Mark Golden on Corporate Social Responsibility

I'll admit it. I am a child of the 60's. The notion of becoming a "businessman" like my father, seemed more like a life sentence than a career. I wanted to do something creative, challenging and productive -- a career in science seemed like the obvious path for me.

I have been the beneficiary of having incredible mentors, talented colleagues and an incredibly supportive family. The first lesson I learned after starting Golden Artist Colors in 1980 was that my Dad, Sam Golden wasn't a businessman either. Neither were my mother, Adele, and wife Barbara with whom we started the company. What could have been incredibly unfortunate, turned out to be a wonderful blessing. Because Sam just loved making paint for artists and being a part of the process with the most talented and creative people in the world. There was absolutely no other reason for a man in his late 60's to throw everything he had worked for into pursuing, once again, everything he had already achieved. Why not enjoy a retirement so richly deserved over a 40 year career? Because the true soul and joy of this man was in making paint, and I was quickly caught up in his passion.

So, with no business plan (thankfully my mother had a penchant for accounting) we proceeded with no preconceived ideas of what this business should be. Early on we learned some hard lessons in which we were told it was just business and to "not take it personally". But, what has made all the difference, is that everything we do is personal. Starting with bringing others into this company who take things personally and share our commitment to caring for each other, our customers, and our community.

This Company has grown because of the many people who share their passion and continually reshape us as a company. We have proven we can do good things while becoming a sustainable company.

We believe you will see our commitment in our website, our products, our research, technical and customer support, and in every connection we have with our community. I hope you get caught up in our drive, passion and enthusiasm for building a sustaining legacy of which Sam would be proud.

Wastewater Treatment

Water is the most common component in the paints and mediums we make. For every gallon of water used as an ingredient, we need another gallon to clean the production equipment and tools used to make the paint. Ultimately, all this water returns to the ecosystem.

To achieve greater recycling of our precious water resources we use a Reverse Osmosis (RO) filtering system that allows us to reuse over two-thirds of our cleaning water each day, reducing the need for transporting wastewater thus taking a moderate bite out of our carbon footprint. It also directly decreases our groundwater withdrawals by the amount we are able to reuse.

For more details about or water reclamation process, read this article in Just Paint.

GOLDEN Paint Donation Program

To provide Golden Artist Colors products to artists and art organizations that are contributing to the value of arts in our global community. GOLDEN paint donations may include First Quality Products as well as Seconds Products.

First Quality Products will be provided for those accepted artists or art organizations when the products being used are on public display required for publicity purposes, used in High Schools or Junior High Programs* or any other approved use that requires complete labeling for approved use in that institution or place of operation.

We are committed to being an environmentally responsible company. We strive for formulations and processes that reflect our concern for the environment, including the ingredients that go in our paints. The wastewater generated while making paint, cleaning equipment, and any waste we generate throughout that process goes to use in our Seconds Program**.

* Because we manufacture and market our products to professional artists, we don’t recommend the use of our products with children under age 12 for health and safety reasons.
** Please note that Seconds paints cannot be shipped to California or outside the U.S.

Who is eligible for the GOLDEN Paint Donation Program?

An individual artist or not-for-profit (NFP) art organization making a difference within their community in areas including but not exclusive to art education, art therapy, art and community, and underserved artists and communities. Examples of previously approved donations:

Mural arts programs involving community and artist support especially when donating their services
Arts program providing lessons in community involving art materials
Donations to victims of displacement to create messages using paints
Donations to Veterans and Service Members using art as therapy
Donations to college studio arts programs

Donations of materials to individual artists can be considered when it is determined that because of special circumstances, the donation will make a significant difference in the life of a practicing artist. Although it is difficult to give a precise description of these instances, the following are examples of past donations to individual artists:

Hurricane damage to arts studio
Fire destroying arts studio
Serious change in the artist’s financial position forcing artist to stop painting
Illness that can be ameliorated by practicing arts

Because of the number of applications we receive we are not able to fulfill all donation requests. We may reach out to you or your organization for more information before making our decision. In addition, inventory in our Seconds Program often fluctuates. We will do our best to fulfill your request as desired, but please know that certain color / product categories may not be available all the time. In this case, we will ship what we have available at the time your order is being processed.

Golden Artist Colors will not contribute to organizations that discriminate based on race, creed, color, sex, age, national origin, veteran status or physical or mental disabilities.

More information including application instructions is available on the Seconds Program page.