B Corps Come With a Purpose, Result in Profits
As more than one million fans gather in our great city to celebrate the Cavs’ victory, we celebrate the team’s victory, the city’s progress, and the state's social enterprise movement. After several years of study, the Ohio State Bar Association endorsed legislation that would create a new form of corporate entity in Ohio — the benefit corporation. This designation would allow a corporation to simultaneously pursue social good and profit for the corporation’s shareholders. A benefit corporation blends a for-profit’s profit motive with a nonprofit’s social purpose. “Profit is a business result, not a purpose,” says William Vogelgesang, one of the founders of Epoch Pi.
Ohio’s proposed legislation differs from that adopted in other states in its flexibility. Some state laws require each “benefit corporation” to produce an annual “public” benefit report prepared against a third-party standard that describes how and to what extent the corporation has accomplished its beneficial purpose. Ohio’s proposed legislation gives shareholders the flexibility to determine what, if any, public reporting would be required.