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