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Peace Coffee CEO Lee Wallace (right) pauses to chat with production roaster Stormey Charette in the company's roastery in south Minneapolis. Peace Coffee is one of 17 certified "B Corporations" in Minnesota, which "meet rigorous standards of social and/or environmental performance, accountability and transparency." (Staff photo: Bill Klotz)
Doing good is bottom line for Minnesota 'B Corporations'
By: Todd Nelson August 13, 2018 7:02 am
For the sixth year in a row, St. Paul-based Sunrise Banks has been honored with a place on a list of elite "Certified B Corporations" that both turn a profit and "do good."
A number of other Minnesota companies were also named to the 2018 "Best for the World" list: Isabella-based CR-Building Performance Specialists, St. Paul-based thedatabank, gbc, and Minneapolis-based Global Gaming Initiative, Last Triumph, Peace Coffee and Russell Herder.
The list recognizes companies that score in the top 10 percent in various categories among all 2,400 certified B Corporations worldwide.
The B Corporation status has been likened to the Fair Trade certification in coffee or the USDA Organic standard in milk by Pennsylvania-based B Lab, the nonprofit organization that awards the certification.
B Corporations are for-profit companies that "meet rigorous standards of social and/or environmental performance, accountability and transparency," according to B Lab. Its website lists 17 Minnesota companies as certified B Corporations.
Sunrise Banks CEO David Reiling said being named as a "B Corporation" is "a great indication of the values in action – you're walking the talk." (Staff photo: Bill Klotz)
Sunrise Banks made the 2018 Best for the World list in the overall performance category, which recognizes certified B Corporations for "verified positive impact on communities, the natural environment, workers and more." The bank also ranked among the best in the customers and governance categories.
For Sunrise Banks CEO David Reiling, the recognition comes both as a relief and a challenge to keep the company, certified as a B Corporation since 2009, among the best.
"My reaction is a little bit of a sigh of relief," Reiling said. "It's a big sigh and a big smile because it's a great indication of the values in action. You're walking the talk."
David Reiling
Eight Minnesota B Corporations are also registered as "public benefit corporations" – a state designation given to for-profit companies that pledge to pursue a general or specific benefit to society under legislation that took effect in 2015.
Among them is Peace Coffee, which earned its B Corporation certification in November and was named Best for the World in the community category.
Founded in 1996, the company attributed its honor to the steps it's taken to minimize its environmental impact. Those include bicycle delivery of coffee, operating in a green building, composting waste and using rail to bring its coffee most of the way from a New Jersey warehouse, with trucks completing just a short distance of the trip.
Peace Coffee sought B Corporation certification to get an external perspective on its strengths and areas to improve, CEO Lee Wallace said. The certification and "Best For the World" honors add authenticity to the company's mission-based approach, which Wallace said is good for business.
"It's a great way to engage employees in building the business," she said. "It helps reinforce and build upon our culture."
Twin Cities ad agency Russell Herder, which has been in business for 34 years, gained B Corporation certification last year. It earned "Best for the World" honors in the governance category.
For the agency, the certification is "essentially a way to hold our feet to the fire to have somebody assess what we're doing and be sure that we are as good as we possibly can be," CEO Carol Russell said.
Reiling, Wallace and Russell all would like to see more Minnesota companies join the B Corporation movement and embrace its focus on "people, profits and planet."
"It's good for the entire business community to have more of these shared values out there, and it's good for all of us who live in this area as well," Russell said.
"All of our customers are interested in what we as companies are doing to contribute to society," Wallace said. "That's a theme that we're hearing. People want to understand the businesses they buy products from and how those businesses are behaving."
Minnesota Public Benefit Corporation Act
Peace Coffee Sunrise Banks 7:02 am Mon, August 13, 2018 Finance & Commerce
Todd Nelson
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