Business alliance garners attention, support

One Percent for Tetons Hits Milestones

By Lauren M. Whaley, 3-26-07

Local statistician Jonathan Schechter has been busy, and not just crunching numbers and writing columns.

In less than a year, his brainchild, 1% for the Tetons, has won hearts and achieved two significant milestones.

(1) “This past weekend’s Alpinist Film Festival supported 1% for the Tetons,” he said in a March 21 release. “During the weekend, we signed up a number of new members, raising our total membership to 51 businesses.”

For those that don’t know, 1% for the Tetons started in June 2006. Member businesses donate one percent of their gross revenues to a fund that grants money for project focused on supporting conservation and sustainability initiatives in and around the Tetons.

One percent for the Tetons is the country’s first local offshoot of the national 1% for the Planet, which has businesses donate 1 percent of their profits to a charity of choice.

“Members of 1% for the Tetons also automatically become members of 1% for the Planet,” Schechter said. “As a result, within the greater Teton area, we have over ten percent of all worldwide members of 1% for the Planet – more than any country except the United States, and more than any state except California.”

(2) Schechter also announced that its first grant cycle will run from April 1 - June 15, 2007. The first grants will be awarded at a gala awards party on August 23, 2007.

“We have worked long and hard to develop these criteria,” he said. “We feel they will help us meet our mission of funding efforts furthering the long-term sustainability of Jackson Hole’s natural resources and related essential qualities.”

To come up with grant criteria, Schechter called on Clare Payne-Simmons, a 1% for the Tetons consultant, who led the Community Foundation of Jackson Hole for nearly a decade.

“One percent for the Tetons has a very ambitious goal of trying to encourage and support efforts focused on sustaining the region’s long-term health and prosperity,” she said. “One percent for the Tetons strongly believes that, for the greater Tetons community to successfully address its most significant challenges and opportunities, we must not only work across jurisdictions and disciplines, but bring a long-term and innovative perspective to such issues.”

“Put another way, the purpose of the One percent for the Tetons grant criteria is to encourage proposals emphasizing forward-looking solutions – preventing future problems or turning today’s possibilities into tomorrow’s realities.”

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