WIn the United States, a benefit corporation is a kind of for-profit corporate entity, authorized by 35 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, that includes positive impact on society, workers, the community and the environment in addition to profit as its legally defined goals, in that the definition of "best interest of the corporation" is specified to include those impacts. Laws concerning conventional corporations typically do not specify the definition of "best interest of the corporation", which has led to the interpretation that increasing shareholder value is the only overarching or compelling interest of a corporation. Benefit corporations may not differ much from traditional C corporations. A C corporation may change to a B corporation merely by stating in its approved corporate bylaws that it is a benefit corporation; however in certain jurisdictions, the terms "public benefit corporation" or "PBC" are also required to be in the legal name of B corporations.
WAllbirds is a New Zealand-American company that sells footwear and apparel. Allbirds' first shoe was the Wool Runner, which is made from New Zealand superfine Merino wool. The company claims to keep its products as eco-friendly as possible and is a certified B Corporation. Allbirds uses a direct-to-consumer model, selling its products exclusively through its website and retail stores, in order to avoid the low margins commonly-associated with the wholesale selling model.
WAlliant International University is a private, for-profit benefit corporation university with its main campus in San Diego and other campuses in California, and Mexico. The university is also known as Alliant. It offers programs in six California campuses – in San Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles, Irvine, Sacramento, and Fresno – and four international campuses – in Mexico City, Mexico; Nairobi, Kenya; Tokyo, Japan; and Hong Kong. Its enrollment is approximately 4,000 students, of whom 95% are post-graduate.
WAlter Eco refers to two alternative trading organizations, founded in 1998 by Tristan Lecomte in France, and followed by Mathieu Senard and Eduoard Rollet in the United States, and Ilse Keijzer in Australia.
WAudacious Inquiry (Ai) is an American company founded in 2004 and with headquarters in Baltimore, Maryland. The company provides health information technology services and cloud-based software.
WBeau's All Natural Brewing Company, also known as Beau's Brewing Company or simply Beau's, is a brewery in Vankleek Hill, Ontario, 50 minutes east of Ottawa.
WBullfrog Power, a Spark Power company, is a Canadian green energy retailer operating in Canada. Bullfrog offers green electricity from renewable energy sources such as wind and low-impact hydro, as well as green fuel and green natural gas, a renewable biogas product that serves as an alternative to fossil fuel-based natural gas. Bullfrog only sources electricity from generation sources that meet or exceed the federal government's Environmental Choice Program EcoLogo standard for renewable electricity. Bullfrog's green natural gas product is produced at facilities that have met environmental standards as defined by ICF International.
WThe Business Development Bank of Canada is a Crown corporation and national development bank wholly owned by the Government of Canada, mandated to help create and develop Canadian businesses through financing, growth and transition capital, venture capital and advisory services, with a focus on small and medium-sized enterprises.
WCare2 is a social networking website that was founded by Randy Paynter in 1998. The goal of the site is to connect activists from around the world with other individuals, organizations and responsible businesses making an impact.
WCarrot Rewards was a mobile app for residents of three Canadian provinces and one territory, allowing users to complete health questionnaires and track steps in exchange for rewards points. The app was developed by Toronto-based Carrot Insights, a certified B corporation founded in 2015. The app was first launched in British Columbia during March 2016, followed by Newfoundland and Labrador during June 2016, Ontario during February 2017, and the Northwest Territories only weeks before the app discontinued service in June 2019. Users could choose during sign-up whether they want Aeroplan, Scene, Petro-Points, More Rewards or Drop rewards points. RBC Rewards was also added as an option in June 2018. Survey points were paid for by the organization which created the survey and step points were paid for by the provincial government where the user lives. Carrot Rewards had also partnered with Heart & Stroke, Diabetes Canada and YMCA Canada. The app was later expanded to include questionnaires and surveys on energy conservation and financial literacy. In November 2018, an optional paid tier was added to the Carrot app, allowing users to receive bonus points for completing their goals. Carrot shut down on June 19, 2019, after their "funds eventually ran out and [they] could no longer be in business". However, in December 2019, social media accounts were updated with statuses saying “stay tuned”. In January 2020, Optimity bought Carrot Rewards and plans to relaunch the health app under a new model.
WCasebook PBC is a US cloud computing public-benefit corporation headquartered in New York City. Incubated by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the company initially developed child welfare solutions and has since expanded to provide a SaaS platform servicing the whole of Human Services.
WChange.org is an American petition website operated by San Francisco-based Change.org, which has over 400 million users and offers the public the ability to promote the petitions they care about to potential signers.
WThe Honest Company, Inc. is an American consumer goods company, founded by actress Jessica Alba. The company had $250 million in 2016 sales, and was valued shy of $1 billion as of October 2017. The Honest Company has raised multiple rounds of venture capital, and was anticipating an initial public offering as of 2016. Honest serves the United States and Canada, and planned to launch its beauty line products in Western Europe in 2019.
WKickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, Kickstarter has received nearly $6 billion in pledges from 20 million backers to fund 205,000 projects, such as films, music, stage shows, comics, journalism, video games, technology, publishing, and food-related projects.
WNew Belgium Brewing Company is a nationally distributed brewery in the United States owned by an international beverage conglomerate. The brand produces Fat Tire Amber Ale, Voodoo Ranger IPA, Mural Agua Fresca Cerveza, and La Folie Sour Brown Ale, among other regular and seasonal beer varieties. Founded by Kim Jordan and Jeff Lebesch in 1991 in Fort Collins, Colorado, the company expanded to Asheville, North Carolina, in 2016 and Denver, Colorado, in 2018. In 2019, New Belgium was acquired by an Australian subsidiary of the Japanese Kirin beverage group, Lion Little World Beverages.
WNew Resource Bank is a San Francisco, California-based bank which is a part of Amalgamated Bank.
WThe North Coast Brewing Company is a craft brewery located in Fort Bragg, California. As of 2018, it is the 46th-largest craft brewer by annual sales volume in the United States.
WNumi Organic Tea is a privately owned triple bottom line social enterprise based in Oakland, California. Numi is known for its assortment of organic and fair trade certified teas and herbal "teasans". The company was founded in 1999 by brother and sister, Ahmed Rahim and Reem Hassani. The founders named the company "Numi" after the citrusy, Middle Eastern dried lime tea they drank as children growing up in Iraq. The name Numi is derived from the Arabic word for citrus. The J.M. Smucker Company holds a minority stake in Numi.
WPublic News Service was launched in 1996 by journalist Lark Corbeil in Idaho. Today, PNS has 37 state-based news services that provide multi-platform content for free to news outlets as a way to advocate journalism in the public interest.
WSeventh Generation, Inc. is an American company that sells eco-friendly cleaning, paper, and personal care products. Established in 1988, the Burlington, Vermont–based company distributes products to natural food stores, supermarkets, mass merchants, and online retailers. In 2016 Anglo-Dutch consumer goods company Unilever acquired Seventh Generation for an estimated $700 million.
WA social purpose corporation (SPC) is a type of for-profit entity, a corporation, in some U.S. states that enables, but does not require, considering social or environmental issues in decision making. SPCs are similar to benefit corporations and flexible purpose corporations (FPCs).
WTony's Chocolonely is a Dutch confectionery company founded in 2005 which produces and sells chocolate. In 2018, the company's market share in the Netherlands was 18 percent, making it one of the country's largest chocolate manufacturers.