Originally published on Lob.org. Written by Christina Louie Dyer.
Lob Launches Lob.org to Leverage Our Direct Mail Platform for Good
Today, we are excited to share that Lob has launched Lob.org, our dedicated social impact arm. Through Lob.org, we are committed to driving change through more sustainable and strategic direct mail. Our focus will be on racial justice, civic action, and sustainability.
Lob.org’s work aligns with the heart of Lob and our core values, and builds upon employee-led initiatives. Last year, this work started when a group of passionate employees launched a product program for organizations fighting against racial injustice. Two program recipients, JustFix.nyc and MuckRock, use Lob to save time and ease administrative burdens, allowing them to focus on more mission-critical work. More than 20,000 mail pieces have been sent by impact organizations to date through the product program.
Our social impact strategy will continue to leverage our core competencies. We’ve joined the Pledge 1% movement, committing 1% of employee time and product towards our impact work. A new policy gives Lobsters three days of paid volunteer time off to engage with the organizations they are passionate about. This time is not limited to volunteering with nonprofits and includes participation in peaceful civil liberties movements that advocate for freedom and equal rights, as well as in schools. In addition to the organizations fighting for racial justice, we’re expanding our discounted product offer to more nonprofits and to organizations whose missions align with our focus areas of racial justice and civic action. We hope to help many other nonprofits use Lob to meet their goals, similar to Ameelio who employs Lob to disrupt the prison telecommunications industry and helps people stay connected with incarcerated loved ones. We’re also looking to expand our partnerships to deepen our impact. While we’re experts in direct mail, we have a lot to learn from frontline organizations whose expertise will help guide the actions we take and what we invest in.
From a sustainability standpoint, we recognize that as a direct mail platform we have a clear responsibility to ensure that we become more sustainable in our practices and processes. As we realize our sustainability goals, we will help our customers and partners realize theirs. To begin, we’re running a materiality assessment to evaluate our current state. We want to better understand and identify what our most material issue areas are and where we have the greatest opportunity for impact. From there, we’ll work internally and with partners, current and new, to address those opportunity areas. In the meantime, we will continue to plant more trees than we use through our partnership with Eden Reforestation Projects and utilize Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified paper with a minimum 10% PCW content.
I personally joined Lob because I saw a huge opportunity for the product to support social impact organizations, and felt strong alignment with the culture and values of the company. This is truly a company that takes action. I’m proud that Lob proactively chose to invest in social impact at this stage, and optimistic about how we will be able to scale our work proportionately with our company’s growth. The work of Lob.org is core to what Lob does and requires the ongoing collaboration of passionate Lobsters across the organization and innovative partnerships. Stay tuned for more to come!
