Earth Keeper Project

Program Mission Statement:

(self-reported)

The Earth Keeper Project is a collaborative effort of nine faith traditions (140 congregations) across Michigan’s rural Upper Peninsula. A key focus is the annual “Clean Sweep” collection of Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) in 15 counties, and 50 villages, cities and towns across northern Michigan. The project has collected 370 tons of pharmaceuticals ($500,000 in illicit narcotics), computers, cells phones, poisons, insecticides, mercury, vehicle batteries. All HHW properly disposed/recycled. Partners include American Indian tribes, environmental group, university students.

Score Summary

Overall Score:	Excellent
Practice Principles:	Excellent
Faith Related Elements:	Better
Outcome Measures:	Excellent
Change Process:	Excellent

Program Facts

• Paid (FTE) Staff Working: 2
• Program Participants Last Year: 11000
• Meets about 0 time(s) with each participant per month
• Participants remain in the program for 12 months

Board Activities

Funding Overview

(self-reported)

	This Program	This Organization
Organization Budget: $98,700 Program Budget: $21,500
Foundation Grants	40%	33%
Government Grants/Contracts	9%	0%
Individual Gifts	20%	17%
Business/Corporate Gifts	0%	10%
Congregation/Denominational Gifts	31%	15%
Dues/Fees/Income	0%	0%
Other	0%	25%
	Average Program Funding From All Samaritan Programs	Average Organization Funding From All Samaritan Organizations
The next charts display the average funding sources for all programs currently in the Samaritan Guide for your comparison. Average Organization Budget: $3,820,907 Average Program Budget: $480,643
Foundation Grants	24%	18%
Government Grants/Contracts	3%	8%
Individual Gifts	36%	33%
Business/Corporate Gifts	9%	8%
Congregation/Denominational Gifts	9%	10%
Dues/Fees/Income	7%	9%
Other	10%	11%

It is important to maintain diverse income sources for your programs and for your oganization as a whole. Doing so provides long-term financial stability to your organizations and programs. It is also important to note that government funding often comes with stipulations and restrictions. More information is available in the Raising Resources Toolkit - pdf.

Score Details

Program Focus
Program Mission	Clarity and specificity of the program's mission statement.	Excellent
Target Population	Clarity and specificity of the programs target clientele.	Good
Eligibility Criteria	Clarity and specificity of the program's eligibility criteria.	Good
Program Requirements	Well defined requirements for client participation.	Better
Referrals From Other Organizations	Do other organizations recommend this program to their clientele.	Better
Referrals to Other Organizations	Does this program recommend other programs to their clients?	Excellent
Volunteer to Staff Ratio	Are volunteers effectively incorporated into the program?	Excellent
Past Participant Recruiting	Are past program participants recruited as volunteers?	Excellent
Evaluation and Practice Princples
Practice Principles	How supports and resources are provided to increase outcomes.	Excellent
Outcome Measurement	The ability to measure stated program outcomes.	Excellent
Change Process	Specific and measurable statement of the program's goals.	Excellent
Faith Related Elements	Integration of faith related elements.	Better
Measurement Frequency	Frequency of measuring client outcomes.	Excellent
Program Evaluation	Level of the budget allocated to measuring client outcomes.	Excellent
Institutional Stability
Organization Age	A measure of the organization's durability.	Excellent
Board Oversight	How involved in the program are the members of its board?	Excellent
Program Duration	Average duration of a clients participation with a program.	Better
Finances
Budget Diffusion	Diversity of the programs funding sources.	Excellent
Government Funding	Does this program accept little or no government funding?	Excellent

Program Score Details

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Outcomes & Measures:

(self-reported)

Scoring for this section is based on the organizations ability to provide at least three clear and specific outcomes with corresponding measures in which a relationship is shown between outcomes and measures.

Outcome 1: Annual Upper Peninsula wide collection of Household Hazardous Waste has major impact on environment

Measure Used:
Over 370 tons of household hazardous waste collected during Earth Day Projects 2005-2007.

2007 Earth Keeper Clean Sweep:

Over one ton of pharmaceuticals and an estimated $500,000 in narcotics turned over by about 2,000 residents, many of whom brought in medicines from family, friends and neighbors.

2006 Earth Keeper Clean Sweep:

Over 320 tons of old computers and cell phones turned in by an estimated 10,000 residents.

2005 Earth Keeper Clean Sweep:

Over 45 tons of household poisons, insecticides, drainer cleaner, lead-based paint, and vehicle batteries turned in by public including over 2 pounds of raw liquid mercury.

Items from all clean sweeps have been recycled or properly disposed following federal guidelines.

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Outcome 2: The Bishops/faith leaders of the nine faith traditions say environmental awareness by faith communities and individuals grows every year. Leaders of national interfaith organizations deem Earth Keeper project important and effective.

Measure Used:
Numbers of education bulletins distributed and sermon references cited. Extensive national, regional, state and local media coverage and editorial praise. Large turnout by the public who also fill out a survey at each of the collection sites. Numerous ecumenical/interfaith organizations have recognized our works calling Earth Keepers "a worthy interfaith project."

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Outcome 3: Public education and witness from faith communities grows every year

Measure Used:
Number of collections sites on church parking lots and properties; eager volunteers from churches.

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Outcome 4: Implementation teams growing appreciation and respect for a diversity of religious beliefs

Measure Used:
Personal reflections and alliances during three planning and outcome retreats

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Outcome 5: Increased cooperation between Upper Peninsula's religious leaders on many new projects. All the faith leaders actively promote clean sweeps and state publically it is important to foster interfaith endeavors. Faith leaders stand together during govt./civic meetings, press conferences, and at public events.

Measure Used:
Interviews with bishops and denominational executives at the conclusion of the project. Media statements by faith leaders.

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Change Process:

(self-reported)

Scoring for this section is based on the organizations ability to provide clear, measurable, client-focused stages of change based on participant participation.

Participants learn the spiritual and religious sides of practicing good environmental stewardship as described in the Bible, by the respective participating (nine) faith traditions. The bishops/faith leaders have explained in great detail why and how the Bible and their church teachings stress the importance of protecting the planet provided and created by God. They learn that it’s an important part of their own faith to practice environmentally-friendly ways of living and repairing the Earth.

Thousands of participants - plus thousands more who hear/read media coverage and sermons - gain a deeper understanding of their faith and how it applies to being a good steward of all things that grow in and on our planet its creatures - large and small.

Participants also learn respect for each other’s faith traditions and find there is much common ground between the faith communities, their members and neighbors. That the faith traditions have more things in common than they have differences especially when it comes to protecting the environment and respecting Earth, nature and its inhabitants.

Even those who do not physically participate in the clean sweeps undoubtedly learn to protect the environment through the extremely extensive media coverage, plus through word of mouth from friends/relatives who hear the strong messages put forth by the bishops/faith leaders.

Participating in annual clean sweeps often marks a commitment to protect the environment in other ways.

Participants learn than one person can make a difference in protecting the planet and encouraging others to do the same.

Program Score - Historical Review

Note: Significant decreases in scores may be the result of incomplete data in a Samaritan Award application.

End Notes

Incomplete Applications

Significant decreases in certain scores may indicate failure to comprehensively complete certain sections of the Samaritan Award application. Please be sure to fill out every question in the Samaritan Award application.

Relative Scoring

Total program scores are partially computed against other programs from within the same pool of applications and so are not cumulative.

Additional Reference Material

More information on scoring and methodology may be found on the Samaritan Guide and Award website.

Acton Institute Relationship

The Samaritan Guide and Samaritan Award are projects run by the Acton Institute. Inclusion in the Guide does not signify endorsement by the Acton Institute. More information on why the Acton Institute runs this project is available online.