Business Guide to Paper Reduction - Tufts Office of Sustainability

on why it is a good idea. Thus, the goal is supported by people at all levels of the organization,
which reduces top-down mandates that could be unsupported at the grass-roots level.
Assign the people in the most appropriate positions to lead paper reduction efforts.
At the Moore Foundation, the person responsible for leading the paper reduction efforts is the
Chief Technology Officer. While in other organizations a different person might be responsible,
the Moore Foundation’s small, centralized organization allows the CTO to develop and maintain
the electronic systems that support paper reduction efforts, while remaining in close contact with
the people who will be using the systems once they are set up. Additionally, since Moore is just
being established, they can set up electronic systems to minimize paper use without the need to
overhaul systems that already exist, as is the case with most organizations.
Understand what each process requires before identifying technology to invest in.
The initial step in their paper reduction campaign is to identify the needs for each process, such
as the grant funding process, internal operations, and other procedures they plan to use to support
the operations of the foundation. Once these are determined, they will then research whether
there is existing technology that can support their operational needs or if they need to customdesign
software.
One example of this is establishing their system for storing information. The grant application
process historically has been very paper-intensive, potentially requiring extensive filing cabinets
and large floor space. Until they begin accepting grant applications, they will limit funding to
pilot projects, which will allow them to establish the necessary tracking systems. Through this,
they will identify their needs for indexing, storing, and accessing related documents. This
process will help them determine what their requirements are for an electronic information
storage system and then buy or develop appropriate software. If they bought the software before
they knew what they needed, they would likely find challenging limitations. They may hire a
staff librarian to manage the information and ensure an appropriate cataloging system. This
system will not only bring them an efficient way of accessing their documents, the space savings
is crucial in a city as expensive as San Francisco.
Address the basic internal operations.
Foundations are inherently interactive organizations, with a majority of their efforts serving the
needs of people outside the organization. As a result, they can expect a continuous flow of
information to and from external entities. With this in mind, the Moore Foundation started by
addressing some of the basic tools used to communicate. For example, instead of using a fax
machine, they installed a fax server. This allows them to receive faxes in an email rather than a
printed copy. Additionally, they can send faxes directly from their computers without needing to
print them first. This saves the need for an initial printing, gives people the option not to print,
and takes less time than traditional printing and faxing.
As a foundation, they will be publishing numerous reports, some of which may be lengthy.
Studies indicate that this may be one of the more challenging areas of paper reduction. 87 To
address this, they began with a commitment to providing the best computer screen for the job –
digital flat panel computer screens. These screens facilitate reading because they allow text to be
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