Green Wish Makes Local Environmental Groups More Accessible to Consumers

After welcoming his first child into the world in 2003, actor and producer Raphael Sbarge suddenly felt remarkably alive as a father. At the same time, however, he felt unable to protect his daughter's journey in this vast and complex world and found himself asking, “What can we do to contribute in any small way to leave the world a better place than when we found it?” The answer is Green Wish, a grassroots, non-profit that supports local environmental organizations through customers' donations at local retailers. In other words, Green Wish is a charity that helps fund the green projects in donors' neighborhoods.

Founded in 2009, Green Wish partners with local retailers where customers can “buy” and add Green Wish donations on to their purchase at the cash register. These donations are then collected by local Green Wish chapters and 90 percent is distributed to area green groups that have been carefully evaluated and selected by each chapter's board of directors.

Currently operating in Los Angeles, California, and Lawrence, Kansas, Green Wish aims to start chapters across the United States.