One Change – Simple actions matter. » Blog Archive » One Change awarded Social Innovation Enterprise of the Year Award

This Blue Dot campaign recognized at the 2011 Corporate and Community Social Responsibility conference

Ottawa, ON – November 16, 2011 – One Change Foundation, an award-winning Ottawa-based charity that empowers people to believe that simple actions matter and to make smart choices that protect the environment, has been awarded the Social Innovation Enterprise of the Year Award for its recent This Blue Dot campaign. The award, sponsored by the University of Ottawa and presented last night at the 2011 Corporate and Community Social Responsibility (CCSR) conference, was given to the organization that has demonstrated social, environmental or governance responsibility in the most innovative way. The This Blue Dot community engagement Ottawa pilot program was sponsored by the RBC Blue Water Project® and supported by the City of Ottawa.

“RBC is thrilled that our partnership with One Change has proven to be an effective way to raise awareness for the protection and conservation of water, a key component of our RBC Blue Water Project,” says Paul Chiasson, Regional Vice President, Ottawa East, RBC. “Our support for the organization is a reflection of our commitment to build vibrant communities and a better future for Canadians across the capital region. We congratulate them on being recognized as the Social Innovation Enterprise of the Year.”

“A team of professors at the University of Ottawa, Telfer School of Management selected One Change, in conjunction with RBC, for the University of Ottawa social innovation award because of its innovative way of engaging Ottawa residents in detecting water leaks in their homes,” said David Wright, Full Professor, Telfer School of Management. “They were also chosen because of the unique partnership created with RBC, that enabled creation and delivery of the Blue Dot program.”

This Blue Dot is a unique One Change initiative aimed at mobilizing the community to take action to prevent residential water waste and empowering people to check for toilet leaks using a free and simple-to-use vegetable-based dye tablet or ‘blue dot’. Working together, One Change and RBC developed a creative pilot campaign with a goal of distributing 40,000 blue dot, leak-detecting kits to Ottawa residents. To further help with promotion of the pilot and to highlight existing water conservation programming, the City of Ottawa was also brought on board to support the initiative through in-kind contributions. The campaign launched on September 17, 2011 at the Ottawa EcoFair and officially concluded on November 4, 2011.

“We are extremely pleased with the success of our blue dot campaign and very proud that it has been recognized with such a meaningful award,” said Stuart Hickox, President and Founder of One Change Foundation. “We are confident that the impact of our water conservation message will last well beyond the end of the campaign and we are optimistic that the program will expand to other areas across the country.”

The CCSR Awards recognize outstanding contribution and excellence by individuals and corporations in carrying out and following the core values of Social Responsibility. The Award recipients have demonstrated an ongoing and unwavering commitment to the achievement and creation of shared value for their organizations and the community.

About One Change

One Change is an award-winning not-for-profit, non-partisan charitable organization and 501(c)3 foundation with headquarters in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada and project offices throughout Canada and the United States. One Change delivers innovative community-based social marketing campaigns aimed at delivering conversations to empower people to adopt money-saving, environmentally friendly behaviors. To date, One Change has engaged over 14,000 volunteers and 3,400 community groups in more than 1,200 communities across North America; and has delivered over 3.7 million free energy conservation measures alongside its Simple Actions Matter™ message. For more information, visit www.onechange.org or follow us on Twitter at @ONECHANGEorg.

About RBC Blue Water Project®

The RBC Blue Water Project® is an innovative, wide-ranging, 10-year global commitment to help protect the world’s most precious natural resource: fresh water. It includes a $50 million philanthropic commitment to organizations that protect watersheds and ensure access to clean drinking water. Since 2007, RBC has pledged over $32 million to more than 450 organizations worldwide.