POS Carbon offsets

Nina Sabettini
Nina Sabettini
Fifth Anniversary Facilitator 1
in Blackbaud Altru® General Discussions
Hello everyone,


My Museum is looking into incorporating Point of sale options for visitors to purchase carbon offsets for their travel to our organization. Is anyone already doing this? How is it working with Altru?


Thank you!

Nina

Comments

  • Chris Nungesser
    Chris Nungesser
    Fifth Anniversary Kudos 3 Name Dropper Participant

    Hi @Nina Sabettini! That's really interesting! I know you posted this a while back. Were you able to find a way to make this work? If so, what did you end up doing? And if you haven't implemented this, just to help me brainstorm with you, I have a few questions:

    • Would you want to determine the actual appropriate carbon offset? Like a calculator to determine how much they should give based on their travel. Or would you let people purchase different, more general carbon offset “packages"?
    • And how do you think you would do this sales-wise? Do you envision it as a sort of add-on to a purchase? Or would it just be its own standalone option, say, on your website?
    • Would you sell this online using Web Forms (where the customer is “driving”)? Or would it only be sold in-person at the ticket window or over the phone (where a trained member of your team is working in Altru)?
    • Is this carbon offset considered a charitable contribution?

    Thanks!
    Chris

  • Beth Trainer
    Beth Trainer
    Sixth Anniversary Kudos 1 Name Dropper Participant

    Great idea! Would love hearing how things progressed at your org!

  • Nina Sabettini
    Nina Sabettini
    Fifth Anniversary Facilitator 1
    Hi All,


    We have not started implementing this yet. While we thought it would be great to have a calculator, there seemed to be too many variables (what kind of car, gas, etc.) to make the process a quick transaction at the Admissions desk. We would only ask for this add-on at the admissions desk to offset the costs of them visiting us. We had someone evaluate our organizations carbon footprint and the largest was in regards to our visitors that drive to us since we are metro west of Boston and not a lot of people use public transport to get here. We settled on the idea that there would be a few flat rate options, based off mileage traveled (within 20 miles, within 75, more than 75, etc.). Internally the funds would go to a separate carbon offset account that in turn would be sent directly to a carbon offset company. Chris Nungesser‍ that is a great question about whether it's considered a charitable donation. I'd have to look into that a bit more.

Categories