When you become a Best for Colorado company, you not only join a network of businesses across Colorado, you gain access to a number of resources and opportunities. These resources are aimed at increasing your social and environmental impact, designed specifically for our Best for Colorado companies.
Together, we can use business as a #ForceForGood.
FEATURED: What’s the difference between a Public Benefit Corporation and a B Corp? Check out this guide to find out.
Measure What Matters
The first step in becoming a better business is to measure what matters. We believe businesses should not only focus on generating returns but also on creating value for its customers, employees, community and the environment. Start by taking B Lab’s free impact assessment to see where you stand and how you can improve. Below, you will find additional resources to guide you through the process.
Connect with The Alliance Center
Connect with us at bestforcolorado@thealliancecenter.org to discuss next steps based on your assessment. If you are an aspiring B Corp, we recommend you connect with the non-profit B Local Colorado, the B Certified B Corp network in Colorado.
B Lab Resources
Best For Colorado uses the same assessment as the B Corp certification. Therefore, the resources provided by B Lab, the organization behind B Corp, are useful even if you don’t intend to go for the certification.
B Lab Webinar
Gain tools for increasing your impact in the areas of governance, workers, environment and community while simultaneously improving your score on the BIA. Access the webinar here.
Ryan Honeyman’s Resources
Download this Google Drive file for example policies, procedures and templates to improve your impact and business practices from Ryan Honeyman, a sustainability consultant, executive coach, keynote speaker and author of The B Corp Handbook: How to Use Business as a Force for Good.
The Pet Sustainability Coalition is dedicated to creating a more sustainable pet industry. Even if you are not directly in the pet industry, they offer great resources such as employee survey or code of conduct that can be useful even if you are not in the pet industry.
Voter Registration
Why don’t people vote? They don’t have enough time. By encouraging voter participation and offering employees time off to vote, the business community can take a non-partisan approach to address the most significant issues of our time. Find organizations assisting with this movement below.
Time to Vote: Time to Vote is a nonpartisan movement, led by the business community, to contribute to the culture shift needed to increase voter participation in our country’s elections. aci
Environmental Voters Project: This project ams to significantly increase voter demand for environmental leadership by identifying inactive environmentalists and then turning them into consistent activists and voters.
Corporate Citizenship Program
Corporate citizenship programs enable companies to contribute back to the communities in which they operate, in addition to the traditional economic value they provide. Establishing a corporate citizenship program builds teamwork among employees, exemplifies company values of leadership and service and creates personal bonds within the community. In the resources below, you will find examples of ways your company can take part in civic engagement.
Find tangible examples of inspiring Best for Colorado companies in our Company Spotlights page. Make sure to check out our Actionable Impacts, where you will find examples of Best for Colorado companies using business as a force for good.
Policy Advocacy for Social and Environmental Standards
Whether your goal is to take a political stand with your brand or engage employees in civic activity, there are many ways for you company to get involved in civic engagement. Check out the following resources to learn how your company can make a difference.
Good Business Colorado Association is the voice of values driven businesses committed to a prosperous, equitable, and sustainable Colorado.
Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2) is a national, nonpartisan group of business leaders, investors and others who advocate for smart policies that are good for the economy and good for the environment.
B Lab x UN Global Compact Resource: The Ambition Loop – How Business and Government Can Advance Policies that Fast Track Zero-Carbon Economic Growth is resource guide exemplifying how a positive feedback loop in which bold Government policies and private sector leadership reinforce each other, and together, take climate action to the next level.
Time to Vote is a nonpartisan movement, led by the business community, to contribute to the culture shift needed to increase voter participation in our country’s elections.
Supply Chain
By properly managing your supply chain, your business will have a big impact. The objective of supply chain sustainability is to create, protect and grow long-term environmental, social and economic value for all stakeholders involved in bringing products and services to market. Ensure that your supply chain is in line with your values. Below you will find guides and example questionnaires to better manage and improve your supply chain.
Examples
Supplier sustainability survey example
Supplier sustainability survey (small business) example
Guides
Learn about evaluating supplier’s and distributor’s social and environmental practices here.
Learn about managing impact within your supply chain in this guide: Creating Impact Through Purchasing.
Learn how businesses can enhance their resilience to the impacts of climate change on their supply chains, while improving their supply chain management here.
A supplier code of conduct can reduce brand risk for the company and can be leveraged to improve transparency and marketing. It also can allow suppliers to adhere to more uniform standards that might also be asked of other customers, easing the cost burden of compliance. Check out B Lab ‘s guide to creating a supplier code of conduct.
Learn how Teatulia Organic Teas, a Certified B Corporation, incorporates CSR and transparency into their supply chain in this case study.
Community Service
Community service is a great way to engage employees, encourage teamwork and cultive a meaningful company culture. Volunteerism in the workplace is becoming an increasingly important factor contributing to higher employee recruitment and intention.
Workers
When a worker base grows, its capacity for generating revenue increases. A growing company can improve efficiencies through economies of scale or increase its overall market share. Identify your lowest paid wage and compare it to a recognized third-party living wage standard, such as those identified below.
In the United States, you can use the MIT Living Wage Calculator to find the appropriate wage based on the local cost of living.
Inclusive Hiring Practices
Inclusive hiring practices widens the pool of applicants and attracts top talent to organizations. Leaders practicing inclusive hiring understand that education and previous work experience are not the only predictors of individual potential.
Make the change to skills-based practices to avoid bias in your recruiting practices : Learn how to tackle bias in your recruiting process on developing skill based hiring practices with Skillful.
Explore some neutral hiring practices such as blind review:. The blind review process eliminates identification details from resumes and applications such as; name, gender, ethnic background, education, age, and personal interests to avoid potential biases in the recruiting process. Check out this resource from Workable on creating a blind hiring process.
Include an Equal Employment Opportunity Statement for job posting. For example:
Impactful Banking Services
Make an impact at every step of your company’s operations. From vendor selection and hiring procedures to philanthropy and energy resources, where you invest your money matters. Banking with values-aligned banks is one way to use your own finances to support positive social and environmental impact. Below you will find examples of some unconventional banking options.
Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) Fund’s mission is to expand economic opportunity for underserved people and communities by supporting the growth and capacity of a national network of community development lenders, investors and financial service providers. To find out if your bank is a certified CDFI click here.
The Global Alliance for Banking on Values is an independent network of banks using finance to deliver sustainable economic, social and environmental development. To find out if your bank is a member click here.
To find a local credit union in the United States, click here.
Collective Commitment to Climate Action is a groundbreaking pledge banks are taking to align their business with international climate goals into practice. Learn more here on the pledge and the banks taking action visit.
Renewable Energy Usage
Using energy sources that are low-impact and renewable preserves ecosystems and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Renewable energy offers the opportunity to manage long term risk and is beneficial for marketing purposes. Installing onsite renewable energy can also reduce long term utility costs. Learn about resources to help you increase your energy usage produced from low-impact renewable resources.
Looking to reduce your footprint? Xcel offers renewable energy options for Colorado businesses.
Purchase Energy Star qualified products.
Does your city offer green programs? Are you based in Denver? Check out Certifiably Green Denver and learn from expert advisers from the city of Denver who will work with you to create a personalized plan for your business and help you implement it to reach your sustainability goals.
Colorado Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE) is a financing tool that allows commercial and multifamily property owners to finance qualifying energy efficiency, water conservation and other clean energy improvements on existing and newly constructed properties, with repayment of the financing through a voluntary assessment on their property tax bill.
Interested in installing solar panels as a clean energy, money-saving alternative? Namaste Solar is a Best for Colorado Company and a B Corp that can help answer your questions and guide you through the process.
This resource guide from the EPA includes examples on how you can reduce your energy use and lessen your environmental impact.
Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Quantifying and targeting greenhouse gas emissions allows companies to mitigate climate-related risks to health, security and the environment. Businesses can benefit from increased energy efficiency, long-term cost reductions and attracting values aligned employees.
Use this helpful B Lab Guide to help you Calculate Greenhouse Gas Emissions:
Learn more about your carbon footprint with this carbon footprint calculator from Protect Our Winters.
Accurate recording of greenhouse gas emissions is the first step to setting reduction targets and strategies. You can refer to greenhouse gas protocol tools like this one that enable companies to develop comprehensive and reliable inventories of their GHG emissions.
Identify and implement GHG reduction opportunities. This website offers a wide range of strategies, guides, and resources to help organizations reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Do you fly for work? Be creative! Choose an airline that offers a carbon offsetting option for travelers. Companies like Delta or United offer this type of services.
Offset your carbon emissions with the Colorado Carbon Fund.
Actionable Impact: CauseLabs, Emissions and Energy Tracking: CauseLabs uses an easy-to-use spreadsheet that allows employees to track and record their emissions. From travel for work to energy usage in their home offices, CauseLabs makes greenhouse gas emission tracking as simple as possible for their team.
Actionable Impact: Only Natural Pet, Emissions and Energy Tracking: Learn how Only Natural Pet measures and reduces GHG emissions by using third party organizations to track supply
chain efficiencies and run life cycle analyses.
Reducing Impact of Travel and Commuting
Proactively encouraging employees to seek eco-friendly ways of getting to work and minimizing work related travel minimizes the carbon footprint of the organization, which can improve local air quality and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Below you will find helpful resources and strategies to help reduce the impact of Travel/Commuting for your organization.
With so many great technologies on the market today, why not try experimenting with more remote meetings to reduce miles traveled by employees. Some great options include Zoom, GoogleHangouts or Skype. (in addition to many more!)
Consider implementing a formal incentive for employees to pursue eco-friendly commuting options. This can mean starting a commuter benefit program, rides hare matching for a company-wide carpool program, or writing a policy that allows compressed working hours for those who carpool or bike to work. If you are in the Denver or Boulder areas, why not include in your benefit package for your employees an ECO PASS: an annual employer-sponsored pass providing employees unlimited rides on buses and trains.
Looking for more inspiration? Check out these best practices from our participants:
Supply Chain
Use this helpful B Lab guide to help you evaluate your suppliers and distributers social and environmental practices.
The B Lab supplier sustainability survey template is a comprehensive spreadsheet outlining the major sustainability and impact factors that your company should know about your suppliers.
The Sectoral Decarbonization Approach helps companies set emissions reduction targets based on the best science currently available. It is a method for setting corporate emission reduction targets in line with climate science.
Check out this Actionable Impact from Organic Sandwich Company. Learn how Organic Sandwich Company is prioritizing a local supply chain to support their surrounding community, strengthen the local economy, minimize their environmental footprint. Partnering with nearby businesses has allowed them to increase supply chain efficiency, offering more flexibility and improving coordination.
Environmental Management
A formal environmental management system provides policies and procedures for a company to establish a cycle of continual improvement and reduce its overall negative impact on the environment. Companies with a robust environmental management system can minimize the risk of non-compliance with environmental laws and regulations, as well as minimize costs through increased resource efficiency.
Contact your public county or city to see if they offer incentives or additional support to improve your environmental practices.
The Environmental Leadership Program (Colorado): The Environmental Leadership Program (ELP) is our statewide environmental recognition and reward program, which offers benefits and incentives to members that voluntarily go beyond compliance with state and federal regulations and are committed to continual environmental improvement.
Colorado Pollution Prevention Program: The Colorado Pollution Prevention Program provides assistance and support in greening business by preventing pollution. The program offers free assessments to increase energy efficiency, water conservation and waste reduction and connects businesses to resources to achieve sustainability goals and receive environmental recognition.
Manage and improve your environmental practices with Certifiably Green Denver: Expert advisers from the city of Denver will work with you to create a personalized plan for your business and help you implement it to reach your sustainability goals.
Manage and improve your environmental practices with ClimateWise: ClimateWise is a free, voluntary program that offers simple solutions to help Fort Collins Businesses reduce their impact, save money and gain recognition for their achievements in energy and water conservation, waste reduction, alternative transportation and social responsibility.
Manage and improve your environmental practices Partner for a Clean Environment (PACE) in Boulder County: PACE provides free expert advisor services, financial incentives and a certification program to help businesses measure and gain recognition for their energy, waste, water, and transportation achievements.
B Lab x UN Global Compact: Environmental Stewardship Strategy
Actionable Impact: Eaton Senior Communities, Water Efficiency Improvements
Be sure to check The Alliance Center calendar to be aware of our variety of events, including panels, workshops, networking opportunities and more, to build connections, educate and equip to help you lead positive change in your organization.
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