The Power of Impact Investing by Judith Rodin

Author:Judith Rodin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: BUSINESS & ECONOMICS/Investments & Securities
Publisher: Wharton School Press
Published: 2014-03-13T16:00:00+00:00

Certification and Legal Form

“It’s time for a fresh approach to our kids’ nutrition,” say Kristin Richmond and Kirsten Tobey, cofounders of Oakland-based Revolution Foods, a company whose mission is to build lifelong healthy eaters by making “kid-inspired, chef-crafted” food accessible to everyone. The way they do this, they explain, is by “revolutionizing” the food available at stores and schools, particularly in low-income communities. Every day, from local kitchens, the company prepares healthy meals using natural ingredients free of high-fructose corn syrup, artificial colors and flavors, and preservatives and delivers those meals to schools, with at times all costs covered by the federal school lunch reimbursement program. The two founders link the health of children and the health of the nation. “There were a lot of great efforts going on in education reform—but no one was paying attention to what we were feeding kids at school and how that sets them up for success,” says Tobey. Since it started in 2006 as a small operation serving 300 meals a day, the company has expanded rapidly. Revolution Foods now delivers more than a million fresh, healthy meals each week to schools across the United States and distributes convenient, natural “Meal Kits” to retailers across the nation.

The year 2011 marked a milestone for Revolution Foods—that was when B Lab certified it as a B Corporation, demonstrating that it had met rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, legal accountability, and transparency; and providing potential investors with robust evidence that the company was creating impact. In doing so, it joined hundreds of Certified B Corps (by 2014 there were more than 900 in 29 countries). Once certified, these companies can tap into B Lab’s portfolio of services and support. A sister organization, Sistema B, is running a similar program in Latin America through which companies can become certified as “Empresa B” organizations. And as discussed later in this chapter, legislation now allows companies in many places to register as a new type of business entity: a benefit corporation.

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