CT Green Scene

Connecticut Passes B-Corp Legislation

By: Elizabeth Kim
Orginally posted: Stamford Advocate

Social entrepreneurs in Connecticut will soon have a way to merge good deeds with corporate-style capitalism.

The state legislature this week passed a bill that enables the establishment of benefit corporations. Also known as b-corps, such companies take on the mission of helping society or the environment while also carrying out the traditional corporate goal of maximizing profits.

The law, which will go into effect after it is signed in the fall, makes Connecticut the 26th state in the country to recognize b-corps as a corporate structure. Neighboring and nearby states like New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and New Jersey have all enacted b-corps legislation.

Among those who welcomed the news of the bill's passage on Monday was Bryan Nurnberger, the founder and president of Simply Smiles, a Norwalk-based nonprofit that sells fair-trade coffee to help indigenous coffee farmers in Oaxaca, Mexico.

30,000 meals

Upon establishing the coffee-selling arm of his business, he elected to incorporate the company in New York. To operate in Connecticut, he said he had to apply for a special exception from the state.

Nurnberger said he plans to transfer his incorporation to Connecticut as soon as the law takes hold.

"It's simplicity for us," he said, who spoke on the phone from an Indian reservation in South Dakota.

Simply Smiles started selling coffee in the fall of 2013. To date, its sales have resulted in 30,000 meals, he said.

Danbury business lawyer Hillel Goldman, who represents Nurnberger, said they'll likely be the first b-corp to incorporate in the state when the law becomes active in October.

"This idea is one that's really been pushed by entrepreneurs who want to make a difference," said Goldman, who testified in favor of the legislation for the Connecticut Bar Association's business section. "Unlike traditional corporations where the fiduciary duty of the officers and directors is to maximize shareholder profit, the fiduciary duty for officers and directors in a benefit corporation is to maximize the dollars going to the organization's social mission."

`Legacy preservation'

While it may not have been a trailblazer on b-corps, Connecticut is being touted as the first state to introduce of a so-called "legacy preservation" option. The clause gives b-corps that have been in business at least two years the choice of locking in their social mission in perpetuity.

April 2, 2013 NERC Textile Recovery Workshop

2 April 2013

8:30 AM-4:30 PM

Registration Fee Depends on Status

Nathan Hale Inn & Conference Center

Storrs, CT

    The Northeast Recylcing Council is hosting Collecting Textiles: Make it Work for Your Community at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, CT. This event will offer municipalities, recycling coordinators, schools, colleges, universities, and civic groups an opportunity to learn key information about key players in the textile reuse and recycling industry. The even will also include practical information on how community leaders can set up textile reuse/recycling programs that can work for them. For a full schedule of the day, feel free to check out the agenda here.

*Registration Ends March 19, 2013: So Register Now

Registration

NERC Member (Board or Advisory Member): $285

Non-Member: $385

Students, Nonprofits, Municipal Employees: $100

For More Information: http://www.nerc.org/ 

To Register: http://www.nerc.org/registration/indexSpg13.php

 

Connecticut's Burgeoning Social Enterprise Movement

by Heather Burns

What is Social Enterprise? Good question. Let's begin with what it's NOT. Social enterprise goes beyond the traditional non profit structure, while maintaining a core commitment to positive social impact. It also differs from a non profit structure by allowing entrepreneurs who start up SEBs to earn a return on their investment by selling the company for a profit.

ReSet (Social Enterprise Trust) is a Connecticut-based organization born out of CEO, Kate Emery's journey to transform her own for-profit business, The Walker Group, into a social enterprise. ReSet is a memberhip organization that strives to educate, inform and inspire a culture of social enterprise in and around Connecticut.

When remembering her own business transformation, Kate says, "There were many changes that needed to be made - some very easy, but others very difficult – like dismantling our traditional sales commission structure and replacing it with a salaried approach. Some changes were straightforward and bold – like determining that all distributed profits would be split equally between the community, employees and the investors, and some were more subtle and difficult to pin down - like implementing policies around transparency and participative governance."

So what makes a Social Enterprise Business (SEB) different from another type of business?
According to a new bill HB 5466, "An Act Concerning Social Enterprise Business," currently under review in Hartford, the SEB designation means a company:

• must be mission-based, and this mission must be for social benefit, and be spelled out in the by-law;
• needs to plow at least 20% of any distributed profits back to the mission;
• needs to disclose the compensation of the highest earners;
• can not return to a traditional for-profit status, and if it is to be sold then the assets will go to another SEB or a nonprofit with a similar mission.

For more information about how you can get involved in the Social Enterprise movement in and around Connecticut, contact Kate Emery, [email protected] or call 860.674.9023.

Innovative Conference Explores the Growing Market of Social Enterprise - March 16-17

 

We're excited to announce that on March 16-17, 2012, Social Venture Partners Rhode Island (SVPRI), Brown’s Social Innovation Initiative, and Entrepreneurship Program at Brown University will host the Social Enterprise Ecosystem and Economic Development (SEEED) Summit at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.

 
CT and Boston GreenScene plan to be there - Register here and join us!

SEEED will convene a national audience of social entrepreneurs, innovators, civic leaders, legislators, academics and students to explore the role of social enterprise in economic development. SEEED creates a needed platform to share models and explore the increasingly important role of social enterprise in our local, national and global economy.

“When visionary Americans apply their entrepreneurial spirit to today’s most pressing issues, they challenge us to rethink how business and government can work together and grow the economy in Rhode Island and around the globe,” said Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Honorary Chair of the Event. “I applaud SVPRI and Brown for convening some of our nation’s leading innovators—including many talented Rhode Islanders—and look forward to participating in this conversation.”

SEEED features national thought leaders as speakers, panelists and as well as interdisciplinary workshops aimed at sharing best practices and developing future public policy suggestions on the state and federal level. Speakers include Tracy Palandjian, CEO of Social Finance, Inc. John Maeda, President of RISD, Martin Keen, Principal & Owner Keen Design Studio, Bill Strathmann, CEO of Network For Good, and Michael Brown, CEO and Co-founder of City Year. Topics to be discussed at SEEED, include: Impact Investing, Research, Ecosystem Models, Workforce Development, and New Innovations among many others.

“One exciting aspect of SEEED is the fact that this is the first convening of the growing number of organizations from across the nation which are working to support social enterprise. Our goal is to create a network of these ecosystem builders that can work together to better understand the national impact of social enterprise and advance the agenda,” said Kelly Ramirez, CEO of SVPRI.