Neither could I. In a session on new legal structures at the recent St. Thomas Symposium, the following fact was quoted: there are three registered B-Corps in Minnesota. Who are they? No one knew.
B-Corps
There is plenty of confusion around the topic of B-Corps. Officially, the B-Corp is a certification created by the non-profit B Lab to communicate legitimacy for businesses with a social mission in “the same way TransFair certifies Fair Trade coffee or USGBC certifies LEED buildings.”
Benefit Corporations
Benefit Corporations are legal entities that allows (and according to some require) corporations to create general benefit for society as well as for shareholders. This is important because a strict legal definition of a for-profit corporation’s requirement to maximize profits for shareholders makes certain actions illegal, including investment in social purposes, or selling to a lower-priced, but more mission-aligned buyer.
These benefit corporations are referred to as B-corps as well, and legislation supporting them is popping up all over the country, most recently in California, and possibly in the future in Minnesota (see our article on the Minnesota Community Enhancement Corporation Act).
The benefit corporation legislation is supported by B Lab, but that’s where the connection ends. A corporation could be a benefit corporation and not have the B-Corp certification. And most B-Corp certified companies are not benefit corporations.
So who are the local certified B-Corps?
Many might already know that Sunrise Banks, a privately owned community bank focused on investing in the urban core, received the first B-Corp certification way back in June of 2009. Compass Rose, an energy and sustainability consulting firm, received its certification last March, and the most recently The Data Bank, a software company that provides fundraising and customer management solutions to non-profits, received their certification this past August.
Because they are relatively new, the utility of both the legal entity and the certification are still unknown, but you can confidently expect more new forms, designations, and structures to emerge as the field of social entrepreneurship continues to mature.
