41pounds.org Fundraising Program Raises $130,000 for Environmental and Community Groups

Nonprofit Service Stops Household Junk Mail and Donates More than 1/3 of Revenue

June 11, 2008

Ferndale, Mich. — On Father’s Day, three brothers in Michigan are celebrating the success of 41pounds.org, their family’s two-year-old organization that stops household junk mail and donates more than 1/3 of its revenue to environmental and community organizations. Already, 41pounds. org has donated more than $130,000 to organizations such as StopGlobalWarming.org, Trees for the Future, Carbonfund.org, Habitat for Humanity chapters, Sierra Business Council, Center for a New American Dream and AIDS Walk New York.

“We founded 41pounds.org as a nonprofit service to stop the deluge of junk mail and catalogs, and to provide a simple, meaningful way for people to reduce our impact on the environment,” says 41pounds.org co-founder Sander DeVries. “It’s exciting to see that we can all make small changes that improve our daily lives AND improve the health of the planet.”

The name 41pounds.org comes from the amount of junk mail the average person receives each year that often goes directly into the trash can or recycling bin. 41pounds.org is working to eliminate junk mail, which is a big personal nuisance and environmental hazard:

• The average adult spends 70 hours a year dealing with junk mail.
• The world’s temperate forests absorb 2 billion tons of carbon annually to help keep the planet cool and healthy.
• More than 100 million trees are destroyed each year to create junk mail.
• Junk mail produces more greenhouse gas emissions than 2.8 million cars.
• Junk mail wastes 28 billion gallons of water annually.

From the very beginning, we saw 41pounds.org as a community service that would not only stop people’s junk mail — which is a big help for the environment — but also would raise money for nonprofit organizations that are making a real difference. For each person who signs up for the service, 41pounds.org donates more than 1/3 of the fee to the nonprofit organization selected by the customer.

“At Habitat for Humanity Silicon Valley, we’re always searching for new ways to bring Greener practices to our organization and our community,” said Robert Freiri, Executive Director for Habitat for Humanity Silicon Valley. “By partnering with 41pounds.org, we’re reducing the waste of resources involved in producing and shipping junk mail, and we’re raising money to build energy-efficient homes in existing neighborhoods. It’s one good cause helping another!”

41pounds.org stops customers’ junk mail by contacting 20-35 direct mail companies to remove their name from marketing lists. This includes credit card applications, coupon mailers, sweepstakes entries, magazine offers, insurance promotions and other unsolicited marketing mail, as well as any catalogs the customer specifies. The service lasts 5 years and costs $41, which is only $8.20 per year or 2 cents a day.

It’s an easy way for people to clear off their desk and reclaim their mailbox. This also keeps more trees in the forest doing what they do best: providing oxygen for us to breathe and absorbing carbon to cool the planet.

Three brothers — Sander DeVries, Tim Pfannes and Shane Pfannes — started 41pounds.org in 2006. The company is based in Ferndale, Mich.

To sign up or learn more, go to www.41pounds.org.

 

Media Inquiries:
Carolyn Brown
GreenWave Strategies
510.813.5521
carolyn [at] GreenWaveStrategies.com