Seeking slow returns

Spencer Beebe

Economists are trained to measure success based on rates of return. Spencer Beebe, the 63-year-old founder of Portland-based nonprofit Ecotrust, is no different. Yet Ecotrust’s Natural Capital Fund considers preservation of rivers and forests (biological returns) and collaboration leading to innovation (social returns) as much as economic returns when measuring its success. And its “get-rich-slow strategy” has helped it continue to profit even in a tough economy, according to Beebe.

Since 1991, Ecotrust has converted $60 million in grants into more than $300 million in capital within industries that have a direct interest in environmental responsibility. Among its accomplishments along the way: completing the Jean Vollum Natural Capital Center, America’s first historic building renovation certified Gold by the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system; and co-founding Shorebank Pacific, the world’s first environmental bank, which combined with Shorebank Enterprise Cascadia has $300 million in assets.

A founder of Conservation International, Beebe is known for hatching his best ideas outdoors. He likely spends as little time as possible at the conference table in Ecotrust’s Portland headquarters, where he sat down with Sustainable Industries to discuss the building—what Beebe calls a social, environmental and economic experiment—the competitive advantage of locally focused businesses, and the current state of the economy. 

SI:  Ecotrust was one of the first to develop a LEED-certified building in Portland, which is now recognized as a global leader in the space. Do you think the Jean Vollum Natural Capital Center has helped prove the value of building “green”?

SB:  It’s helped. It was just one piece of the puzzle. I think we got lucky with the time and location. It was the right idea, the right time, the right neighborhood, the right city. We had conversations with many people, including Stewart Brand. He said, “You can either be a demonstration project or you can be a lab, but you can’t be both. Both are good, but you should be explicit about which way you want to go.”

The demonstration project demonstrates everything great: It’s about hardware, all the great technology, like solar greywater systems and materials and all of that. And of course that’s all very important and useful. But in five years, it would be out of date. The other way to go is to be a lab. ... The lab idea is a social experiment. That’s software, not hardware. I didn’t want to just bring NGOs together. That’s boring. That’s not diversity. We wanted for-profits, nonprofits, public, private. We wanted them to have their own quiet space where they could be productive and work, but we wanted public and open spaces where they could connect.

SI:  This building remains fully occupied, even though there are more LEED-certified office spaces in Portland now than when it was built. What makes it such a good place to work?