting with the Board and soliciting new board members, and 15% of his time answering requests or questions about Council activities. The PA spends 100% of his time administering and promoting the Green Masters Program and maintaining the Council website.

I don’t know that I fully understand the question, but it would be up to the new Executive Director, the current board and the hosting organization to develop appropriate policies or other considerations.

This would be up to the host organization and the board.

Housing the organization is viewed as adopting the organization and bringing it entirely in-house. This would be akin to a buyout in the private sector. The brand “WI Sustainable Business Council” would continue to exist, but there would be no independent organization any longer. The current board would probably no longer exist. Hosting the organization implies that the organization still independently exists, and still would seek guidance and direction from the current board. It would exist as an independent part of the hosting organization (much like the current arrangement with the Nelson Institute at the UW).

The UW Foundation accepts and processes all gifts to the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In the case of gifts from the WI Sustainable Business Council, donations are made specifically to support the Program Assistant that runs the Green Masters Program. In addition, for part of 2016 and all of 2017, the Council was asked to support Tom Eggert. The support of Tom Eggert ended at the end of 2017, and in 2018, the Council is only supporting the Program Assistant. In 2017 $100k; in 2016 $50k, and in 2015 $25K went to UW Foundation - what specifically was this for? See above. The Council provided complete support for Tom and the Program Assistant in 2017, and for half of 2016. I understand that in 2017 $100K was allotted to pay Tom’s salary and that of the Program Assistant. As there is no salary listed for either, should I assume that the $100k paid to UW Foundation in 2017 was to then pay these two salaries? The money donated in 2017 was to cover the costs of both the Executive Director and the Program Assistant What was the specific allotment to you and the intern? The total cost for Tom was roughly $72,000, leaving $28,000 for the Program Assistant. Will this continue in 2018? The only support that is continuing in 2018 is that for the Program Assistant. We are committed to supporting the person in that role through Spring, 2019. In the FAQs, it is stated that the roles are uncompensated. Which is it? The Executive Director position was never designed to be a compensated position. Tom founded and served as the Executive Director of the Council as part of his UW contract. That contract lapsed, as described above, but is now back in force. The Program Assistant was always a compensated position.

These are the costs to the Council of having Cool Choices function as our fiscal agent.

We do not maintain separate books from those of Cool Choices, so the accounting fees are rolled into the fees paid by Cool Choices.

The website is hosted on GoDaddy and is designed in WIX.

The Green Masters Program is currently hosted on Qualtrics, but could be hosted on any survey software. According to this page, https://www.capterra.com/p/72396/Qualtrics-Insight-Platform/ starting costs is $299/year. But, according to this page, https://www.quora.com/What-is-Qualtrics-cost, “the basic package which includes Research Suite (the survey builder) costs around $5,000 a year.” With whatever option is chosen, a non-profit should be entitled to a reduced rate.

There are no additional services or benefits being provided by UW Madison or Cool Choices.

The category Conference, Conventions and Meetings contains the numbers reference above. In 2017 a couple of unique bookkeeping things were done. The American Club billed the Council for the entire costs of the conference and then Kohler paid for $20,000 of the costs. Thus, there is a $20,000 entry under “Corporate Contributions” which does not exist in any other year. This then offsets $20,000 of conference costs, recorded in the Conference, Conventions and Meeting category. Combine this with the extraordinary agreement to provide $10,000 to Kohler for the costs of the 2017 conference, and the cost of the conference in 2017 was just under $10,000 – which is in line with past years.

Each of the Advisors to the WI Sustainable Business Council is asked to provide $5,000 annually as a sponsorship commitment for the Conference. In addition, we solicit limited additional sponsorships of $5,000.

All advisors are asked to pay the same amount. In some cases, we accept services in lieu of payment. As stated above, the extra sponsorship money comes from a select group of other sponsors. All sponsors are offered an opportunity to display at the conference, offered 5 free tickets to the conference, and a generous package of publicity.

See above. For bookkeeping purposes, we treated Kohler’s payment of $20,000 of the costs at the American Club as an in-kind contribution, so our books both reflect revenue and costs that balance out.

This is beyond our ability to answer and you would need to consult with your accountant.

The Program Assistant is currently managing this program as part of his on-going responsibilities for the Green Masters Program. There are no additional costs. Time requirements to date have been minimal (less than an hour on average per week).

The Skype conference call is currently scheduled for April 24th.

As stated in the Generic Contract, attached to the RFP: “As of the Effective Date, the Council will transfer control of all the Council’s assets (“Assets”) to an account jointly managed by the Board and the Host. All withdrawals from this account will require both parties to sign-off on the withdrawal. Except as otherwise provided in this Agreement and in compliance with Section E below, the Host may only use the Assets in furtherance of the Requirements of this Agreement, as outlined under Section A above. The Host shall provide quarterly updates to the Board on revenue earned, costs incurred and the Assets. E. Initial Funds. The Council will have liquid assets included in the Assets exceeding one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) on the Effective Date (“Initial Funds”). The Host may not access the Initial Funds except as provided in this Section E. Following the Effective Date, the Host shall have immediate access and may use one-fifth (1/5) of the Initial Funds. On each annual anniversary of the Effective Date, the Host shall gain access and may use another one-fifth (1/5) of the Initial Funds. On the fourth annual anniversary of the Effective Date, the Host shall be permitted to utilize the full amount of the Initial Funds. If this Agreement is terminated prior to an annual anniversary date, access by the Host to any remaining Funds under this Section E shall be prohibited.” In summary, the successful respondent will have immediate access to 1/5th of the assets available on the effective day of the contract, and access to an additional 1/5th on each subsequent anniversary of the contract until the “Initial Funds” are gone.

We anticipate another transfer of $25,000 to the UW Foundation during calendar year 2018 to cover the costs of the Program Assistant for the 2018-2019 academic year. There are no other additional transfers anticipated. As for guessing on how much money will be available at the end of 2018, we have no way of justifying a guess. We do not have a venue selected for the conference yet, and thus we have no idea on how to estimate the costs. And, of course, we have no idea about the revenue from the conference. We are comfortable standing behind the language in the contract attached to the RFP which states “The Council will have liquid assets included in the Assets exceeding one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) on the Effective Date (“Initial Funds”).”

The website for the conference is hosted on GoDaddy. Qualtrics is the historic survey software that we have used for the Green Masters Program, but any survey software could be used for the Green Masters Program. The costs for Qualtrics for a non-profit should be less than for the general public. I have seen estimates between $299/year and $5,000/year.

Because of the late date of the Skype conference, we are extending the due date to May 4th.

The Council would welcome a joint proposal. However, if one of the parties is a for profit organization, they would not be able to use any of the funds that the Council will transfer to the selected entity. All funds currently held by Cool Choices for the WI Sustainable Business Council carry with them a permanent non-profit designation. They were donated to a non-profit, and can only be transferred and used by a non-profit (which includes educational institutions).

2017 was an exception to the statement in the Background section. For the first time, the Council was required to pick up the entire cost of the Executive Director and the Green Masters Program director (2 separate positions). Previously, a portion of the costs of the Executive Director was covered by the contract for teaching that Tom had from the UW. This is fully explained in the spreadsheets that are available for the last 4 years.

2017 costs were impacted by an agreement between the Council and Kohler whereby the Council agreed to contribute $10,000 toward the full costs of the conference. In addition, attendance numbers that were less than planned for. Other than the addition of the $10,000 agreement (which was not unprecedented), the remaining costs of the conference were comparable to the previous year.

The Board of the WI Sustainable Business Council asked this same question. You will see elements of the contract that empower the Board to enforce the contract. In essence, any enforcement by the Board of elements of the Contract would be governed by the Contract. The selected entity must agree to these elements of the contract for the transfer of “the Council” to move forward.

This is a great question. The only thing that should be read into the “Purpose of the Council” section of the RFP is that the Board will not support an effort to create a lobbying organization. Our use of the term “advocacy” is meant solely to cover lobbying. We agree that the continuing purpose of the Council is to encourage and enable businesses to become more sustainable. Nothing is meant to be changed in that purpose as the Council finds a new host.

We have created the impression that a more sophisticated software platform is beneath the Green Masters Program than ultimately exists. We use Qualtrics, which is a well-regarded survey software program. Every year we update the survey by changing some questions, deleting some questions and adding some questions. Qualtrics maintains the questionnaire and all of the raw data for every year that the program has existed. There is currently no cost for this as Qualtrics is the official survey software of UW Madison. There is no programming involved and all security (data and applicant) is provided by Qualtrics. No applicant can see any other applicant’s data. The majority of the workload with respect to the questionnaire is between December and the end of January when the program is updated.

The attached contract requires a conference be held each calendar year. However, when the conference is held is up to the selected applicant. The conference has been held early December for 10 years and has created an expectation for a conference at that time. To move the conference would require more work, and perhaps significantly more work, to establish a new time. In addition, the annual meeting with the board is to follow the conference by a quarter, enabling a report out on the overall success of the successful applicant’s efforts. If the date of the conference is changed, a new meeting time with the Council may need to be established. However, this would be done through an amendment to the Contract.

You are correct in that the majority of revenue flows into the Council late in the year. Even after drawing on the revenue provided by the Council each year pursuant to the Contract, the successful applicant may need to front some money until late in the year. This could be addressed by changing when the Board would be asked to provide their sponsorship dollars. All Proposals should explain how cash flow will be handled both during the first year, and then in the second and subsequent years. This is currently a requirement of the RFP.

All case studies have been prepared by students, generally interns over the summer. No case studies have been prepared in the last 3 summers. In total, we have more than 30 case studies.

The Council has been supported by the UW since it's inception in 2009 in that my appointment with the UW has included a service component which I have met by serving as the Executive Director of the Council. In addition, the relationship with the UW goes deeper in that the Council supports a grad student (as a Project Assistant) to serve as the Director of the Green Masters Program. In addition, students from my fall semester class plan and direct the annual WI Sustainable Business Conference and students from my spring semester class prepare the annual State of Wisconsin Sustainability Report. We would expect whatever organization is selected as a result of the upcoming Request for Proposal to commit to continuing to present an annual conference, commit to continuing to run and adapt the Green Masters Program and continue to prepare a State Sustainability Report. How these obligations are met is up to the selected organization. I will note that with my leaving, there is no additional internal capacity of the Council. Kevin Banas, the current PA, will be graduating in May, 2019, so he also will be unavailable. There is currently a board of 12 advisers, representing a cross-section of businesses from around the state. Whether they continue on will be at the discretion of the selected organization, but they are advisers only. Thus, the short answer to your question is the selected organization would be taking full responsibility for running the events and programs and producing the reports.

The model as it currently exists works to do this. But, it will take a unique person to make that model work going forward. First, we hold our costs way down. We have never paid for a venue to have a 400 person conference. This year, Kohler is donating the space. In past years, Lands End, American Family Insurance, Harley Davidson, Miron Construction and Empire Screen Printing have donated the space. You'll need someone that's able to sell large businesses on the benefits of hosting the annual conference. Second, our advisers each agree to provide $5,000 as sponsors of the conference. Some work with the advisers and recrafting expectations would need to be done. Third, we take in somewhere around $30k from attendees of the conference (some years its more, some years its less). Fourth, we continue to experiment with monetizing the Green Masters Program. More work can be done with this. The simple answer is the right person with the right incentives to offer should be able to continue to generate sufficient revenue to make this model work. But, we'll be looking for a commitment to making it work in case you don't find that right person.

With this Request for Expressions of Interest, WSBC is soliciting organizations or institutions that will agree to assume responsibility for running the WI Sustainable Business Council. While it is true that the Council has been run for the last 10 years as revenue positive (revenue exceeds costs), this is directly a result of Tom's decision to take no salary for his role as Executive Director. Going forward, the Board does not believe that the Executive Director position should be uncompensated. Upon factoring in a reasonable cost for an Executive Director, WSBC will require additional revenue. How that revenue is obtained will depend upon the next Executive Director. WSBC has never sought or accepted grants. WSBC has never provided consulting services to businesses (there have been many asks). WSBC has never charged for webinars or developed additional revenue-generating events. All are possible new revenue sources for a new Executive Director. As mentioned in the Request for Expressions of Interest and in the answers below, there are several sources of current revenue. If a new Executive Director fully realized all possible revenue from existing sources (maximized return from future conferences, fully developed a spring symposium and awards and solicited additional businesses for sponsorship support) and continued to minimize costs (mostly through finding host institutions for events that would assume the cost for hosting the fall conference and spring symposium), it is possible that little additional financial support would be required. However, the Board desires to secure at least a 3 year financial commitment from the selected institution and will leave it to the selected host to work through how they will meet that commitment.

The Executive Director is an uncompensated part-time position. The Project Assistant is a 1/3rd time Project Assistant position (through the UW).

Over the course of a year, Tom averages 10+ hours/week, with much higher totals in the 2 months leading up to the December conference. The Project Assistant averages 12 – 15 hours per week.

The Executive Director spends 20% of his time on administrative issues and oversite related to the Project Assistant (PA), 25% of his time on development and oversite of the conference, 25% of his time on developing strategy and promoting the Council and its programs, 15% of his time interacting with the Board and soliciting new board members, and 15% of his time answering requests or questions about Council activities. The PA spends 100% of his time administering and promoting the Green Masters Program and maintaining the Council website.

I don’t know that I fully understand the question, but it would be up to the new Executive Director, the current board and the hosting organization to develop appropriate policies or other considerations.

This would be up to the host organization and the board.

Housing the organization is viewed as adopting the organization and bringing it entirely in-house. This would be akin to a buyout in the private sector. The brand “WI Sustainable Business Council” would continue to exist, but there would be no independent organization any longer. The current board would probably no longer exist. Hosting the organization implies that the organization still independently exists, and still would seek guidance and direction from the current board. It would exist as an independent part of the hosting organization (much like the current arrangement with the Nelson Institute at the UW).

The UW Foundation accepts and processes all gifts to the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In the case of gifts from the WI Sustainable Business Council, donations are made specifically to support the Program Assistant that runs the Green Masters Program. In addition, for part of 2016 and all of 2017, the Council was asked to support Tom Eggert. The support of Tom Eggert ended at the end of 2017, and in 2018, the Council is only supporting the Program Assistant. In 2017 $100k; in 2016 $50k, and in 2015 $25K went to UW Foundation - what specifically was this for? See above. The Council provided complete support for Tom and the Program Assistant in 2017, and for half of 2016. I understand that in 2017 $100K was allotted to pay Tom’s salary and that of the Program Assistant. As there is no salary listed for either, should I assume that the $100k paid to UW Foundation in 2017 was to then pay these two salaries? The money donated in 2017 was to cover the costs of both the Executive Director and the Program Assistant What was the specific allotment to you and the intern? The total cost for Tom was roughly $72,000, leaving $28,000 for the Program Assistant. Will this continue in 2018? The only support that is continuing in 2018 is that for the Program Assistant. We are committed to supporting the person in that role through Spring, 2019. In the FAQs, it is stated that the roles are uncompensated. Which is it? The Executive Director position was never designed to be a compensated position. Tom founded and served as the Executive Director of the Council as part of his UW contract. That contract lapsed, as described above, but is now back in force. The Program Assistant was always a compensated position.

These are the costs to the Council of having Cool Choices function as our fiscal agent.

We do not maintain separate books from those of Cool Choices, so the accounting fees are rolled into the fees paid by Cool Choices.

The website is hosted on GoDaddy and is designed in WIX.

The Green Masters Program is currently hosted on Qualtrics, but could be hosted on any survey software. According to this page, https://www.capterra.com/p/72396/Qualtrics-Insight-Platform/ starting costs is $299/year. But, according to this page, https://www.quora.com/What-is-Qualtrics-cost, “the basic package which includes Research Suite (the survey builder) costs around $5,000 a year.” With whatever option is chosen, a non-profit should be entitled to a reduced rate.

There are no additional services or benefits being provided by UW Madison or Cool Choices.

The category Conference, Conventions and Meetings contains the numbers reference above. In 2017 a couple of unique bookkeeping things were done. The American Club billed the Council for the entire costs of the conference and then Kohler paid for $20,000 of the costs. Thus, there is a $20,000 entry under “Corporate Contributions” which does not exist in any other year. This then offsets $20,000 of conference costs, recorded in the Conference, Conventions and Meeting category. Combine this with the extraordinary agreement to provide $10,000 to Kohler for the costs of the 2017 conference, and the cost of the conference in 2017 was just under $10,000 – which is in line with past years.

Each of the Advisors to the WI Sustainable Business Council is asked to provide $5,000 annually as a sponsorship commitment for the Conference. In addition, we solicit limited additional sponsorships of $5,000.

All advisors are asked to pay the same amount. In some cases, we accept services in lieu of payment. As stated above, the extra sponsorship money comes from a select group of other sponsors. All sponsors are offered an opportunity to display at the conference, offered 5 free tickets to the conference, and a generous package of publicity.

See above. For bookkeeping purposes, we treated Kohler’s payment of $20,000 of the costs at the American Club as an in-kind contribution, so our books both reflect revenue and costs that balance out.

This is beyond our ability to answer and you would need to consult with your accountant.

The Program Assistant is currently managing this program as part of his on-going responsibilities for the Green Masters Program. There are no additional costs. Time requirements to date have been minimal (less than an hour on average per week).

The Skype conference call is currently scheduled for April 24th.

As stated in the Generic Contract, attached to the RFP: “As of the Effective Date, the Council will transfer control of all the Council’s assets (“Assets”) to an account jointly managed by the Board and the Host. All withdrawals from this account will require both parties to sign-off on the withdrawal. Except as otherwise provided in this Agreement and in compliance with Section E below, the Host may only use the Assets in furtherance of the Requirements of this Agreement, as outlined under Section A above. The Host shall provide quarterly updates to the Board on revenue earned, costs incurred and the Assets. E. Initial Funds. The Council will have liquid assets included in the Assets exceeding one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) on the Effective Date (“Initial Funds”). The Host may not access the Initial Funds except as provided in this Section E. Following the Effective Date, the Host shall have immediate access and may use one-fifth (1/5) of the Initial Funds. On each annual anniversary of the Effective Date, the Host shall gain access and may use another one-fifth (1/5) of the Initial Funds. On the fourth annual anniversary of the Effective Date, the Host shall be permitted to utilize the full amount of the Initial Funds. If this Agreement is terminated prior to an annual anniversary date, access by the Host to any remaining Funds under this Section E shall be prohibited.” In summary, the successful respondent will have immediate access to 1/5th of the assets available on the effective day of the contract, and access to an additional 1/5th on each subsequent anniversary of the contract until the “Initial Funds” are gone.

We anticipate another transfer of $25,000 to the UW Foundation during calendar year 2018 to cover the costs of the Program Assistant for the 2018-2019 academic year. There are no other additional transfers anticipated. As for guessing on how much money will be available at the end of 2018, we have no way of justifying a guess. We do not have a venue selected for the conference yet, and thus we have no idea on how to estimate the costs. And, of course, we have no idea about the revenue from the conference. We are comfortable standing behind the language in the contract attached to the RFP which states “The Council will have liquid assets included in the Assets exceeding one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) on the Effective Date (“Initial Funds”).”

The website for the conference is hosted on GoDaddy. Qualtrics is the historic survey software that we have used for the Green Masters Program, but any survey software could be used for the Green Masters Program. The costs for Qualtrics for a non-profit should be less than for the general public. I have seen estimates between $299/year and $5,000/year.

Because of the late date of the Skype conference, we are extending the due date to May 4th.