B Corps
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How B Corps are Using Business for Good
B Corporations are for-profit organizations “using business as a force for good.” When it comes to finding businesses you can trust, B Corps head the pack. That’s because they are certified and required to contribute to the solution for social and environmental problems. Therefore, partnering with a B Corp will also help you become more sustainable and develop better business ethics. Take a look at some of the latest happenings in the B Corp community to get a better idea of what it looks like to give back through business. ... -
Three Benefits of Partnering with a B Corp
B corporations are businesses that are run with the good of the community in mind. For these businesses, it is about profit — but not only about profit. B corporations are only certified as such if their business practices can be held accountable to a high set of standards. This means that they are transparent and also have a strong dedication to social and environmental awareness. At the end of the day, B corps “redefine success in business.” B corps don’t just make for better businesses, they make for better partners! Take a look at how your company or nonprofit would benefit from a partnership with a B corp. ... -
What B Corporations Do for Our Communities
The concept of a business is simple. A business owner supplies his or her community with a product, a service, or any combination of the two. In exchange, the customers pay the business owner monetarily. This is what a for-profit business does. Business is a wonderful thing since the owner or owners make a living, while the customers are provided a beneficial product or service. However, this is only a win-win situation as long as businesses are doing more good than bad for the community. For instance, a business with factories that are severely polluting the air to manufacture a product causes more harm than good.... -
Doing Well by Doing Good
[As originally in Virginia Business by Nicole Anderson Ellis] In 2002, Matt Bauer’s telecommunications career was at a crossroads. In the wake of Enron’s collapse and more than a trillion dollars in global write-offs, the industry was slogging through what Bauer calls its “darkest period.” He’d had enough and faced a choice: leave the field or change it. ... -
Net Impact 2012
BetterWorld was honored to speak recently, as part of a panel at Net Impact’s annual conference, Net Impact 2012, in Baltimore, Maryland. Net Impact is a global nonprofit that works to inspire the next generation to work beyond business for a more sustainable future through chapters, events and professional development. Nearly 2,800 attendees converged to help celebrate Net Impact’s 20th anniversary conference. As an organization that apparently started in a hot tub as a conversation between visionary business leaders, Net Impact has grown up considerably, with over 30,000 members and widespread recognition. ... -
Market Street Forum with David Chiu
BetterWorld recently co-hosted the first Market Street Forum, a new quarterly gathering of Bay Area leaders, with a focus towards the intersection of the broadband economy + future of work + the resulting benefits for our society and environment. In collaboration with Varsity Technologies and the American Sustainable Business Council, BetterWorld launched Market Street Forum with featured guest speaker, President of the Board of Supervisors of San Francisco, David Chiu. ... -
The Hub – A Place for Better Business
The Hub is a worldwide network of over 25 collaborative work spaces that provide a creative environment as well as a professional infrastructure to work, meet, learn and connect. As their credo declares, “The Hub is designed to facilitate the creation of sustainable impact through collaboration.”... -
BizWestMichigan Interview – BALLE 2012
BetterWorld was out making change with fellow local businesses at this year’s BALLE (Business Alliance for Local Living Economies) conference in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The 2012 BALLE Business Conference: Real Prosperity Starts Here conference connected more than 700 community innovators, business owners, and investors to people, resources and ideas to unleash local prosperity.... -
An Impeccable Method
“Innovation is an unreasonable request” says Adam Lowry, Co-founder of Method, the ground-breaking San Francisco-based company who has taken soap to heights of “coolness” normally reserved for electronics and pop culture. Lowry was just one of many business leaders in discussion at the inaugural Sustainable Corporation conference, put together recently by the Silicon Valley Leadership Group and held at Oracle’s campus in Silicon Valley.... -
The Garden of Business
Being a good business is like being a good gardener. Or so says William Rosenzwieg, 2010 recipient of the Oslo Business for Peace Award. Rosenzwieg is the Co-founder at Bay Area-based Physic Ventures and works with purpose-driven businesses like Recyclebank, Revolution Foods, GoodGuide, and Pharmaca Integrative Pharmacy.... -
Historic Benefit Corp Legislation Passed in SF
Board of Supervisors Unanimously Approves City Incentives for New Type of Socially Responsible Corporations Legislation Provides Bid Preferences to Benefit Corporations Contracting With the City San Francisco, CA – The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted unanimously to support an ordinance sponsored by Board President David Chiu that will provide bid preferences on City contracts to Benefit Corporations, a new form of a corporate entity recently authorized by the State of California. The ordinance will be voted on for a second time next Tuesday, April 24, with passage expected.... -
BetterWorld on The Wendel Forum
BetterWorld’s Matt Bauer recently visited The Wendel Forum, a radio show dedicated to focusing on the legal side of the green economy. Interviewed by Bill Acevedo, The Green Business Practice Leader at Wendel Rosen, Bauer spoke of BetterWorld’s journey as a company, bringing purpose and mission to an industry traditionally not involved in the green economy and sustainability efforts. ... -
With spread of high-tech devices, telecom expecting explosive growth
As originally featured in Washington Post.com by Matt Bauer, President, BetterWorld Telecom. By all accounts, the telecom carrier industry is set to grow again in the coming year. In a world of 7 billion people, almost every one of them owns a handset. And more than 10 percent of the globe is now wired on broadband. BetterWorld has been a part of the telecom industry’s tremendous growth and was fortunate to make the 2011 Inc. 5000 List. We are on pace to be there again in 2012 due, in part, to industry growth, growing demand as our customers use more teleconferencing and telecommuting and BetterWorld’s firm commitment to social and environmental sustainability. This commitment has engendered customer loyalty through tough times, and it helped us build partnerships and goodwill rarely found in our industry. ... -
San Francisco Steps up Big for B Corps – Board of Supervisors President, David Chiu, Proposes Incentives for CA B Corps
San Francisco Board of Supervisors President and SF Mayoral Candidate, David Chiu, today held a press conference at the Hub SoMa and laid out his plan for San Francisco to become the beacon and capital of Social Entrepreneurialism, starting with a plan for the City to provide contract bid preferences to CA B Corps or Benefit Corporations. BetterWorld has stood by Supervisor Chiu through this process, which began at a Silicon Valley Leadership Group event a few months ago and culminating recently in a roundtable with Supervisor Chiu with many SF Access Economy and B Corps leaders, including Jeff Marcous of Dharma Merchant Services, Brian Back of Sustainable Industries, David Brodwin from the American Sustainable Business Council, Alex Michel from the 5M Project and others.... -
A Week of Inspiration
The BetterWorld team was fortunate to attend two very different events this week that both shed a great deal of hope and inspiration on our short and long term future. With nothing but bad news coming out of the mainstream media, no solutions coming from Capitol Hill and Wall Street clinging mightily to its profits, it is the story of the millennials, the Access Economy, and the Shared Economy that help paint a pathway towards a more socially and environmentally sustainable The 12th Annual Brower Youth Awards: Not a dry eye in the house as a packed house at the beautiful Herbst Theatre across from City Hall in downtown San Francisco listened for almost two hours to the stories of 7 incredible, young changemakers. The recipients hailed from places as diverse as the Bronx, Santa Cruz all the way to Appalachian West Virginia. Their stories held a common bond of both frustration with the current system, and their own beautiful answers for helping to change things in their communities and beyond. This year’s Brower Youth Award recipients are: ... -
B Corporations
In a huge stride forward for business and communities alike, Governor Brown signed into law the historic Assembly Bill 361, creating a new class of corporation, a benefit corporation. The legislation, introduced by Assembly member Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) legally requires benefit corporations to prioritize positive impact on society and the environment, while meeting higher standards of accountability and transparency. Current law requires corporations to prioritize the financial interests of shareholder over the interests of workers, communities, and the environment. The California legislation is unique, providing the strongest consumer and investor protection, with more rigorous transparency provisions than the states that have so far enacted benefit corporation legislation. California is the sixth and largest state to enact benefit corporation legislation and has a strong existing base of entrepreneurs connected to sustainability. ... -
Dreamforce – Taking CRM to a new level!
BetterWorld had an amazing time at Dreamforce recently, learning about the latest and greatest happenings in the cloud. With a jaw dropping 45,000 attendees, this conference was beyond buzzing with activity. Inspiration was clearly in the the air as Salesforce outlined where it is headed and the future flexibility of business as a whole. The overwhelming mantra of the conference was a drive to shift to the cloud for all aspects of business operations and the tool kit that Salesforce itself provides (let along its partners and tag-along industries) addresses the majority of a business' core competencies. The main events included a great conversation with Executive Chairman of Google, Eric Schmidt and several keynotes highlighting new services in the upcoming Winter ‘12 release of Salesforce. ... -
Changing DNA of Business for Good!
Is it possible for corporations to be guided by and operated with a primary goal of creating benefit for society and the planet? B Corp says yes, and can back it up, with over 400 member businesses and $2 billion in collective member revenue. It was a diverse group of people drawn to Sustainovations B Corp event; everyone from Palo Alto venture capital folks and consultants to sustainability focused individuals connected with Slow Food South Bay.... -
B Corps Gain Momentum in 2011
Some great news out of the gates for B Corps in 2011: BetterWorld helped launch B Corps for Non Profits in January, a group of companies that dedicated much or all of their time and energy towards helping to enable and strengthen non-profits around the country and world – here’s a great article on Guidestar about the group – http://trust....
