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August 30, 2023

Los Angeles Nonprofit ANEW Fosters Stewardship and Circularity

The company works with corporations to procure office furniture, fixtures, equipment, office supplies, and office appliances.

By: Nigel F. Maynard

Rose Tourjé had a successful career doing corporate interior design work. For a time, she worked as the vice president, planning and design, corporate real estate, for Warner Brothers, then as a senior associate at architecture firm Daniel Mann Johnson & Mendenhall.

Back then (the early 1990s), the U.S. Green Building Council had just been established and momentum for sustainability was ramping up, so Tourjé tried to be mindful of these issues in her work. 

But one day in 2005 she saw something that changed the trajectory of her life. “I witnessed furniture being pushed out windows of a mid-rise building in downtown Los Angeles,” she says. “It went on for three days. It changed me as a person and as a professional.”

I witnessed furniture being pushed out windows of a mid-rise building in downtown Los Angeles…

Rose Tourjé

Shortly after that, Tourjé established the Asset Network for Education Worldwide (ANEW), a Los Angeles–based nonprofit that works with corporations to procure office furniture, fixtures, equipment, office supplies, and office appliances, and match them to nonprofit organizations. 

“We work with companies who might be downsizing or having to leave a leasehold, and we raise awareness and teach them about our method,” she explains. “We have a platform of steps and processes we call the ANEWmethod that teaches stewardship, social connectivity, and circularity.”

For nonprofit groups to receive items, they must go through a rigorous vetting process. They must sign liability waivers and understand that they’re taking products that are gently used. “There’s no cost to them except for perhaps renting a vehicle to receive items or labor to load the trucks,” Tourjé says.

ANEW doesn’t do traditional marketing and relies mostly on word of mouth and support from its sponsor companies. Inquiries come in weekly, and existing and past clients send referrals. In 2015 the company expanded and established a presence in Santa Fe, New Mexico; Seattle; Tucson, Arizona; Chicago; and Tampa, Florida.

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