Transcript B Corporations A New Sector of the Economy

B Corporations
Inner City Advisors-East Bay Community Foundation
July 10, 2008
A Little History
• Bootstrap to $250 MM
• Great place to work
• Sold in 2005
What’s Next?
• New Company
• Fund
• Infrastructure Play: B Lab
Infrastructure Play
• Three elements missing preventing
market acceleration:
– Standards
– Legal Framework
– Collective Voice
What’s a B Corporation?
• A new type of corporation
that uses the power of business
to create public benefit
• B Corporations:
– Meet high performance and legal standards
– Build collective voice for ‘good companies’
Is Anyone Doing This?
• 120+ Certified B Corporations
• $900M+ marketplace
• Diverse group of leaders
– 30+ industries
– Local, national, global
– Addressing diverse needs
• poverty, climate, health, education, community,
environment, etc
Standards
• B Ratings System
– Impact Assessment Tool
• Comprehensive and transparent
• Rigorous, yet doable
– B Resources
• Management tool to improve performance
– B Report
• Comparable
• S&P Ratings for soc/env performance
– Governance
• Dynamic (V1.0, 2.0, etc)
• Industry Specificity
• Independent Standards Council
Legal Framework
• Shareholder to Stakeholder Business
– Legal Structure for Beneficial Businesses
• Works within current corporate law
• Expands the responsibilities of the corporation to
include the interests of stakeholders
– Functionality
• Reduces liability for directors
• Expands rights of shareholders
• Increases sale options
– Built to Last
• Can survive new management, investors,
owners
Collective Voice
• Unifying Ingredient Brand
– Unites social enterprise and
sustainability movements
– Makes good easy
•
•
•
•
•
Consumers
Investors
Employees
Suppliers
Policy Makers
– Significant market with minimal
presence (20k/$40B)
Why Does this Matter?
• Creating a new sector of the economy
– A new way to do business using the power of capitalism to
address pressing social and environmental issues
– Government and nonprofit sector are necessary, but
insufficient
– Business drives everything (77% US GDP)
• Vision
– Federally recognized corporate structure (2944)
– C Corps, S Corps and B Corps
•
•
•
•
Tax incentives
Procurement preferences
Investment preferences (RIIC; B Corp Capital Partners)
BX (public stock exchange for B Corps - UK-SSE)
– A sector as large as the nonprofit sector today
But What’s in it for Me?
• Differentiate your business
• Maintain mission
• Access B Corp Service Partnerships
(i.e.Salesforce, GOOD Business)
• Influence the market beyond the
success of your individual company