Skip to main content Skip to footer unit links
← Back to all capstone projects
2015 Autumn | Agriculture and Food Systems, Business & Sustainability

Green Business: The Future of our Economy? A Students Internship at the UW Farm Leads to Newfound Avenues for Eco-Friendly Business Models

Student(s):

Shelby Fanning

Program or Department(s):

  • Program on the Environment
  • University of Washington

Site supervisor(s):

Sarah Geurkink

Partner(s):

  • The UW Farm

Faculty advisor(s):

Elizabeth Umphress, Foster School of Business, University of Washington

I worked with the UW Farm this summer in order to learn how a nonprofit could stay true to their commitment to the environment while also finding a way to achieve their many other goals. The purpose of this project was to observe and integrate myself within this nonprofit organization to learn the numerous methods by which this group was ‘green’. I took over the entire organizing process for the Farm-to-Table Dinner, the newsletter, creating reports on revenue/expenses, and signage collaboration. These responsibilities along with my numerous findings in social, environmental, and economic observations/experiments revealed greener business future possibilities.