History & Legacy
20+ years of programs that matter
Our history
How we got here
In 1998, Lisa Craig Gautier co-founded Matter of Trust with her husband, Patrice Olivier Gautier (VP of Internet Software & Services at Apple, Inc.). Our ecological nonprofit received 501(c)(3) public charity status in May of 1999.
“When my husband and I started our family, we were happy to take on the responsibility for bringing our kids into the world; and we felt a stronger desire to love the planet we are all passing on to future generations. Thankfully, each day, our staff meets hundreds of others who feel the same way. It provides a delightful atmosphere for the hopeful child in all of us.” – Lisa Gautier
Because Matter of Trust works with youth as well as adults, we concentrate on the positive. Every day we intentionally focus on what we all want in the environment now and in our future. Our programs include a flagship model eco-factory, a showcase eco-home with urban edible garden, an online social media platform for humanity adding solutions with services and free materials exchange, a research library and much more.
The charity mimics Mother Nature wherever possible; integrating systems, recycling resources, promoting renewables, and balancing shortages with abundance. We create fun exhibits, public installations, media and tools, providing information, education, inspiration, and transformation. The results are worthwhile, commonsensical, and often enchanting.
First, we started by linking surplus with needs. We began matching nonprofit wish lists with in-kind donations online through our free Excess Access program (now expanded into our Gifts Gallery on TheHumSum.org).
Members signed up and described their missions before posting items they wanted to get or give. This introduced us to thousands of grassroots organizations, recyclers, greening businesses, exciting new projects, amd this continues today. From the beginning the collaborating on ideas began to flow as easily as the connecting of wishes and donations.
In 2000, we launched our Hair Matters program, collecting hair, fur, and fleece clippings to make petroleum spill clean-up booms. “You shampoo because hair collects oil.” Through this program we get to meet hundreds of thousands of salons, pet groomers, farmers. We were very involved in the Cosco Busan Oil Spill (2007) and BP Deepwater Horizon (2010) in the Gulf of Mexico. Mostly, we work with cities, harbors, armed forces and industries to promote this waste fiber recycling system for green jobs mobilization which is helping to keep our waterways and storm drains clean.
The press from these two keystone programs led to many more of our own plus partnering on others we fiscally sponsor. With the help of our staff researchers, we published It’s Easy Being Green (2004, 2nd Edition 2019, 3rd Edition 2023). We also became closely tied with The San Francisco Department of the Environment and often collaborate in local, state, federal and United Nations events and projects.
We opened a Matter of Trust Eco-Center (2013) for field trips and roundtables. With many co-founders, we launched the Global Compost Project (2014). In 2016, we moved and expanded to have a model factory called the Matter of Trust Eco-Industrial Hub promoting clean air, water, energy and ideal materials. The growing number of environmental innovations, at every turn, made us feel the need to consolidate and create a framework. Thus was born the Humanity Adding Solutions social media platform – TheHumSum.org (2018). In 2019, Matter of Trust opened its exhibition Eco-Home and edible urban garden to showcase where renters can be planet-friendly.
People ask why we only concentrate on the positive. It’s because good eco-news is very abundant and we’re busy happily meeting great innovators daily. Timing and access are vital for planet-friendly concepts to prevail. The key is trust, connecting with people and everyone being open to complementary ideas!
In 2020, we launched our Hair Matters Global Hub Felting & Research Partners program. Beginning with partners in California, Oklahoma, Florida and beyond the US including Wales, Scotland, Athens, Grenoble, Helsinki, Tokyo, Switzerland, Belgium, Sydney, Santiago, Capetown…
As enthusiastic implementors, we are comprised of our board, advisors, staff, contractors, apprentices, interns, and volunteers. Our dedicated teams range from wise senior-citizen advisors to dynamic students and from full-time pro-bono directors to dedicated part-time veterans, work-from-home parents, and disability survivors.
We are always evolving and welcome new ideas, partners, and contributors. We hold a very optimistic view and are very fond of this Earth that we call home. We respectfully consider the health of this lovely planet to be an entangled matter of trust.
our achievements
Legacy
- Programs: Since we began in 1998, we have completed and archived over 50 projects and have 7 departments with 20+ current programs and projects in research, development or active mode.
- Press: Matter of Trust has a substantial number of articles and TV / radio interviews, including a front-page article in the Wall Street Journal, on CNN, Business Insider and several appearances on international news networks including interviews with BBC, Le Monde, National Geographique France, DW, The Hindu and more.
- Social Media: Matter of Trust has a large and growing membership of over 33.3k people on our Facebook page. We are also rapidly growing Twitter and Instagram.
- All Matter of Trust programs are up to date in all forms, licenses, and requirements. We hold current accounts with sam.gov, grants.gov, Battelle, GuideStar as well as San Francisco City and County vendor status. We take pride in our mom and pop, cottage industry, local to global approach. Our staff and program partners are like a giant family, which has resulted in our long-term survival, notable productivity and our being litigation-free since our establishment in 1998. We are also very resourceful and have always been debt-free. Please reach out to us, if you’d like to discuss how best to support this work!
History of Matter of Trust
1998
November – Matter of Trust is founded by Lisa Gautier with the help of her husband Patrice Gautier and many advisors.
1999
- May – Matter of Trust is incorporated. Our thanks to Paul Newman’s lawyers Nevas, Nevas, Capasse and Gerard in Connecticut for setting up our public charity with Excess Access as our first program.
- August – We launch our trailblazing online database with matching system that links surplus with needs.
2000
The Excess Access program receives the BAA – PCCF Business Environmental Award for Environmental Enterprise by the County of Santa Clara with Supervisorial Commendation.
2001
Hair Matters Program launch. Hair stylist and inventor Phil McCrory, officially partners with Matter of Trust to collect hair clippings and create a national waste fiber recycling system.
2002
Matter of Trust and Jennifer Pratt research, write, edit and publish It’s Easy Being Green – A Helpful and Humorous Eco-tips book of 230 pages, printed on hemp paper with soy ink. This book has been gifted in person to His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Former US Vice President Al Gore, Steve Jobs, founder of Apple, Inc. and several other notable dignitaries.
2nd edition 2019, available as a free book pdf on our website.
2004
Matter of Trust’s Biodiesel for Muni feasibility program in collaboration with the San Francisco Department of the Environment led to the citywide bus system transfer to biodiesel.
2005
Matter of Trust was awarded the Certificate of Honor by Mayor Gavin Newsom, the City/County of San Francisco. Honoree Lisa Gautier, President, recognized for dedication to urban environment and city dwellers around the world particularly in support of Matter of Trust’s important role in organizing widespread Community Programs during the United Nations World Environment Day 2005.
2006
Matter of Trust’s Hurricane Katrina Relief programs for in-kind donations led to our Peace of Mind Kits – an Ecological Complement to the Disaster Kit. This program led to our inclusion in the San Francisco Mayoral Committee for Disaster Preparedness.
2007
Oil Spill Clean Up with Hair Mats – Cosco Busan in San Francisco Bay Area.
Large-scale research project for oil soaked hair mat remediation using fungi, thermophilic compost and vermiculture with experts Ken Litchfield, Paul Stamets, UCB’s Norman Terry Lab…
2008
Matter of Trust fiscally sponsored “The Fuel Film” by Josh Tickell which won the coveted Audience Prize at the Sundance Film Festival 2008 and was 2009 Academy Awards Qualified.
2009
- Wall Street Journal front page article on Matter of Trust.
- Joyce’s Choices: Launch of positive news headlines and eco-solutions archive forum on MatterOfTrust.org
- Visit the Matter of Trust Archive
2010
- The Environmental Protection Agency publicly stated, during the BP Horizon Spill in the Gulf of Mexico, that Matter of Trust’s Hair Matters program led the fastest growing national grassroots recycling mobilization they had ever seen. From the 2nd-6th weeks after the explosion, the charity received hair and fur clipping donations from every zip code in North America and over 30 countries according to the US Postal Service. 19 warehouses from the Florida Keys to Texas were provided in order to temporarily house the hundreds of thousands of boxes. The fiber donations from salons and pet groomers were hand stuffed by thousands of volunteers to make oil spill cleanup booms.
- Matter of Trust won the 2010 Pavitra Crimmel Reuse Award from the California Resource Recovery Association.
2011
- Earth Day – SF Civic Center. We produced Talking Fish. Artists: Grier Blumenschine, Tim Crowe, & Louis China Bay Area K-12 students Voice-over by: Jean-Michel Cousteau
- Plastics in the Oceans Our two giant 16-foot reclaimed plastic fish sculptures framed the Earth Day SF Civic Center Entrance
- Matter of Trust collection of 8,000+ donated eyeglasses, part of a medical mission to Peru with Dr. Rosa Ten.
2012
Earth Day’s A Maze – Earth Day SF
– Matter of Trust provides a large-scale living bamboo plant maze for the public in San Francisco’s Civic Center Plaza. Thousands of visitors weaved their way through, aided by answering ecological questions with arrows for advancing if they got them right or backtracking if wrong.
2013
Grand Opening at 3338 17th Street in San Francisco’s vibrant inner-city Mission District. The Eco-Center programs are informational (exhibits, tours, resource material handouts, events, eco-gift shop, eco-baby showers, kids b’Earthday parties) educational (field trips, courses, classes, camps, roundtables, panels,) and transformational (green jobs, campaigns, mobilizations).
2014
- Matter of Trust launches the Global Compost Project.org collaborative with a mobile friendly site and pledge page.
- The Global Compost Film Contest is launched in partnership with SF Green Film Festival – http://www.greenfilmfest.org.
2015
- Matter of Trust is a presenting partner on the documentary film, Racing to Zero. Executive Producer Diana Fuller, Directed by Christopher Beaver. Patrice and Lisa Gautier, founders of Matter of Trust also hold producer credits.
- Matter of Trust orchestrates a Zero Waste Flash Mob, hosted by the Presidio Trust, at their Sunday Father’s Day picnic with 8,000 attendees. On the scenic Presidio National Park Parade Grounds, by the Golden Gate Bridge, crowds danced and sorted trash into blue and green bins. Other partners included SF Conservation Corp, CalRecycle, SF Environment, Luminalt Solar, Off the Grid and Recology.
- Matter of Trust President, Lisa Gautier, hosts A Toast to Compost in Paris during the United Nations COP21 Climate Conference Celebrations. Traveling with a large group representing cities and experts on compost, soil carbon, recycling and climate solutions, Lisa promotes our Global Compost Project collaborative .
- Matter of Trust has benchmarked hosting over 50 youth in our green jobs internship program in partnership with JVS, John O’Connell High School, Lick Wilmerding High School, Lycée Francais de SF, and SF STEM Academy.
2016
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Thermophilic Composting of Pharmaceutical Compounds We were fiscal sponsors for this project. Partners: Dr. Gary Andersen, Lawrence Berkeley Lab and SF Dept of Environment.
- In our 4th year of successful summer youth camps, Matter of Trust in partnership with Presidio Hill School, Tree Frog Treks, and many more partners, Todd Ditto, provides LEAF Academy for intensive two-week field trip filled courses on Leadership, Ecology, Action and Fellowship to middle school kids.
2017
Eco-Hub:
Matter of Trust opens its Eco-Hub, permanent location in SOMA near the SF Department of the Environment, Moscone Convention Center and Civic Center. The Matter of Trust Eco-Industrial Hub has a model working eco-factory and exhibits which concentrate on Clean Air, Water, Energy, Ideal Materials and Green Careers.
2018
- Matter of Trust goes into development for TheHumSum.org in partnership with the San Francisco Department of the Environment, Governor Brown of California and the United Nations Foundation as the public platform for the Global Climate Action Summit, hosted in the city of San Francisco September 2018.
- National Geographic France writes an article on the Eco-Hub.
- Scientists and engineers at the Air Force Civil Engineering Center at Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida are collaborating with Matter of Trust, Inc. to explore the use of renewable natural fibers for filtration. Official press release.
- University of Technology Sydney Australia partners with, and cites, Matter of Trust in paper stating hair is significantly better at adsorbing oil than all other materials.
2019
Grand Opening of our Model Eco-Home and Urban Edible Garden
in Haight-Ashbury / Cole-Valley District. Here we will concentrate on exhibits showcasing how renters and city dwellers can enjoy healthy eco-lifestyles for mind, body, and soil.
2020
- We were lucky to be able to keep all staff, add new and expand research projects during the COVID 19 Global Lockdown.
- Created a Resource Library.
- 2nd research paper with University of Technology, Sydney.
2021
- Matter of Trust soft launches its environmental social media platform TheHumSum.org
- Launch of Hair Matters Global Felting & Research Hubs Program sending needle punch machines for hair mats with a goal of 300 partners around the world by 2030!
2022
- Hair Matters program expands to Hair for SOIL & oil spills
- Launch of Hair Force Global Partner Research Calls
- Matter of Trust goes VIRAL with Business Insider (15M+ views), CNN, BBC… see our Press Center
- Eco-Home has successful week-long Open Houses every 2 months throughout the year!
- Our Hair Matters Global Felting & Research Hubs Program establishes over 60 partnerships
2023
- Huge success with hair and fur mulch / compost remediating contaminated soil at the Presidio National Park – former military base!
- TheHumSum.org for Humanity Adding Solutions – our environmental social media platform – now translated into Spanish and French and 10 more languages to follow! Join in!
- Expanding our Eco-Academy department (formerly known as YEEP) for youth and research programs with new staff and partners.
- Expanding our Eco-Industrial Hub and Exhibit Hall staff with flagship working model factory and Hair Matters products test kitchen.
2024
• Hair Matters Program (formerly known as Clean Wave) 100% natural flotation booms with donated recycled wine corks and sisal rope
• Hair Matters storm drain mat installations
• Matter of Trust expands our environmental social media platform TheHumSum.org – Join in!
• Visit our Media Gallery and our YouTube Channel
• Check out all of our programs in active or research & development modes as well as completed archived programs
• Follow us on Social Media (Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest).