Rivanna Report

Rivanna Natural designs announced today that it has contracted with UPS to use UPS carbon-neutral shipping to ship the company's planet friendly awards, plaques, and gifts.

The SDGs & Rivanna - Watch This Space

Of the many important take-aways from the 2019 Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council Summit, aligning business goals with the UN Global SDGs is not a task for the faint of heart.

5 Tips to Conserve Water in Your Business

Award Typography Tips & Tricks

There’s no doubt that Rivanna is a recognition company. We love making eco-friendly awards and plaques for our customers. But at our core, we’re a design company. Our design team works to create unique products, implementing your logos and accolades in the most visually pleasing way possible.

Rivanna Helps Support Monkey Tail Ranch

Our new Refer Rivanna program has really taken off, with our loyal customers referring our eco-friendly awards to others. When someone refers a new customer who makes a purchase, we donate a portion of the sale to a local nonprofit organization. Our current nonprofit partners are Richmond SPCA, FeedMore, and the IRC. We've now added Monkey Tail Ranch.

Sustainability Series: 6 Steps You Can Take Today to be Eco-Friendly - Part 2

Changing our habits requires education, time, and dedication. Just a few years ago I would get annoyed by the 5-cent plastic bag fee at the supermarket. Today, I get annoyed when they offer me plastic bags at all. That’s a huge change, and all it took was a change of mindset.

Sustainability Series: 6 Steps You Can Take Today to be Eco-Friendly – Part 1

It’s more common for businesses to consider their role in the environment and society, helping set a better standard for conducting business. With businesses taking a step-up, it’s important that we do the same at home, spurring some questions: does this make me a hippie? Will it be expensive and difficult?

The answer to all these questions: not necessarily.

Sustainability Series: Be Green, Compost at Home

We’ve gotten really into composting this year, so our Sustainability Coordinator wanted to share her experience composting at home, to show you it’s not as intimidating as you think.

Customer Spotlight: Association of Zoos & Aquariums

When our design team comes across a really beautiful or fun award, they call me over to check it out. This is how I learned about the Association of Zoos & Aquariums (AZA). Rivanna has been making FSC®-certified awards for AZA since 2011, honoring their members for Scientific Advancement Awards, Exhibit Awards, International Conservation Awards, and so on.

Rivanna and NALP: A case study on creating value for member-based associations

The collaboration between Rivanna Natural Designs (Rivanna) and the National Association of Landscape Professionals (NALP) has enabled NALP to refresh its award program, strengthen its brand, and add value for its members.

Q & A with Designer, Kristina Constantine

As we finish up the new product designs for our 2019 catalog, we thought we’d pause for a moment to catch up with our principal designer, Kristina Constantine.

Rivanna honored as "Best for the World"

For the 4th year in a row, Rivanna Natural Designs has been recognized as a leader in positive business impact by the nonprofit B Lab.

B Corp Spotlight: MilkCrate

From time to time, we come across great companies and products that we think our customers will love. With that in mind, we wanted to share a bit about MilkCrate, a mission-driven tech company and fellow B Corporation that creates apps for other mission-driven nonprofits, schools, corporations, and member-based organizations.

Rivanna Supports Soles4Souls

A clean, comfortable pair of shoes. We take them for granted. Many (probably most) of us have too many shoes. But what about those who have no shoes? Women in the developing world who walk barefoot to retrieve water? Men and children who have lost their shoes in natural disasters or armed conflicts?

Rivanna Starts Composting!

We're composting at work, and loving it!

Best Practices: Drop Shipping

For award ceremonies large and small, drop shipping is a great way to save money, save time, and protect our planet.

Rivanna Volunteers at FeedMore’s Community Kitchen

The Rivanna Natural Designs' team volunteered at FeedMore, a nonprofit organization benefitting hunger-relief in RVA.

New Glass Awards, New Possibilities

Our new Artisan Glass collection is the result of our year-long collaboration with renowned Blue Ridge artist Neil Duman. Working with Neil has been a joy and a privilege. He's a natural teacher who loves his work, so we're soaking up as much knowledge as we can.

Making Trophies from Scratch...and Scraps

Despite our best efforts to minimize wood waste through prudent design and sound manufacturing processes, we still end up with small scraps of wood that need to be diverted from the waste stream.

"We're all people. We all want to thrive."

It's been 12 years since Rivanna's Kristina Constantine and Anelya Mrktumova arrived in America with their parents. Today they speak to CBS19 about their experiences as refugees and their hopes for the future. (watch video)

Real Companies are Owned by Real People - Part 2

We are delighted to announce that Gretchen Wirth (left) has been granted a group of non-voting shares in Rivanna, making her a partial owner of the company. This share grant is our company's first step toward greater employee ownership.

Real Companies are owned by Real People - Part 1

As a Certified B Corporation and a Virginia Benefit Corporation, we are committed to transparency and accountability in business. To that end, we publish and maintain a statement of beneficial ownership on our company's Governance page, and we encourage all businesses to do the same.

Rivanna Wins 2015 FSC Leadership Award

At GreenBuild in Washington DC today, Rivanna won a 2015 FSC Leadership Award, highlighting the company's critical role in addressing climate change. It was especially nice to bring home one of our own awards.

Why We Honor World Refugee Day

June 20^th is World Refugee Day, a time to honor the courage and resilience of people around the world who have been forcibly displaced by conflict or persecution. This day has special significance for us at Rivanna.