Events
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ASBC Gathering at New Resource Bank
BetterWorld was happy to speak last week at ASBC’s outreach event about the important role that businesses can play to support a just and sustainable economy. Sponsored by BetterWorld, CAMEO, AquaBella, and the Green Chamber of Commerce at New Resource Bank, the gathering attracted many Bay Area sustainable leaders, including many BetterWorld customers and partners.... -
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. ... -
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.... -
American Sustainable Business Council
BetterWorld Telecom was excited to attend the American Sustainable Business Council (ASBC) Business Summit this past June in Washington DC. ASBC is an organization dedicated to the creation of public policy that acknowledges the large and growing community of sustainable and socially responsible enterprises. ... -
Why Your Company Needs Remote Work – The San Francisco BART Closure
Business and commutes are at a standstill today after an extreme fire in West Oakland put the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) system completely out of service between the East Bay and San Francisco. The resultant traffic and chaos from commuters attempting alternate methods of ferry, buses, and carpooling will likely result in something of a local holiday – as highways turn into parking lots. The growing density of the Bay Area and many urban corridors, puts individuals and businesses at the mercy of transit systems that are both fallible and already pushed to capacity.... -
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.... -
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.... -
Future of Work launches BetterWorld Forum
The BetterWorld Forum kicked off yesterday with the first of many events focused on the cross section of the new broadband economy, the future of work and the opportunities that exist for businesses and communities in this field. The inaugural event was hosted at the new BetterWorld headquarters in San Francisco, in partnership with Varsity Technologies. Joining in the discussion on the future of work were seasoned experts including:... -
Reston Interfaith
BetterWorld was out this past weekend supporting the 29th anniversary fundraiser for Reston Interfaith, a leading service provider promoting self-sufficiency for those in need of food, immediate shelter, affordable housing, quality child care, and other human services. Reston Interfaith offers comprehensive programs for about 20,000 people each year in Reston, Herndon and northwest Fairfax County.... -
Van Earthquake Relief Fundraiser
BetterWorld’s Ali Gunertem recently helped out at a fundraiser for earthquake relief for the citizens of Van, Turkey. Generously hosted at the home of the Virginia businessman Terry McAuliffe and coordinated with Turkish Philanthropy Funds, the event raised funds for the 7.1 magnitude earthquake that occurred in eastern Turkey near the city of Van in October, 2011.... -
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. ... -
Lessons from Jack Dorsey at GigaOm RoadMap
A little while back BetterWorld was out at GigaOm's RoadMap conference listening to Jack Dorsey, famed Founder of both Twitter and Square, a new company poised to cut the red tape on transactions and merchanting. This is just some of the wisdom he had to share in his interview with Om Malik, Founder of GigaOm. **Role of Technology ** Jack believes that technology creates empathy, which helps to end conflict. In this way, it makes the world feel closer and moves us towards a more compassionate future. Country boundaries are convenient for organization, but really are arbitrary; the human tendency is to create “temporary autonomous zones”, or places where people come together for a purpose and then naturally disperse. Both Twitter and Square bring peer-to-peer interactions to the forefront and allow for more transparency and access, to share information (Twitter) and goods (Square). ... -
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. ... -
American Sustainable Business Council 2nd Annual Conference
Dozens of sustainable business and organizational leaders descended on Washington, D.C. this week for the 2nd Annual American Sustainable Business Council (ASBC) Conference. The myriad of member organizations and business members that make up ASBC, now include and represent over 100,000 businesses across America. We discussed sustainable policies from the Jobs Act to Toxic Chemical Legislation with members of the EPA, representatives of the Obama Administration, and over 30 congressional and senate offices, many times with the members themselves.... -
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. ... -
BetterWorld Makes Inc. 2011 500|5000 list of Fastest Growing Companies in U.S.!
Normal.dotm 0 0 1 189 1080 East Bay Green Tours 9 2 1326 12.0 0 false 18 pt 18 pt 0 0 false false false New York, NY, Aug. 26, 2011(GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Inc. magazine this week ranked BetterWorld Telecom number 3,531 on its fifth annual Inc. 500|5000, an exclusive ranking of the nation's fastest-growing private companies. The list represents the most comprehensive look at the most important segment of the economy–America’s independent entrepreneurs. Online retailer ideeli tops this year’s list. BetterWorld Telecom joins some of its sustainable customers like Clean Currents and Honest Tea, as well as partners Vocalocity and Granite Telecom, alongside great industry change makers like Zipcar, Pandora and Linkedin, among other prominent brands featured on this year’s list. ... -
Sustainable at Work
Are we applying the same principles of environmental sustainability to people in the workplace? This was the topic for a recent panel discussion put together by the Sustainable Business Alliance at the Hub Berkeley. The panelists included: Matt Bauer, President of BetterWorld Telecom, Jennifer Freitas, Human Resource Manager at Clif Bar, and Dr....
