Rather than selling the company or taking it public, Mr. Chouinard, his wife and two adult children have transferred their ownership of Patagonia, valued at about $3 billion, to a specially designed trust and a nonprofit organization. They were created to preserve the company’s independence and ensure that all of its profits — some $100 million a year — are used to combat climate change and protect undeveloped land around the globe. Read more…
Learn From This Idealistic Coffee Shop
“Big Business has a new scam: the Purpose Paradigm”
Usually the posts on this site are about examples of benevolent capitalism, however it is also important to recognize that the best of intentions can be co-opted, especially by the already powerful. Please read Big Business has a new scam: the Purpose Paradigm
All-One!
Dr. Bronner’s – www.drbronners.com
Treating Workers Fairly at Rent the Runway
Until recently, Rent the Runway had two tiers of workers: salaried employees were given generous parental leave, paid sick leave and the flexibility to work from home, or even abroad, whole hourly employees, working in the warehouse, on the customer service team and in retail stores, had to face life events without that same level of benefits. After reflecting on how this system perpetuates deep-seated social problems, recently the company equalized benefits for all employees; warehouse, customer service and store employees now have the same bereavement, parental leave, family sick leave and sabbatical packages that corporate employees have. (NY Times, May 6, 2108)
One Company’s New Minimum Wage: $70,000 a Year
Seattle’s Gravity Payments CEO Dan Price is slashing his own $1M salary and raising the company’s employees’ minimum wage to $70k/year… (NY Times, April 13, 2015)
Wall Street wiz quits, opens pizzeria To Pay It Forward
Mason Wartman, 26, started his pizzeria, Rosa’s Fresh Pizza, in Philadelphia with $250,000 that he saved while working on Wall Street. Mason’s pizza starts at $1.00 per slice, and although the pizza is good, he is known for something else entirely.
Wartman has introduced a unique way to pay it forward in the City of Brotherly Love.
Customers are allowed to spend an extra $1.00 and fill out a Post-It note as credit for someone in need.
Whenever someone is in need of food, they can come by Rosa’s, grab a Post-It, and turn it in as payment.
So far, Mason and his customers have donated 8,300 slices of pizza to the homeless and hungry.
Alongside the Post-Its are thank you notes from those who have benefitted from the program. For example:
I just want to thank everyone that donated to Rosas it gave me a place to eat everyday and the opportunity to get back on my feet. I start a new job tomorrow! Everybody wants the world to change but in order for that to happen we have to change ourselves And Rosas is a great idea and example of that. THANK YOU!
Capitalism With A Conscience – Forbes
by Lisa Wirthman (Forbes Magazine)
Can corporations make money and do good things at the same time? That’s the premise of the increasingly popular business movement of conscious capitalism. [Read more…]
Conscious Capitalism by Raj Sisodia
by Doug Hardy | July 15, 2013
Professor Raj Sisodia, chairman and co-founder of the Conscious Capitalism Institute, is the co-author (with Whole Foods Founder John Mackey) of business bestseller Conscious Capitalism: Liberating the Heroic Spirit of Business. In addition to helping companies around the world adopt the mindset of Conscious Capitalism, Sisodia also is the F.W. Olin Distinguished Professor of Global Business at Babson College. We spoke recently about Conscious Capitalism’s themes and what they mean for entrepreneurs. [Read more…]