In the chart below, comparing our civic health with Washington D.C.’s, you’ll notice we have more B Corporations, 27 to 16. The number of B Corps is a category we added this year, and, because not every one knows what a B Corp is, this is a good time to give some background, especially since Philly plays host this week to some 300 B Corps from 22 nations as part of the B Corps Champions Retreat.
You know from my community work that I believe in making a difference, and that’s why I’m a fan of the B Corp movement. It consists of nearly 2,000 for-profit companies that are part of a global movement to use business as a force for good. And because I’m a homer, I’m particularly proud that the movement started right here, thanks to the Berwyn-based nonprofit B Lab, which confers on companies a type of Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval when it comes to social responsibility. B Lab has set rigorous standards in categories ranging from environmental footprint to employee and community relations; by meeting them, any company can become a certified B Corp. In addition, in 31 states, legislation has been passed enabling socially responsible companies to change their articles of incorporation and become Benefit Corporations, extending their fiduciary responsibility beyond shareholders to stakeholders, such as community, employees and the environment.
“Corporations are legal entities with rights like individuals, but unlike real individuals, most of whom have consciences, corporations are typically structured to have a singular focus on profits, even if it means doing bad things in the world, which can be excused as ‘good for business,’” explains Professor Richardson Dilworth of Drexel’s Center for Public Policy. “The traditional way to deal with this is to define the bad things corporations do—like polluting the environment—and create regulations that make it worth the while of the corporation not to pollute. The B Corp movement takes a different approach. It assumes that corporations can be changed from within through their charters, so that they are inherently more socially conscious.”
A whole host of great companies like Patagonia and Kickstarter are saying there’s a deeper purpose than profit, that you can do do well and good at the same time. And surveys show that consumers my age want to do business with companies that share our values. It’s really cool that that message started right in our own backyard.
D.C.’s Idea We Should Steal: InnoMAYtion
We have a great and growing tech and entrepreneurial culture in Philadelphia. It’s grown from the grassroots and is now one of the major draws of the city. In Washington, D.C., there is also an impressive tech culture, one that’s connected to and fueled by City Hall, which just might be a next step we want to take here.
For two years now, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has hosted InnoMAYtion, a month-long lineup of events and speakers and networking opportunities throughout the city, everything from Hackathons to accelerator open houses and roundtable discussions. InnoMAYtion is designed to partner local government with entrepreneurs, while showcasing the city’s innovation economy and opening it to populations that haven’t always had access to it.
In Philly, StartupPHL, a collaboration between the city’s Department of Commerce and the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation, already does much of what InnoMAYtion does. It cheerleads for the tech community, provides funding for entrepreneurs, and tries to extend opportunity beyond Center City. In fact, StartupPHL’s fifth Call For Ideas is now underway, a grant program seeking to fund innovative ideas that support the city’s startup ecosystem.
“Philadelphia doesn’t currently have a singular Mayor’s event that puts these initiatives under one umbrella, but we’re already doing this kind of outreach in big ways,” says Archna Sahay, the city’s Director of Entrepreneurial Investment. She cites Coded by Kids, which has received a Call for Ideas grant to provide free tech education to neighborhood kids.
“We’re always looking for new and innovative ideas,” says Sahay, and Professor Dilworth says that’s a good thing: “To really move the needle in terms of creating a national reputation for Philadelphia as a tech and entrepreneurship hotbed, it’s probably going to require mayoral leadership.”
Connor Barwin is the Eagles defensive end and runs the Make The World Better foundation, which works to refurbish city parks.