Pepsi Refresh Offers Funding for Green Ideas

The Pepsi Refresh project calls on Internet users vote for projects submitted by real people and companies. Those with the most monthly votes receive funding from Pepsi, and there’s an entire section of projects that are designed to benefit the environment.

The Pepsi Refresh Project funds more than projects in more than 30 states in only 4 months. Photo: Pepsi-Cola North America Beverages

Your vote could help collect hotel soaps and shampoos for reuse in homeless shelters, fund a festival on how to live green or even build a glass recycling center.

It can also help fund recycling pick-up programs, turn cooking oil into biodiesel and generate an online marketplace for only green products. The list of projects keeps going, and that’s only the September nominees.

Another option for Pepsi Refresh voting is to choose local projects that will impact your community. Selecting the “Near You” option will filter all projects in your state. Regardless of your voting criteria, anyone can vote up to 10 times per day online or via text message.

Pepsi announced its Refresh Project back in January and even tweaked its Super Bowl spots to promote the cause marketing campaign. The premise is that each month new projects are submitted into four different monetary categories.

At the end of the month, the leading projects in each category receive funding, including two projects at $250,000 and 10 each at $50,000, $25,000 and $5,000. That equals $1.3 million in grant money each month.

There are 1,000 projects to choose from each month, and the rules are simple. Each submission requires an application, the idea must impact at least one community in the U.S. and it should be completable within 12 months.

American Express undertook a similar project a few years ago allowing cardmembers to vote on ideas submitted by the general public, and the winner receiving $1.5 million.