A Bridge Over Troubled Waters

GoodB Blog

New York State of Mind

A new law on the books since last year in New York helps protect subprime mortgage holders from foreclosure. A similar bill protecting prime borrowers recently was passed by the State Legislature. The bill requires lenders to give 90 days’ warning and forces lenders into settlement conferences with borrowers before proceeding with foreclosure.

Read More

Love Thy Neighbor

The “City of Brotherly Love” lives up to its name these days with a foreclosure prevention program that is inspiring other struggling communities to follow. Not one to wait for Washington to come through, the city made famous by America’s revolutionary founders has created a program for distressed homeowners like no other.

Read More

Upping the Ante

The Treasury Department ordered Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, and big and small lenders to Washington D.C. this week to inject a little gratitude into their blood money veins. Of the 71 participating lenders, few have accomplished significant mortgage modifications for troubled homeowners. To insure a patriotic zeal from “take the money and run” lenders, the Treasury is installing “three person SWAT teams to monitor the eight largest companies’ work and requesting twice-daily reports on their progress.”

Read More

Click for GoodB Blog – provocative and informative.

Click for the latest updates on GoodB

Two Mission-Driven Food Businesses Collaborate To Beat The Recession | 3BL Media

(3BLMedia/theCSRfeed) Boston, MA – December 7, 2009―Two award-winning socially responsible enterprises, Dancing Deer, the women-led natural baking company and Equal Exchange, the worker-owned Fair Trade pioneer have joined forces to solve your gifting andholiday party needs–all while supporting some great causes.  The “Taste of New England Gift Baskets” feature the award-winning Molasses Clove Cookies and other tasty treats from Dancing Deer complemented by some of Equal Exchange’s most popular organic, Fair Trade coffee, tea and chocolates. The gift baskets also include two other local, independent enterprises; locally produced honey from Reseska Apiaries ofHolliston and trail mix from Fastachi ofWatertown.

The CEO’s of Dancing Deer and Equal Exchange, Trish Karter and Rob Everts, have been professional friends for years and often noodled the challenge of how to work together and help each other build their businesses which have so many parallel values.  Both companies have won manyawards for their socially responsible business practices and have been lauded for having two of the most democratically organized workplaces. Both are members of Boston’s Sustainable Business Network, and Trish and Rob have shared in a CEO roundtable with other local mission-driven entrepreneurs. So when Dancing Deer decided to bring out a gift basket line, the opportunity to collaborate was obvious.

It’s been a tough year in the food business and particularly in the world of gifts as consumers and corporations have ratcheted back on spending. However Dancing Deer and Equal Exchange appeal on two levels―great product and a commitment to environmental sustainability and social justice.  This might be considered good marketing and strategy, which it is, but this double bottom line approach is driven by the convictions of the founders and employees of these organizations.   Equal Exchange supports small-scale organic farmers around the world through its Fair Trade program.  Dancing Deer dedicates one of its product lines (the Sweet Home Project) to funding scholarships for homeless mothers by donating 35% of the retail price on those gifts in addition to its broader double bottom line mission.

Rob Everts said about the collaboration: “Given all the values our companies share in common plus Dancing Deer’s hard-won reputation for both delicious food and serving the community, we’re really pleased to finally work together and have our products alongside theirs.”

Trish Karter returned the compliment by adding: “Equal Exchange has done some really important work in the Fair Trade movement, their products are terrific and I love their broader mission and values”.

About Dancing Deer
Dancing Deer is a company of people who are passionate about food, nature, aesthetics and community. Known for yummy, all-natural cakes, cookies, brownies and baking mixes, the company has won many national awards and accolades for its distinctive products and innovative business practices. All employees are stakeholders in this women-led enterprise. Sold in gourmet, natural food and conventional grocerystores nationwide, the company also ships directly to consumers (www.dancingdeer.com 1-888-699-DEER) and offers creative marketing programs to corporate customers. When people are happy it shows in the food!

About Equal Exchange
A pioneer and U.S. market leader in Fair Trade since 1986, Equal Exchange is a full service provider of high quality, organic coffee, tea, chocolate, cocoa, healthy snacks and bananas. Major customers include Whole Foods, Stop & Shop, Hannaford, Ten Thousand Villages, schools and places of worship nationwide. 100% of Equal Exchange products are fairly traded, benefiting more than 40 small farmer co-operatives in 22 countries around the world.  In keeping with its Fair Trade mission and belief in economic democracy Equal Exchange is a worker co-operative, owned and governed by its approximately 110 employees. http://Shop.EqualExchange.com.

via 3blmedia.com

Have You Been Laid Off

Financial Crisis Inspires Doing Well by Doing Good

Nothing has put the mandate for doing well by doing good more front and center than the financial collapse one year ago. For three decades, Greed has been Good! Better than good, it was great!

In America in the 1930s, a chicken in every pot was the social goal. People in the Great Depression were literally starving. Anyone with parents or grandparents who lived through those times is familiar with stories of struggle and strife. In the 1940s, defending our freedom was the call of duty for every citizen. War brides dreaded the sight of uniformed men at the door and mothers prayed for their sons to return home alive. Honor and freedom were the goals citizen’s strove for on both sides of the Atlantic. In the 1950s, a safe and secure life climbing up the corporate ladder was all any family could want. Moms stayed at home baking apple pie and dads worked to put two cars in the garage. Father’s Knew Best, kids were respectful, and a common morality ruled.

In the 1960s, things got a bit more real again. A throwback to the 1940s, principles of right and wrong, justice and injustice threw the nation into a state of turmoil. We didn’t always believe the same thing, but at least we had beliefs. The 1970s brought with it a new restlessness in post-war America. There was no cause to fight for anymore. The apathy led to the Culture of Greed.

Oliver Stone made a movie ironically intended to expose the superficiality of the world of finance. Instead the Hollywood version of the money machine made Greed a Star. Gordon Gekko became an American idol and profit at any cost became glamorous.

It didn’t matter how you made money anymore, just that you made it. You could beg, borrow, and steal to get to the top and it was all acceptable. It was simply “good” business…

Now a new kind of good business is breaking through to the other side. No longer a fringe idea for those outside of society, the Business of Good is one of the biggest industries in the New Economy.

The Wall Street Journal, one of the Greed culture’s loudest voices, reported this week on the move of talented college grads out of finance and into “doing good” professions. A MIT graduate student who originally intended to go to Lehman Brothers switched his plan to engineering and solar-power technology. New grads are flocking in droves to social entrepreneurship careers, social advocacy start-ups, better world businesses, and environmentally sound green business endeavors.

Phew! More proof that there is silver lining in every dark cloud. And it only took a major economic catastrophe to do it!

Click for the latest updates on Good-B

GoodB Blog

via 3blmedia.com

Posted via web from 3BL Media’s Posterous

Economic Crisis Demonstrates Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is here to Stay

Economic Crisis Demonstrates Corporate Citizenship and CSR are here to Stay

For years there has been an ongoing discussion about how corporate social responsibility would – or not – stand up to a deep recession. The debate is no longer academic and the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship has data that shows CSR – or corporate citizenship as we call it – is clearly here to stay. If anything as our biennial State of Corporate Citizenship survey, of 800 senior executives shows the recession has deepened the integration corporate citizenship into the core of business strategy and operation. (54%) of executives surveyed said corporate citizenship was more important during a recession

The State of Corporate Citizenship in the United States 2009 made possible with a grant from the Hitachi Foundation is the 4th biannual survey of Senior Executives conducted by the Center for Corporate Citizenship executives leaders and is the only research of its kind to provide a comprehensive overview of executives of small, medium, and large-sized U.S. businesses perceptions and actions on corporate citizenship.

Highlights of the survey, include:

* Despite upheaval in the economy, a majority of U.S. companies are not making major changes in their corporate citizenship practices. Of those who made changes 38% reduced philanthropy/giving, 27% increased layoffs, and 19% reduced R&D for sustainable products.

* Reputation was cited by 70% as a driver for corporate citizenship, tied for the top spot with “it fits our company traditions and values.”

* Most U.S. senior executives believe business should be more involved than it is today in addressing major public issues including health care, product safety, education, and climate change. Surveyed in June, just as the national debate on health care began to intensify, some 65 percent said business should increase its involvement in this issue.

* Large companies significantly increased their investments and involvement in citizenship activities, but were more likely to impose layoffs. Small firms stayed committed to their emphasis on treating employees well by minimizing layoffs. But they significantly decreased attention to other aspects of citizenship.

While corporate citizenship is clearly gaining traction as a business imperative the 2009 survey points to new challenges particularly as business seeks to rebuild public trust through self regulation and engage in public policy making. The current crisis has expanded the “lens” by which the public judge companies corporate citizenship performance. With critical failures in corporate governance and management accountability in the financial sector the spotlight is once again focused on central pillar of Corporate Citizenship, governance, and the responsibility of corporate directors and senior management to ensure accountability of the firm to both its shareholders and society. It brings back into focus that corporate citizenship is, in the end, about the total impact of the company on society and not simply a set of corporate citizenship programs be they community involvement programs or green products and services. Going forward companies will need to ensure they have embedded corporate citizenship principles and policies across all domains of the firm from governance, to operations to products and services if they are to be viewed as credible when they talk about self regulation and participation in public policy making on critical social and environmental issues.

We would like to know how are findings relate to the experience of your company in this economic downturn. Take a look at our survey (PDF) found here and let’s see how the opinions of these 756 executives compare to what you are experiencing. Would you agree that corporate citizenship is more important during a recession?

To add your thoughts to the discussion…click here. via 3blmedia.com

“Smart” Banks?

“Bank” used to be one of those oh-so-solid words that made you feel grounded. As in “bank on it” or “you can take it to the bank.” You could count on it.

But since the fall of 2008, the start of the Economic Collapse of the New Millennium, “bank” has taken on new, negative meanings.

“Bank” now stands for loan shark lending, IBG deals (“I’ll Be Gone” after the commission is booked), overleveraged assets, consumer gouging, and Just Plain Stupid business practices.

The wonderful term “zombie banks” has entered the language, describing institutions that are open for business—they look “alive”— but are paralyzed by their failed financial policies.

SustainLink is trying to change our view of all banks as working for the Dark Side by introducing a new phrase: “eco-intelligent banks.” By “eco-intelligent,” SustainLink means those select financial institutions with a commitment to sustainable practices.

A research and score-carding firm, SustainLInk has launched a profiling service that reports on banks and credit unions that are doing good business in a good way. SustainLink reviews banks to evaluate them for their triple bottom line strategies. Only those that qualify as “eco-intelligent” are profiled on SustainLinks’ site.

The first group of these “smart banks” has been chosen. You can see the proud winners at www.sustainlink.net.

And since we’re talking about money, here’s where some financial advantage comes in. SustainLink also connects sustainable improvement to incentives for borrowers, including a lower cost of capital. That means business borrowers may qualify for lower interest rates if they improve in certain areas. Anyone up for some sustainable cheap money?

Estimates are that deposits into “eco-intelligent” banks will increase by 38% during the next year. It makes sense that the smart money will go into smart banks, such as those identified by SustainLink. You can count on it.