Posts Tagged ‘triple bottom line’

How to Stick to Your Values and Be Popular at the Same Time

Thursday, April 14th, 2011

ben-jerry.jpeg

It’s hard for anyone to stay true to themselves when they’re pulled in a million different directions by their adoring fans. (See: every celebrity breakdown in history.) But it’s especially hard when you’re a publicly-traded company.

Publicly-traded companies have a legal obligation to put the interests of their shareholders first. And often that means making money the fast and easy way instead of the most ethical way.

But there are actually two ways to judge a company’s success: the bottom line tells you how much money the company has made. The triple bottom line tells you how much good the company has done – for people and the planet – while it made that money. As a socially-responsible investor, you can choose to put your money behind companies that focus on the triple bottom line, which benefits shareholders AND the rest of the world.

Learn more about socially-responsible investing (SRI).

There’s a great opinion piece in the NYTimes that talks about how good companies can navigate the complicated world of hostile takeovers and shareholders’ rights while still staying true to their mission and values. For example, Ben & Jerry’s ice cream company, because of its obligation to shareholders, was forced to sell to an international corporation (Unilever). While the acquisition didn’t totally destroy the company’s founding principles, it sure wasn’t the same company after that.

What would you have done if you were Ben (or Jerry)?

Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) is…

Tuesday, April 12th, 2011

Socially responsible investing connects your interests and personality to your financial resources. When you invest in a socially responsible way, you ensure that your portfolio earns a competitive rate of return while also making a positive social and environmental impact. For example, you might invest in companies that have good employee relations, diversity in the workplace, a commitment to clean air, or that use sustainable forms of energy.

Companies are deemed socially responsible by research firms such as Calvert, Social Funds, and KLD Research & Analytics. They evaluate a company on its level of social responsibility based on the quality of its social, environmental, and governance (management) policies.

So how do socially responsible investors find a company they want to invest in? They use a process called screening, which considers whether or not a company’s values align with their own. For example, some investors screen out companies that pollute, that abuse their workers, or that produce harmful products like cigarettes.

Once you’ve found a company you like and decide to invest, you become a shareholder of that company. At socially responsible companies that means you stay involved and informed in the goings-on of the business. This is because socially responsible management is committed to keeping shareholders in the loop, and shareholders are encouraged to be involved corporate management.

Socially responsible investing is also called mission-based investing, sustainable investing, ethical investing, green investing, responsible investing, and value-based investing.

A Triple Bottom Line is…

Wednesday, October 6th, 2010

A triple bottom line is when a company takes its environmental, social, AND financial performance into account to assess its overall performance. It takes the idea of a double bottom line (which considers the company’s social impact) one step further to include its environmental impact.