Benefits of Being a Benefit Corp

B the Change Weekly: June 14, 2019

Delivered on Fridays, B the Change Weekly delivers the most important and most relevant stories about people using business as a force for good. The newsletter features a weekly note from the B the Change team alongside insight and context on the stories we share here on Medium. Below is our latest roundup. To receive these insights directly in your inbox, sign up for B the Change Weekly today. Now onto the good stuff:

Pushed to maximize shareholder returns, most corporations fail to consider how their operations affect society and environment when making decisions about ordering, hiring, sourcing and more. The emerging benefit corporation model provides a structure with advantages to all stakeholders — from consumers and workers to shareholders and directors — and shows how successful businesses of the future will operate.

Adopting the benefit corp model (or its available equivalent depending on state of incorporation) has become a legal requirement for all Certified B Corporations, further positioning B Corps as business leaders balancing competitive financial returns with a focus on preserving our planet and protecting its people.

This week on B the Change, we highlight the benefit corp model and how it supports businesses working for a brighter future.

The Benefit of Flexibility When Life Gets Real

What happens to your career when a series of life challenges arise? At B Corp Junxion Strategy, the policies and procedures that hold employees as stakeholders allowed Garth Yule to turn these challenges into opportunities for mutual benefit.

On B the Change, Yule shares how things unfolded — ultimately for the better — and how that speaks to the values that underlie Junxion’s B Corp status.

Prima: A Benefit Corp from the Start

The call to create positive change is strong for health activist and social entrepreneur Christopher Gavigan, who this month launches his latest enterprise, the Uplifters’ prima. With experience in purpose-driven, conscious business, Gavigan acquired benefit corporation status at the outset to ensure that creating good is inherent in prima’s products and operations.

On B the Change, learn why Gavigan sees the benefit corporation structure as a way to reveal how a business values its customers and employees, and how prima seeks success beyond the bottom line.

Making a Change for Good

Last year, B Corps Fetzer Vineyards and EILEEN FISHER legally committed to accountability, purpose and transparency by converting to a benefit corporation structure. Each company says adopting the benefit corp structure formalized many of its everyday practices and beliefs — in a public, official, legally bound and protected way.

To help your business decide whether it’s ready to take the same plunge, read our B the Change interview with officials from Fetzer Vineyards and EILEEN FISHER to learn more about the process of becoming a benefit corporation.

Book of the Week

Leadership and Purpose: How to Create a Sustainable Culture

By Kathleen Miller Perkins

Companies that have integrated a contribution to society into their business models are more likely to succeed for the long term. This book provides information, tips and tools to assess and strengthen your company for ongoing success. Through case studies, the book describes leaders’ journeys: the mistakes they made, the successes they achieved and the lessons they learned. Some are Certified B Corporations because they have incorporated a clear societal purpose into their missions and they are able to demonstrate positive social impact.

B the Change gathers and shares the voices from within the movement of people using business as a force for good and the community of Certified B Corporations. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the nonprofit B Lab.

Benefits of Being a Benefit Corp was originally published in B the Change on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.