Social Entrepreneurs 2011: What It Means to Be a B Corporation. To become B Corps, businesses must prove that they care as much about society and the environment as they do about profits.
The Classic Example Method, which makes eco-friendly home and personal care products and sells them in recyclable plastic packaging, became one of the first B Corporations, in 2007. Why go the extra mile? "Rather than just being a business that talks about 'people, planet, and profit,' we have put it into our corporate structure," says co-founder Adam Lowry. Sales haven't suffered: Method's revenue exceeds $100 million.
The Model Works Best When 1. 2. The Advantages Members of the B Corp network are good to one another. The Challenges The B Impact Rating System exam requires answers to up to 220 questions; since 2007, about 900 companies have failed to make the cut. The Tax Implications B Corps pay standard corporate income tax. Prosper. The Reinvention of Philanthropy: An Interview With The Aspen Institutes' Jonathan Greenblatt. Jonathan Greenblatt currently serves as the Director of The Impact Economy Initiative at the Aspen Institute and is the founder and former president of All for Good (Our Good Works [OGW]), the open source, web-based initiative to engage more Americans in service.
It is the largest database of volunteer listings ever compiled and provides content to a wide range of government, nonprofit, and personal websites. Jonathan is the former CEO of GOOD Worldwide and the co-founder of Ethos Brands, the business that launched Ethos Water, the premium bottled water that helps children around the world get clean water. Jonathan served as vice president of global consumer products at Starbucks Coffee Company following its acquisition of Ethos in 2005 as well as joined the board of directors of the Starbucks Foundation.
Jonathan also has worked at the highest levels of public service. As the Impact Economy takes shape, public policy can play a pivotal role to accelerate its evolution. TOMS Adds Sunglassses to Products. After weeks of anticipation, TOMS Shoes has finally unveiled their new One for One product: sunglasses!
In case you don’t know about TOMS or their One for One program, the idea is this. For every one purchase you make, they will also donate to a person in need. They started with shoes in a small town in Argentina and have now given more than a million pairs of shoes away. They sell flat shoes, wedge shoes, men’s shoes, women’s shoes and kid’s shoes. Jeffrey Hollender Shares Four Reasons He Got Fired from Seventh Generation.
Jeffrey Hollender onstage with Gil Friend and Chip Conley shortly after his big announcement (photo courtesy Kate Drane) Jeffrey Hollender took the stage at Sustainable Brands yesterday and he didn’t need a powepoint for the message he was going to deliver.
It was time to come clean about his departure from Seventh Generation and he was not going to mince words: How To Create Infectious Action. Sustainable Life Media. Nearly 800 business leaders from 19 countries convened at Sustainable Brands '11 on June 7-10, 2011 for the 5th annual Sustainable Brands Conference.
The global sustainable brands community, made up of sustainability, brand, and design professionals from global companies, socially responsible start-ups, investors, NGOs and government officials and a raft of service and solutions providers, are leading the change towards a brighter future, and it's annual flagship conference has become the center of gravity for individuals and companies around the world that are committed to leveraging sustainable innovation as a driver of business and brand value.
Follow SB and join our mailing list to stay up-to-date with our upcoming SB Events, and SAVE THE DATE for Sustainable Brands '12, June 4-7, 2012! An Opportunity for Young Progressives to Shine. Social entrepreneur to feature on The Apprentice: Good or bad for social enterprise? Love them or hate them it's hard to deny that reality TV shows such as Dragons' Den and The Apprentice have generated a renewed interest in business.
That's certainly true in my day job where as editor of BusinessZone.co.uk any content I publish focusing on the shows usually leads to a spike in traffic. What there is very little of in these TV programmes however is anything focusing on social enterprise. You may well have seen the clip in a recent episode of Dragons' Den when an entrepreneur pitching a social enterprise cookery school was met with confusion from Peter Jones, Theo Paphitis and co who struggled to work how they could get a return from any investment in such a business model. With that in mind I was interested to spot that among the contestants for the new series of The Apprentice, which were revealed today, is a successful social entrepreneur.
The woman in question is Melody Hossaini, founder of youth training organisation InspirEngage International. How youth hostels have been given a new lifeline by social entrepreneurs. The Youth Hostel Association (YHA) has been providing budget accommodation in England and Wales since before the second world war.
It was set up to offer "young people of limited means better access to the countryside". Trailblazers for Good. By Social Entrepreneurs, For Social Entrepreneurs® Welcome to SkollWorldForum.org former Social Edge users!
Social Edge was an online community created by the Skoll Foundation from 2003 - 2013. The site has since closed as we have focused efforts on the new Skoll World Forum platform. However, if you were a Social Edge user, you will be pleased to know that all of your articles and comments have been saved and can be browsed below.
In addition, if there is a specific piece of content or a particular author you are looking for, please use the search bar at the top of the screen. We have moved over 2000 posts from SocialEdge.org to SkollWorldForum.org, and are constantly adding new, relevant content. Sparked (Sparked) Sparked.com - microvolunteering by The Extraordinaries. Takeashine: The First Crowdfunding Platform For Students. In the last three decades, college tuition has grown over 900%. It is one of the biggest burdens families face today.
The inability to pay for higher education is even greater for families from underserved backgrounds. Through the proven effectiveness of crowdfunding, Takeashine’s online community platform will help students meet their financial needs for higher education. The platform will allow students to showcase their talents using a variety of assets like a portfolio, resume, a photo of a sculpture they made or even a video of them performing a soliloquy from King Lear to encourage donors to support them and their goal of achieving a higher education.
Students are not only able to attend college but they will also gain valuable business and marketing skills throughout the process. Governance and Social Development Resource Centre-GSDRC.
Contests. Green business. Social Investment Organization. Development through Enterprise. CSI Home. Social Venture Network Europe. Social Enterprise Coalition. Banks and Financial Service Providers Figure Prominently in FTSE4Good Attrition, DJSI Matriculation. September 08, 2005 Banks and Financial Service Providers Figure Prominently in FTSE4Good Attrition, DJSI Matriculation by William Baue Corporate social responsibility plays an important role at banks and financial service companies, which are not only recipients but also increasingly purveyors of socially responsible investment.
The Confluence of Global Markets and Poverty Alleviation. Global Social Venture Competition. By Social Entrepreneurs, For Social Entrepreneurs® Ashoka. Principles for Responsible Investment. Social Investment Forum. Entrepreneurship and Education at the Kauffman Foundation. The William Davidson Institute. Skoll Foundation. Community Development Finance Association-CDFA. ResponsAbility - Social Investment Services AG.