SUSAN S.

22 DECEMBER

Healthy Building Network won't soon forget 2009; a year of tremendous challenges and accomplishments. Ranking highest, far and away, in both categories would be bringing the Pharos Project to market.

The culmination of three years' work, with the help and support of many, the Pharos Project brings an unprecedented and unsurpassed level of transparency to the building materials market. The Pharos Chemical and Material Library is a one-of-a-kind database that allows subscribers to find out the health impacts of chemicals in building materials in just seconds, by checking over 9,000 chemicals against 21 authoritative hazard lists. The Pharos Building Product Library offers comprehensive health and environmental information on over 100 products in three categories. There is no more transparent, comprehensive or easy-to-use source of this information available.

Like many not-for-profit organizations, 2009 presented HBN with the toughest financial challenges in our ten-year history. We all took pay cuts to keep the lights on and the Pharos Project going.

As 2010 nears, we are hopeful that subscriptions to the Pharos Project will begin to offset some of the costs associated with operating and expanding the system. Nevertheless, we fully expect that philanthropic donations and grants will continue to constitute the vast majority of HBN's budget. It is for this reason that we ask you to subscribe to Pharos. If you have already subscribed or if now is not the time for you to subscribe but you want to support our work, consider making a tax-deductible donation to HBN, as part of your year-end charitable giving.

Your generous contributions permit HBN to remain financially independent of manufacturer funding or other types of strings-attached dollars - allowing us to take uncompromised stands, call things as we see them, and stand up to industry greenwash. Again, if this is something that you value in our work, please consider making a tax-deductible donation this year.

On behalf of all of my colleagues at HBN, thanks for your support - and have a happy holiday season.

#Healthy Building Network