By Lee Howard

Publication: The Day

Published October 02. 2014

B-Corp status reflects firm’s social mission

Two enterprises from New London County were reportedly among more than 20 statewide that filed paperwork Wednesday on the first day Connecticut recognized so-called B Corps, entitities that commingle for-profit businesses with a mission to do social good.

The companies were Sweet Acre Farm in Lebanon, owned by Charlotte Ross and Jonathan Janeway, and Metamorphosis, a grassroots organization run by social entrepreneur Hannah Gant of New London. Another entrepreneur who had expressed interest in the idea, Paula Goldman of Silver Circle Herbals in Griswold, decided that the $250 fee to convert to a benefit corporation was simply too expensive, she said.

Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman and Secretary of the State Denise Merrill were among those on hand Wednesday for a press conference at the Hartford offices of reSET Social Enterprise Trust, a nonprofit that pushed for the B-Corp legislation approved this year in the General Assembly and supported by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.

“We were very happy to see the support from all the enterprises that pursued this,” said James Woulfe, public policy and impact investing specialist for reSET, in a phone interview after the press conference. “It was just phenomenal.”

ReSET had hoped to break a state record for first-day B Corp filings, but Woulfe was confident only that he had helped more than 20 businesses submit the paperwork. It’s still possible that a record 30 filings were submitted Wednesday if a few individual companies did so on their own, he said, but it wouldn’t be until a few more days that the Secretary of the State’s Office completes its tallies.

“I think there’s going to be a lot that’s trickling in,” he said.

Benefit corporations are taxed just like typical companies, but their mission must have a social or environmental benefit to the community – one that can be advantageous in differentiating themselves from enterprises strictly trying to maximize profits. B Corps must also file annual reports assessing whether they met their goals to do social good.

“At the local level, the B Corp designation is more of a marketing tool than anything else,” said social entrepreneur Gant. “It really is a talking point for me.”

Though only two businesses from New London County filed as B Corps on day one, Woulfe said he doesn’t believe this indicates a lack of interest in the concept among people in the region.

Referring to a meeting he held in New London less than a month before the paperwork was due, he said the message seemed to resonate in this region, perhaps more so than in the rest of the state.

“They were by far the most engaged crowd we met with,” Woulfe said.

ReSET had appeared to be closing in on the B Corp record for first-day filings, but a few businesses that had committed to the conversion at the last minute were unable to complete the paperwork because of various problems, he said. Woulfe joked that at the very least Connecticut may reach the state record for first-day B Corps on a per-capita basis.

The owners of Sweet Acre Farm could not be reached, but Gant said she is looking forward to using her newly constituted Metamorphosis organization as an umbrella for a variety of grassroots economic-development efforts. Among the events she has organized are a series of Community Conspires in which people suggest social enterprises that could be started with minimal upfront capital, with the winner getting a modest amount of funding to get it off the ground.

“I’m excited and proud and humbled to be part of this … group that gets to kind of bring the first banner across the line in Connecticut,” Gant said.