Stories from the Community

How a Strategic Financial Services Firm Found Its Purpose Far Beyond the Bottom Line
Tom Hering Tom Hering

How a Strategic Financial Services Firm Found Its Purpose Far Beyond the Bottom Line

As the founder and CEO of Tailwind PDX, Colleen Ruhlin brings a Fortune 100 financial and accounting skill set to her clients. Her strategic thinking and ability to see beyond a company’s financial statistics can do much to improve the performance of a business.

But when she made the decision to become an Oregon Benefit Company, she knew it wasn’t solely about the numbers. It was based on the practice of a Triple Bottom Line of People, Planet and Profit where a business focuses on its employees, its clients, and its communities in addition to making a profit.

We recently interviewed Colleen about becoming a certified Oregon Benefit Company. Here’s what she had to say about it, her motivation for doing it, and why it was right for her business.

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Why a Company Should Certify: A Client's Review
Tom Hering Tom Hering

Why a Company Should Certify: A Client's Review

As an advocate of the B Corporation movement and designation, I speak often about business certifications. Should a company apply for a certification? What’s the value in becoming certified? Is it worth the cost? Are some certifications more important than others?

In this post, I’ll try to answer some basic questions, framed in our company’s experience, and help you identify the kinds of designations you may want to avoid.

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Why Become a Benefit Corporation: The Revealing Business Case
Tom Hering Tom Hering

Why Become a Benefit Corporation: The Revealing Business Case

Certification as a Benefit Corporation business is what Fair Trade certification is to coffee or USDA Organic certification is to milk or LEEDs certification is to buildings. Benefit Companies and Benefit Corporations are for-profit companies certified around standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. In an era of ‘greenwashing’ and misleading labels…

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5 Important Reasons To Get Certified as a Benefit Corporation
MaryAnne Harmer MaryAnne Harmer

5 Important Reasons To Get Certified as a Benefit Corporation

You are an entrepreneur or a small business doing all the right things.

You believe in giving back but you also want to make a profit.

And you care about the environment. For your kids and grandkids, for your community, for the world.

In sum, you believe in the triple bottom line of people, planet profit. 

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How To Make Benefit Corporation Certification Better
Tom Hering Tom Hering

How To Make Benefit Corporation Certification Better

As firm believers in the “there is no finish line” concept, we are constantly seeking improvement with our certification process. Day-by-day, week-by-week, month-by-month, we look for ways to make our Triple Bottom Line of People, Planet and Profit certification not only stronger but more meaningful to all stakeholders.

In an online Oregon Business magazine article posted last Friday

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