Become a Member
RPN has four different membership packages, designed to help organizations at different stages of their responsible purchasing program development and implementation.
If you want to learn about responsible purchasing best practices, but do not need in-depth support with your purchasing programs, check out Membership Package #1.
If you need help with training program staff and/or vendors, consider Membership Package #2.
If you are developing or revising your purchasing policy and/or updating or expanding your programs and practices, Membership Package #3 offers great support to organizations like yours.
If you are writing specifications, going out to bid, evaluating vendors, developing contracts, or wanting to work with others to leverage your purchasing power, consider Membership Package #4.
Membership Package #1: Basic Membership
This package enables RPN members to access webinars, purchasing guides, and other tools on a wide range of sustainable purchasing topics.
Member Benefits
- 1-hour consultation plus follow-up on a sustainable purchasing topic of the member’s choice
- Access to all of RPN’s webinars at no cost. Member can invite unlimited number of colleagues in their jurisdiction or organization to all RPN webinars
- Opportunity to participate in members-only discussions on high-priority sustainable purchasing topics
- Quarterly newsletter highlighting responsible purchasing trends, best practices, and innovations
- Unrestricted web access to all RPN resources (e.g., recordings of all of RPN's past webinars, green purchasing guides, and fact sheets)
- 1 Peer Match with an RPN member or expert
- RPN membership certificate
- Free copy of “Eco-Purchasing: The Competitive Advantage”
- Member highlight in RPN newsletter
Organization Type |
|
| Federal Agency | |
| State Agency (State population less than 5 million) | |
| State Agency (State population 5 million - 20 million) | |
| State Agency (State population greater than 20 million) | |
| Local Government (Population less than 15,000) | |
| Local Government (Population 15,000 - 250,000) | |
| Local Government (Population greater than 250,000) | |
| Educational Institution (Student population less than 5,000) | |
| Educational Institution (Student population 5,000 - 20,000) | |
| Educational Institution (Student population greater than 20,000) | |
| Nonprofit Organization | |
| Business (Annual revenues less than $10 million) | |
| Business (Annual revenues between $10 million - $99 million) | |
| Business (Annual revenues between $100 million - $999 million) | |
| Business (Annual revenues $1 billion or more) | |
Membership Package #2: Training Focus
This package helps RPN members train their staff on a responsible purchasing topic of their choice. RPN provides the training through a webinar customized to meet the member’s needs.
Member Benefits
- RPN membership and all Membership Package #1 benefits
- 2-hour consultation to determine desired outcomes for and key issues to address during the training
- Pre-training packet including the training agenda, a PPT presentation, and other materials to help participants prepare for the webinar
- 1.5-hour webinar and discussion on one of the following topics:
- Getting Started
- Sustainable Purchasing 101
- Green Purchasing Made Easy
- How to Use Eco-Labels to Combat Greenwashing
- Tracking and Reporting Green Purchasing
- Achieving Desired Outcomes
- Environmental Products that Save Money
- Purchasing for Climate Protection
- Purchasing for Zero Waste
- Saving Time and the Environment Through Cooperative Purchasing
- How to Reduce Toxic Exposures Through Responsible Purchasing
- Paper Cuts: Strategies to Reduce and Track Paper Consumption
- Strategies for Reducing Battery Waste
- Conserving Water Through Responsible Purchasing: Water Sense and Beyond
- Sector-Specific Training
- Purchasing for Healthy Schools
- Sustainable Purchasing Strategies for Universities
- Green Purchasing Strategies for Correctional Facilities
- Product-Specific Training
- Best Practices for Purchasing Energy-Efficient Products
- Clean Energy Purchasing
- Green Cleaning Products and Practices
- Safer Disinfecting Products and Practices
- Green Electronics/Office Equipment (focus on computers, copiers, printers, etc.)
- Green Furniture (focus on low-emitting and flame retardant-free products)
- Green Hardware Supplies (focus on maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO))
- Green Janitorial Paper Supplies
- Green Lighting Equipment (focus on LEDs, high-efficiency/low-mercury fluorescent lamps and high-efficiency fixtures, and ballasts)
- Green Office Supplies
- Green Painting Products
- Keeping Roadways Green (focus on traffic paint and deicers)
- Fair Trade Products
- Local and Sustainable Food Procurement
- Getting Started
- Meeting summary, final PPT presentation, webinar recording, and webinar evaluation results
- 1-hour post-webinar consultation to discuss lessons learned and next steps
| Membership Package #2 | |
Membership Package #3: Policy and Program Development Focus
This package is designed to help RPN members that are developing a new or updated sustainable purchasing policy and/or program.
Member Benefits
- RPN membership and all Membership Package #1 benefits
- A Policy and Program Development Tool Kit including:
- An overview of sustainable purchasing policy and program options (plus PPT slides to guide member’s internal discussions)
- A package of sample sustainable purchasing policies, including RPN’s model sustainable purchasing policy, which highlights key elements to consider
- A facilitated sustainable purchasing prioritization process and evaluation tool
- An RPN overview of key sustainable purchasing program elements
- Examples of successful green purchasing policies and programs from other RPN members
- Policy and program development support including:
- A review of member’s existing sustainable purchasing and/or sustainability policies or a call with member if they are just starting the policy and program development process to understand their needs
- A consultation to discuss the scope, focus, and design of the new or revised sustainable purchasing policy and program elements member is planning to adopt
- An in-depth review and discussion of member’s new or revised policy and program design when draft is available
- Facilitated discussions with other RPN members to share best practices, strategies for addressing common challenges, and useful resources for green purchasing policy development, program design and implementation, and prioritization of sustainable purchasing opportunities
| Membership Package #3 | |
Membership Package #4: Implementation Focus
This package is designed to help RPN members implement a specific sustainable purchasing initiative of their choice.
Member Benefits
- RPN membership and all Membership Package #1 benefits
- Implementation support including:
- An initial consultation to understand member’s needs, which will result in a project plan; and
- Deliverables per written agreement between member and RPN staff. Deliverables may include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Bid specifications for the targeted product category member has chosen to focus on
- Applicable vendor survey questions
- A sample market basket list based on the member’s past contract usage (if available)
- Bid evaluation support
- Contract marketing support
- Tracking and reporting assistance
- A consultation to review each deliverable
| Membership Package #4 | |