Tom’s of Maine has been selling its natural and environmentally friendly personal care products for 50 years, always putting sustainability at the forefront of its efforts. Two of its signature programs—Get Into Nature and the Tom’s of Maine Incubator—show the company’s continued leadership on climate.
Launched in September 2022, the incubator supports five fellows—whose work ranges from improving ocean health to connecting environmental justice with spiritual care—with a $20,000-apiece grant as well as mentorship.
Each fellow specializes in a distinct field, but they’ve all applied their wealth of knowledge to tackling climate issues. Sanjana Paul, cofounder of Earth Hacks, hosts environmental hackathons that have included challenging participants to build tools for wildlife conservation. Wawa Gatheru runs Black Girl Environmentalist, which encourages Black women and nonbinary people to join the environmental justice movement.
Cristiane Martini, the brand’s general manager, says the scope of its fellows’ work shows how “lots of small projects together can make a big difference to the future of the planet.” She added that Tom’s plans to run this program on an annual basis, and opened applications for 2024’s Incubator cohort in September.
The Colgate-Palmolive brand is also two years into its three-year, $3 million Get Into Nature initiative. In partnership with the National Recreation Foundation, it has funded 46 organizations—80% of which are led by people of color—since 2021. Besides addressing the historic lack of access to the outdoors among communities of color, Martini says it helps foster new changemakers. “When a kid is close to nature,” she says, “they really realize the importance of [protecting] the environment.”
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