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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.  The common ground for attendees was a curiosity and passion for creating legal structures and viable metrics to support, encourage and mandate corporate responsibility and accountability to all stakeholders.

The speakers for the panel included B Corp members: Aseem Das, Founder  & CEO of World Centric, Jeff Mendelsohn, Founder & CEO of New Leaf Paper, and John Montgomery of Montgomery & Hansen LLP, as well as Dermot Hikisch, Dir. of Business Development with B Corp.

So what exactly does B Corp do to create a credible accreditation for member businesses? Well, the main tool that B Corp provides is a thorough survey  for a company to track all of their metrics: covering people, planet and profits. Member companies also commit to transparency when they become members by committing to having the results of their company survey available online at B Corp for the public and their stakeholders to see. This high level of transparency creates high accountability to the company community and to the public.

John Montgomery spoke compelling about the origins of corporations as a legal entity from the days of kings and queens, many centuries ago. Among the original obligations were such stipulations as: a built-in end date for the corporation’s existence and the requirement that the corporation in question was providing benefit to the larger community. In the US, a gradual race to the bottom between states in a bid to be corporate friendly has nullified nearly all traces of these original corporate restraints. But the history exists to indicate that For Benefit Corporations are not such a radical concept after all. If anything, they are a return to the original charters given to Corporations in the first place.

A large emphasis of the event was the notion of a corporation’s legal structure having profound long range influence over the capacity of its employees to have a collective conscience as an organization. Having a legal structure in the founding documents of an organization that identifies and prioritizes the collective conscience of the corporation allows for  high accountability to all stakeholders throughout the life of the company.

There is currently B Corp legislation that would allow for the founding of a legally recognized For Benefit B corporation in Vermont, New Jersey, and New Hampshire, as well as legislation pending in CA (AB 361) that provides similar status.

B Corps has had a wide reaching impact even beyond its current membership, as over 1,400 businesses have completed the online survey without becoming members and benefited from the feedback and suggestions for improvement provided within the survey.

B Corps will likely become a recognizable name within the next several years, as they are at a tipping point with a recently launched nationwide publicity campaign, reaching out to more than 17 million people.

So, can you do good by your people, your planet, and make good money at the same time?

B Corp says yes, and on top of that you can be a part of a symbiotic market place of high integrity businesses with shared values. Among the B Corp perks: business service discounts with prominent software providers, a sunset on student loans for Yale students moving into work for a B Corp, and a diverse community of businesses committed to operating for the benefit of all shareholders.

In Service,

Salem Kimble & the BetterWorld Team

• BetterWorld Telecom President, Matt Bauer, went onsite this week with BetterWorld customer, South Lake Tahoe Women’s Center (SLTWC).  SLTWC  is up to great things, and we wanted to share a some of the important work they do with you in this week’s blog post. SLTWC is a committed group of people doing important work for women and families.

They are currently celebrating 34 years of service dedicated to improving the emotional, social and economic condition of women and families in our community through prevention, intervention and treatment programs and services that address domestic violence, sexual assualt, child abuse and basic needs.

Their services are provided in English, Spanish and Tagalog (National Language of the Philipines) and include:

• Domestic Violence: Learn about services available to victims and survivors of abuse
• Sexual Abuse: Learn about services and prevention programs available to victims and survivors of abuse including rape and sexual harassment
• Children & Teens: Learn about services available to youth in our community
• Parent to Parent: Supervised visitation and safe exchange
• Legal Program:  Legal assistance for issues related to domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking
• Batterers Intervention Program:  52, 26 and 12 week programs, certified in CA and NV
• Alpine County Women’s Center:  Satellite office located in Woodfords, CA

If you live in the area, there are many events worth checking out in the next few weeks. Check out their website for more information about how to help, either by volunteering or donating.

Robin Campos, BetterWorld Telecom

We were out and about this past weekend (March 5th) at the San Francisco HULT Global Case Challenge Regional Event.  I was happy to have an opportunity to be a part of the crowd and present along with Water.org and the Clinton Global Initiative.

The HULT Global Case Challenge commits to tackling the world’s toughest social challenges through crowd-sourcing innovative ideas and solutions from the world’s best and brightest business school students.  Then 2nd Annual HULT Global Case Challenge is organized by HULT International Business School in partnership with Water.org.   The 2011 Challenge aims to identify solutions to the global clean water crisis, in partnership with Water.org.

The Hult Global Case Challenge provides an opportunity for college and university students to come together and develop solutions to accelerate clean water access and sanitation around the world.  The Regional Events this weekend were in Boston, San Francisco, London, Dubai and Shanghai. Five Regional Winners were announed yesterday (March 10th) and will advance to the Global Final in New York on April 28, 2011:  Boston University School of Management, Stanford University Graduate School of Business, University of Belgrade Faculty of Organizational Sciences, SDA Bocconi School of Management and The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

A sixth team will be announced on March 21st from the online competition and will join the five regional members on the 28th of April.

The Global Final prize includes a $1 million prize made available to Water.org and the opportunity to meet with former U.S.  President Bill Clinton.

BetterWorld is proud to have participated in this event and we wish the Global Finalists the best of luck in changing the world for the better.

– Matthew Bauer and the BetterWorld Team

Bring together tech geeks and people focused on living mindfully and what do you get?

An amazing discussion about the future of communication technology and how we can use it to enhance our quality of life rather than have it lead to distracted, fragmented attention and social connections.

Wisdom 2.0 Founder Soren Gordhamer, Roshi Joan Halifax, Kevin Rose, Eric Schiermeyer, Chris Sacca, and Bradley Horowitz

The panels consisted of tech heavy weights like Google, Facebook, Twitter, and eBay alongside mindfulness teachers like Jack Kornfield and Jon Kabat-Zinn. This year’s conference even included a civic representative with Congressman Tim Ryan of Ohio, discussing the benefits of bringing mindfulness into public schools. With a sold-out conference and over 288,000 views from all over the world on the online live video feed, it was evident this discussion about intelligent and mindful use of technology is timely and strikes a chord across professions and industries.

What does it mean that the next generation will grow up with continual connectivity? A toddler who knows their uncle by skype only. Teenagers with early onset repetitive motion injuries from texting continuously. Youth whose sense of self is closely connected with their ability to update their status to their social networks.
Technology is intimately twined in every area of our lives and it both super charges our effectiveness and creates the opportunity for endless distraction.

How can we use technology to make our work, connections and lives richer?

A few excerpts:

“Most internet companies have a five year life span of strong popularity. Knowing that everything will pass, being mindful is a meaningful long range goal.”   - Kevin Rose, Founder, Digg

“We have adopted the practice of requiring meetings to have someone who has ownership over the proceedings. If they are not fully prepared and the meeting is not useful, then attendees can walk out regardless of position or status. It has led to much more effective meetings.” - Bradley Horowitz, Vice President of Google

“Twitter allows for internal values to be externalized, which an external audience can hold you to.”
- Chris Sacca, Strategic Advisor, Twitter

“Meditation has three parts: 1) attention (calmness & clarity), 2) insight (self reflection) and 3) creating mindset (wanting best for all creatures), the only state that requires space alone is attention.
- Meng Tan, Jolly Good Fellow (Head of Personal Growth), Google

“Use traffic lights as an opportunity to breath mindfully.”
- Gopi Kalliyil, Group Marketing Manager, Google

“We function on an Ultradian rhythm, which means we have 90 min waves of concentration. We override this rhythm with stress hormones, sugar, and continuous connectivity, but we are less effective.”
- Tony Schwartz, Author, “The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working”

The conference also included two case studies of mindfulness practices brought into a corporate setting with outstanding results.
Todd Pierce, Vice President, Genentech and mindfulness teacher Pamela Weiss created a year long Personal Excellence course at Genentech, which led to increased resiliency of staff in face of a later merger and overwhelming positive feedback from participants. Rich Fernandez, Head of Learning and OD, eBay, organized lecture series and ongoing programs on mindfulness at eBay  (inspired by last year’s Wisdom 2.0 conference), which continue to grow in popularity and attendance.

Using technology to increase mindful living can seem like a paradox (like tweeting about future plans to not tweet), but it’s helpful to remember that communication technology was created in service of our needs and not the other way around.

Videos from the conference will be available in the near future on the Wisdom 2.0 website.

In service,

Salem Kimble & The BetterWorld Team

In preparation for our recent webinar with TechSoup Global, BetterWorld was asked “What do we do with our old phones and telecom equipment?”  As always, we suggested GoodWill or Earth911.com and were faced with additional questions and concerns:  “Who will pick up the equipment?”  “Where do we drop it off?”  “This recycling company says we have to pay them to pick up our equipment.”

So, we decided to dig a little deeper.  We found that there are some telecom recyclers that accept telecom, but only certain kinds of telecom equipment.  Some recyclers will not pick up old phones or ask that you pay for the pick-up.  We found there are very few locations that offer full-service telecom recycling and include pickup.

Then there is the most important question, “Is the recycling being done in an ethical, sustainable, environmentally friendly manner.  We want to ensure that our customers and supporters are aware,  there is a difference in recyclers and we support ethical recycling practices.

We contacted a few recyclers and found that while many have not received a certification of any kind (due to cost, time constraints or other causes), they claim to practice ethical standards.  However, the only way to be certain is to follow them or contact one of the certification boards (link later on in the blog) to inquire into the reputation of the company.

Steps to find an Electronics Recycler (eCycler)

Web resources:
The Natural Resources Defense Council has endorsed this e-Stewards Certification program:

http://e-stewards.org/find-a-recycler/

The Environmental Protection Agency’s eCycling website has eCycling partners, lists and more:

http://epa.gov/epawaste/conserve/materials/ecycling/donate.htm

TechSoup Global has also compiled a list:

http://www.techsoup.org/maintenance/page12738.cfm.

A note of caution - be careful not to search the internet for “Phone Recycling.”  This will lead you to cell phone recyclers…lots and lots of cell phone recyclers.  Search for the term “Telecom Recycling.”

Once you find a telecom recycler, the following questions are helpful:

1) “Do you pick up?”  If yes,  “Do you pick up old phones as well as the other equipment?”  Some locations will ask the make and model of your phones before picking up.  The reason for this is that some providers have agreements with telecom recyclers and in these cases, they may pick up your phones for free.  Odds are, you will have luck finding someone to pick up your phones at no charge if you’re persistent and patient.

2) “Is there a charge associated?”  If so, go on to the next recycler. You’ll find one that doesn’t charge.  There are national telecom recyclers as well and they sometimes have regular pickup locations.  You may need to travel to a location on a specific date.

3) “Are you certified?”  While certification is not a requirement in many states and not a federal requirement, this question helps illuminate recycler practices.  For more info about the issues surrounding electronic recycling, watch the Electronic Wasteland video from 60 Minutes or utilize the Basel Action Network (BAN) site:  http://www.ban.org.

Electronic Wasteland

There are several certifications available to recyclers.  Some of the most relevant for telecom recyclers can be found at the ANSI-ASQ National Accreditation Board http://www.anab.org/accreditation/recycling.aspx.

We hope this post has helped to clarify telecom recycling options and we wish you the best of luck when (and if) you recycle your old telecom equipment.

- Robin Campos & the BetterWorld Telecom Team