Dutch Bamboo uses Google Workspace for Nonprofits to collaborate with partners, Gemini to write grant applications, and a custom Gem to summarize vast amounts of climate-related research.
The nonprofit Dutch Bamboo Foundation’s mission is to remove climate-warming carbon from the atmosphere by planting bamboo — the world’s fastest-growing plant. Dutch Bamboo Foundation is working with global partners to create a European-based supply chain so that sustainably harvested bamboo can literally be used to build a greener planet.
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The Netherlands
Dutch Bamboo uses Google Workspace for Nonprofits to collaborate with partners, Gemini to write grant applications, and a custom Gem to summarize vast amounts of climate-related research.
Google Workspace Results
Dutch Bamboo Foundation’s founder works faster and smarter using the collaboration and generative AI tools in Google Workspace.
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Grant applications written collaboratively and submitted faster with Gemini for Google Workspace
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High volume of scientific research and corporate reports analyzed, summarized, and put to use faster with custom Gems
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Volunteers recruited more easily — and their work organized more efficiently — with Google Forms linked to Google Sheets
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Collaboration across disparate partner organizations using the unified, intuitive tool set in Google Workspace
If you had to choose one tactic for combating climate change, what would it be? For an American living in the Netherlands, the answer is planting bamboo.
"Like all plants, bamboo reduces atmospheric carbon, the main cause of global warming," explains Brian Wennersten, the founder — and sole employee — of the . "But bamboo has a big advantage: It’s the fastest-growing plant in the world, and therefore absorbs more carbon more quickly."
While most people associate bamboo with Chinese pandas, not Dutch environmentalists, that’s about to change if Wennersten is successful. His organization’s mission is to sow carbon-hungry bamboo plantations wherever they’ll grow on European soil, reduce carbon one vigorous stick of bamboo at a time, and put that woody fiber to myriad green uses worldwide.
A one-person nonprofit must still collaborate effectively
“I needed an affordable, scalable solution to build an organization that collaborates with people all over the world, and that’s exactly what Google Workspace for Nonprofits offers us.” - Brian Wennersten, Founder, Dutch Bamboo Foundation
Though he currently runs his organization solo, his work is nonetheless collaborative. "In many ways, being a team of one makes collaboration more essential and potentially more difficult," he observes.
At Dutch Bamboo Foundation, the typical back-and-forth of documents and spreadsheets that occurs at any organization goes between Wennersten, his board members, and the other nonprofits he partners with. He also shares documents with funders and prospective donors, with the design-and-build collaboratives that use the Dutch bamboo he sources and harvests, and with a growing number of volunteers.
To make that collaboration possible, Wennersten went straight to , which provided his organization with access to at no cost. It’s helped keep things running smoothly ever since.
Google Workspace for Nonprofits: An affordable, scalable solution
“Gemini Gems enable people with no programming or AI experience to harness the power of AI for one-of-a-kind use cases, quickly and easily.” - Brian Wennersten, Founder, Dutch Bamboo Foundation
"As a nonprofit with a small budget, cost control is always top of mind. But we’re not going to be a one-person show forever," he predicts. Indeed, Wennersten’s ambitions for new bamboo plantations are global. "I needed an affordable, scalable solution to build an organization that collaborates with people all over the world, and that’s exactly what Google Workspace for Nonprofits offers us."
Workspace was a natural choice for Wennersten, who had used Workspace apps all through graduate school. That he’d chosen wisely was confirmed when he discovered that the majority of the partners he works with use Google Workspace themselves. "That familiarity made collaborating with our organizational partners second nature," he says.
The real-time collaboration offered by and lets Dutch Bamboo streamline volunteer recruitment and task management. And they use and its AI capabilities to identify and promote potential bamboo planting locations across Europe.
Gemini helps with writing when there’s no human writer on staff
“With Gems I can stay abreast of the most important climate science information, find and connect with experts in the field, and develop new ways for Dutch Bamboo to pursue its mission.” - Brian Wennersten, Founder, Dutch Bamboo Foundation
However, it’s the newest tool in the Google toolbox, , that’s proving to be the biggest game-changer for Dutch Bamboo.
"As a one-person team, there’s always too much to do," Wennersten admits. So he’s finding Gemini especially helpful for assisting with content creation for marketing. "If there’s a topic I need to write about, Gemini helps me outline a blog post for the website, create a plan for promoting it on social media, and create social media posts." He even uses it to personalize fundraising emails.
Gemini has also become a key member of Wennersten’s grant writing "team." Having trained Dutch Bamboo’s instance of Gemini on the organization’s mission and background, it’s able to draft answers to common questions on grant applications in just the right voice and tone.
"I was once racing against a deadline while waiting at the airport in Reykjavik for a flight to New York," Wennersten recounts. "Gemini helped me quickly incorporate input from Dutch architects working on a bamboo project in Uganda, enabling me to finish and submit the application before I even boarded the plane."
Tapping Gemini as a research assistant
Gemini has also become Wennersten’s de facto research assistant.
"I’m always scrambling to keep up with the latest research on climate change and sustainability, and I’m interested in how large companies are responding to the climate crisis. But the amount of relevant information in scientific journals and corporate reports is overwhelming," Wennersten laments.
He’d been on the lookout for an AI-assisted tool that could help him manage the deluge of information coming at him, but had no means of creating one himself — until he learned about , which enable users to harness the power of Gemini for specific, personalized tasks by saving specific instructions, detailed goals, how you want the responses to sound, or even step-by-step workflows that can be used over and over.
After watching a from Google, Wennersten built himself a "research digester" Gem capable of analyzing complex publications, synthesizing key trends, and providing actionable insights.
"Gems enable people with no programming or AI experience to harness the power of AI for one-of-a-kind use cases, quickly and easily," he comments. "I instructed the Gem to summarize the main findings of each report in jargon-free language, identify the most important data and stakeholders, and provide links to all citations and source materials to ensure accuracy," Wennersten explains.
Using the , he was able to surface documents, such as PDFs, to be analyzed while prompting the Gem. "With Gems I can stay abreast of the most important climate science information, find and connect with experts in the field, and develop new ways for Dutch Bamboo to pursue its mission."
Advancing climate science with Workspace and Gemini
Wennersten is already devising other Gems to help with project management and catalyze brainstorming sessions on topics his research digester identifies. He’s also planning to use Gemini to make meetings more efficient.
"Meetings are key to collaborating, but documenting what happens at them can be distracting and tedious," he observes. By using Gemini to take notes and generate summaries, he’s hoping to keep participants focused and save time preparing post-meeting documentation.
"Fighting climate change requires systemic change," Wennersten says, "and systemic change requires collaboration and cooperation among nonprofits, governments, corporations, and other institutions. That’s the work Dutch Bamboo is doing with the help of Google Workspace for Nonprofits and Gemini."