Publish Date: December 16^th, 2024

At Namaste Solar, we’ve committed to creating holistic wealth not just for ourselves, but for our community as well. Success for us isn’t just making profit. While that’s a part of it, we feel that we’re successful if our community is better off by our presence, and by our profit. And we’ve established several company programs that align with this goal.

The programs are Community Profit Sharing, Volunteer Time On (VTO), and Keep the Lights On Colorado (KTLOC). This blog will explore how we prioritized our community stakeholder in 2024 through these efforts.

Community Profit Sharing

Each year that we make a profit, we give a portion back to our community. This means that when you go solar with Namaste Solar, you’re enriching the community you live and work in.

So, how does our Community Profit Sharing program work? First, any employee can submit an organization to be considered for inclusion. Next, the Community Profit Sharing Committee looks at the submissions and selects the top five, prioritizing local impact and BIPOC-led organizations. Once the finalists are chosen, the co-owners vote to distribute the funds. Co-owners get five votes each; they can vote five times for one organization or scatter their vote among the options. The total budget is distributed based on percentage of votes. If one of the finalists gets 20% of the vote, they get 20% of the profit sharing.

The following are the recipients of our 2024 Community Profit Sharing. We encourage you to read about each and consider donating this season.

• BRITE Collaborative (formerly Longmont Community Justice Partnership) – This organization provides restorative justice services to the Longmont community and offers training in restorative practices throughout Colorado and the United States. These services help repair the damage between the victim and the person that has committed a crime. Restorative justice is known to make offenders less likely to commit another crime. In addition to their programs with the justice system, they also train staff in schools on restorative practices and are piloting a restorative parenting program.
  
  
• Urban Peak – In 1998, Urban Peak opened Colorado’s first and only licensed shelter for youth experiencing homelessness. Located in Denver, they provide a full convergence of services that are solely focused on one of our most vulnerable populations in our community: youth ages 12 to 24 who are experiencing homelessness. They offer strength-based case management; access to physical, mental, and behavioral health care; education and employment opportunities; 24/7 crisis support; and a place to call home.
  
  
• The OUR Center – Founded in 1986 and located in Longmont, the OUR Center stands for the Outreach United Resource Center. Resource specialists work one-on-one with families to help them set and achieve transformative goals in their lives. They use a research-based approach called the family development approach. They provide free classes for basic life skills, finance and budgeting, along with parenting support. Additionally, the OUR Center provides housing and employment referrals and rent and utility assistance, substance abuse resources and referrals, health care access, and mental health resources and referrals.
  
  
• RedLine Contemporary Art Center – Located in the Five Points neighborhood of Denver, RedLine Contemporary Art Center is a non-profit arts organization that fosters education and engagement between artists and communities to create positive social change. They value community responsiveness, artist-focused, bold vision, approachability, and deep connections. Founded in 2008, they’ve launched more than 130 resident artists, engaged more than 10,400 students at under-resourced schools, provided space and resources for dozens of artists who are unhoused or experiencing hardship, and responded to community needs with creative solutions. They’re committed to providing equitable access to the arts for under-resourced populations and grassroots organizations.
  
  
• The Black American West Museum & Heritage Center – This museum honors the African Americans who helped settle and develop the western United States. Founded in 1971 by Paul W. Stewart, the museum is housed in the former home of Dr. Justina L. Ford, the first licensed African American female physician in the state of Colorado. This museum is famous for telling the stories of black cowboys, but it also tells the stories of early African Americans who came west and performed as miners, soldiers, homesteaders, ranchers, blacksmiths, schoolteachers, lawmen, and every other profession needed to build up and develop the West.
  
  
• BeLoved Asheville – This organization has grown to be a powerhouse community resource in western North Carolina. They work to enhance food access, deeply affordable housing, racial equity, healthcare on the streets, cultural celebrations, and enrichment and school supplies for their kids. BeLoved works to create vital connections, enhancing authenticity and belonging. Namaste Solar extended the reach of our profit sharing to Asheville when we saw the devastation of Hurricane Helene.

Volunteer Time-On

Every employee gets 20 hours of Volunteer Time On (VTO) time annually to use to help our community. Employees can volunteer for whichever charitable purpose they choose, and we often organize company events where groups of Namastaliens can volunteer together.

In 2024, we used 361 VTO hours and volunteered for a multitude of organizations. Some of these include Community Food Share, Andrew’s Farm, Resource Central, the Women’s Bean Project, the Veterans Community Project, WOW Children’s Museum, and Joy’s Kitchen.

These VTO days are a positive experience for employees but also provide real value to community organizations. For example, since 2022 Namaste Solar has contributed 500 volunteer hours to the Veterans Community Project in Longmont. They estimate this is the equivalent of $15,000 in additional costs.

Here are some photos from this year’s VTO events.

Namaste Solar using VTO at Community Food Share

Staking for tomatoes at Andrew's farm - peep the later photos to see this harvest!

Teaching how to attach a solar panel at the Girls in Science night at the WOW Children's Museum

Volunteering with Resource Central for their Garden in a Box distribution day

Tomato harvest at Andrew's farm

Repackaging beans with Community Food Share

Packing bags for elder distribution at Community Food Share

The Namaste Solar crew at Women's Bean Project

Keep the Lights on Colorado

Each year, we partner with Energy Outreach Colorado to raise funds for low-income Coloradan families facing energy insecurity. For some families, this assistance ensures that they can run their heat each winter without worrying about affordability.

KTLOC celebrated 5 years this year and was a smashing success. Due to generous community leadership, we raised $53,000 for Colorado families facing energy insecurity.

Every dollar donated goes to support community solar subscriptions for local households. This allows the money to help with the financial burden while also transitioning local families to clean, renewable energy. Because of the cost savings that come with solar energy, these community solar subscriptions can save the average household more than $900 a year off their electric bill – which is more than double the cost of the subscription itself.

Over the course of this program’s 5 years, we’ve raised over $334,000 and funded solar subscriptions for over 1,000 families.

We want to give special thanks our premier level sponsor for KTLOC 2024 was Greenbacker Capital, an investment company who connects individuals and institutions with investments in clean energy.

Supporting at the leadership level was UniColorado Heating & Cooling and
Lamar Advertising. UniColorado are trusted HVAC experts serving the Denver area for over 10 years. Lamar Advertising helps businesses grow with outdoor advertising products.

Contributing at the influencer level are Alpine Bank, BSW Wealth Partners, Conscience Bay Company, Amalgamated Bank, NESCO, IMA, Ink Monstr, IronRidge, Cresa, KUNC, and The Colorado Sound.

And providing at the promoter level are Wallaroo Hat Company, Plante Moran, Shirazi Benefits, Greentech Renewables, Fort Collins Heating & Cooling, IECRM, and Colorado Real Estate Journal.

Our Community is a Key Stakeholder

We’ll always balance people and purpose with profit, and in many ways we’ll put people and purpose above profit. While we love serving you with high-quality solar systems, serving the community beyond that is a part of who we are. Next year we turn 20 years old, and we hope to continue to create holistic value for Colorado for the next 20.

Recommended Reading:

• Our Colorado Community is a Key Stakeholder
• Community Profit Sharing at Namaste Solar
• Giving Back to Our Community