The Paper Diet
A new way to (not) think about paper
In 2010, the amount of paper recovered for recycling averaged 334 pounds for each
person living in the U.S., according to the American Forest & Paper Association. And
that’s just the paper that was recovered.
In 2010, GMN released “Beyond the Recycling Bin: Greening Practices of Grantmakers,” which reported
on paper use, energy efficiency, and green travel practices of member organizations. GMN’s survey
showed that grants managers are overwhelmingly interested in greening practices, and their actions can
impact the overall greening of their organizations.
The Paper Diet began in 2011 where “Beyond the Recycling Bin” ended, with results that show
grantmakers’ interest in greening and understanding of the key practices required to lessen the use of
paper and increase content efficiency.
What changes could grants management professionals implement in their own organizations?
A group of GMN members—just under 100 individuals from organizations of all sizes—agreed to tell us
about their paper usage. We then asked them to spend time looking at their original reports and develop
methods of reducing the amount of paper used in their everyday work. Later, we asked the same cohort
to tell us about changes they made and the resulting decreases in paper usage.
Before the paper diet, GMN members clearly understood the value of using less paper to make processes
more efficient: 42 of 81 respondents (51.9 percent) used an electronic proposal process. But that
understanding hadn’t spread widely. Only 13 of 81 respondents (16 percent) used electronic board
books.
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Key Findings
Based on the initial Paper Diet survey (August 2011) and the subsequent follow up survey (January
2012), grantmakers’ paperless processes reflected some movement toward less use of paper but also
demonstrated significant ambiguity about the purpose and benefits of using less paper.
o
51 percent of respondents accept proposals electronically
o
16 percent use electronic board books
o
75 percent printed board books in-house – only 16 percent use an outside printer
o
13 percent use electronic grant agreements
o
43 percent accept reports electronically
o
65 percent accept due diligence documents electronically
o
4.9 percent have paperless payment processes
o
18 percent have a double-sided printing policy
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47 percent report that while they have no formal policy, most of the office prints double-sided
o
78 percent communicate via email
o
35 percent reported that program staff keep separate paper grant files
Buy-in is Critical
Grants managers were able to make some changes themselves, but the most extensive and successful
paperless attempts came with support from senior management and boards of directors. Respondents
noted that senior management buy-in was needed to allocate resources and time to move processes
electronic, and helped to get staff buy-in as well.
Greatest Improvements
Respondents to GMN’s follow-up survey found the greatest improvements by moving many processes
online and creating awareness of paper use alternatives.
o
o
Turning to Technology
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Accepting electronic proposals, agreements, and reports
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Publishing electronic board books
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Changing grants management databases
Raising Expectations
-
o
Implementing a double-sided printing policy
Right-sizing
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Reducing the number of required reports for smaller grants
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Application Process
Many respondents reported that their biggest successes came in transitioning to electronic
application/proposal processes, which reduced paper use and also facilitated moving the rest of the
grants process to electronic as well.
Electronic application and proposal processes take several forms for GMN members. One foundation
reported completing the process entirely via email: grantees email a soft copy of their proposal to a
program officer or grants manager, and the approval process is done via an email chain of approvals.
Some create intranet folders and scan/attach documents to grantee files to maintain complete and up-todate records. Other foundations used online application portals.
At the beginning of the paper diet, 52 percent of participants were using online application processes;
after the challenge, that percentage had increased to 70. Respondents reported varied changes:
»
“We stopped printing annual reports and blank pages of budgets, asked people to double-side print whenever
possible.”
»
“We have removed the grant summary review process which saves on staff time (writing) and paper. We now
meet and discuss the grants in person using only one sheet of paper.”
»
“Copy only what the Directors actually want in their monthly notebooks rather than everything for every director.”
Approval Process
Many respondents reported that they were able to make at least modest improvements in their grant
approval processes. Those that moved to an electronic system saw the greatest improvements, although
they did report that some staff still preferred to print materials to review them. One foundation began
conducting the review process in a group meeting. Others encouraged staff to review documents
electronically or print them double-sided.
Electronic Board Books
Several respondents reported replacing their board books either partially or completely with electronic
versions. Sixteen percent of participants were already using electronic board books at the start of the
paper diet; the follow-up survey revealed that 25 percent were doing so.
»
“We used to put board books on a disk or a USB. Now we use DropBox.”
»
“The foundation has purchased iPads for executive staff and admin staff and has begun providing electronic
board and grants review committee materials. We've set up board material file sharing through DropBox and
board and staff use GoodReader on the iPad to review and annotate meeting materials. Foundation staff
provided an iPad demonstration to the Board, a "board book" cost analysis, and took a survey of each member's
current technology. We determined that board members already have sufficient technology in place to provide
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connectivity (wi-fi) for the iPad and the Board voted to go ahead with the process of phasing out paper-based
books and moving all meeting materials to the iPad.”
»
“Use shortened summaries for board materials.”
Grant Agreements
Several respondents noted that their organizations have implemented a partially or wholly electronic
grant agreement. Some sign a hard copies of grant agreements and then scan and email the agreement
to grantees, who print, sign, scan and email it back. Others use a third-party service like DocuSign, which
allows parties to sign a PDF document via email. Another foundation attaches a GIF file of the president’s
signature to grant agreements upon his approval, and emails that to the grantee.
Another foundation sends grantees language that states that by accepting the grant payment they are
agreeing to the terms and conditions of the grant. This way there is no delay between the grant being
awarded and payment being made.
Thirteen percent of participants used electronic grant agreements at the beginning of the paper diet; the
follow-up survey reveals 35 percent using electronic grant agreements.
»
“Send all cc's via email (when I first started a year ago - we sent all the cc's hard copies).”
»
“Having grantees email last page of signed grant agreement.”
»
“We send grantees only electronic agreements.”
Payment
While many participants noted that their payment process consists of only a check or single sheet of
paper, no one had gone totally electronic. Some of the methods respondents reported using to make their
payment processes electronic include: submitting pay orders electronically, keeping electronic rather than
paper files on payments made, paying by electronic file transfer, and paying by automated clearing house.
Reporting
Of the 43 percent of participants whose organizations accept reports electronically, many accepted them
via email. Others had grantee portals where the grantee could upload reports. Some of these portals
allowed grantees to see their entire suite of grants, while others allowed grantees to see reports due on a
grant-by-grant basis.
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Biggest Barriers
»
“Trustees aren't ready for digital copies yet, they like to write notes on the proposal summaries and record
amounts on a project list sheet.”
»
“Upper management claims that auditors want everything on paper.”
»
“Relying on grantees to have the technology/capacity to be paperless.”
»
“Tradition - change is hard here because the staff is comfortable with the way things have always been done.”
»
“Resistance to change (people like paper because they are used to being surrounded by bits of paper!)”
»
“Bringing the other departments into the paperless culture.”
»
“Individual resistance to change; the inter-generational differences and work types and preferences.”
»
“The paper usage has become decentralized, so it is hard to track whether we are really using much less paper.
Even though we do 90 percent of our processes electronically, I'm not sure if the [everyone is] actually in the
habit of reviewing materials electronically. Some people have continued personally printing large amounts of
paper for their own review... so we've effectively moved the admin work of printing & organizing from admin staff
to the person reviewing.”
»
“Not all staff members were in agreement to the change.”
»
“All staff have personal printers in their offices which do not print double-sided.”
»
“The notion that email communication is less formal/respectful than printed correspondence.”
»
“The time involved in scanning documents and saving them in our database”
»
“Duplicate filing systems. We keep hard copies of everything, in addition to uploading proposals to GIFTS. We are
a very small staffed Foundation, so are challenged with finding the time to streamline our process.”
Benefits of Going Paperless
The main benefits of going paperless that respondents noted included:
o
More efficient grants management
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Cost savings on printing and paper supplies
o
Increased ease in sharing information
o
Reduction in clutter
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Greater responsiveness to grantees
While environmental considerations were not absent in respondents’ decisions to go paperless, issues of
cost and efficiency were much stronger motivating factors.
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9 Steps to Starting Your Own Paper Diet
Make the Case
o
Connect paperless and efficiency to your organizational values
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Understand the unique impact and imperatives for your organization
Get Buy-In Early
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Get C-level supervisors on board early
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Make sure all constituents are represented
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Champion small changes and use them as a catalysts for more support
Inform
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Find and point to paper waste that everyone can understand
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Keep colleagues and supervisors up-to-date on the latest improvements and successes
Educate
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Ask colleagues to audit their paper use and share with the group
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Take a look at yearly spending on the accoutrements of paper waste, like printers and toner
Collaborate
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Keep track of suggestions and give them real credence when planning your changes
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Ask for feedback on how you can improve the next round of changes
Iterate
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Borrow successful processes from peer organizations
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Expand vertically and laterally so that change reaches all levels
Embrace Holdouts
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Lessen fear by using hybrid systems at first, so everyone can move at their own pace
o
Provide the necessary technology training to enable holdouts to become champions
Harness Your Expectations
o
Expect great things but plan for small, incremental improvements
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Get a firm sense of the resources available to you and plan accordingly
Address Barriers to Success
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Know what you’re up against and the ways to address challenges
o
Look for solutions that use skills already available internally
For more on these steps, see the accompanying PowerPoint presentation bit.ly/paperdietpresentation
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The Price of Paper
The average office worker continues to use a staggering 10,000 sheets of copy paper every year,
according to statistics from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. These are extremely alarming
numbers given the technology available in today’s world.
Paper productivity costs
o
A typical employee spends 30-40 percent of their time looking for information locked in email,
documents, shared hard disks and filing cabinets.
o
The average document is copied 9 to 11 times.
o
Filing costs average $20 per document.
o
We are approaching 4 trillion documents being stored by businesses and government agencies.
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Each four-drawer file cabinet holds an average of 10,000 to 12,000 documents, takes up to 9
square feet of floor space, and costs about $25,000 to fill and $2,000 per year to maintain.
o
Every 12 filing cabinets require an additional employee to maintain.
o
18 minutes is the average search time for a document.
o
Each misfiled document costs $125.
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Each lost document costs $350 to $700.
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More than 70 percent of today’s businesses would fail within 3 weeks if they suffered a
catastrophic loss of paper-based records due to fire or flood.
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Paper in the average business grows by 22 percent a year, meaning your paper will double in 3.3
years.
o
At any given time, between 3 and 5 percent of an organization’s files are lost or misplaced.
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U.S. managers spend an average of 4 weeks a year searching for or waiting on misfiled,
mislabeled, untracked, or ‘lost’ papers”.
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It can cost up to 31 times the original cost to send information on paper (printing, copying,
postage, storage, filing, recycling, etc.).
o
7.5 billion documents are created and 15 trillion copies are made each year.
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The Cost of Pushing Paper
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Every misfiled document costs firms $125 in lost productivity.
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15 percent of an organization's revenues are spent creating, managing, and distributing
documents.
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60 percent of employee time is spent working with documents.
o
85 percent of business documents are in paper form.
o
90 percent of a business's information is in documents.
o
At $30/hr., knowledge workers waste $4,500 each year working with paper.
Paper Protection
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Recycling one ton of paper saves about 17 trees.
o
Recycling 15,000 pounds of paper equates to saving about 125 trees, 1,950 gallons of oil, 24
cubic yards of land fill space, 30,000 kilowatts of energy and 52,500 gallons of water.
o
Recycling 120,000 pounds of paper equates to saving about 1,000 trees, 22,800 gallons of oil,
192 cubic yards of land fill space, 2,400,000 kilowatts of energy and 420,000 gallons of water.
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Acknowledgments
GMN wishes to thank: the volunteer members of the G4 team, whose work preceded and predicated the
paper diet experiment; GMN members who participated in the paper diet surveys and whose feedback
created the practical knowledge on how to decrease paper use; and GMN members Scott Pietka, Chris
Percopo, and Patrick Taylor, who led the G4 team and spearheaded the paper diet project.
G4 Volunteer Team
Anne Assehn
Lucy Hollis
Kyle Reis
Mama Cash
The Atlantic Philanthropies
Ford Foundation
Christy Dickinson
Beery Jimenez
Thomas Reuter
Arts Midwest
Proteus Fund
Deaconess Community Foundation
Cynthia Drennan
Jordan Kramer
Bonnie Rivers
Sisters of St. Joseph
Planned Parenthood
Carnegie Corporation of New York
Charitable Fund
Federation of America
Courtney Rottman, JD
Laura Duty
Paula Lentoni
King Foundation
Mott Philanthropic
Susan G. Komen for the Cure
Jackie Shaul
Shirley Hamilton
Elizabeth Murph
EyeSight Foundation
Harold K.L. Castle Foundation
Annie E. Casey Foundation
Anela Shimizu
of Alabama
Christopher Percopo
Phillip Harmon
The Leona M. and Harry B.
Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation
Helmsley Charitable Trust
Hau'oli Mau Loa Foundation
Patrick Taylor
The Energy Foundation
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